British Cinematographer - Issue 21

ISSUE

21

MAY 2007

BRUCE ALMIGHTY #18: CAMERA CREATIVE WE GO BEHING THE SCENES WITH DP SIMON DUGGAN ACS ON THE WILD RIDE THAT IS LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD

INSIDE ... #06: CANNES PREVIEW – THE BRITS AT THE 2007 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL #15: SHOOTING THE FUTURE – REVIEW OF NEW KIT AT THE 2007 BSC SHOW #20: GRAINS vs PIXELS – YOUR INDISPENSIBLE GUIDE TO DI IN THE UK #27: CLOSE-UPS – ANGUS HUDSON ON THE BROKEN, LOL CRAWLEY GBCT ON BETTER THINGS, and PETER FIELD ON AGENT CRUSH #28: ON THE JOB – HARIS ZAMBARLOUKOS BSC TALKS ABOUT HIS WORK ON VENUS AND DEATH DEFYING ACTS #30: EUROPE – *EXCLUSIVE* . . . THE BBC RESPONDS TO IMAGO OVER THE FUTURE OF S16mm

RRP: £3.50

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire SL0 0NH, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1753 650101 Fax: +44 (0) 1753 650111 PUBLISHERS Alan Lowne Tel: +44 (0) 1753 650101 Stuart Walters Tel: +44 (0) 121 608 2300

>> C O N T E N T S UK

EDITOR Ron Prince Email: ronny@dircon.co.uk SALES Alan Lowne Tel: +44 (0) 1753 650101 Email: alanlowne@britishcinematographer.co.uk Stuart Walters Tel: +44 (0) 121 608 2300 Email: stuartwalters@britishcinematographer.co.uk DESIGN Paul Roebuck, Open Box Publishing Ltd, info@openboxpublishing.co.uk contact: Stuart Walters Tel: +44 (0) 121 608 2300 THE PUBLICATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE comprises of Board members from the BSC and GBCT as well as the Publishers BRITISH CINEMATROGRAPHER covering International Cinematography is part of Laws Publishing Ltd, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire SL0 0NH, UK 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.

P03 P05 P06 P11 P12 P15 P20 P27 P36 P40

President's Perspective: Joe Dunton MBE BSC, vice president Letters: cinematographers and colourists Production/Post & Techno News: the latest worldwide news concerning DPs POV: UK Film Council’s Colin Brown talks about his plans Who's Shooting Who?: the best way to find out who’s attached to which project Shooting The Future: new kit at the 2007 BSC Equipment Show Grains vx Pixels: who’s offering DI in the UK, plus six short studies on digital grading Close-Ups: get behind the large and small screens with leading DPs GBCT News: chairman’s statement, and the Guild’s 30th birthday celebrations Family Matters: meet The Powells, a family of cunning stunters

USA P26

Letter from America: Richard P. Crudo ASC says that if technology is worth anything, it’s only when it serves a creative demand

EUROPE P30

Imago News: the BBC responds to IMAGO Declaration

FEATURES Cover Photograph: Image from Live Free Die Hard All rights reserved.

>> Editorial Team Ron Prince: has many years experience working in the film, TV, CGI and visual effects industries. He is the editor of British Cinematographer magazine and runs an international communications company (www.princepr.com).

Carolyn Giardina: is the technology reporter at Hollywood Reporter in the US. She previously served as editor of Film & Video and as senior editor of postproduction at SHOOT. Her work has also appeared in IBC Daily News, Digital Cinema, Post and Below The Line Madelyn Most: is an experienced camerawoman, filmmaker and journalist who writes about production and cinematography for a variety of European and US magazines.

Kevin Hilton: is a freelance journaist who writes about technology and personalities in film and broadcasting and contributes film reviews and interviews to a variety of publications.

Ian White: is a journallist who has specialised in film and television production and post-production for over 20 years. Now based in Bath, he is a regular contributor to leading television trade magazines.

John Keedwell: the GBCT’s Eyepiece Editor, is a documentary and commercials cameraman who has worked on many productions over all the world’s continents. He crosses over in both film and tape productions and has great knowledge of the new formats and their methods of production.

Pauline Rogers has published over 1,200 articles on the technical side of the movie-making process. She is a staff writer for ICG Magazine, and freelances for various venues. Her fourth book, The Essential Camera Operator, will be published in early 2008

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

P18 P28 P34

Camera Creative: Bruce is back! We go behind the scenes on Die Hard v4 with Simon Duggan ACS On The Job: Haris Zambarloukos BSC – artistry, ambition, always busy Innovation UK: ELP’s Ronan Wilson can’t resist a structural design challenge

British Society of Cinematrographers – Board Members: President, Gavin Finney. Immediate Past President, Phil Méheux. Vice Presidents, Joe Dunton MBE, Alec Mills, Sue Gibson. Governors, John de Borman, Harvey Harrison, Chris Howard, Tony Imi, Nina Kellgren, Chris Seager, Tony Spratling, Mike Southon, Derek Suter, Alex Thomson, Robin Vidgeon, Nigel Walters. Secretary/Treasurer, Frances Russell.

Guild of British Camera Technicians – Board Members: Trevor Coop (Chairman), Steve Brooke-Smith (Vice Chairman), John Keedwell (Vice Chairman), Jacob Barrie, Suzanne Clegg McGeachan, Mike Fox, Jamie Harcourt, Peter Hughes, Walter Kennedy, Keith Mead, Darren Miller, Barney Piercy, Tim Potter, Caroline Sax.

“Fearless” Fred We dedicate this edition to Frederick ('Freddie”) William Francis BSC who passed away on 17th March 2007, following complications from a stroke. Freddie's work straddles many genres and eras of filmmaking. Like all leading cinematographers, he was employed for what he brought to a film, which he felt was best described as a “quality” rather than a look or a style. He is the epitome of the cinematographer.

feature films, plus numerous television film series episodes, including The Saint, Man in a Suitcase, The Champions, Star Maidens and Black Beauty.

In an interview with British Cinematographer (Edition 13), he said: “Cinematography is done with the eyes as much as it is the brain….

You have to visualise the script and make the film from that.

Everything, including the lighting, is in the mind - what you see in your imagination is what should be on the screen."

In this edition, Richard P. Crudo ASC, former president of the ASC, says, “The ASC gave Mr. Francis its International Award in 1997, and with good reason. By that time he had amassed the most incredible string of credits any cinematographer could hope for.” The ASC Magazine is devoting the Clubhouse News page in its June edition to Freddie's memory with a piece written by former American Cinematographer staffer David Williams, who interviewed him about Cape Fear in 1991.

This quality was recognised by numerous awards during a long and illustrious career… Academy Awards in 1960 for best B&W cinematography on Jack Cardiff's Sons and Lovers, and again in 1990, for best cinematography for Glory… lifetime achievement awards from the BSC and ASC in 1997, and from Camerimage in 2002… and a special achievement award from BAFTA in 2004. He liked getting involved in the business too, and was president of the British Society of Cinematographers from 1998 to 2000.

In addition to an internationally acclaimed career as a cinematographer, between 1963 and 1986 he directed over 25

Amongst the many tributes received words like “pioneer” keep coming up. Agent Flic McKinney commented, “He was a wonderful man to represent, and such a fabulous person.”

But we'll let Gordon Hayman his operator for 22 years, have the final word. Speaking at Freddie's funeral he said: “It was a privilege to watch this master of his craft over the years. The rapport he had with all the film crew was an example of how to get the best out of one's team. Everything Freddie did was for the good of the film, and he was never reluctant to share his knowledge and vast experience with new directors, trainees, PAs, and anyone who looked to him for little help and guidance.”

page

1

UK

president’s perspective

Time to pay tribute It has fallen to me to fill in for our president, Gavin Finney BSC, as he is up to his eyes with schoolgirls on St Trinians'.

This column provides a good opportunity for us all in the British Society of Cinematographers to pay tribute to our fellows in the Guild of British Camera Technicians on the occasion of their 30th Anniversary.

At the time of the Guild's inauguration, I had just started JDC, having completed Yanks with John Schlesinger, using the Studio Mitchell camera, built in the famous Lee studios in Kensal Road; Lee's then moved to new premises in Wembley.

This was an exciting time for the Guild, and for me, having just taken delivery of the new Hustler from Chapmans and Steadicam from Cinema Products. As the Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown was filming Stanley Kubrick's The Shining at Elstree, it seemed too good an opportunity to miss, so we invited Garrett to Wembley to demonstrate the new Steadicam and dolly to the Guild and the GBCT was off to a flying start.

This event was followed by the famous GBCT dinner dance spearheaded by the loyal and enthusiastic Vic Fuller. A wonderful night, which is well remembered, and I urge all new and old members of the BSC and Guild to support the forthcoming GBCT 'Night to Remember' which celebrates their 30th Anniversary at The Royal Lancaster on Saturday 2nd June.

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Joe Dunton MBE BSC Vice President BSC

Another exciting recent event is the launch of the CineMasters website at www.Cinemasters.org.uk. CineMasters was founded by the Cine Guilds of Great Britain to enable the Creative Craftspeople of the present-day film and television industries to pass their skills, knowledge and enthusiasm to the coming generation of filmmakers and its inauguration will help preserve our British film and TV heritage.

Joe Dunton MBE BSC Vice President British Society of Cinematographers

page

3

UK

letters

Cinematographers and colourists The best way to work When I first read Gavin Finney's rant regarding colourists (BC20) my reaction was “here we go again!�. There's something about the use of digital grading that causes some cinematographers to immediately assume the worst, and expect to have a battle on their hands regarding the final look of the material.

A while back I worked on a film project in LA that had been shot on a wide range of film stocks, including using tungsten in daylight, and vice versa.

The cinematographer was totally unaware of the actual images he had captured, as all of the rushes he had seen had been nicely balanced by the lab's dailies timer.

When I had the raw scans in my DI system with a film print LUT showing a true 25 across print, he was amazed at what he had captured. A quick bit of re-grading and we were back with images that matched his expectations: and with the power available within a DI session, we were soon beyond that and adding enhancements that had not been possible in-camera or in the lab.

But without the cinematographer being there I wouldn't have had a clue what was expected; the method of capture hadn't allowed for greyscale charts, and notes just can't portray the cinematographer's true wishes.

So I find myself back to Gavin's comments about cinematographers attending grading sessions. It really is the best way to work. And this is one of the reason's I'm a growing fan of digital cinematography. The ability for the cinematographer to control the image from start to finish is amazing, and makes my job as a colourist all the easier.

Steve Shaw, Digital Praxis Ltd

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

More costly and time consuming I was most interested to read BSC president Gavin Finney's comments in the March issue of British Cinematographer (BC20).

It revived memories of 'grading meetings' arranged by Robin Vidgeon in 1994 and 1995 when the whole conception of grading was discussed at length. The then relatively new status of 'the colourist' and their contribution to the final 'look' were in question.

Though I have no problem with the use of the advanced systems of telecine and digital methods, it is more costly and time consuming than the 'old' system of grader and DP, working together to achieve the desired final screen image. And who could fault the results achieved on Gone With The Wind, Lawrence Of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, The Red Shoes, Fiddler On The Roof and Women In Love.

Talking to many DP's, it is generally agreed that the colourist (a term I disagreed with) tinkering on telecine, can often alter the DP's vision by destroying intended effects. If the DP, due to other commitments, is unable to attend the grade they can often be unhappy with the final result.

The film grader has great experience in the photographic process and with the DP is better able to produce the desired results on the screen. Thank you Gavin, for highlighting a current problem for directors of photography.

Les Ostinelli BSC, Retired Technical Director - Technicolor Ltd

page

5

UK

production news

Buoyant Brits head for Cannes

Looking good: a view from The Carlton There is a mood of optimism amongst the UK filmmaking fraternity heading off to chew the crudités and savour the rosé on Côte d' Azur, writes Ron Prince. Here's the inside track on the Brits in Cannes 2007.

Many are heading to the 60th Cannes Film Festival with a spring in their steps. And so they should. UK Film Council statistics show the amount of money spent in 2006 on making films in the UK - such as The Golden Age (DP Remi Adefarasian BSC), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (DP Slawomir Idziak), Atonement (DP Seamus McGarvey BSC), and His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (DP Henry Braham BSC) - jumped by 48% to £840.1million, making it the second best year ever. In 2007, the studios and London post facilities continue to be crammed with film production work.

Optimistic: no UK pavilion this year, but a fine outlook nonetheless hosting one-to-one UK film finance sessions with industry finance and tax experts, including Peter Broderick, president of Next Wave Films, which provides vital support to independent filmmakers from the U.S. and abroad. It is also understood there will be a ministerial visit from Her Majesty's Government.

For the 20th consecutive year Kodak is an official sponsor of festival, and the main sponsor of the Camera d'Or (the prestigious award for first time feature film directors). Martin Scorsese - a guest of honour and in Cannes to launch his World Cinema Foundation which aims to preserve and restore cinema works from the world over - will award the Caméra d'Or prize at the closing ceremonies on May 27. In addition to

welcoming customers from all over the world to its Kodak Apartment (in the American Pavilion), located in the heart of the International Village behind the Riviera, the company continues to support young filmmakers through the Cinefondation, "La Residence du Festival" and "l'atelier du Festival" as well as showcasing award-winning short films from all over the world. Kodak will also promote European coproduction through a series of initiatives with ACE (European Independent Producers Association). For regulars, don't forget the annual Kodak Monday lunch by the Med. With Sweeney Todd (DP Dariusz Wolski) in full swing, Mamma Mia! (DP Haris Zambarloukos BSC) in pre-prod, and its brand new 007 Stage gleaming in the spring sunshine, Pinewood

Also, the president of this year's Cannes Jury is director Stephen Frears, who's had such a successful time with The Queen (DP Affonso Beato). Britain dominated Cannes in 2006 with Ken Loach's The Wind that Shakes the Barley (DP Barry Ackroyd BSC) and Andrea Arnold's Red Road (DP Robbie Ryan) scooping the top two prizes, and this year top British talent has a leading role in deciding the winners.

In response to early announcements on the line-up of films in competition, a UK Film Council spokesperson said, “We are delighted that Michael Winterbottom's A Mighty Heart (DP Marcel Zyskind), Mister Lonely (DP Marcel Zyskind) a coproduction from The Recorded Picture Company, and the National Film and Television School's short film For the Love of God, have all been selected for the 2007 Cannes line-up.”

Although there's no UK pavilion this year, not even a shed on the grass outside the Grand Hotel, the UKFC will nevertheless be banging the drum about UK tax incentives and talent,

page

6

Top Brits: director Stephen Frears heads this year's Cannes jury

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

production news

Enrique Chediak), and spilling the beans on its imminent Sohonet “fat pipe” connection.

Sunshine: just one of the films that shows what UK studios and post houses can do Studios will hit the Croisette with the news that it is building no fewer that five news stages, around 100,000 sq/ft, in Tornoto, Canada, with Castlepoint Studios.

With St Trinian's is in full swing too (DP Gavin Finney BSC), Ealing Studios is installing several naughty schoolgirls in a café along the Croisette for a week to raise the profile of the film.

The marketing team at 3 Mills Studios will also be seen along the promenade, basking in Sunshine (DP Alwin Kuchler), filmed entirely in-studio there last year, 28 Days Later (DP

Of the larger London facilities, Moving Picture Company is taking a villa Mougins, for BBQs and “bigging-up” its effects work on films like Sunshine, Amazing Grace (DP Remi Adefarasin BSC), The Chronicles of Narnia (DP Karl Walter Lindenlaub), 10,000BC (DP Ueli Steiger) and Sweeney Todd.

Mike Fraser and the film team at VTR / Clear / Prime Focus Group is hosting its popular First Sunday BBQ at the Villa Rose again, having just finished DIs on 28 Weeks Later and Strength and Honour (DP Alan Almond BSC) being screened at the Festival.

Of the smaller post houses, Cineimage will be quietly shouting about its new DI grading and digital deliverable capabilities, as deployed on films like Apocalypto (DP Dean Semler), Notes on a Scandal (DP Chris Menges BSC) and Pirates Of The Caribbean (DP Dariusz Wolski). Arion will be extolling the virtues of its new HD digital dailies services, and Narduzzo Too is showing off its restoration prowess in getting old TV series like The Sweeney fit and ready for an HD world.

No doubt, the UK facilities and studios will enjoy seeing the figure of Gaynor Davenport, chief executive of trade

association UK Post & Services. She commented, “We are delighted to see confidence returning to the UK. The message about the new tax incentives is getting through to more and more incoming filmmakers, and we're in Cannes to reinforce that.”

For those who just cannot stand being without football, Deluxe has organised its annual football match on the Monday night. Any bruises, aches and pains acquired during said kickabout can be eased at Technicolor's renowned Tuesday lunch at the Carlton, and completely drowned at the Fuji, Quantel and JDC Hat Factory bash in the evening.

Ron Perelman, head of Revlon, Hummer and the empire that is Deluxe, Panavision, Lee and AFM, is rumoured to have already moored his super-large, super-luxurious barge in the bay, with special invites going out to guests during the festival.

The Hostellerie du Golf, in Mandelieu-La Napoule is always a magnet for Brits. Hanging out on the terrace after hours, expect to find producers, directors, agents and the production executives of just about all the major film facilities and service companies in the UK - too many to name here, but rest assured they will be there.

Arion gets Spirit HD As part of an initiative to upgrade its high-definition digital dailies services Arion, the Denham-based post-production and duplication facility, has invested around £750,000 in a Grass Valley Spirit HD DataCine and a new digital projection system.

combined at Arion with a Pogle Platinum controller. The company has also purchased a JVC DLP HD 10K projector, to enable its colourists to grade via projector as well as monitors. Arion expects its new equipment to be up and running at the end of May.

Spirit supports telecine and high-speed film scanning, outputs all standard-definition and HD resolutions up to 1920x1080 pixels, in video or data formats, and is being

“Telecine has always been the heart of our facility,” said Arion managing director Neil Mockler. “Although Spirit is capable of mastering, we will be using ours to boost our

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

digital dailies services. We already use a Shadow for HD dailies, and decided that any new investment had to take us a step further into the digital realm.”

Arion has recently provided services to Better Things, Run, Fat Boy, Run, The Bourne Ultimatum, Fred Claus, Death Defying Acts, Dangerous Parking and Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

page

7

UK

production news

Schulz Sprayoff Schulz Camerasupport of Munich has launched the Sprayoff micro, a classic rain deflector offering a range of new features. The Sprayoff micro's design enables easy handling and quick setup. It can be used with existing matte boxes, such as ARRI's LMB-5 and MB19, and is pushed into the matte box rather than the front filter tray, leaving at least one filter tray available for use.

With an optical width of 118mm, it is suitable for use with wide formats and wide-angle lenses. The micro weights 450gm, with power supplied from the camera with an RS-cable. Schulz plans to launch the a mini version (to fit into the Arri LMB-4 and MB-14 mattebboxes) mid-June, followed different sized versions for broadcast and video markets later in the year.

Kodak rolls out more digital cinema technology in UK Empire Cinemas, one of the UK's largest privately-owned cinema chains, has installed the Kodak Digital Cinema solution, including the new Kodak Theatre Management System (TMS), at its six-screen multiplex in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

and TMS were also installed recently at all nine screens at the Odeon Theatre in Hatfield.

“Audiences will be treated to a great motion picture experience,” said Brian Kercher, Kodak Digital Cinema general manager for Europe. “We're thrilled to be working with Empire Cinemas because their vision for the possibilities of digital cinemas matches well with Kodak's. The Kodak TMS will help them improve their workflow, automate content handling, and more fully realise the promise of digital cinema.”

As part of its campaign to promote film as an acquisition format, Kodak released details of features being shot on 35mm Kodak stock. These include Agent Crush DP Peter Field; Gurinder Chadha's Angus, Thongs & Full Frontal Snogging; Ben's Angels, DP Derek Suter BSC; Bourne Ultimatum, DP Oliver Wood; Incendiary, DP Ben Davis BSC; Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, DP John De Borman BSC; Rory's First Kiss, Wally Pfister ASC; Sweeney Todd, DP Dariusz Wolski; and St Trinian's, DP Gavin Finney BSC.

The Kodak Digital Cinema system handles 2D or 3D movies, automatically recognizes the compression format used (JPEG or MPEG) and employs that for playback. It is designed to be used as a standalone unit for a single screen, or in fully network configurations on many screens, with Kodak's TMS controlling the network. Kodak's Digital Cinema content player

Television dramas shot on Kodak 16mm include, Clapham Junction, DP Tony Slater-Ling; Cold Blood III, DP Tony Coldwell; Doc Martin III, DP Chris Howard BSC; Love Soup II, DP Geoff Harrison; Rebus, DP Ali Walker; Spooks VI, DPs Damian Bromley and Kieran McGuigan; and Waking The Dead V, DPs Andre Austin and Mike Spragg.

Axis Films hosts CML's HD camera comparisons

Compare and contrast: Cinematography Mailing List and Axis Films hosted a camera shoot out. DPs Gavin Finney BSC and Geoff Boyle debate the finer points.

A professional comparative camera test and analysis day for Cinematography Mailing List (CML) members, as well as clients of Axis Films, was held at Shepperton Studios recently.

The day enabled over 80 people involved in digital and film cinematography to test equipment in a professional camera scenario. Attendees included Digit One from Italy, with Viper cameras and mobile camera van, as well as others who flew in from Spain and the USA. DP Geoff Boyle, FBKS and founder of CML said, “We are told again and again that digital acquisition is the way forward, that it's "better than film" or at least as good. Is this the truth or is it just PR spin? I decided that the only way I would be happy was to go ahead and test all the high-end digital origin cameras myself. This proved to be much harder that I

page

8

expected. I wanted to do a very simple test, a latitude test. I used the same chart that I use to test a new film stock and used it in exactly the same way that I do to establish a film's latitude. This is now the third time I've done this and I learn more about the testing process and the cameras each time. I also inevitably learn a lot about people's pre-conceived ideas."

All the available cameras were setup on E Stage at Shepperton to allow open discussion and evaluation. Each camera, slated to be part of the full latitude test, was taken to Axis Post where and connected directly to a Quantel iQ Pablo and digital cinema projector. All tests were controlled using charts that were lit to a T2 and T22 standard, with an ISO of 320. The cameras were fitted with either Zeiss or film prime lenses.

The cameras tested included 16mm film, ARRI D-20, Iconix HD camera, Panasonic Varicam & AG-HVX200, Rugerent Modular HDCam, Sony 750, Sony F950 and F900 with Digital Praxis Cinelog Curve, and Thomson Viper FilmStream. Each was connected to a variety of recorders including Axis' Quantel iQ Pablo system, as well as SRW-1 recorders courtesy of UK-based Rogue Element Films and Digit One. There were also recording devices from Codex Digital, S.Two Digital Film Recorders and a Clipster. CineTal monitors were provided by InnoMedia Systems and other kit included Miller Heads and South London Filters. The results of the in-depth tests are published on the CML website, www.cinematography.net/compare%202007/index.htm.

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

production news

BSC announces cinematography nominations

Can Casino Royale prove a banker for Phil Méheux BSC? The British Society of Cinematographers has announced the nominations for its Best Cinematography Award, for films released in the UK during the year 2006. They are: José Luis Alcaine AEC for Volver, Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS for Memoirs of a Geisha, Emmanuel Lubezki ASC for Children of Men, Phil Méheux BSC for Casino Royale, Guillermo Navarro, ASC, AMC for Pan's Labyrinth, and Wally Pfister ASC for The Prestige. The Award will be announced at presented on Sunday 15th July 2007 at the BSC Summer Luncheon at Pinewood Studios.

Cooke, Avid and Red Cooke Optics, a manufacturer of precision lenses for the motion picture industry, and Avid Technology, Inc. have announced support for the Cooke-developed /i Technology into Avid editing systems. Now, systems such as Avid's Media Composer can read digitally-captured camera and lens data (including time stamp, lens/camera serial number, reel number, continuous readings of focus, iris, and zoom values, close and far focus, horizontal field of view, entrance pupil position, normalize zoom value and camera status) and pass it through editorial into visual effects. Red Digital Cinema has joined the list of companies to incorporate support for /i Technology into their products, which already includes ARRI, Cinematography Electronics, CMotion, Preston Cinema Systems, The Pixel Farm and Service Vision.

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Pinewood launches 007 stage website The Pinewood Studios Group has launched a new website (www.007stage.com) to mark the practical reopening of its revitalized 007 Stage. The stage, which was rebuilt following a devastating fire in July 2006, is currently the largest stage in Europe with an internal area of 59,000sq/ft and a tank capable of holding 5.25m litres. A number of features have been incorporated to enable filmmakers to get the most out of the stage include a vehicle access ramp directly into the tank, aircraft hangar style loading doors and improved sound proofing.

“The 007 Stage and Pinewood are such an integral part of the British film industry. The new official website gives both professionals and the public alike a chance to discover for themselves the rebuilt stage and its new features,” said sales and marketing director Nick Smith. The new website features exclusive content, including images of the fire in July 2006, and custom-made video, animation and interactive elements detailing its redesign.

The world famous 007 stage at Pinewood was built in 1976 for the Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me. It has since housed Cambodian Temples for Lara Croft Tomb Raider, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon for Alexander, The Louvre Gallery for The Da Vinci Code, The Chocolate River for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and several spectacular scenes from Casino Royale.

page

9

UK

P. O . V .

Commission not impossible Colin Brown, the new film commissioner at the UK Film Council, believes the UK is in a great position to attract international filmmakers, and is taking the message direct to the Hollywood studios.

Having been on the board of the UK Film Council for three years, and working in visual effects for more than decade, I'm delighted to now jump into the driving seat as British Film Commissioner. It's pretty easy to sum up my job and my vision for the role - getting as much business from the US studios into the UK as possible and supporting the UK infrastructure. If only it were as simple to deliver!

That said, we are in a great position in the UK thanks to the phenomenal skills and talent that we have in front and, just as importantly, behind the camera. We've had such a great start to the year with nominations and success at awards ceremonies on both sides of the Atlantic, from our own BIFAs to the Golden Globes, LA and New York Critics awards, the BAFTAs and the Oscars. Spirits are also riding high because the British film production sector engine has stepped up a gear, largely fuelled by an injection of confidence delivered by the news of the new film tax relief.

One of biggest selling points is the UK's capacity to accommodate several major films at once, and the highly skilled technicians who have honed their skills on these films.

This taken together with our new tax relief ¬- which is cleaner and simpler than the last, designed especially for filmmakers with the benefit going direct to them - makes us extremely competitive. With two rates of tax relief for low budget and high budget films returning 20% and 16% of the total budget of the film to the filmmaker, it is a good deal.

“ W h a t d e c i s i o n m a ke r s i n Hollywood prize most highly for their prestige productions is the mixture of technical virtuosity and real visual art ” Without doubt the UK is the best place in the world to make a film. It might be cheaper on paper to go abroad, but what decision makers in Hollywood prize most highly for their prestige productions is the mixture of technical virtuosity and real visual art, which allows the director to move from set-up to set-up with total confidence that his cinematographer and crew have captured all the value there is to be had. And that production value will be up on the screen for all to see. The studios know it, which is why they come back to the UK time and time again. We deliver for them and the figures bear it out.

It's worth reflecting on how successful the UK has been at pulling in the business.

2006 was our second best year ever, with £842 million of production spend in the UK, a jump of almost 50% on 2005. My job is to build on this. Having recently returned from LA, I am optimistic about the future. Relationships with the US studios are very positive and they believe that the new tax reliefs provide a solid incentive to film in the UK. Though it is still early days in my tenure at the UK Film Council, one of the key things I hope to do over the next few months is to put more resource into our LA office on a permanent basis to assist the studios with their enquiries and to keep a watchful eye on what our competitors are doing. We have such a wealth of incentives for the studios to come to the UK, ensuring that they understand what's available, how they

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

“ We h a v e s u c h a w e a l t h o f incentives for the studios to come to the UK, ensuring that they understand what's available, how they can access it, and why it is better than other countries, are the most important things I can achieve” can access it, and why it is better than other countries, are the most important things I can achieve over the next few months. I think the studios already know that those incentives are more than matched by the technical artistry - the other crucial element in the decision-making process. Something else I'm exploring is ensuring productions receive bespoke support across the entire production process, and sharing more information on the latest market trends, so that we can all play our part in promoting the UK as a filming destination.

Of course there will be challenges along the way, not least the weak dollar exchange rate, but there are a number of big studio films already being made in the UK this year including Dreamworks/Warner Bros's Sweeney Todd, New Line's His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass, Universal's The Bourne Ultimatum, and Warner Bros's Fred Claus.

And there's more to come with Universal's Mamma Mia!, Warner Bros's The Dark Knight, Columbia/Sony's Angels and Demons amongst others all set to shoot this year.

I've had the pleasure of working with some of the greatest cinematographers in my previous role at Cinesite, and look forward to working with them and the whole of the UK production sector - the engine of the UK film industry - again in my new role.

Colin Brown British Film Commissioner, UK Film Council Colin Brown took up the role of British Film Commissioner at the UK Film Council in February 2007. He is responsible for feature film inward investment into the UK and for promoting the UK as a filming hub for international filmmakers. He is also a board member of UK Post & Services.

Prior to his current role, he spent over a decade at post-production house Cinesite (Europe) Ltd, founding the company in 1994 and becoming its chairman in 2002. Prior to Cinesite, he was MD of European Television Network Group, Molinare Ltd., and executive vice president of Rank Cintel.

page

11

UK

who’s shooting who?

Who’s Shooting Who? Runaway success! DP Philipp Baubach in the thick of things on The Escapist, previewing at Cannes

Wizzo wrote in about their recent signing Philipp Blaubach, who just shot director Rupert Wyatt's first feature, The Escapist, a film whose trailer will preview at Cannes this year.

“The Escapist is a prison-break thriller,” says the letter, “starring Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Liam Cunningham, Seu Jorge, Dominic Cooper, Stephen Macintosh and Damian Lewis. It was shot on a tight, 26-day schedule on location at the Kilmainham Jail museum and Conolly Station tunnels in Dublin, as well as several rarely-seen subterranean locations in London, including Charing Cross station and Tower Bridge engine room. Sets were constructed in John Players studio Dublin and a water tank in London's Park Royal studio. The €3.2m Euros production, by Picture Farm (UK) and Parallel Films (Ireland), is writer director Rupert Wyatt's debut feature.

He previously collaborated with DP Philipp Blaubach on three short films, most recently on the critically acclaimed Get The Picture, also starring Brian Cox. The film was shot on Super 16 (Kodak 7218) and will be finished through a 2K DI and laser film-out at One Post. The decision to shoot on Super 16 was primarily financial, in order to allow more production value in front of the camera, and to facilitate eight days of night

Fight scene on The Escapist

page

12

shooting in Kilmainham Jail which allowed for more control over the lighting of the location. However, after some testing the filmmakers found that the added texture of 16mm added a grit which suited the subject and the all male cast of prison inmates. The Escapist is planed for release in the UK and Ireland in October.”

Over at ARRI Crew… Steve Lawes is in post production on Granada's Time of Your Life, a six-part drama directed by David Blair. Shooting finished just before Christmas and Steve is currently grading the final episodes at Pepper. Shot on location around South London on Super 16mm, Time of Your Life is set to air in June. Ian Foster has been shooting various commercials with Lynn Fox at Blink, most recently for Ballantine's whisky and the Audi R8. Daniel Trapp is shooting a combo of Super 16mm and 35mm on feature film Wave Rider (working title), with director Joel Conroy, and producer Margo Halkin. Shooting on location in Ireland, California and Hawaii with such surfing greats as Kelly Slater, the Malloy Brother, Gabriel Davies and local Irish boy Ritchie Fitzgerald.

The final section of the film is yet to be completed - it's surf-

dependant in Ireland! Sarah Bartles Smith recently returned from Germany after taking part in her second week-long Moon Stone International experience. Along with a number of other DPs, she helps workshop scenes from first time directors. Kit Fraser is nearing completion on Dubplate Drama, as featured in the last edition. Zubin Mistry is back from LA where he was shooting a commercial for Verizon with the director Medhi Norowzian. Previously they were both in South Africa shooting an 02 campaign. Zubin's next project is The F-Word with Gordon Ramsay for C4.

Of the DPs at Dinedor… Peter Field is nearing the end of his assignment with Agent Crush (see Close Ups), after which he's off doing second unit on Doomsday. Florian Hoffmeister is getting set to do A Number for Rainmark Films for BBC/HBO. Grant Scott Cameron has joined Taggart, Mike Fox BSC has nipped into Tiger Aspect for some Ginger and Black, whilst Andrew Johnson has finished his season for Dream Team at Hewland. Trevor Forrest has shot ads for Sony and Greggs, both for Benjamin Tonge at Chief. With the credits set to roll on the first series of Jennifer Saunders' The Vivienne Vyle Show, Tom Townend has shown his face for Max Factor and found time for promos with Trudy Bellinger at Crossroads, and Scott Lyon at Factory films. Pete Ellmore has been up to his elbows in Fairy and Ribena, and Adam Frisch FSF has enjoyed several glamorous videos directed by Sarah Chatfield at Colonel Blimp, plus more for Pulse, Flynn, and trails for Sky. Stuart Harris returned from New York to shoot yet more music videos for a busy Kevin Hewitt at Public Pictures.

At ICM… Barry Ackroyd BSC has been busy with Smith & Sons Films on spots for Garmin, Lucozade and Miller Lite as well as a Ladbrokes shoot with Peter Cattaneo, Nationwide with Armando Iannucci at Moon, and Pizza Hut with Simon Levine at Therapy Films. Simon Coull was in Germany, Argentina, Italy and Australia shooting ads for various directors including Olivier Venturini, Peter Darley Miller, Howard Greenhalgh and Phil Griffin. His second feature film West 32nd, directed by Michael Kang, has been selected for competition at Tribeca Film Festival. Oliver Curtis BSC shot an Erocca Sunglasses spot for Transparent recently starring Naomi Campbell as well as other ads with Martin Brierly and Sam Leifer at Bare, and Head & Shoulders with Sven Harding

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

who’s shooting who?

DP Daniel Trapp on Wave Rider

at Park Village. Before heading off to shoot his current feature Incendiary, directed by Sharon Maguire, starring Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor, Ben Davis BSC was busy shooting ads for Toyota. Lawrence Gardner recently finished the 60-minute drama Our Mutual Friends for BBC1.

Since finishing Hot Fuzz it's been a frantic start to the year for Jess Hall, having been in Argentina shooting a DHL spot with Erich Joiner at Rogue, a Bavaria Beer spot with David Frankham at Stink, and a mammoth Orange shoot in South Africa for Ringan Ledwidge of Rattling Stick. John Kenway has started on Gate TV's A Risk Worth Taking with director, Paul Seed in Scotland. Martin Kenzie has been doing some work on Babylon AD directed by Mathieu Kassovitz in Prague.

Darius Khondji ASC, AFC has started on The Ruins directed

by Carter Smith in Australia. Dan Landin shot a multitude of ads recently, including a Halifax spot with Chris Palmer at Gorgeous, a Carlsberg shoot in LA with Rocky Morton, and another Sony ad this time with Brett Foraker at RSA.

Eye, eye! DP Steve Lawes is now in post on Granada’s Time of Your Life

John Mathieson BSC is back-to-back with commercials shooting an HBO spot with Sam Mendes in New York, H&M with Dawn Shadforth / RSA in Acapulco starring Kylie Minogue, “Wild Rose" Kate Moss fragrance commercial with Milly Films, and a Renault spot with Psyop at Stink. Sam McCurdy recently started on the next Neil Marshall project Doomsday, a futuristic political action thriller. Mattias Montero recently returned from a worldwide shoot for AT&T with Seb Edwards at Academy. David Odd BSC has started on the BBC drama Mary Whitehouse, which Andy de Emmony is directing and Richard Burrell producing. Straight off the back of this, he will lens Festival Film and Television's Half Broken Things with director, Tim Fywell, and producer, Ray Marshall for ITV. Dick Pope BSC has started prep on the next Untitled Mike Leigh film, and Christopher Ross is on Paul Andrew Williams' The Cottage, a dark comedy gangster horror set at night in the English Countryside.

Unfeasibly large! DP Daniel Trapp lines up his next shots on Wave Rider

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Ashley Rowe BSC is attached to John Irvin's next project Garden of Eden, an adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's book, to shoot in Spain. Ben Seresin has returned from Moscow where he was shooting Nike's first campaign specifically for the Russian market, directed by Paul Shearer at Great Guns.

Before heading off on his next TV Drama project The Cranford Chronicles Ben Smithard was busy shooting with Joanna Bailey at The Weiland Film Co, and before that spent a month with Niall Downing and the 2am gang shooting a Birdseye commercial in South Africa and Iceland. David Ungaro has just finished shooting with director Phillippe Andre on Ford ad with Bikini films. Mark Waters has commences shooting (blocks 1 & 2) on the second series of the BBC's Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood. Ed Wild is back in the land of commercials and promo's having recently worked with Rani Creevy at Between The Eyes and Stefan Elliot at Crossroads.

Nigel Willoughby is currently working a TV series called Last Enemy, directed by Iain MacDonald, a five-part political thriller set in the immediate future, which examines the effects on civil liberties that increased security measures cause.

At McKinney Macartney… Flic wrote in at the time of the passing of “Fearless” Freddie Francis saying, “He was a wonderful man to represent, and such a fabulous person.”

Stuart Biddlecombe is shooting Bono, Bob, Brian and Me, a mockumentary about a couple of friends who head to the North Pole on a road trip to highlight climate change. John de Borman BSC is working on Bharat Nalluri's latest project Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day starring Frances McDormand as a governess working in 1938 who starts a job working for an actress. Gavin Finney BSC is continuing his enrollment at St Trinian's with a huge cast opening the doors of the famous school once again for directors Barnaby Thompson and Oliver Parker. Tony Pierce-Roberts BSC is working on Made of Honor, a comedy for director Paul Weiland which tells the story of a man trying to woo his very much engaged friend, even after she asks him to be her maid of honour. Nina Kellgren BSC is working on Isaac Juliens' latest installation project, Small Boats. As well as shooting commercials John Pardue has been working on a short Love Story for director Ahmet Gupta. Chris Seager BSC is with actor-turneddirector Michael Keaton for the drama Merry Gentleman, and will be leaping onto War Reporter for director Mark Brozel.

David Tattersall BSC is prepping the Wachowski Brothers'

page

13

UK

who’s shooting who?

Wig Wam Bam! Olly Curtis BSC on location in Almeria for a Halifax commercial

East rider! Mattias Montero straddles the camera on a Saab shoot in Barcelona with director Adam Berg

new project Speed Racer, a blockbuster based on the classic '60's Japanese cartoon about a young racing driver and his quest to be the champion. Rumoured to be shooting with the Sony's new F23 camera, and the HD/2K/4K field recording system from Codex Digital. Ben Butler, Denis Crossan, John Lynch, Hong Manley, Sebastian Milaszewski, Jake Polonsky, Clive Tickner, Darran Tiernan and Michael Wood have all been busy filming commercials and promos.

alongside Pierce Brosnan. A Mighty Heart, shot by Marcel Zyskind is screening in Cannes, as might Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely, also shot by Marcel. He is prepping the next Lukas Moodyson film, which is shooting in the autumn, and is attached to Genova, to be directed by Michael Winterbottom. Congratulations go to Danny Cohen who was nominated for a BAFTA Craft Award in the Best Photography and Lighting: Fiction/Entertainment category for his work on Longford. He has completed principal photography on Coming Down The Mountain for Tiger Aspect, and will soon be heading off to Hungary to shoot the new HBO drama John Adams for director Tom Hooper. Andrew Dunn BSC is also in Hungary shooting Good for director Vicente Amorim. Based on the stage play by CP Taylor, Good will star Viggo Mortensen. Lukas Strebel continues to keep busy with the new ITV drama Whistleblowers and is due to finish the final block at the end of May. Alan Almond BSC recently completed Comet for Darlow Smithson directed by Keith Boak, has just shot a Nescafé commercial in Moscow with David Evans through Annex Films London

The news from PFD is… Danny Boyle's Sunshine, a truly beautiful film lit by Alwin Kuchler BSC, opened to a brilliant critical response. Alwin is currently travelling around the world working on commercials, including a Smirnoff spot with Danny Kleinman at Rattling Stick in New Zealand. Simon Richards lit the drama Fallen Angel, which had super viewing figures when it was shown over three consecutive nights in March on ITV1. Tony Slater-Ling shot The Good Samaritan for director Kenny Glenaan recently and is currently shooting the drama Clapham Junction with director Adrian Shergold. Paul Sarossy CSC, BSC is in South Africa lighting a feature film, The Deal directed by Steven Schachter and starring William H. Macy and Meg Ryan. Haris Zambarloukos BSC is busy prepping Mamma Mia!, due to shoot at the end of June at Pinewood and on location in Greece, with Meryl Streep confirmed in the lead role

PFD's commercials division reports that… Daniel Bronks has recently completed a Goodyear commercial with Mike Long through Epoch Films London, a Danone commercial with David Gray at Hungry Man, and collaborated again with director Brett Foraker on another set of award-winning Channel 4 idents. Alex Melman has been busy with ads for Visa with director Paul Goldman through Partizan Paris, and Debenhams with director Patrik Bergh in LA through Partizan London. Tat Radcliffe photographed the new Arctic Monkeys video Flourescent Adolescent through Warp Films. Alex Barber has shot a Renault commercial with director David Shane through Wanda Productions in Barcelona, and a new Sony spot with Pleix at Blink Productions. Stephen Blackman lensed a new Lexus ad with Raf Wathion through Caviar, LA and worked with Stacy Wall at Epoch Films London on a new Tesco commercial. Simon Chaudoir has shot a Tele 2 commercial for director Scott Vincent at Hungry Man and a Scion 'Boxhead' commercial with James Rouse at Outsider. Colin Watkinson has been busy shooting with Anthony Hoffman at Radical Media in Spain, Shanghai and LA for Citibank, and Brendan Galvin lit a new Vodafone commercial with Giuseppe Capotondi through Mercurio Cinematografica in Italy and Buenos Aires, along with another Vodafone commercial in Ireland with director John Moore c/o Russell Curran productions.

Leaping on to the ladies at Sara Putt Associates, the story is… Chris Howard BSC is lensing the next series of Doc Martin for Buffalo Pictures, whilst Dave Marsh is on Billy Goat Gruff, one of the fairytales for Hat Trick Productions and BBC. Julian Morson is shooting Incendiary for Film4. Peter Greenhalgh BSC is lighting The Old Curiosity Shop for Brian Percival for Carnival Films. Nick Dance is attached to the next series of C4's amazingly popular Skins for Company Pictures. Pete Wignal is doing second unit on Universal's Bourne Ultimatum, with Philip Sindell in a corresponding role on Mamma Mia! for Universal and Littlestar.

Brand new signing to Wizzo drama is Per Tingleff who, as well as having already lit the first series, is just about to start lighting the second series of Jack Dee's Lead Balloon for BBC comedy. Shane Daly is shooting another Wire In The Blood for Coastal Productions and is all set to start on the second series of the RTS award-winning Manchester based drama The Street with director Terry McDonaugh. Malcolm Maclean is back from the Bahamas where he shot a large-scale docu/drama called Indianapolis/ Blood In The Water for Brook Lapping Productions. He is just about to start shooting second unit on Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day for main unit DP John De Boorman BSC through Kudos. Rob Hardy is lighting a one-off drama for C4, Boy A for film director John Crowley (debut feature Intermission), about a man who was convicted of murder as a child, spent his young life in prison, and has to live hiding his true identity. Angus Hudson (see Close Ups) has finished lighting Sean Ellis' second feature The Broken through Ugly Duckling Films. Donal Gilligan recently shot Sea of Souls as part of the Supernatural series for Carnival. Ben Cole has completed the feature biopic documentary about Joe Strummer for Julien Temple through C4.

page

14

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

shooting the future

BSC Show Review

Seek and you shall find: there were an number of gems at the BSC Show this year

The annual BSC show at Elstree Studios is eagerly awaited by many in the UK, writes John Keedwell. With major equipment manufacturers and distributors coming back each year, it is now firmly at the head of all the UK shows.

Other shows may be in bigger venues, but have changed their focus over the years. For a full-on camera, lighting and equipment experience, there really is no better.

On initial inspection, the 2007 event didn't seem to have a great deal of new items to entice.

head, Cooke lenses, Arriflex cameras, and the improved Panavision Genesis camera.

However, a closer look revealed somewhat of a different story, with most manufacturers showing one or more brand new pieces that were only finished days before.

Dotted throughout were some new items, such as the brand new Cooke 300mm T2.8 lens, Rosco panel lights, the Gekko Technology's “George” LED ringlight, the new Kontrol Freaxx moco rig, Mark Roberts Ulti-head, and the ARRI 2-perf cameras mechanism, to name a few. Here's a closer look…

Many of the major items were already previewed (see BC 20), including the Louma 2 crane and

Gekko Technology George ringlight

and Panavision PV bars, without the need for any mounting brackets or adaptor clamps.

What makes this stand out from many other units is down to the user-friendly details. This includes the diffusion filter that self-locates onto the lamp face itself when it is in range of special locating magnets. The new power unit accepts any 12 - 40 volt camera battery and provides flicker free power.

There's also individual switching of top, bottom, left and right and dimming from 100% to 5% without altering colour temperature, plus instant start, at preset dim level, all at full colour temperature.

By George! Inventive Gekko does it again with another brand new ringlight This new George 32 LED ringlight system is now larger in diameter than the original 24 LED Kisslite, and is particularly suited for use in conjunction with larger lenses. It is also designed primarily for drama and commercial shooting. The unit is still a single ring of LED lights, giving a very small unit thickness that has many advantages. Primarily it leaves the operator and 1st AC with a very good view of the action happening outside of the frame without obstructing their

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

view. This leaves them both free to anticipate action, and to time their camera moves and focus pulls accordingly. Some other ringlights are known to obscure the operator's and focus puller's views of the action in front of the lens, and that can affect operations in some situations.

Available in either 3200K and 5600K balanced light sources, the George ringlight unit slides onto ARRI 15mm / 19mm bars,

The wireless remote control option features remote control of dimming, on/off, and sector switching, with UK and US licence free frequency options, with a range of up to 200 metres. A wired remote dimmer and DMX dimming control will be added during 2007. Gekko's Kisslite was launched in 2004. Recent appearances on major motion picture film sets include Casino Royale, Death Defying Acts, Golden Compass, Mutant Chronicles, as well as TV series Waking the Dead and New Tricks.

page

15

UK

shooting the future

Off Trax

Easy rider: new Off Trax tracking vehicle impressed several DPs Off Trax decided to create the ultimate tracking vehicle, and after many years of labour this culminated in a new Dodge tracking car. The concept was to come up with a quick and easyto-use camera car which would prove a safe and enjoyable experience for the crew.

A brand new Dodge Ram 'Laramie Edition' was chosen as the base vehicle. This is the ideal vehicle because of its combination of good payload, powerful 345 BHP engine and top of the range interior trim.

Ronford-Baker A smaller version of the Atlas head, the Atlas 30 was new. With fingertip control, the patented counterbalance system handles 16mm and HD video cameras. The head incorporates the well-proven Ronford-Baker progressive counterbalance multistage fluid damping system.

The original Atlas was on show too, suitable for heavier 35mm Panavision and ARRI cameras. Also the very popular Slider units were seen, available from 19” to 96” in length. The slider carriage, glides on its hardened and ground stainless steel rails with ease.

The carriage is braked for lock-off. The whole unit rotates on its Mitchell mounting, which is also braked. upazuuka is the most rigid and versatile modular Bazooka system ever built. This has a Mitchell fitting with a tri-point adaptor for quick fitting. The whole unit, with fixed and adjustable risers, can be built without the use of tools. This patented device forms a rigid working platform. The Universal rolling spider is for use on standard width dolly track, and has options to fit castors or skateboard wheels. These are quickly detachable, captured by thumbscrews. There is the option to fit a Euro-coupling onto the base. This compact unit fits into a Peli 1600 case.

The best possible ride quality is acheived with a fully automatic self-levelling air suspension system, with adjustable gas shock absorbers designed and installed as a one-off by GlideRite.

It also has good ergonomics - easy-to-use handles, no sharp corners or snag hazards, excellent comms (an open-mic wireless system that doesn't require walkie-style button pressing), onboard power (a 1kw inverter for monitors and a 5.5kw Honda generator built into a cabinet with its own stainless steel exhaust) - as well as stylish looks, with coachwork designed and built by John Dennis Coachbuilders.

Rosco Staying with lighting, the Rosco booth next door to Gekko was showing the Litepad, an extremely interesting LED lighting unit that creates a soft glow from a flat panel that is only a few millimetres in thickness. The panels come in various sizes and create a luminescent soft glow through reflection, with a series of small mirrors on the panels surface reflecting the light in one direction. The units can be placed in very small places. A kit is now available that consists of ten Litepads, two of each size.

Also at Rosco was the green or blue Digicomp aircraft cable, which is coloured so that it allows seamless compositing for flying scenery and actors in front of compositing screens. A simple yet extremely effective idea.

Kontrol Freax Motion Control

Cooke lenses Cooke didn't disappoint and produced a brand new 300mm f2.8 lens, which was completed just a few days before the show. The result was simply a magnificent piece of art. Recent features in production or shot with Cooke S4 lenses include The Illusionist, DP Dick Pope BSC; Casino Royale, DP Phil Méheux BSC; One Night With The King, DP Steve Bernstein; All the King's Men, DP Pawel Edelman; and The Bourne Ultimatum, DP John Powell.

page

16

Glowing all over: Rosco's new Litepads are small and convenient

The Mo-Sys is a versatile and reliable frame-accurate motion control system that is designed for ease of use and fast set up times. The system has six axes of operation, pan, tilt track, focus, iris, and zoom. In addition the brand new system shown for the first time also has a rise and fall mechanism that gives an added dimension to the shot.

Controlled: flexible and portable mo-co from Kontrol Freaks

For international travel, the rig packs into four flight cases and weighs only 130kg. Using standard 24v camera batteries for power the Mo-Sys can go pretty much anywhere a camera can.

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

shooting the future

Mark Roberts Motion Control

Lenses Abakus high-end range of top quality High Definition B4 mount lenses including the amazing ultra-wide Abakus Stadium lens with its 210° diagonal view! The less extreme Abakus Arena and Theatre lenses employ the same design concept.

Format converters: the Abakus-132 and Abakus-260 enable B4-mount lens use for super-16 and super-35 respectively.

Also the Abakus x1.2 converts 10-100 Zeiss to super-16. If you use video lenses on a tripod you will appreciate the Abakus Viewfinder Extender system, it will save your back. This Abakus system is the best on the market. All Abakus products designed and made in the UK.

www.abakus.co.uk

Heads and rails: Mark Roberts gear is renowned for precision engineering Staying with the world of motion controlled camera moves, Mark Roberts Motion Control showed its new Modula' Base and high-speed track. The base is part of the Modula' Rig, a highly modular motion control system that can be built up into whatever motion configuration you might need. At the show the company was specifically showing the capabilities of the Ulti-head when combined with the high-speed track.

Because the track uses ball-bearing precision rails instead of standard dolly rail, ultra-precise movements can be made even at high speeds. The 3-4 meters per second achieved by the small base is much faster than with most other rail products, and allows high-speed moves to be done with sufficient precision and smoothness for motion control work.

But the Modula' base is not limited to working with bearing rail. Its "feet" can be quickly changed over to dolly castors to work on industry standard dolly rail. The rail itself folds to become easily transportable and is remarkably lightweight. The Modula' base itself is very lightweight at 8kg excluding the motor drive, but extremely rigid which is most important to stop any flexing. The Ulti-head on the Modula' base also had the optional secondary tilt support changing it from an L-shaped head to a U-shaped head which greatly increases the payload capability from the standard 35kg, allowing it to carry heavy camera packages or 65mm, as well as helping with rigidity.

ARRI ARRI demonstrated its new 2-perf pulldown system. This is not a new idea (Sergio Leone used the widescreen look in A Fistful of Dollars and The Good the Bad and the Ugly). The format disappeared at the end of the 1970s due to the coarse grain structure of available film stocks, along with the optical processes at the time.

With new ultra-sharp lenses, modern super fine-grained film stocks, and Digital ARRI: it's all about those little perforations Intermediate, these all combine to achieve a 2-perf image with a natural 2.39:1 on standard 35mm stock. It is also suitable for 1:1.85 and 1:1.79.

The major advantage translates into a reduction in film stock and subsequent reduction in processing and telecine costs, with only a minimal reduction in negative area compared to 4perf. For example, a 1,000ft magazine will normally run for 10 minutes 43 seconds at 4-perf rates. At the same camera speed the 1,000ft magazine now lasts for 21 minutes 26 seconds.

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Motion Control in a suitcase? ‌ well almost!

The Kontrol Freax motion control rig ,one of the smallest systems in the world, has been used throughout the world on Features, Commercials and Promos.

Battery operated and weighing in at around 130kg; the system packs down into small flight cases for easy transport by air or road. It really does go absolutely anywhere.

It has seven axis of operation: pan, tilt, track, jib, focus, iris and zoom. All are easily programmable using a mimic system.

For further information go to www.kontrolfreax.com or call us on +44 (0)20 8992 8222

page

17

FEATURE

camera creative

Challenged: McClane is older, wiser and has to get to grips with cyberspace

Unsteady-cam: often shooting fast and folliwing the action close up

Return of the hero J o h n M c C l a n e i s b a c k o n t h e b i g s c r e e n i n L i v e Fr e e o r D i e H a r d . Pa u l i n e R o g e r s m e t u p w i t h D P S i m o n D u g g a n AC S t o d i s c o v e r t h e i n g r e d i e n t s t h a t w e n t i n t o t h e r e t u r n of the all-action Hollywood hero.

Dismantle the computer and technological structures that rule our daily lives! Sounds like a great idea for getting back to good old-fashioned human contact. Of course if the motive isn't to bring us closer together, but rather to control the world's economy, the idea is altogether different and is certainly sinister.

The sinister motive is just what “old school” hero, police detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) and his young hacker companion (Justin Long) must defeat in the new Live Free or Die Hard. It makes for a very wild ride of old-school brawn versus new-school technovillainy.

“Analogue” thinking vs. high tech digital Tasked with bringing this wild ride on to the big screen is Australian cinematographer Simon Duggan ACS, a 25-year veteran of the industry. Beginning at a film studio in Sydney, he worked his way up the ranks of the camera department with DP and mentor Graham Lind ACS, before becoming a DP in his own right. His collaboration on several independent projects with director Alex Proyas, led to his opportunity to break out into mainstream features on Proyas' I, Robot. The success of their collaboration on I, Robot opened more doors to opportunities, eventually teaming him with director Len Wiseman on Underworld Evolution, before taking up the Die Hard gauntlet together.

One of the things that fascinated Duggan about the project is

page

18

“ We h a d t o w o r k f a s t o n this show and working in Los Angeles gave us ready access to the best equipment at our fingertips”

fingertips. I had a great crew that was creatively proactive throughout the shoot. Gaffer Jeff Murrell was always searching for the best fixture for every lighting challenge. He sourced the latest array of fluorescents such as the Lumapanels, Vistabeams, Parabeams, Kinoflo kits, the latest from Lightning Strikes, Softsuns and Bee Bee Lights, down to the compact LED Litepanel fixtures, which became a favorite in tight situations and close proximity with the actors.

the technological challenge (albeit with weapons) many of us face everyday, typified by John McClane's character.

“He's older, wiser, and not only challenged by men with weapons that are familiar to him but also by a high-tech attack from cyberspace,” Duggan explains. “This modern technology is being used against McClane and is out of his realm of understanding.”

Lighting the action Technically savvy Duggan, unlike McClane, had the latest technology and tools at his disposal.

“We had to work fast on this show and working in Los Angeles gave us ready access to the best equipment at our

Well-endowed: Duggan had the latest technology and tools at his disposal

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

FEATURE

camera creative

set of Angenieux Optimo Zooms from Clairmont Camera, using the Kodak Vision stock.

Ask Simon Duggan what was the biggest challenge of the picture and you can almost feel him rolling his eyes.

“Everything,” he says with a wry grin. “The most memorable, for the audience, however, is probably the final sequence.

Control over an Air Force fighter jet's communication is commandeered by the terrorist group's leader and given orders to attack a truck driven by McClane.

“We constructed a huge section of freeway out of concrete in real scale where practical sequences of the pursued truck being blown to pieces by the aerial assault were filmed,” he explains.

Duggan: could have gone digital, preferred film “The colour palette was often referenced from a mix of green/blue industrial lamps so the fluorescents with cool white tubes were a perfect compliment, while green gel was added to HMIs and cyan gel to tungsten fixtures. The cool white fluorescent tubes gave us almost twice the output as standard corrected tubes and at 800 ASA pushing Kodak Vision 500T one stop, we had a healthy exposure for all our night scenes.

“Grip Michael Anderson sourced or constructed camera and lighting rigs, from high-speed process and tracking vehicles down to mechanical simulated lighting effects rigs. Rigging devices such as the Matthews MAX and MiniMAX light movers, allowed us to rig lighting quickly over tight sets.

“Our A-camera operator Mitch Dubin worked very closely with Len and I, devising one clever move after another, often using the Technocrane and Motoarm Arm tracking vehicle mounted with stabilized heads, like the Libra V and Scorpio. Colin Hudson, on 2nd camera and Steadicam, often used his initiative in finding great angles to complement Mitch's shots.”

Preference for film “Could we have captured this thriller steeped in the digital world, with the digital systems available to us?” he contemplates. “Yes, we could and I was tempted, but I chose to go with film, I love the look of film. We were shooting fast with multiple cameras and a lot of Steadicam. Many locations were so restrictive there was only room for the Steadicam operator alone as he ran up and down gantries. At the time, no ultra-light on-board digital recorders were available and we couldn't have any cables running back to recording decks even if strapped to the grip.”

Duggan chose to shoot Super 35mm with two Arricams, several 435s, the lightweight 235, Cooke S4 Primes and a full

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

“A full-size fighter jet was constructed for this scene,” he adds. “We mounted it on a hydraulic motion base with 360degree movement. Bruce Willis was then able to do some of his own stunt work, interacting directly with and on top of the jet as it plummets out of control to the freeway below.

“Most of this scene was shot with exterior available light to assist the visual effects team, supervised by Pat McClung and Joe Conmy, to achieve a realistic result with any composite shots.”

Dramatic action Amongst Duggan's favorite sequences to light were sets created by production designer Patrick Tatopoulos. “It is our third film together,” Duggan explains. “He created many set extensions of existing locations containing important plot settings that either didn't exist or where it was totally impractical to shoot a scene.”

These included a five-story section of a ten-story elevator shaft within a power plant. There, McClane drives a utility vehicle through the shaft doors leaving the vehicle hanging precariously off a steel cable. A fight scene then ensues in and around the vehicle and the confined shaft. Also, an equally confined multi-story freezing/cooling shaft was designed for a fight sequence where McClane is face to face with one of the terrorists. Though both of these sets were designed to be claustrophobic, each had access doors and panels making them possible to shoot and light.

“We also had a high-tech central computer control room containing a 'back-up' of all important institutional files of the US and FBI headquarters,” he says. “It was designed to resemble a concrete bunker housing computer mainframes cooled by massive fans, and also an FBI headquarters interior with hundreds of monitors and work stations. Both environments were constructed either because the real thing was less than impressive or was impossible to shoot in Washington DC.”

Willis: often did his own stunt work “Second unit DPs Jonathan Taylor and later Gary Capo teamed with director Brian Smirz shooting some amazing stunt sequences often with the help of special effects cocoordinator Michael Meinardus and company, catapulting vehicles in formation through tunnels and at helicopters culminating with sensational explosions.

“We did our final grading at Company 3 in Los Angeles, with colorist Siggy Ferstl, who I have worked with for many years.

The negative was scanned on an Arrilaser and color corrected using the DaVinci grading desk,” says Duggan.

Looked on as a whole, accomplishing Live Free or Die Hard could be seen as a daunting task. Yet, unlike McClane, often forced to work alone or in concert with a sole buddy, Duggan credits the talented team working with him for making it a rewarding task.

“Making Live Free or Die Hard was an incredible experience,” Duggan says. “Though the production's challenges were rigorous, it was fun watching that great classic character of John McClane survive and triumph at all odds against everything a new age world could throw at him”

Simon Duggan Filmography as a DP Live Free or Die Hard Ravenswood Underworld: Evolution I, Robot Garage Days Risk The Interview

2007 2006 2006 2004 2002 2000 1998

page

19

UK

grains v pixels

Digital Intermediate: somewhat of a novelty two years ago, now shows like ITV's Kingdom (left), and Sunshine, are getting the full DI treatment

Live and let DI Your indispensible guide to Digital Intermediate in the UK When BC examined DI two years ago it was both an innovation and a novelty, writes Kevin Hilton. Today many more facilities are offering DI for film, TV and commercials but as there is no one way to implement the concept there is some confusion over what constitutes a DI workflow.

Steve Shaw of consultancy Digital Praxis defines DI as being when material is transferred into data for colour correction, editing and compositing, with no tape involved and grading as part of the online conform. Quantel's DI expert, Mark Horton, adds DI is more about the workflow than the technology.

The concept of DI is now becoming the concept of postproduction. The facilities using DI cross the board: those that moved from traditional methods, visual effects houses, new DIonly houses and the "super-lab", such as Technicolor Creative Services. Steve MacPherson, head of application engineering for Europe at Autodesk, estimates that in two years the installed base of the UK market has tripled.

Simon Cuff, COO and president of Digital Vision, observes that "almost all" films today are going through a DI process, but it is early days for television. FilmLight has a healthy installed base in the UK; head of and sales marketing Andrew Johnston comments that many companies in the market have already made back their initial investment. He acknowledges the growing importance of TV DI: "There is a new generation of purchaser that wants video and film-capable systems."

At Pepper Post joint managing director Shane Warden views the market as showing "a bit of maturity", with clients becoming

page

20

better educated about what is DI. "But too often the starting point is a full data DI post at 4k!" he says. "Very few understand the cost and consequences of that."

Lower-cost desktop systems have appeared in DI, but these are not seen as a threat to the top end. BBC Post Production in Bristol has been at the forefront of tapeless working, using a mixture of Final Cut Pro, Lustre for grading and Smoke for online and editing.

Andy King, head of technology at BBC Resources, says the most suitable machine is used for the job. He adds that an entire project cannot be done in a single box. The consensus is that if there is no pressure on time a desktop system is fine. If something has to hit a tight deadline a high-end system in a facility is vital.

Those that invested early, and heavily, have not lost out to late comers with cheaper, more powerful equipment as computerbased systems can be upgraded. Quantel announced at NAB that its future launches would operate at 4k, with upgrades offered to existing users. Mark Horton says although most projects and facilities were not working in 4k right now the situation is likely to change within 18 months.

Europe has a self-contained DI market, but there is competition for UK facilities from Indian post houses being used to finish productions. The technology is continuing to develop and is being adopted rapidly. However grudgingly, cinematographers are now spending more time in DI suites to realise through new technology what was shot on set and location.

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

grains v pixels

Silent Witness

Sunshine Danny Boyle continues his independently-minded career with the futuristic eco-thriller Sunshine, the first major British digital cinema release for Fox Searchlight, which co-produced with DNA Films.

The story called for many images to be created, including the surface of the Sun and the enormous Icarus 2 spacecraft; the 750 effects shots were produced at MPC (The Moving Picture Company).

Sunshine was shot at 3 Mills Studios on 35mm anamorphic by director of photography Alwin K端chler BSC, who worked on the DI grade with MPC senior colourist Jean-Clement Soret. Visual symbols, such as heat, burn and light, were emphasised during the grade on a Quantel iQ. "At some points the image was almost white and still we were wondering how we could make it feel hotter," says Soret. "We also played a lot with defocus, vignettes, windows, often in a subtle way to enhance the image or to hide things."

Online editor Richard Etchells generated more than 100 extra online VFX shots and calls Sunshine MPC's "most

Sunshine - seen as something of a landmark in the UK's unfolding DI story

technically demanding project" as it mixed camera formats - Super 35 and 'scope - with hundreds of VFX, including camera shake, image distortion and wire removal.

DI producer Matthew Bristowe, who co-ordinated the deliverables, sees Sunshine as a DI landmark: "The workflow model laid down five years ago for DI has only truly been realised on this project and sets new standards in the UK

Credo

The film was graded at Axis Post, the facilities arm of Axis Films. Wakeford says the DI process also allowed some shots

Despite a change in leads Silent Witness continues to be a massive success for the BBC and is about to make another big transition, from film to HD. Long-time director of photography Kevin Rowley was looking for something that produced "wonderful images" to match what had gone before and decided on the Arri D-20.

The BBC approached post house Molinare to provide the DI workflow, an extension of the facility's association with the series on the audio side. Molinare's joint managing director, Mark Foligno, explains that the company is familiar with DI workflows, running a FilmLight Baselight 8, Avid Nitris, HDcam SR system for television work.

Credo is a "no-budget" British horror film, shot on HDV, which used DI to create much of its uncanny atmosphere. The film was originally conceived for DVD, television and the internet but theatrical release became a reality when hire company Axis Films offered a production package including a Panasonic Varicam and Quantel Pablo iQ. Credo was photographed by Alex Wakeford, who also wrote the script. "I didn't have time to play with a large lighting kit as the shoot was very short so the Varicam was a great asset," he says. "I wanted to experiment with practical lighting, especially LED sources, and the DI grade allowed us to correct and play with the eerie hues exuded by this emerging technology. The result was perfect for a horror film."

Witness: now shows shot on HD are getting a DI grade too

The footage came in on HDcam SR in 4:2:2 RGB, rather than 4:4:4, and was graded by senior colourist Tim Waller.

As the production is for TV the image was screened on a BVM240 rather than a DPL projector.

Steve Shaw and a client in the new DI screening room at Axis Post completes DI work on a feature film named Credo for Alto Films

Foligno observes that although Rowley did a good job shooting with the D20, "there is always something to do in the grade".

to be "fine tuned", using the Pablo to remove extraneous objects from the frame and enhance subjects that had not photographed as well as expected. And, to encourage other filmmakers with little money, Wakeford says DI is becoming more affordable to lower budget films.

The material was moved around between the Baselight and the Nitris, used for the conform, through a server, a method Molinare developed from its start in film DI three and a half years ago. The difference, says Foligno, is that TV, even high-end productions, have to get in, get done and out the door very fast.

Brick Lane The look of Brick Lane was always going to be important. A month before grading began discussions on this important aspect took place between director Sarah Gavron, director of photography Robbie Ryan and the senior digital film colourist at One Post, Robin Pizzey. A richness was decided upon, beginning with a saturated colour in the Bangladesh scenes that becomes cooler and slightly de-saturated when the story moves to Brick Lane in East London during wintertime, changing through the seasons using secondary colour isolation.

Shot mostly on Fuji stock Brick Lane was scanned on an Arriscan from cut neg, flash to flash, at super 2k. All footage

page

22

Images from the feature film Brick Lane, graded by Robin Pizzey at One Post was loaded into One's SAN, with the EDL used to automatically select the shot necessary for the conform.

Grading was on a da Vinci 2k Plus real time system in the eight-metre throw theatre, the image projected from a Barco DP 90

Each day Pizzey graded one reel of the six reel film, spending two days fine tuning. As grading proceeded despotting was carried out and some visual effects created and dropped in later. The master was outputted on two Arrilasers, one reel a day per machine.

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

grains v pixels

Death at a Funeral

Nightwatching Peter Greenaway is among the most painterly of filmmakers and his next film examines Rembrandt's The Night Watch, telling the story of its creation and the murder the painter might be alluding to in it.

And DI post-production allowed Greenaway to manipulate the images to match his vision.

Even without VFX the technology helped the nature of the film; given the setting most characters are dressed in black and the DI grading tools prevented crushing and allowed detail to be highlighted. In one scene the features of the actor playing the corpse could be brought out within the gloominess of the coffin.

Funeral: may dispel the notion that DI is only for effects-laden movies Death at a Funeral, shot by Oliver Curtis BSC on 35mm, was post-produced at Framestore CFC, whose staff suggested a DI approach despite the initial reservations of the production company. "The assumption is that DI is used for films with a lot of visual effects," says colourist Brian Krijgsman, "and not for something like this."

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Footage was transferred using the FilmLight Northlight scanner. Krijgsman graded the film on a Baselight 8 workstation and had three weeks to complete the job. "After a week and a half we were in good shape," he says, "so I was able to take the other week and a half to fine tune."

Frank Oz came in every other day to see how work was progressing; Oliver Curtis worked with Krijgsman every day.

The pair also managed to get a week to grade a low budget film, Unrelated, which Curtis shot on HDV and Krijgsman graded using the same look up tables as 2k projects.

The film was shot by Reinier van Brummelen on a Grass Valley Viper and DIed at Dragon DI in South Wales. Footage was loaded into Quantel iQ for the conform and grade and although the facility has a SAN, co-founder Tony Ray says when working from tape going direct to the iQ is acceptable, particularly as it has 4TB of local storage.

Greenaway's intention was to make a film that looked as old as the painting and for one scene colourist Geoffrey Case had to grade the characters to match those in the work itself. This, and the rest of the grade, was done using the paint tools within iQ. The majority of the visual effects have been created at a facility in Canada but some were done at Dragon DI, including re-building the lost portion of The Night Watch, which was done in Shake.

Tony Ray says the challenge was to create Greenaway's vision without making everything look unreal. "I don't think this could have been done using optical or chemical processes," he concludes.

page

23

UK

grains v pixels

Who’s Doing DI? A directory of companies offering Digital Intermediate services in the UK BBC Post Production Bristol

Framestore CFC

The Look

Broadcasting House, Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2LR 0117 974 6666 • www.bbcresources.com/postproduction Recent credits: Planet Earth, Galapagos, Skins Kit: Thomson HD Shadow telecine and Pogle, Discreet Smoke HD, Lustre HD

19-23 Wells Street, London W1T 3PQ and 9 Noel Street, London W1F 8GH 020 7 208 2600 Recent credits: Death at a Funeral, Unrelated, Casino Royale Kit: Baselight workstations, TrueLight software and hardware, 70TB central storage, Northlight film scanners, Arrilaser film recorders

15 Bateman Street, London W1D 3AQ 020 7 287 5313 • www.thelooklondon.com Recent projects: Commercial for Neoco (from Sony HDcam 750), trailers Kit: Quantel eQFX

Cineimage 7a Langley Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JA 020 7240 6222 • www.cineimage.co.uk Recent credits: Apocalypto, Notes On a Scandal, Pirates Of The Caribbean Kit: Assimilate Scratch, Celco Fury film recorder, digital grading theatre

JDC/The Hatfactory Hollen Street, Soho 020 8 324 2311 • info@joedunton.com Recent credits: Previews for Inkheart Kit: Nucoda Filmaster

Dragon DI Pencoed Technology Park, Pencoed, Mid Glam, Wales CF35 5HZ www.dragondi.co.uk Recent credits: Nightwatching Kit: Quantel iQ, Kodak Colour Display Manager, Arriscan, ArriLaser, Revival for restoration, plus custom software

page

24

Lipsync Post Screen House, 123 Wardour Street, London W1F 0UW 020 7 534 9123 Kit: Northlight scanners, Quantel iQ Pablo grading and FX suites with TrueLight calibration, Arrilaser film recorders

M2 Television Ingestre Court, Ingestre Place, London W1F 0JL 020 7 343 6543 • www.m2tv.com Kit: Cintel Ursa Diamond telecine with Pogle, Avid offline, Avid Nitris and Symphony. Narduzzo Too boutique grading: 2xNucoda Film Master suites

Men from Mars Unit 6, Walpole Court, Ealing Green Ealing, London W5 5ED 020 8 280 9000 • www.men-from-mars.com Recent projects: Mutant Chronicles, Run Fat Boy Run, Mr Lonely Kit: 16/35mm FilmLight Northlight film scanner, Lasergraphics Producer 3 film recorder, Baselight 4 HD, 2k and proxy-based 4k grading, Truelight colour management

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

grains v pixels

continued Midnight Transfer

MPC

179 Wardour Street, London, W1F 8WY 020 7 534 3400 www.midnight-transfer.co.uk Recent credits: Venus, Dailies on The Bourne Ultimatum, Miss Pettygrew, Mike Leigh Untitled, The Golden Compass Kit: Spirit 4k datacine , Northlight scanner, Baselight 8 grading theatre, Baselight 4 grading suite, 3 clipsters, Pogle Platinum

127 Wardour Street, London, W1F 0NL 020 7 434 3100 Recent credits: Sunshine Kit: 2xQuantel iQ Hero Suites, 7 Terabyte SAN, 2 x Arrilaser Film Recorders, 1 x Spirit 2K datacine scanner, 2 x dual processor support workstations running MTI Correct, Photoshop and Shake, 1xG5 Mac running Adobe Creative Suite and Final Cut Studio, Truelight Colour Management System.

Molinare 34 Fouberts Place London W1F 7PX 020 7478 7000/7200 www.molifilm.co.uk Recent credits: Silent Witness Kit: Northlight scanners, Baselight 8, Arri Lasers, Avid Nitris, 70TB NAS

One Post 71 Dean St, Soho, London, W1D 3SF 020 7439 2730 info@onepost.tv Recent credits: Brick Lane Kit: Spirit, da Vinci 2K plus. 2xQuantel iQs, Northlight, Arri, MTI

Smoke and Mirrors (incorporating Red) 57-59 Beak Street London W1R 3LF 020 7 4681000 www.smoke-mirrors.com Kit: Spirit datacine, da Vinci MegaDef grading, Flame, Fire, Inferno, Avid DS

Technicolor Creative Services (Imaging Ltd) Bath Road, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 0DB 020 8 261 2600 Kit: Lustre, Smoke, Revival, SAN, Arri film recording

VTR MotionFX B4-B6 Askew Crescent Workshops, London W12 9DP 020 8 740 4560 Kit: Quantel iQ DI Systems, 2D and 3D VFX systems

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Pepper Post Slingsby Place, Long Acre, London WC2E 9AB 020 7 836 1188 Recent credits: Kingdom Kit: Spirit telecine, da Vinci 2K+, 4xAvid DS HD Nitris

37 Dean Street, London, W1D 4QQ 020 7437 0026 Recent credits: 28 Weeks Later, Strength and Honour Kit: Spirit datacine, Arrilaser, Flame, Inferno, Smoke and Combustion

page

25

USA

letter from america

Kitchen sink counselling Reflecting on the artistry of the late Freddie Francis BSC, Richard P. Crudo ASC says cinematographers must never lose sight of the fact that if technology is worth anything at all, it's only when it serves a creative demand.

It's a chilly mid-March Sunday morning as I write from a Los Angeles made chillier yet by the sad news from your publisher, Alan Lowne. I'm certain that I speak for all of us here in relaying our deepest condolences on the passing of Freddie Francis BSC. The ASC gave Mr. Francis its International Award in 1997, and with good reason. By that time he had amassed the most incredible string of credits any cinematographer could hope for. Even better, by all accounts he was known as a wonderful human being. Melancholy feelings always kick in whenever one of the old guard moves on, but in this instance I feel a particular poignancy, as well as a particular sting.

time and place. Note that I didn't use the word, "captured."

Though these two films may lend themselves to a sort of documentary interpretation, they're about as far from that tradition as it's possible to be. Look closely at them.

Every frame was styled and structured to deliver a specific effect; you can sense their handmade nature.

The fact that Mr. Francis' work in the Kitchen Sink remains so powerful, nearly fifty years on, is the greatest testimony to his taste and to his artistry.

Now for the laceration

“ M r. Fr a n c i s p h o t o g r a p h e d a pair of my all-time favorite films, Room At t h e To p a n d S a t u r d a y Night and Sunday Morning. Look closely at them… you can sense their handmade nature.”

First, the sentimental part. I'm a huge fan of the British Kitchen Sink school of filmmaking from the late 1950s and early '60s. Look Back In Anger… The Entertainer…

A Taste of Honey… The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner… .A Kind of Loving… Billy Liar… This Sporting Life… . These social-realist movies, along with the few others in their category, have appealed to me in a profound way for as far back as I can remember. Their black and white, slice-of-life tales are shockingly immediate and in many ways brutal, but what really makes them resonate is their elegant simplicity. They helped launch world-class careers for a boatload of people, among them actors (Alan Bates, Albert Finney, Julie Christie), directors (Tony Richardson, Karel Reisz, John Schlesinger) and yes, cinematographers (Ossie Morris, Walter Lassally, Denis Coop).

Freddie Francis is counted among their number, too, and here's where the heartstrings tug. Mr. Francis photographed a pair of my all-time favorite films, Room At the Top and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.

Working under threadbare circumstances, his images here call to mind the highest ideal we cinematographers strive for: he created the palpable reality of a particular

page

26

I recently had a look at a film on DVD that had somehow slipped under my radar for a good long time, Sir Ridley Scott's, The Duellists. Beautifully photographed by Frank Tidy BSC, I found it thoroughly enjoyable and it's well worth your time if you haven't seen it. The real treat, however, was discovered among the supplemental materials, Sir Ridley's first short film, the remarkable Boy and Bicycle (1965). I've already made my Kitchen Sink affinity clear, and this brilliant little gem fits right in with the best of them. An abstract rendition of what's going on inside a teenaged boy's head as he bikes off for a day's lark around his northern industrial town, the film is structurally imaginative and visually invigorating. As with all the Kitchen Sinks, it was produced in black and white on a tight schedule and for very little money. None of that detracts from its effect, but there's something I should warn you about before you go running out to have a look.

It was photographed in 16mm.

If ever we needed further proof that we live in a world turned upside down, a world gone mad in fact, it has come in the form of the BBC's decree that they will no longer be accepting Super16mm-originated programming for high definition broadcast. Has anyone ever informed their engineers that Super16 is already an HD medium? And if it's an issue of their MPEG-4 compressors not being good enough, why were they chosen to be installed in the first place?

From the beginning, the silly and irrelevant issue of film technology vs. digital technology never held any water for the cinematographer. It was significant only to outside forces whose interests had little in common with what was right and even less to do with a smart choice for the people who actually make movies.

we must never lose sight of the fact that if technology is worth anything at all, it's only when it serves a creative demand. As regards the way in which the BBC engineers have contradicted this equation, I suggest that they not only take the time to have their eyes examined, but to have their heads examined, as well.

“If we needed further proof that we live in a world gone mad it has come in the form of the BBC's decree that they will no longer be accepting Super16mmoriginated programming for high definition broadcast ” What's next otherwise? Will someone else who has never created anything in their life order Sir Ridley to remove the 75mm lens from his kit because its MTF characteristics aren't up to specs? Given the Super16 debacle, don't think this can't happen.

Every cinematographer working today has a responsibility to the legacy of Freddie Francis BSC and the many others like him. And it's about damn time we start taking that responsibility seriously.

We're all comfortable working in both worlds at this point and understand well the economics of the industry. But

Richard P. Crudo ASC

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

close ups

DP Peter Field

DP Angus Hudson

Agent Crush

The Broken

When it comes to science fiction and fantasy, CGI is all very well but sometimes you just can't beat a good scale model (in fact make that two scales), a great set and a 100 yards or so of invisible string. These are the kind of 'real' effects that writer/director Sean Robinson wanted for Agent Crush, the puppet sci-fi comic adventure feature which will roll out in the run-up to Christmas this year. Who better to pick as his DP, then, than Peter Field, whose passion for models and effects began when, as a boy? He helped his famous father Roy create the magic on such films as Superman 3 and The Dark Crystal.

“We have created a total world for Agent Crush,” says Field.

“There's no natural light and everything you see in the film had to be designed, built, painted and lit. It's been great fun.”

The puppets, props and sets are made to two scales, 1/12th and 1/3rd. The puppets are further divided into two types, wholebodied or upper-bodied-only. But, before that mental image of the Thunderbirds puppets sets in, be aware that these are controlled by rods from underneath, rather than string from the top. There's a fair bit of animatronics too.

“The rods will be removed in post and we will be doing a DI, but we've tried to get as much as possible in the camera. We've done some dramatic and creative shots, but we've kept them

pretty true to life - a bit like one would do for the Bond films. We blow our own models up too - the workshop is pretty good at rebuilding them. We're showing people what Derek Meddings and my dad did.

“You get some happy accidents. For instance, a model might catch a kerb and bounce the wrong way before straightening up, and that's a great little moment. Nobody's going to do a plate for that in CGI.” The action and physical effects were captured on Kodak 5218 stock (500 ASA) using Arri 435 and Arriflex 235 cameras.

Crew List Director DP/operator 1st A/C Animatronics

Sean Robinson Peter Field John Gamble Chris Clarke

DP Lol Crawley GBCI

Better Things Lol Crawley GBCT rounded off 2006 with the Film Four and UK Film Council funded Better Things. Shot on 35mm during October, November and December, it was his third collaboration with director Duane Hopkins and producer Samm Haillay since they all left university together in 1997, and their first outing together with anamorphic.

Set in a small, rural community in the Cotswolds, the film tells the story of a group of young people struggling with the difficulties of growing up in a world of limited opportunities, whilst their parents and grandparents try to hold their families and their own relationships together.

After testing, and with a huge amount of help from Panavision, the trio committed to shooting on a Moviecam Compact and SL camera package, with an extensive set of Xtal Express anamorphic primes and two Cooke anamorphic zoom lenses.

“We had been inspired a few years ago by the anamorphic work that French cinematographer Yves Cape had done on the film L'umanite for Bruno Dumont, and Robby Muller's cinematography on Lars von Triers' Breaking the Waves,” explains Crawley. “We wanted to explore the use of 2.35:1 format, traditionally used for

'epic' landscapes and stories, and transpose it to an English environment.”

“We were shooting completely on location through November and December, with non actors and as reduced a lighting package as we could manage. Choosing to shoot scope was obviously a concern due to limitations of speed and close focus distance of the lenses, though Duane and myself had shot on this format previously and compared with the spherical S4 alternative there was only really a half stop difference between the formats.”

This approach resulted in Crawley shooting close to wide open the majority of the time, causing some technical issues on set and making life difficult for the first AC's John Watters and Sarah Rollason, “though they did a great job despite this,” he adds.

Another challenge was that for several scenes the director wanted to be able to shoot on as long a lens as possible. “We contacted Charlie Todman at Panavision,” says Crawley. “He blew the dust off and converted a Canon 1,200mm spherical lens to anamorphic, increasing its focal length to 2,400mm. With a stop of T11 it was touch and go whether we would have enough light to shoot on an overcast November day, but we pulled it off and I even nursed my own focus so 1st AC John Watters had time to recover from lifting it.”

Crew List 1st ACs 2nd AC Grip (dailies) Steadicam Camera car driver/Trainee Lab and transfer:

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

John Watters, Sarah Rollason Ben Gibb Mark Morley Jim Little Hales Barry Squires Paul Dray at Deluxe, Neil Mockler at Arion

The Broken, a dark psychological thriller, owes its existence to the success of writer/director Sean Ellis' short film, Cashback, which won a string of international awards following its launch on the festival circuit in 2004. It prompted Ellis to make a full-length version with DP Angus Hudson, complete with the short intact and in the middle. No sooner had the pair finished the feature, the short was named as an Oscar-nominee, prompting Gaumont to take on the feature-length version (released in France in midJanuary) and finance Ellis' next film with Hudson, The Broken.

“The budget from Gaumont was £3.5million,” says Hudson. “We shot it over eight weeks on locations in London and Greenford Studios. Our visual references where mostly from films of the 1970s, but the reference that we kept on returning to was Klute (made in 1971 with Gordon Willis as DP). We loved the darkness and the apparent simplicity of the lighting and how the shots were often allowed to just run.”

Hudson shot The Broken on Panavison Platinum and XL cameras with Primo close focus anamorphic lenses. “We knew we wanted this film to be very dark and moody with controlled highlights and shadow areas that quickly dropped off into inky blacks. I didn't want to have to throw large amounts of light around, but I also needed to have a fairly decent stop due to using anamorphic lenses which meant I would have to use a faster stock. We tested all the 500 ASA stocks out there and ended up choosing the Fuji Eterna 500T as our main stock. I don't have a particularly loyalty to Fuji or Kodak, although I have never really shot on Fuji stocks that much in the past, but in this instance the quality of the grain and the density and saturation of the colours gave us the slightly different feel we were after.”

Due to the need of having to spend a portion of the budget in France, the production used Éclair Laboratories in Paris for neg processing and rushes, where the DI and VFX will eventually be completed.

“As we chose to do semi-graded telecine rushes opposed to one lights rushes, I took digital stills of the scenes we were shooting throughout the day,” says Hudson. “I would then apply a simple grade in Photoshop and then e-mail the references to Éclair to help the colourist get an idea of the contrast and saturation. The lab would then e-mail me frame grabs from the telecine. This helped ease the pain of the two-day delay in receiving the DVD rushes from Paris.”

The choice of shooting 2.40:1 with anamorphic lenses, was an easy - Ellis, the director, has a love affair with the format and the lenses. “I was more than happy to comply with his vision,” says Hudson. “With the recent “rediscovery” of anamorphic lenses were no E-series lenses left on the shelf at Panavision. Luckily there were just enough of the newer Primos. All-in-all they were great (apart from their size and weight) and performed magnificently.”

Crew List Focus Puller Grip Clapper Loaders Camera Trainees Trainee Grip Gaffers

Kirsti Abernethy, Sara Rollanson oby Plaskitt Sara Deane, Fran Weston Jack Warrender, Sally Wright Andrew Jones Jullian White, Tom Gaites

page

27

FEATURE

on the job

Happy snapper: Haris preferred photographing people to directing them

From Haris With Love

BSC: a string of plum jobs has help him become a Society member

Ian White met up with an extremely busy Haris Zambarloukos BSC, the most recent recruit to the Society's membership, whose artistry and ambition seem to keep landing the young DP some plum projects.

“I've enjoyed every relationship I've had with a director,” says Haris Zambarloukos BSC, so earnestly that you don't doubt him for a second. “But this was the first time I'd done a second film with one.” He's referring to Roger Michell with whom he made Venus last year and Enduring Love in 2004.

He says he got the DP's job on Enduring Love partly because Michell particularly liked his independent film, Camera Obscura, which he made with writer/director Hamlet Sarkissian in 1999, a year after graduating from the American Film Institute.

“ When I started at film school, I wasn't afraid of the cameras, but the students who wanted to b e d i r e c t o r s w e r e . Yo u have to get your hands d i r t y. I t ' s r a r e f o r someone to know the camera so well at the age of 20.”

“It was done with good spirit and it had an aesthetic that Roger was looking for,” he adds. The disturbing psychological thriller picked up a string of awards and, crucially, was accepted at Camerimage. It effectively reintroduced the young cinematographer to the European film industry and prompted his return to England.

page

28

“It was a good decision,” smiles Zambarloukos, who has recently finished work on Death Defying Acts (dir, Julian Armstrong) and Sleuth (dir, Kenneth Branagh) and is currently prepping in Pinewood for Mamma Mia! (dir, Phyllida Lloyd), which will be the first film to be made on the new 007 stage following the destructive fire last year.

Artistic yearnings So what's the story behind this cinematographer's success?

Although his fascination with film began early on, “I was in a dark room by the age of 12,” he says, he admits that photography wasn't his first love. As a boy, growing up in Nicosia, Cyprus, Zambarloukos was, in his words, “Hell bent on becoming a painter. Not a commercial artist or an illustrator, you understand, but a fine artist.” Such was his conviction, and his parents' support, that in 1989 he moved to London to enrol for the foundation course at St Martin's School of Art. The course included two weeks of film studies and that's when his life changed.

“I saw The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Wiene's German art film classic of 1919) and Un Chien Andalou (Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, 1929) and thought they were brilliant. That's what changed my mind instantaneously,” he says. “I applied for the film and video course at St Martin's and got on it in 1990.”

Zambarloukos wasn't surprised to find that he preferred photographing people to directing them. What he found more revealing was the fact that he was the only one on the course who felt that way.

“Everyone wants to be a director,” he says, “and this gives DPs a fantastic opportunity. St Martin's has a tradition for hands-on learning and there were cameras that you could

take out at weekends. They also had a contact printer which must have been 60 years old. I used it to print my own negs, not because I got better results but because it was cheaper.

It was limited to black and white, but you had a physical closeness to the film. It was very different to a modern film school where you go out with a video camera.”

Courage and ambition Returning to Cyprus for the summer, Zambarloukos found that an “epic Greek film” (Two Suns in the Sky) was about to begin shooting and, with that mix of audacity, courage and determination which the truly ambitious seem to have, he applied for and got the job of camera assistant.

“I started in a trainee position and then became the loader which was a big responsibility for someone so young,” he recalls. “I worked and trained hard - I was forever loading dummy mags. When I started at film school I wasn't afraid of the cameras, but the students who wanted to be directors were. You have to get your hands dirty. It's rare for someone to know the camera so well at the age of 20.”

After Two Suns in the Sky, Zambarloukos embarked on a trainee course at Panavision, Shepperton.

“Hugh Whitaker (at Panavision) sent me to Shepperton because he knew I wanted to be a DP,” he says. “During my breaks, I was allowed to go into the studios and watch the lighting.”

The last stage in Zambarloukos' formal film training came when he was accepted on a course at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

“The AFI was very Hollywood compared to St Martins,” he remembers. “It was a complete, mini studio system and it was intense. We'd have three days of lectures in the week and then four days of shooting over long weekends. You'd get picked by a (student) director for a project and, if you didn't

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

FEATURE

on the job

“ There is a Degas painting in the National Gallery of a man silhouetted against a window and this informed a l o t o f t h e i m a g e s o f Pe t e r O ' To o l e [ i n Ve n u s ] ” was as good as them. He can give a performance upside down and holding his breath. The most we had to do was use a stunt double occasionally to prevent Guy's eyes from going red for the close-ups.

“Light had to play a particularly important role in this film. We used the more magical aspects of how it works. There's a kind of lighting that Conrad Hall does - he used it on Road to Perdition.

It's mystical and magical.”

Zambarloukos is more than happy to cite his influences and these echo his opening remark that he has loved working with everyone on all of the films he's made. There was talk about adding some scenes to Death Defying Acts.

Venus: one of those films when you keep pinching yourself

“I would do them even if they never get on screen, because it was such a good crew to work with,” he says. And again, you believe him.

crew for anyone, they wouldn't crew for you. After that, eight films were selected to be made as features on good budgets.”

After graduating, Zambarloukos got an internship with cinematographer Conrad Hall (Road to Perdition, American Beauty) who was working on Civil Action (1998). Hall proved very helpful when Zambarloukos came to make Camera Obscura with Hamlet Sarkissian, and ensured that the pair got the equipment and services they needed. When the film was accepted at Camerimage, he met Paul Sarossy BSC who was on the jury and really liked it. “We got on well and, later on, he invited me to become a BSC member and shoot Mr InBetween (2001). That's how I got my first feature here.”

Venus and painterly influences Moving forward to the recent past, he describes Venus as a “real pleasure to do. It was one of those moments when you keep pinching yourself. The actors had such great lines from Hanif Kureishi, but they also did their little bits of improvisation and Roger (Michell) always added his touch. Our challenge was how to get the best image out of Super 16. I wanted it to be so clear that, when you stare at a still frame, you see every nook and cranny in the actor's face. With Peter O' Toole it's amazing; there's a whole life there.

Haris Zambarloukos BSC Filmography Mamma Mia! (prepping) Sleuth (2008) (post-production) Death Defying Acts (2006) Venus (2006) The Best Man (2005) Opa! (2005) Enduring Love (2004) Terrible Kisses (2004) School of Life (2004)

Spivs (2004) Happy Dark (2003) (TV) Oh Marbella! (2003) The Music (2002) (TV) The Birthday (2002/I) Tunnel Vision (2001/II) Mr In-Between (2001) Camera Obscura (2000) First Daughter (1997)

“When I did Enduring Love with Roger, he'd already done a lot of the prep but with Venus we started on page one and began piecing together the world of the lead characters. We talked about what retired actors would do and made decisions like they should be able to walk to each other's houses and would know the area (Kentish Town/Tuffnel Park) very well.

Conrad Hall: a big influence on films like Death Defying Acts “There is a Degas painting in the National Gallery of a man silhouetted against a window and this informed a lot of the images of Peter O' Toole staring out of his bedroom window from night 'til light. It's interesting that, in cinematography, things like that can only be hinted at with a silent and usually static image. It's the opposite of what you would regard as film making but, at the right time and place, with the right actor and the right lighting, it can say a lot more.”

Death Defying Acts, a period piece about the final days of Houdini, has a very different look. “It was shot 'scope and has the grandeur of Art Deco and the spectacle of theatre,” says Zambarloukos. “A key scene in the film is Houdini's trademark act, the water torture. The idea of putting an actor upside down and handcuffed into a tank of water is daunting. When we did the first rehearsal, we were petrified. But Guy Pierce was brilliant. He'd done Andy Warhol before so he was skinny but he put on muscle and must have spent six months upside down doing weights. He could do the card tricks and, with due respect to our stuntmen, I thought he

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

page

29

EUROPE

imago

BBC Responds to IMAGO Declaration At the annual conference in Lisbon, delegates representing the 23 European Federations of Cinematographers (IMAGO) asked the BBC to re-evaluate and reconsider its decision that Super 16mm would not be a suitable capture format for the transmission of High Definition programmes after 2010. Here we publish an overview given at the summit by Nigel Walters BSC, and the BBC's response to the IMAGO declaration.

Link to IMAGO letter and Paul Cheesbrough's response on the BBC's Delivering Quality website www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/dq/contents/television.shtml

Nigel Walters BSC, speaking at the IMAGO summit in Lisbon, February 2007: “ When such a respected corporation a s t h e B B C m a ke s a public pronouncement with negative implications for the f i l m i n d u s t r y, i t deserves to be put under close scrutiny ” N i g e l Wa l t e r s B S C

page

30

“As we know to our cost in Britain, decisions by Governments are not always based on sound information or judgement. Tony Blair undoubtedly believed that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Because he was respected, the public supported him. The result has a disaster, which is affecting the whole world.

The point being made is that credibility is given to Governments in the belief that their decisions are based on sound information. The manipulation of the truth is not confined to Governments. When such a respected corporation as the BBC makes a public pronouncement with negative implications for the film industry it deserves to be put under close scrutiny. For good or bad, the BBC is an internationally respected institution which influences decisions far beyond the shorelines of the United Kingdom...

We are entitled to ask the reasons for this change of direction. It has occurred because Britain is committed to introducing High Definition television throughout the country by 2012. The main argument of the BBC is the problem with the MPEG 4 compressors they use to squeeze HD into a limited broadcast spectrum. To put it simply, these compressors have difficulty handling the random grain pattern of film, particularly on high-speed, pushed or underexposed material. Now if we are to

accept the BBC's conclusion then the flat screen stampede inspired by the manufacturers is to have its latest victim… film. It is interesting to reflect that not many years ago the advent of Digi-beta was to herald the death of film. Today it is Digi-beta that is dead in the BBC. At this point it might be useful to put you in the picture as to the way S16mm has developed in Britain. Less than 20 years ago the BBC had probably the largest film department in the world. They had 65 full-time camera and sound crews, not including news gathering. It would be fair to say that the development of 16mm film and cameras owed a huge debt to the patronage of the BBC, who sought to develop a capture medium which would be flexible, and which met the demands of the budding young filmmakers such as Ken Loach, Stephen Frears and Ken Russell. Its film department at that time trained some of the finest creative talents working in out industry today.

Although the BBC had this huge film facility at its disposal, it is true to say that an institution, which was born through engineering, and technical expertise never understood the medium of film. Film usage and popularity had grown through the creative demands of the producers and directors they employed. Well-known actors were known to declare no interest in a project unless it was shot on film. The Ealing-based film

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

EUROPE

imago

department had managers who were able to influence and defend the case for film. In the sixties 16mm cameras were purchased and the explosion in their use had begun.

Today those who used to defend film are gone, and the engineers have emerged from their underground warrens to restore their influence. They have always viewed film as the enemy within, and since the abolition of the craft base in the BBC their power has increased.

This has not been helped by a disorganised management, which we witnessed by the quality of their presentation last September.

The internal staff producers are no more and the independent companies are in no position to resist the pressure to shoot using digital cinematography. This pressure is augmented by the manufacturers of these cameras renting them at loss-leading deals in order to encourage a stampede away from film. The true postproduction costs are hidden in the financial arguments against film. At the BBC presentation their most successful HD originated programme to date, Bleak House was discussed. The same producer and director were subsequently contracted to work on Jane Eyre, and the director admitted she had taken the decision to shoot it on S16mm because of the limitations of digital origination.

Anyone with first hand experience of using HD cameras on location will appreciate that all is not yet well with this medium of capture. Just as the Iraq war is scattered with lies of justification, so the reasons put forward as to why HD cameras should be used are also full of half-truths. For example, using these still experimental cameras saves manpower, (a good case could be made for the opposite). No one is around to put the case for the exposure latitude of film, the problems of high-speed capture; the “look” of film has yet to be matched on HD. It is no secret that directors shoot more material using digital cameras, thus increasing the post-production costs. Producers are persuaded to use digital cameras on the premise that the stock cost differential justifies the abandonment of film. The extra post-production costs are hidden from scrutiny.

The new cameras have so many limitations they are simply not up to the job of servicing the pressures and schedules of modern filmmaking. In the past, when quality ruled, the BBC Technical Department would have simply thrown these cameras back at the manufacturers and told them to come back after ironing out the problems. Today's solution appears to allow the crews to sort out the nightmare of focus and cables on location.

Paradoxically, there is not one filmmaker I have spoken to who does not believe in eventually embracing the use of digital HD cameras. A myth has arisen that to make them work special skills are required. Good lighting remains good lighting, as does good framing, no matter the medium on which it is captured. We are not afraid of digital HD cameras, we simply know that they do not work as well as film at this moment in time.

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

However, it is worth noting that manufacturers have introduced more films during the last four years than ever before - seven for Kodak and four for Fuji. Cameras manufacturers are launching new cameras and are recording very good sales - ARRI have apparently more than 300 ARRI 416s on their books and are having difficulty fulfilling demand. Aaton is selling a large number of upgrades for its Xtera. Cooke and Zeiss have continued to develop several lenses for S16mm.

Ironically this decision by the BBC comes at the time when development over many decades of 16mm was coming to fruition. The quality was so good that feature films such as Vera Drake, The Constant Gardener and March Of The Penguins, were made on S16mm. The latter has made more money than any other film, Euro for Euro.

In Europe, S16mm has been growing in Spain, Italy and the emerging countries of the Continent. There has been a decline in its usage in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Despite this, there are twenty major programmes being produced for television as I speak in the United Kingdom. Independent television has so far ignored the BBC pronouncement realising the value of the film-based products they are showing.

In American television capture on S16mm is very much alive. Sex And The City was always shot on S16mm, with worldwide sales and success. In fact, a highly visible show, Studio 60 On Sunset Strip has just switched from 35mm to S16mm. This NBC show, produced by the same company that used to produce West Wing, is transmitted on HD. In fact, a BBC Guide to High Definition, published in 2005, and which was distributed to the 300 invitees who attended last September's launch of the “road map” to the future states that S16mm was “very likely” to be used for TV drama for cinema release and “possibly” for television drama. Documentaries and current affairs would “possibly” be originated on S16mm and wildlife and natural history “often”. This guide was edited by the same Andy Quested who told the producers, directors and craft personnel present at the “Road Map to the Future” forum that no S16mm originated material will be shown by the BBC after 2010.

So what has made this man, and presumably his team of researchers, change their minds in the year between publishing the guide, which gives a clear indication that S16mm had a place in future high-definition transmission and the dictum without debate that S16mm film was dead?

Whatever reasons Mr Quested may have for his decision, what was not said is that software can now improve the grain issue affecting S16mm for MPEG transfer. Apparently this can be done without affecting the edge sharpness. Neither was a word said about futureproofing the longevity of digital productions as opposed to film, which has already been successfully preserved for generations.

The BBC has a huge back catalogue of programmes, much of it originated on film. Are they all to be junked with the advent of high definition transmission, or will a system emerge to protect and future proof this material for HD use?

The argument between S16mm and HD is nonsense anyway. They will always remain different capture media with points in favour and against. Any industry, which attempts to force change, against the organic growth of technology, is doomed to failure, as ways are invariably found to disprove any argument.

Undoubtedly, the S16mm issue can be helped by using medium/fine grain stock. The industry has historically always raised itself to resolve challenges and solving any problem. The issue now is whether the BBC is willing to accept and, more importantly, to adopt these solutions. The BBC are capable of resolving this issue without the need to ban the medium of S16mm, which it has done so much in the past to encourage. However the doubt lingers that this decision has been driven by finance, using technology as an excuse.

There is an urgent need for the BBC to re-examine its “road map” which should be as doomed as Bush and Blair's road map for the Middle East. The way forward deserves meaningful discussion with producers, directors, manufacturers and cinematographers.

Together with the BBC, the manufacturers involved are confident the compression issue can be solved.

The BBC proposals will result in less competition and creativity. Without a rethink, healthy competition between film and digital HD cameras will disappear and manufacturers will increase the hire charges for their cameras as the reasons for the subsidies they now offer disappear. Creativity will be compromised because, as yet, digital cameras are not as flexible or reliable as their film counterparts. Already the manufacturers of the latest generation of HD cameras who refuse to sell them are insisting that productions hire through them, not only the cameras, but the lighting equipment of their “sister” companies, thus creating an unfair trading advantage which could have implications for the smaller hire companies.

The BBC appears to have a fund to subsidise the extra cost of present digital capture. It should not be offering to underwrite budget overrun of programmes shot on HD cameras in order to entice production companies away from film. A moratorium should be declared on such behaviour. The BBC chiefs who introduced the last “road map” should in future not need to apologise for their lack of understanding of their subject of compression. It should be debated honestly and fairly on a level playing field, and at their next presentation they should objectively view the facts.

Unless this issue is tackled head-on, with meaningful debate, it could affect us all in Europe. The BSC welcomes your assistance and I should like to throw the matter open to the delegates for discussion and we welcome any suggestions you may have to help us safeguard the use of film until such time as a better capture medium may, or may not, be perfected “ page

31

EUROPE

imago

Paul Cheesbrough: Controller of Technology BBC, responding to IMAGO declaration (submitted by IMAOG president Andreas Fisher Hansen): Dear Mr Fischer-Hansen Thank you for your letter of the 18th February, addressed to the managing director, BBC. Mark Thompson, director general, has forwarded your letter to me as the controller of technology for response.

Please forgive the electronic reply but unfortunately your letter did not reach us until the 22nd March, and I did not want to add to the delay. .

With reference to the IMAGO resolution mentioned, I can assure you that the BBC is collaborating fully with all its suppliers and technology partners, and will continue to work with them to deliver high-quality programmes synonymous with the BBC's name.

Your letter also refers to the contribution from Mr Nigel Walters BSC who attended the BBC Drama high definition seminar held in Television Centre last year. I would like to take this opportunity to give you and your organisation the background to the seminar and the BBC's position on high definition. The seminar was initiated by Mervyn Watson, an executive producer for BBC Drama, who acts as the HD Champion for BBC Drama Entertainment and Comedy, a position created to be held by a programme-maker rather than a scientist or technician.

Mervyn believes that there are a lot of initiatives, trials and studies being conducted across the industry and by the BBC, into high definition, but that the directors of photography and camera operators, who are the people most concerned with its operation and introduction are always too busy working to be able to attend general seminars or training programmes as a group. The BBC therefore arranged, and hosted, a day-long session that would allow as many drama DPs and operators to attend and discuss the broader issues of this new technology.

One of the key points of the day was to make sure the group was fully aware of the BBC's high definition ambitions. We believe there is a general acceptance worldwide that high definition is the industry standard of the future for television production and transmission. Full high-definition production can only be a target for the BBC because of the myriad factors that go into the making of any programme, but we do intend to steadily increase the amount and range of programmes made this way. The successful launch of the BBC's trial HD channel was brought to the participant's attention, as was the progress other organisations such as Sky were making with their full-blown HD channels.

The seminar also made clear that sales organisations including BBC Worldwide, are experiencing pressure to deliver their product in high definition. Again this is a trend, not yet an absolute, but a very real market driver nevertheless, and it has already affected the sales of our natural history and classical music departments.

page

32

“ Fu l l h i g h - d e f i n i t i o n production can only be a target for the BBC because of the myriad factors that go into the making of any programme, but we do intend to steadily increase the amount and range of programmes made this way ” Pa u l C h e e s b r o u g h Mr Walters' letter goes on to mention some of the technical issues raised during the seminar by Andy Quested, especially the BBC's decision not to include 16mm film in the list of high definition formats. As late as the beginning of 2006 we had hoped that recent developments in film stock and transfer technology, combined with the tests undertaken by BBC Research, would allow us to use16mm programmes on the BBC trial channel.

Unfortunately, as the equipment required to deliver the channel arrived we were able to test the complete transmission chain and were disappointed to learn that the quality of 16mm film was just not high enough and would not meet the standard our audience demands.

This situation is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future as much of the research currently being carried out is helping reduce the excessive and unsustainable bandwidth required to deliver a high definition channel.

The BBC realises this has caused much concern amongst those who use and love 16mm film. We were aware early in 2005 that there were technical problems with 16mm film, and we made these concerns public in the high definition guide Mr Walters refers to. The guide notes that S16mm is a format used by many genres for standard definition delivery, but goes on to warn that it is not considered acceptable by many of the long-standing high definition broadcasters we co-produce programmes with.

This is not a decision taken by the BBC alone. Information we have from suppliers and producers of high-definition programmes in the USA and Europe makes it clear that others think the same, and although I take your point that there is still a lot of 16mm production, virtually none of it is for highdefinition transmission when compared to the vast amount of high definition produced.

To help programmes make the transition to high definition the BBC has a small fund, administered by the HD trial department. This is to help cover the additional costs incurred delivering the quality sought by the trial. Many programmes have been helped this way, and have delivered programmes of outstanding quality. There is nothing secret about this fund and we have made it clear that, as the cost of the new highdefinition equipment falls, the technology premium will also fall.

In short, the purpose of the seminar was to inform, and not to prescribe. The BBC has not forbidden other formats. Jane Eyre was shot on 16mm film, as will other major dramas in the future for transmission on our standard definition channels.

We are very aware of the demands of our audience and I am sure you will agree we should continue to produce and deliver programmes of the highest possible quality to this rapidly growing market.

Finally, we always try to share information with the industry at large especially where is affects members of interested groups such as the one you represent. We would be very happy to keep you informed of future developments should you think it appropriate.

Addendum: At the IMGAO summit, the DFF (Denmark) president, Jan Weincke presented the attendees with a report from contacts within Swedish Television, which he says confirmed their decision to use S16mm film for HD transmission, starting this March. An IMAGO statement says: “They (SVT) find it satisfactory, providing it was originated on stock of 250 asa or slower.” The French AFC president Jean-Jacques Bouhon reported that F1 had decided, after tests, that S16mm was suitable for use, and that TV3 had recently decided to buy S16mm lenses, but not the cameras. IMAGO says that subsequently Tony Forsberg of the Swedish Federation has confirmed that SVT has decided that S16mm, providing it is originated on film of 250asa or slower, can be transmitted on HD. In response from the BBC says it has different information. A statement read: “Sissala Andren SVT's HD programme manager has confirmed that they don't use S16mm for their HD channels. They did transmit some S16mm HD source content in the transition period, due to requirements of transmission, but they have no plans to allow this in the future. Like the BBC, SVT is a public service broadcaster and the BBC speaks to the organisation all the time to share ideas and ways of working. Again like the BBC, SVT's aim is to provide the best quality content for their viewers.”

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

FEATURE

innovation

ELP built a 260ft x 130ft lighting grid, and suspended it 60ft above the ground at Cardington

Trussed up Ronan Willson, managing director at Elstree Light & Power, can't resist a structural design challenge. He also wants to see his company's truss and hoist rigging systems more widely used in UK film production.

How do you build a substantial studio lighting grid of 260ft x 130ft, suspended 60ft above the ground in a Grade II listed airship hanger 150ft high? And, you only have two weeks to do it?

With the 007 Stage at Pinewood closed due to the devastating fire, this question was posed by the Fred Claus production team. They needed a facility big enough to accommodate their principal set. So Warner Brothers turned to the hangers at Cardington where there was ample space but significant challenges.

“When my proposal to use aluminium trussing, normally associated with rock shows, was greeted with scepticism, it was enough to make me want to do it,” says Ronan Willson, managing director at Elstree Light & Power.

Without an inventive solution the venue would have been unsuitable, as the production needed a studio-style grid complete with catwalks to carry a Space Light rig.

“The structure to be suspended weighed 60-tons, plus 20tons of lighting and cables,” he explains. “To transfer load to

page

34

the side buttresses 150 wire-rope bridles were connected to the beams at the sides. This avoided vertical load on the roof, but added a compression effect increasing to the imposed stresses to 100-tons. The quickest way to construct a grid is on the ground, so that's what we did. We then lifted the entire rig using 60 electric chain hoists.”

After an intense 14-day build ELP completed a studio grid allowing the Fred Claus production to go ahead without delay.

Following the success of this design, the company has supplied a similar grid to Warner Brothers for the next Batman production at Cardington.

Rock roots Willson has a keen interest in solving design challenges and delivering turnkey solutions to film productions. “The techniques I have developed provide gaffers and DPs with solutions that cannot easily be achieved by traditional methods. They provide another tool to draw upon when tricky situations arise,” he says.

Willson first made his name in rock 'n' roll touring during the1970s and 1980s, for bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, where demands on the road taught him to innovate.

He describes himself as being, “one of the second wave of innovators of touring technology”, acknowledging Eric Pearce and Richard Hartman as the first.

“Shows were getting bigger and heavier, but many of the gigs were held in unsuitable buildings with no load bearing capacity in the roof. We had to rig, de-rig and move complex temporary structures within a matter of hours.”

In response he created a revolutionary self-climbing ground support tower, which combined with truss, formed

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

FEATURE

innovation

ELP engineered a solution United 93 – two 40m tracking systems carried 4 x ARRI T24 heads driven by computerised winches freestanding grids. These have since become the industry-standard way to lift lighting rigs and construct outdoor event stages.

During the 1990s Willson transferred these skills to television. “Outside broadcast quickly recognised the advantages of touring techniques. Lighting directors loved the rock lights and quickly saw the benefit of trussing, Socapex multicore and high-density dimmer systems previously unknown in this field,” he says.

ELP was the only company concentrating on this market and became the first choice for many light entertainment and music shows like The Royal Variety Show and The Brit Awards. More unlikely work came from jobs within historic buildings, churches and cathedrals.

“Our flexible approach and ability to get in and out quickly with minimal disruption led us to be asked to supply state occasions,” states Willson. “We are privileged to have been chosen as power and lighting suppliers for the last two Royal Weddings and Funerals. We regularly light Westminster Abbey with a 500kw tungsten rig for televised services such as the recent Abolition of Slavery service attended by the Queen.”

Not just a lighting company These days, Willson describes his company as, “a technical solutions provider not just lighting company.” Separate teams within ELP handle a spectrum of services rarely found in just one supplier. His penchant for developing structural solutions leads to many diverse calls for his team.

Acting on a request from rigging gaffer Pat Miller, Willson engineered a solution for the recent United 93 production at Pinewood. Based upon Miller's ideas, two 40m suspended tracking systems were constructed, each carrying 4 x ARRI T24 heads driven by computerised winches.

These enabled programmed movements of varying speed, attack and decay times replicating the natural movements of an aircraft relative to the sun.

As a keen advocate of change Willson is enthusiastic about the future, and hopeful that what is currently regarded as a novelty will eventually become the norm.

“I am sure we will see an increase in the use of truss and hoist rigging systems in feature production,” he says. “The huge scope for these techniques has been largely over looked in the UK whilst Hollywood has seen it's potential for years.”

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

page

35

UK

gbct – the chairman speaks

Trevor Coop, Chairman, GBCT

Coming of age It normally happens at 18 or 21, coming of age, that is! But if you want something truly great you have to nurture it a little longer.

Accordingly it has taken until our 30th year for The Guild of British Camera Technicians (GBCT) to emerge from its cocoon into what it was always intended to be. Unlike nature's beautiful, but fragile and transient version, this butterfly has wings of steel, staying power, a huge heart and… dancing shoes!

During our formative years the GBCT was often accused not only of being elitist, but also featurist and Southist. Understandable I suppose when you consider that the 42 founder members all had established careers in major international features and lived largely in the South East. But the GBCT has never been about elitism, only about excellence. Those original 42 have now grown to nearly 500 and membership is rising faster than at any time in our history, but not at the cost of quality.

The same stringent requirements for membership are still applied. I am happy to say that our membership currently includes not only those who work in features, but also those who work predominantly in TV drama, documentaries, music promos, commercials, television broadcast, live event outside broadcast and shorts. You name it and we've probably got a member that does it.

As for regional bias, no argument, a large proportion of our membership still live in the South East, but we do have members all over the country and are proactively working on increasing those numbers. To that end, in recent months we have held two open days in Leeds and Manchester, hosted by Provision and are planning similar events in the near future in Newcastle, Glasgow and Belfast, to be hosted by Panavision.

essential than ever before. To that end the GBCT training programme is at the forefront of our agenda, from inducting trainees through to upgrading courses for all grades.

To celebrate our 30th birthday we are holding a high profile red carpet party at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on June 2nd which is to be combined with our very first independent awards ceremony. For the last couple of decades the BSC has kindly invited us to give our awards at its operators night held in December, but there have long been rumblings amongst the lower echelons of our ranks that unless they were invited guests of a BSC member, or one of the patron companies, they were unable to attend and applaud the achievement of their peers. That is about to change. We will have our long established awards, but for the first time this year we are adding some new categories with some enthusiastic new sponsors. I see this as the final piece in the jigsaw.

Although I was one of the founding 42, and have served on the board of governors for several years, I cannot take much individual credit for where the GBCT now is. That is very much a team effort, but it fills me with immense pride to be at the helm, as the current chairman, as we blossom into one of the foremost groups in an exciting new era in British film production expertise.I look forward to seeing you all on the 2nd of June.

Our relationship with the major rental houses is, of necessity, symbiotic.

Their business is hiring very, very expensive toys and they understandably like them to come back in the condition in which they went out. Like it or not, there are a lot of cowboys out there and the advance of the electronic age has made it all the more easy for them to prosper, falling prey to, or putting the boot on the other foot, even exploiting the less knowledgeable or less scrupulous would-be producers.

Trevor Coop, Chairman, GBCT

With the gradual demise of the “latent image” school of cinematography the perceived magic is beginning to disappear. It was never magic!

Just craft skill and artistic talent. With the advent of HD and whatever comes after that, those skills and talents are at least as, or maybe more,

page

36

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

gbct – 30th anniversary

GBCT 30th Anniversary The Guild of British Camera Technicians celebrates 30 years of service to camera technicians in the business, and as a celebration of the fact we take a look at what the letters GBCT stand for.

The GBCT as we know it today came from humble beginnings, and the actual date of commencement is somewhat of a mystery to some, although one person recalls vividly the circumstances. Mike Fox GBCT takes up the story.

“In the interests of our rather glorious history, I would like to point out to the membership that the true date of our birth was on a Sunday morning on November 6, 1977. For almost a year preceding that, the original Board of Governors met almost every Sunday, and many times on weekdays, to set up the several initiatives that the membership still enjoys to this day.

The GBCT and its first Board of Governors was voted into being on November 6, 1977 by 35 attending ACTT camera department members (of the four hundred or so invited) who, because they cared enough, turned up at the Carnarvon Hotel in Ealing for this very special event. To claim (rather conveniently for some I feel) that the Guild was founded some ten months later than it actually was is to negate the enormous amount of work that was put in by its original founding members.”

In 1977, we had hopes and dreams. A few people said the Guild would never work. A few people then had the foresight to get up and wanted to represent the camera professionals and make a difference. The ACTT union (as it was then) was becoming ineffective in many areas, and some were becoming disillusioned with what they represented.

The Guild of British Camera Technicians was primarily set up to uphold standards, train the right people accordingly, offer a welfare scheme and high quality training schemes, along with a free answering service to every member, and also set up cheap group insurances. We would employ a business manager, design and sell our own equipment, publish our own manuals. Within a few years, we would have our own premises - even a club room, and maybe one day our own cinema. We would do everything that ACTT could have done and never did. Whilst most of that eventually came true, all apart from the cinema.

In 2007 we now reside within the Panavision building in Greenford, we have a business manager, a welfare scheme, provide knowledge in quality training schemes, there is an answering service, we bring deals to our membership, we have a website, and we still strongly uphold quality and standards. We now represent the very best camera technicians, grips, and script supervisors, and we now have widened our membership and reach out to a great deal more of the UK, not just the South east corner. This will continue to grow at a pace, I am sure.

What is astonishing is how much has been achieved by the use of purely volunteer help. There are, by necessity, a core of full time office administrative staff, that work at running the everyday business such as the Guild Answering Service and accounts and answering queries etc. The board initiates Guild policy, and everything the Guild has accomplished has been by a few volunteers from the Board going into the office

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

whenever they can. People have come and then passed on the responsibility to others along the way, but the fact remains that people have done this for now almost 30 years and there would be no Guild if it wasn't for them. There has been a great dedication to the Guild, and on the eve of the 30th anniversary, the present board of Governors salutes you all who have contributed over the years.

How the business has changed since 1977 In 1977 the Guild was made up of a couple of hundred mainly freelance, London-based feature-film camera technicians. Everyone either knew one another personally or had heard of each other in some way by reputation.

There was a union, the ACTT (now called BECTU) and that made it impossible to work in the industry unless you had an ACTT union card.

That's great if you have one, not so great if you didn't have one, of course!

However, what this did was induce a form of quality control that we see lacking today in many areas. To obtain an ACTT card meant a dedication to the business and not just a way of making a quick few quid and then getting out of the business. It sometimes required several years working in different areas to obtain, and then it actually meant something when it arrived. It also provided a continuity and dedication that some may lack in many ways now.

However the days of the ACTT are long gone, along with the restrictions on working that came with it, and nobody wants to see that era return. What it did was stifle some people with pure raw talent from moving up as quickly as they could have done, so they went elsewhere to work where they were appreciated across the pond.

Diary services were once the necessity for continuity of work for freelancers. Mobile phones have largely done away with that aspect, although there is still a definite need for such a service in one form or another, especially the further up the camera crew you are able to move up to with an agent.

What it doesn't do is generate work for as many people who are wanting it! Colleges and universities are now pushing media courses and the students are leaving without the right amount of correct knowledge and without a chance of really working in the film business as they imagine it. Figures of tens of thousands each year leave a media course of one kind or another, and they are mostly ill prepared for the reality of film making.

Page from GBCT first News-sheet in 1977

page

37

UK

gbct – 30th anniversary

ACTT does not wish to become a Guild. This Guild does not want to become a Trade Union.”

This has always been the policy of the GBCT board, we may act on behalf of members best interests, through training and other areas, but we are not a Trade Union, and we do not profess to be. We have opinions and will act in the best interests of the membership, as we believe passionately about the business, and will move mountains if that's what it takes.

Another article in the first newsletter, how relevant it is today with all the technological changes that have happened since this was written. This makes the GBCT's role even more important in many ways today than when this next piece was written in 1978.

The biggest challenge many face is gaining the relevant experience on the camera floor, and the challenge is still here today.

New blood on the floor There is already a shortage of feature-trained loaders in the industry, for the simple reason that quite the majority of new blood doesn't get to work on a feature all that easily, and if he does manage it, he's often thrown in the deep end with equipment that he has only heard described. It is by no means their fault because, excepting the National Film School, there is nowhere, for them to learn.

The famouss mountain in Close Encounters Of A Third Kind

What the GBCT stands for What the GBCT decided from the outset was to find a way to help talented and dedicated people rise up and move on. We could properly train people in the correct methods and discipline on the film set, then assist them to move up the ladder within the film business, and make a long and fruitful career for themselves. The freelance camera business is fragmented at the best of times, and this provided some form of link to others who may have felt out on a limb by themselves. If they were unable to work through illness we could assist them in some ways. That is still one of the primary aims of the GBCT. What used to happen was when feature work available it was to be shared out among ACTT's London membership. Salaries were relatively high compared to many other professions, and one could live well on the income, and enjoy life in a great film making business. It was actually an original membership requirement that an applicant had first to be a member of ACTT before he or she could join the GBCT. However, this was viewed more of a quality assurance than any political act, as to gain an ACTT union ticket meant a great deal of hard work and “learning the ropes” from other people more experienced before a quality mark was awarded in the form of a union card. The Guild was, and still is to this day extremely conscious of the implications of involving itself in industry politics.

In the many years since the ACTT's power and influence has been eroded by successive governments we find ourselves without a strong union presence, and the change in the industry has been quite drastic, for all the wrong reasons. It has for the most part seen quality and standards fall, and working conditions and salaries pushed backwards to average at best. This has all been happening whilst movie budgets expand rapidly, and $100 million is now not seen as unusually large! If camera crews were polled today about standards of working, pay levels and long hours it would make many politicians blush with embarrassment. What now constitutes a “British” film is somewhat tenuous link, normally to do with tax reasons and international funding and markets. How things change.

Producers now have what they have always wanted, a casualised workforce who accept whatever salary the producers offer for whatever hours the producers demand.

Those who refuse to take what is offered are passed by and someone else it taken in preference. The training and continuity of trades is secondary to how cheap they can get the labour force to do the hard work. Those with heavy commitments, large mortgages, kids at private school, have to work like the devil just to tread water. That can't be right.

The Guilds first newsletter in June 1978 tells a story that could be printed today with the same freshness.

British Airways inaugurates regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service

page

38

“It seems to be a general opinion among cameracrews that the freelance method of working has brought about an apparent lack of 'strength' in our department - this is most readily reflected in the success of the Guild. While remembering that, we should also remember that the GBCT will provide the “vocal” opinion and, with your support through the Guild, ACTT will provide the “industrial” strength.

With this in mind, the Guild believes that all feature-crews should have attached to them a “trainee loader” while they are studio-based or on London daily locations. We feel that a scheme of this nature, with a token sum being provided by say a fund from the Guild, ACTT and the FPA, should be implemented as soon as possible on the understanding that such trainees would receive only their expenses and perhaps a very small sum from the producing company.

We feel that such a scheme would be in everybody's interest and should therefore be very carefully looked into. As we've said elsewhere in this newsletter, feature techniques are somewhat different from others and the art should not be allowed to die through our indifference to the problem.”

The GBCT as far as I am aware is almost certainly the biggest camera guild in the world. Our members include many who are internationally recognized as the best in their fields. They need more than ever to be trained and educated in the rapidly changing business. More then ever they need guidance and help, so more reason to join the GBCT and have a voice at last.

Where the GBCT will be in the next 30 years?

I would like to hope firstly that movies are still going to be made by highly skilled and dedicated individuals, and that people will still want to go out to see a movie. Maybe we will all be at home with massive flat screen televisions, or watching the latest blockbuster on a mobile phone, who knows? Assuming that the former scenario holds true, I would like to think the GBCT in one form or another is continuing to uphold standards and values of training and knowledge, and we still have a film industry in whatever form that will be.

I hope that we will see you at the GBCT 30th anniversary event on the 2nd June 2007. May there be many more years to come of exciting and stimulating film making within these shores, and we continue to nurture and assist the best camera technicians in the world.

John Keedwell. GBCT Tickets for the GBCT’s 30th birthday bash can be ordered at

www.gbctawards.org

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

gbct – 30th anniversary

What happened in 1977?

With the GBCT's 30th birthday looming up in the near future, here is a rather lighthearted look at what was happening in 1977. It was a very different era than today….

Notable films of 1977

Notable events

Notable music events in 1977

The space shuttle Enterprise test vehicle goes on its maiden "flight" while sitting on top of a Boeing 747, at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

First use of optical fibre to carry live telephone traffic.

March 10 - A&M Records signs the Sex Pistols in a ceremony in front of Buckingham Palace. The contract is terminated on March 16.

Led Zeppelin perform in Oakland at their last ever concert in the United States.

Elvis Presley is found dead at his home in Graceland.

He was 42 T. Rex frontman Mark Bolan is killed in a car accident.

British Airways inaugurates regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.

Star Wars Annie Hall Close Encounters of the Third Kind Saturday Night Fever

Notable music albums Animals, Pink Floyd; Bad Reputation, Thin Lizzy Bat out of Hell, Meat Loaf; Blondie, Blondie

>> Subcribe to

BRITISHCINEMATOGRAPHER

WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE YOU WILL RECEIVE AN UNRIVALLED INSIGHT INTO UK FILM PRODUCTION • Each issue will carry HEADLINE INTERVIEWS with key industry players. The film business is a people business – meet them here.

• COMPREHENSIVE ROUND-UPS of INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION NEWS and informed comment from industry bodies.

• SPECIAL FEATURES will review key areas of the production industry. We will examine post-production and visual effects, H/D shooting, studios and locations, distribution and exhibitions, production companies, film lawyers and finance.

YES! I would like to subscribe to British Cinematographer for:

• THE GREAT DEBATE. Read the opinions of the industry’s movers and shakers as we tackle the key issues and most contentious subjects head on.

• CAMERA CREATIVE. The UK boasts some of the top creative talent in the world. Readers get a unique chance to learn from them and examine exactly what makes them tick.

• POST and TECHNO NEWS. Equipment, skills, stock and film technology.

• NEWS, NEWS and NEWS. From around the regions, from Europe and F Stop Hollywood. We will bring you up to speed with all the relevant news that affects your business.

6 editions for just £32.00

PLEASE RETURN TO: Name ......................................................................................................................... Title ...................................................................................

(Cheques made payable to Laws Publishing Ltd)

Company ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER Subscriptions Open Box Publishing 32-35 Hall Street Jewellery Quarter Birmingham B18 6BS

Address ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. .......................................................................................................................... Post code ..................................................................................

Telephone ................................................................................................................ Email ..................................................................................

Cheque enclosed for £ ................................ made payable to

Laws Publishing Ltd

Email: stuartwalters@britishcinematographer.co.uk

Published 6 times a year, you can receive the magazine posted to your home or office for just – UK: £32.00 • Europe: €58 • USA: $69 – all prices include post and packaging

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

page

39

UK

family affairs

Powell Family Credits The full credits of Nosher, Dinny, Greg and Gary are far too numerous to list in full, but this selection shows the vast range of work they were, and continue to be, involved with…

Nosher Powell: Henry V, Caesar and Cleopatra, The Quatermass Experiment, Bridge On The River Kwai, Dunkirk, The Guns of Navarone, The Longest Day, Lawrence of Arabia, From Russia with Love, Pink Panther, Zulu, Goldfinger, Thunderball, Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, A Man for All Seasons, The Dirty Dozen, Casino Royale, You Only Live Twice, Charge of the Light Brigade, Where Eagles Dare, The Battle of Britain, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Sweeney, The Spy Who Loved Me, Superman, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View To A Kill, Willow and Legionnaire.

The Powell family, from left to right: Nosher, Tilly, Greg, Dinny

Flying Aces There are many families, dynasties even, involved in the business of making films, where the experience of dedicated people is handed down between generations. Madelyn Most caught up with The Powells, a family of extraordinary stuntmen.

The legendary “Nosher” Powell has been everywhere, done everything and knows everybody. Born (Frederick Bernard) in Camberwell in 1928 with a big appetite, “Little Nosher” learned to master horses from his dad, (Big Nosher), whom he calls "the original horse whisperer". He and younger brother Dinny (Dennis) grew up in London's East End with air-raid sirens howling and V1 and V2 bombs whizzing. He remembers one night, "the whole of London seemed to be alight from horizon to horizon, the sky was one ball of red flames".

As a kid working in Covent Garden and Berwick Street, Nosher became fit and strong, and adopted his father's boxing prowess.

Amateur turned professional, after the Army he sparred with heavyweight champions Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Muhammad Ali. Nosher knew how to handle himself and the East End thugs, villains, and gangs including the Krays and the Maltese mob.

Next he was bouncer at fashionable West End clubs and restaurants and then acted as minder to the rich and famous - Paul Getty, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and others. Nosher got his first break in the movies training Lawrence Harvey to be a light heavyweight boxer on Lewis Gilbert's Wall of Death and the rest, as they say, is history. He has written a wonderful autobiography titled, simply-enough, Nosher.

Dinny Powell, the younger brother of Nosher is known as a stuntman and actor. His credits start in '60s and continue into 2000.

With his larger-than-life brother, Dinny's life from an early age, was somewhat attached to Nosher's, therefore, their film resume looks similar.

page

40

But stunt work has developed from boxing, riding horses, playing villains, shooting guns and jumping off buildings and today's stuntmen and women have to be accomplished in many activities.

They must be able to ride horses, drive and crash cars, racecars, lorries, tanks, bikes and motorcycles, as well as ski, drive boats, jet skis and submarines. They have to be able to jump, perform on wires, ropes and bungees too. They must be capable swimmers, divers, scuba divers, trampoliners, fencers, gymnasts, acrobats and be impervious to fire, water, ice, sleet and snow, because if it's around, chances are they are going to be thrown into it.

Greg, the elder son of Nosher has over thirty years experience as a stuntman, stunt coordinator, horsemaster, and second unit director.

Gary, the younger (son of Nosher) performed his first stunt when he was 11 years old a Carry On film and is today one of Britain's great stunt coordinators. Having worked on four Bond movies, he was stunt coordinator on Casino Royale where the Aston Marton rolls over seven times, a world record. As we go to print, he left for LA to be stunt coordinator on Spielberg's next Indiana Jones installment.

Tilly Powell, 15, would like to carry on the family tradition in becoming a stuntwoman. She is already an accomplished rider, as horses are her passion, and is starting lessons in kick boxing and gymnastics. She could acquire her grades and become a stuntwoman at 18. She has already done some stunt work on Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban involving wire work. She is an avid film fan, who at a very young age has already expressed that “there is too much digital on films today”.

Dinny Powell: as an actor Dinny performed in Tomorrow Never Dies, Superman II, Pink Panther Strikes Again, The Avengers, The Prisoner and The Man from UNCLE. As stuntman he appeared in Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Casino Royale, You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Boys from Brazil, Moonraker, Brazil, A View to a Kill, Willow, Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Goldeneye, Mission Impossible, Legionnaire, The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, Gosford Park as stunt coordinator, and Phantom of the Opera.

Greg Powell: among a credit list that exceeds 200 movies are 1492, Far and Away, Son of Pink Panther, Interview with the Vampire, First Knight, Mission Impossible, Michael Collins, The Saint, Legionnaire, Band of Brothers, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings, Harry Potter 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Phantom of the Opera, United 93, The DaVinci Code, The Golden Age (2nd unit underwater director ) and Inkheart.

Gary Powell: Credits list as performer: Goldeneye, Michael Collins, First Knight, Braveheart, Interview With the Vampire, Far and Away, Son of Pink Panther, 1492, Terminator 3, Harry Potter 1, 2 and 3, Blade 2, 102 Dalmations, Mission Impossible, 101 Dalmatians, Titanic, Tomorrow Never Dies, Saving Private Ryan, The World is Not Enough (stunt double for Pierce Brosnan), Band of Brothers, The Life and Death of Peter Sellars, Alexander, Legend of Zorro, Casino Royale. As stunt co-ordinator: The Mummy Returns, The World is Not Enough, The Mummy, Saving Private Ryan, Lost in Space, Titanic, 101 Dalmatians, Casino Royale, Bourne Ultimatum and Indiana Jones 4.

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING To advertise in this section please contact: Stuart Walters Tel: +44 (0) 121 608 2300 or email: stuartwalters@britishcinematographer.co.uk

ISSUE 21

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER