British Cinematographer - Issue 25

ISSUE

25

JANUARY 2008

THREE AGES OF THE CINEMATOGRAPHER #14: CAMERA CREATIVE OLIVER STAPLETON BSC TALKS ABOUT HIS CAREER AND RECENT WORK ON THE WATER HORSE AND HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS & ALIENATE PEOPLE

ALSO INSIDE #13: CLOSE-UPS SPECIAL BEHIND THE SCENES ON HARRY POTTER WITH STEPHEN WOOLFENDEN AND MIKE BREWSTER

#16: SHOOTING THE FUTURE LEADING DPs BRIGHTEN UP THE NEW YEAR WITH A LOOK AT THEIR FAVOURITE LIGHTING GEAR

#18: PLUS CAMERIMAGE DIARY IN SEARCH OF SPROUTS AND OTHER GOINGS-ON AT THE 15TH ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF CINEMATOGRAPHY

#20: MUNICH SPECIAL ARRI IS 90 YEARS YOUNG, PLUS A LOOK AT THE FILMMAKING SCENE IN BAVARIA

#36: FAMILY MATTERS MEET THE HUMES, A FILMIC FAMILY IF EVER THERE WAS ONE

RRP: £4.00

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 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

>> C O N T E N T S UK P03 P05 P09 P10 P13 P33

President's Perspective: Gavin Finney BSC says there's a worrying trend to measure the success of a day's shoot by recording the number of set-ups Production News: what’s going on out there?

To Live & Let DI: your guide to who’s delivering DI grades Who's Shooting Who?: the best way to find out who’s shooting this winter Close-Ups Special: Second unit director Stephen Woolfenden and DP Mike Brewster on Harry Potter And The Order of the Phoenix GBCT News: the chairman's statement, plus other news from the Guild

INTERNATIONAL

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER covering International Cinematography is part of Laws Publishing Ltd, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire SL0 0NH, UK

P18

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.

P20 P23 P30 P31

Plus Camerimage Diary: how many Academy award-winning DPs can you get in one breakfast room?

Munich Focus: a history of ARRI, as the company turns 90 Munich Focus: a report on the services and rental companies in Bavaria F-Stop Hollywood: it's awards season in the movie-making capital Shooting The Future: report on the third annual Band Pro event in Burbank

FEATURES Cover Photograph: A shot from The Water Horse: Legend of The Deep, DP Oliver Stapleton BSC

P14 P16 P36

Camera Creative: Oliver Stapleton BSC on The Water Horse and other films Shooting The Future: Lighting up - leading DPs on the lighting kit they like to use Family Matters: The Humes, a pillar of the filmmaking establishment

British Society of Cinematographers – 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, Robin Vidgeon, Nigel Walters. Secretary/Treasurer, Frances Russell.

>> Editorial Team

Guild of British Camera Technicians – Board Members: Jamie Harcourt (Chairman), Trevor Coop (Immediate Past Chairman), Peter Hughes (Vice Chairman), Darren Miller (Vice Chairman - North), Tim Potter (Vice Chairman), Caroline Sax (Vice Chairman), Jacob Barrie, Steve Brooke-Smith, Jason Coop, John Keedwell, Rupert Lloyd Parry, Suzanne McGeachan, Keith Mead, Shirley Schumacher

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).

Tales of the unexpected

Annette Zoeh is a translator and commercial correspondent who has worked for many years in the film business as a freelance journalist and photographer for national newspapers and magazines in Germany.

Dear Readers…

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.

David A Ellis started out as a projectionist and then moved on to work for BBC Television in London as a film assistant. He has written numerous articles about the industry including features about cinematographers.

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

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

Natasha Block is a freelance clapper/loader working in features and shorts. She started her career at a grassroots level - on the rental house camera floor as a technician.

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Happy New Year. Once more unto the breech, dear friends… and all that.

It's awards season, and we begin the New Year confident of British success in 2008. The Globes (well, the press conference announcing the Globes) augur well with Atonement scooping best drama. Daniel Day Lewis was named best actor for his captivating performance as a pioneering oilman in There Will Be Blood, and Julie Christie was voted best actress for her poignant comeback performance in the film Away From Her. The British TV drama Longford, about Lord Longford's unusual friendship with killer Myra Hindley, won three awards for Samantha Morton, Jim Broadbent (as Longford and Hindley) and the Channel 4 drama also took the best TV film award. BBC comedy Extras picked up the award for best comedy or musical. There's likely to be a knock-on effect into the world of cinematography at the BAFTAs, ASC and Academy awards, and we'd love nothing more than to report on triumph for the likes of Roger Deakins, Seamus McGarvey and Stephen Goldblatt.

So things are looking good, aren't they? Hmmm! What the UK feature production industry really needs is a good period of stability. The last several years have been

blighted by sharp vicissitudes of fortune. From out of the blue came a swingeing change of tax laws, with tens of productions getting swept away overnight. Now it's the writer's strike, and although the action is taking place thousands of miles away, the production industry is so globalised that the dearth of production means UK companies, and even DPs agents, are laying people off.

In between these low swings of the pendulum, have been shockwaves over VAT and an increasingly expensive sterling/dollar exchange rate. And what will happen if or when the actors and directors down tools later this year?

So can we paint anything like a rosy picture for the year ahead? Well, studio bookings appear solid. Bond 22 is in production at Pinewood, Richard Curtis' new Working Title comedy The Boat That Rocked will shoot on these shores, and Paul Greengrass' Green Zone for Universal is green-lit.

The Wolfman looks like a goer and the final Harry Potter movie is at Leavesden again. Aardman, MARV, DNA and Film4 all have decent projects on the blocks, and BBC Films has an increased annual kitty (now at $24m.).

The UK Film Council has declared that, “underlying strength is good”. Let's hope so. We really don't want to be reporting on any tales of the unexpected in the next 12 months.

page

1

UK

presidents’ perspective

Set up for a fall?

I read an article in a trade magazine recently in which a director and DP boasted about the number of set-ups they hoped to achieve: “Writer/director X (left unnamed to save blushes) wanted a fast working DP who could help him achieve a record for the greatest number of set-ups in a British feature.” It finished proudly: “We completed 1750 slates and averaged 35-40 set-ups a day on 'A' camera alone.” *

Another ridiculous situation, I and a number of other DPs and directors I've spoken with have faced, is when we are told by 'people with influence on the production' that we can't shoot in the widescreen 2.40:1 format because, “You'll do fewer setups per day”! They're serious, they've got it all written down on their spreadsheet according to which, if you shoot 1.85:1 you should achieve, say, 15 set-ups/day but if you shoot anamorphic or Super 35, you'll 'only' do 11.

Well, whoop-de-doo! What it didn't mention was how many shots actually made it to the final cut, or whether they were any good. There is a worrying trend, both on set and in the production office to measure the success of a day's shooting by the number of 'set-ups recorded' rather than whether you actually completed the day's work.

This is rather like telling a writer to use A4 rather than US letter size, because they'll 'do' more words per page! Patiently, we explained to them that you often don't require so many set-ups in anamorphic, because the wider screen allows you to show more in the frame, both in wide and in close-up and so, often, fewer cuts are required (especially as on a large cinema screen, it takes a measurable number of seconds for the eye to scan the whole 2.40:1 image and if you cut too fast, your audience won't have taken in the whole frame). Compare that with 1.33:1 TV where much has to be shot in single close-ups with lots of cuts to get the same amount of information across.

There is a worrying trend… to measure the success of a day's shooting by the number of ‘ s e t- u p s r e c o r d e d ’ r a t h e r t h a n whether you actually completed the day's work.

There is a rather fine 5 min. 20 sec. Steadicam shot in Atonement, beautifully photographed by Seamus McGarvey BSC and operated by Peter Robertson. In that day they 'only' achieved one set-up, but they shot almost 5 and a half minutes of finished film, all of which made the final cut. I'm sure no one in the production office cried: “Oh my God, they've only done one set-up today!” What matters is whether you have completed the day's work as calculated by the 1st AD and agreed by the director; and, having done it, have you done it well?

There are many factors affecting the number of set-ups one does. For instance, is the scene composed of long-take Steadicam, or hand-held shots involving complex choreography? Or is the scene to be broken down into many fractured shots for a fast cutting collage effect? Are we really going to get to the stage where the number of set-ups recorded per day has to be artificially ramped (we all know how to do this) in order to keep certain people, who should know better, happy?

ISSUE 25

Gavin Finney BSC President BSC

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Even if you do want your 'widescreen' picture to have a lot of cuts, there is a neat proof that the format itself isn't inherently slower. If you shoot your film 1.85:1 (achieving, let's say, 15 set-ups/day) and then decide in post that it really does look better in scope, all you have to do is raise the bottom of the frame up to the new aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and there you have it (albeit with a few feet cut off!). Now how exactly (you can ask the number crunchers) has changing the aspect ratio affected the number of set-ups already achieved?

More insidiously still, I've heard rumours that a record is kept of the average number of set-ups achieved by directors and DPs, and that this potentially misinterpreted and misleading information is used in some way to calculate their suitability for a production. God help us and the film industry if this is true. (*Actually the figure, by their own evidence, must have been rather lower. As they filmed for 13 weeks they would have made between 22 and 27 set-ups per day, depending on whether they worked a five or six day week, some 10 set-ups/day fewer than they claimed.)

Gavin Finney BSC President British Society of Cinematographers

page

3

UK

production news

UK Film Council rewards talent with funding Award-winning signature filmmakers and several new talents have been backed by the UK Film Council in the first round of financial awards to be announced by its Development Fund head Tanya Seghatchian.

Filmmakers with whom Seghatchian has been developing projects over the past several months include Oscarnominated British filmmaker Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I, The Killing Fields) with a film based on his comic novel, The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman. Growing up in a bizarre household of eccentrics in the post-war seaside town of Broadstairs, 13-year-old Thomas Penman longs to find his grandfather's stash of secret porn but ends up discovering a far more shocking secret. The film has been awarded £250,000.

The Oscar-nominated British writer Patrick Marber (Notes on a Scandal, Closer) is adapting his hit play Don Juan in Soho for the big screen, with a windfall of £150,000. The story is a modern version of Molière's scandalous French classic Don Juan, set in contemporary Soho. This vile, bravura, phantasmagoric comedy is about the inevitability of sex and the joy of death. The producers are Robert Fox (Atonement, Notes on a Scandal, Closer, The Hours) and Patrick Marber and the film will be developed in partnership with Film4.

British filmmaker Terence Davies (Distant Voices, Still Lives, The Long Day Closes, The House of Mirth) is working with his long-term collaborator producer Olivia Stewart on Mad about the Boy, which has attracted £9,982 of support, a comedy he has written and will also direct.

Writer/director Christopher Smith (Creep, Severance) is developing Triangle, a psychological horror, which follows the survivors of a capsized yacht who think they have found safety onboard a seemingly abandoned ocean liner. Third-time Smith collaborator Jason Newmark will produce the film, which has been awarded £7,500.

Blackwaterside, which has received £23,500, is a first feature film collaboration between leading Scottish playwright David Greig, director Marisa Zanotti and producer Angela Murray, the team behind the award-winning short film At the End of the Sentence. Their first feature film is a dark contemporary coming-of-age fable about two teenage girls who go looking for a party and find themselves lost in Blackwaterside woods.

Writer Polly Stenham, critically acclaimed earlier this year for her play That Face and shortlisted this week for the Evening Standard's Charles Wintour Theatre Award for most promising

New Product Focus Glidecam Industries of Kingston, Massachusetts in the US has launched Glidecam X-10, a professional camera stabilisation system designed for cameras weighing up to six pounds, when used with the Glidecam 2000 Pro, or for cameras weighing from four to ten pounds when used with the Glidecam 4000 Pro. The X-10 system allows the operator to walk, run, go up and down stairs, shoot from moving vehicles and travel over uneven terrain without any camera instability or shake.

The X-10 system works by isolating the operator's body motion from the camera, leaving the camera balanced in an effectively motionless and isolated state. The X-10's support arm can be boomed up and down, as well as pivoted in and out, and side-to-side. It is the combined booming and pivoting action of the Support Arm that isolates body motions from the camera that creates smooth camera footage.

playwright, is now adapting her work for the cinema. With £15,000 pledged from the Film Council coffers, this is a story about a privileged mother intoxicated by power, liquor and love who fails to keep a grip on reality as her family self destruct.

The support arm can be setup and used in either a two- or a four-spring mode. In the two-spring mode, the support arm can hold a total combined camera and hand-held stabiliser weight of nine pounds. In the four-spring mode, the support arm can hold a total combined weight of 18 pounds. A key design feature of the support arm is that Glidecam's Light-Force technology, which literally means that only a “light” effort is required by the operator to hold the arm at any given position, or to boom the arm up and down.

Glidecam X-10

The new X-10 is similar in design to Glidecam's Smooth Shooter. However, both sections of its support arm are able to move vertically, whereas only the front section of the Smooth Shooter's support arm can move vertically. The X10 also comes with a trimmable arm-to-vest Connector.

Cash boost: Tanya Seghatchian head of the UKFC's development fund

X-10 Support Vest

when used with the new X-10, the X-10's spring-loaded support arms carry the weight, allows for extended shooting periods.

X-10 Support Arm The Glidecam X-10's dyna-elastic dual-articulating support arm incorporates 38 precision radial bearings within its machined T6 aluminum structure. The placement and implementation of these double-shielded bearings produce minimal friction and allow the support arm to pivot and boom very smoothly, and with virtually no noise.

The X-10 does not come with a Glidecam 2000 Pro or a Glidecam 4000 Pro, but is designed to be used with them.

Neither the Glidecam 2000 Pro, nor the 4000 Pro need to be modified to work with the X-10. Operators can use their camcorder's flip out LCD monitor, or a monitor that is attached to the base of the Glidecam 2000 Pro or 4000 Pro, enabling remote viewing of the camera's image without disturbing the orientation of the system.

Four high-carbon alloy, extension springs are employed within the support arm's hardcoat anodized exo-skeletal shells. Utilizing class-three levers, the energy of the extension springs acts upon internal fulcrum points, and provides the support arm with its lifting power. The spring tension is field adjustable and allows for varying camera weights.

When using the Glidecam 2000 Pro or 4000 Pro in hand-held mode, the operator's arm carries the weight. However,

Glidecam's proprietary spring Inter-X-Change system makes the installation and removal of the springs quick and easy.

The X-10 support vest is lightweight and can be adjusted to fit a wide range of operators. High endurance, dual density, EVA foam padding and integral T6 aluminum alloy create a vest which can hold and evenly distribute the weight of the system across the operator's shoulders, back, and hips. For safety, quick release, high impact buckles allow the vest to be removed quickly. The vest's outer shell is made of 1000 denier cordura fabric, and 7-panel seat belt strapping, noted as being the best in the industry.

The X-10 support vest incorporates am arm-to-vest connector that allows the angle of the support arm to be adjusted relative to the vest. This trimming mechanism allows the operator to neutralise the weight of the arm relative to their body's centre of gravity. When set correctly the effort required while shooting is greatly reduced.

X-10 Specs The Support Arm can be setup and configured so either a left-handed, or a right-handed operator can use the system.

Dual support arm boom range is 30”. Dual support arm weight is 5lbs 12oz in two-spring mode, without arm posts.

Individual weight plates are each 12.9oz. The X-10 system includes: Glidecam X-10 support arm, support vest, docking bracket, (1) stainless steel arm post, (1) aluminum arm post, (6) steel weight plates, hardware and operations manual.

Have you developed a new product for the camera team, and want to tell the world about it? Contact us now and let us know all about your latest brainchild.

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

page

5

UK

production news

BSC Operators' Night

Back Row: Left to Right: Marek Zydowicz, Barry Norman, Kazik Suwala. Front Row: Left to Right: Dennis Fraser MBE, Peter Swarbrick of Panavision, Nigel Stone BSC & Bill Lovell of ARRI GB.

The British Society of Cinematographers' 56th Operators' Night was held at Elstree Film and Television Studios on Friday 7th December 2007. BSC president Gavin Finney hosted the evening and welcomed guest-of-honour Barry Norman, the retired television film critic, who regaled the assembled company with amusing tales about some of the stars he had interviewed over the years. The Society's vice president Sue Gibson BSC toasted the operators and David Worley, Associate BSC, replied on behalf of the guests.

Roberto Schaefer ASC, who is in London prepping Bond 22, was amongst the audience of nearly 200 people with his wife Caroline. A new special achievement award was presented to Marek Zydowicz and Kazik Suwala for the creation of the Camerimage Film Festival in Poland, which this year celebrated it's 15th anniversary. They made the journey from Poland especially for the event and were warmly applauded.

The Charles D. Staffell award for Visual Effects, presented by Kevin Francis, went to Nigel Stone BSC. One of the highlights of Nigel's career was in 2001 with Simon Gilles and Alan Church when they received a BAFTA for best visual effects and graphic design on the television miniseries Gormenghast, which was photographed by Gavin Finney (who won an RTS award for his work on the show).

The ARRI John Alcott Award was awarded to Dennis Fraser MBE, by Renos Louka (MD of ARRI UK) for his years of service and training initiatives for the grip department. Two separate Bert Easey Technical Golden Cameras were presented to Bill Lovell of ARRI and Peter Swarbrick of Panavision for their input to the advancement and promotion of digital cinematography.

The Christmas raffle raised ÂŁ2,500 for the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund, and The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, with some prizes donated by the patrons including Cooke Lenses, Deluxe, Fuji, Kodak, Panalux, Panavision, Ronford Baker and Bucks Labs. The evening was as memorable as ever, with many of the company propping up the bar until it closed at around 1.30am.

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

page

7

UK

production news

DP Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC on the set of No Country For Old Men.

DP Robert Elswit, ASC

DP Seamus McGarvey, BSC on the set of Atonement.

Deakins and McGarvey get ASC Noms Roger Deakins ASC, BSC (The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford and No Country For Old Men), and Seamus McGarvey, BSC (Atonement) are the amongst the nominees for top honours in the feature film category in the 22nd Annual American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Outstanding Achievement Awards competition, along with Robert Elswit, ASC (There Will Be Blood), Janusz Kaminski (The Diving Bell And The Butterfly). The

IMAGO annual assembly The Netherlands Society of Cinematographers will play host to the IMAGO Annual General Assembly in Amsterdam on the weekend 15, 16 and 17th of February 2008, with a range of debates, museum visits and screenings on the agenda. Visitors are urged to e-mail iaga@cinematography.nl for further information.

winner will be announced during the awards celebration on January 26, at the Hollywood and Highland Grand Ballroom. Deakins is the first cinematographer to claim two nominations in one year in the ASC Feature Film category. He was previously nominated five times and won twice (The Shawshank Redemption, The Man Who Wasn't There). This is the fourth ASC nomination for Kaminski, the second for Elswit, and the first for McGarvey.

Arterton grabs Bond role

Bond 22: Arterton is next Bond gal, as 007 goes into production British newcomer Gemma Arterton has joined the ranks of Famke Janssen, Honor Blackman, and Ursula Andress as the new Bond girl in the next installment of the James Bond franchise. Arterton will play Fields in the Marc Forster-directed movie, which has the working title of Bond 22 and is currently filming in London for Columbia and MGM for a November 7th release. Daniel Craig will reprise his role as Agent 007.

Arterton, 21, is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Her past movies include the recent remake of the comedy St. Trinian's, and Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla, which releases in October. She joins a cast that includes Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright and Jesper Christensen. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the new movie is said to pick up where Casino Royale left off. Bond 22 will be lensed by Roberto Schaefer.

page

8

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

to live and let DI

Propellor: DI grader Jet Omoshebi receives her well-deserved WFTV award from actor, and So Solid Crew's, Ashley Walters (left). Omoshebi graded the popular BBC series Cranford (right)

To Live and Let DI Pepper Post's reputation for having one of the best grading teams in Soho got a major boost when senior colourist Jet Omoshebi won the Craft Award at the recent WFTV (Women in Film and Television) Awards. Omoshebi's recent work has included ITV comedy drama Sold, DP'd by Ian Adrian, and BBC drama Cranford starring Dame Judy Dench, and lensed by Ben Smithard. Patrick Holzen, joint MD of Pepper, described Omoshebi as “an amazing artist”. Last year she also collected a gong at the RTS Crafts and Design Awards for her work on BBC retro-cop-drama Life on Mars, shot by Stephen Sfetku.

Since its launch two years ago Dragon DI has completed twelve films, as well as branching out into HDTV, VFX and also partnering with sound and lab providers to offer a full film package. Dragon is currently working on a feature for BBC Films/HBO called Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel, a sci-fi comedy directed by Gareth Carrivick, lensed by John Pardue and starring Chris O'Dowd, Dean Lennox Kelly, Marc Wootton and Anna Faris. The production was shot on ARRI D20, with some 35mm sequences, and incorporated a large VFX shot list too. “It's a tricky recipe,” said Pardue, “and it took us a long time to get it right, but the look of the film is now exactly where we want to be.” The colourist was Geoffrey Case using Quantel iQ. Scanning and ingest was 'inhouse' via Dragon's ARRI scanner and laser machines.

Midnight Transfer, which is now part of the Deluxe empire, has been grading Mike Leigh's Happy Go Lucky, and Julian Jarrold's Brideshead Revisited. Happy Go Lucky is a “colourful, everyday lives of ordinary working Londoners” type of film,

starring Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan, produced by Simon Channing Williams, and lensed by Dick Pope BSC. The film got a Spirit 4k scan, and a Baselight 8 grade by John Claude using Barco DP100 projector. Cinesite did the Super 2k ARRI film record. After extensive camera tests in pre-production Pope decided to go predominantly with the new Fuji Vivid stock with some HD 'lipstick' HD CAM video used for close-ups in a car. The picture is framed 2.35:1 letterbox having been shot on 3-perf 35mm. The production designer, make-up artist and DP were all working from the outset to achieve a rich vibrant palette, which was then carried forward through the final grade. Midnight Transfer recorded back out onto Fuji neg and print stock.

Brideshead Revisited is a re-make of the classic novel and TV series, with Michael Gambon, Emma Thompson, Ben Whishaw, Matthew Goode, Greta Scacchi and Hayley Atwell in the leads. It's a BBC Films & Miramax Films production, produced by Kevin Loader with the DP Jess Hall. The film had the same scanning, grading and colourist as Happy Go Lucky, but was shot on Kodak and, by design, has a beautifully rich and sumptuous look. Framed for 2.35:1 letterbox, it has great costumes and the locations include Oxford, Venice and Castle Howard in Yorkshire. Midnight did the whole 2k scan for the previews, providing high-quality HD tape previews.

Lipsync Post has been working on Good for Miromar Entertainment AG, starring Viggo Mortensen, Jason Isaacs, Mark Strong, Gemma Jones. It's the story of John Halder (Mortensen), a 'good' and decent individual with family problems, including a mother suffering from senile dementia.

A literary professor, Halder's novel advocating compassionate euthanasia gets unexpectedly enlisted by powerful political figures in support of government propaganda. Good was lit by

DP Andrew Dunn BSC, directed by Vicente Amorim, with producers Sarah Boote, Billy Dietrich, Dan Lupovitz and Miriam Segal. Grading was completed by Lee Clappison using a Quantel iQ with Pablo, and Lipsync providing the scans and film-outs.

Since establishing its DI department 3 years ago, Molinare has completed 29 DIs. The company employs FilmLight's Baselight 8 system, and its most recent include Arn The Knights Templar, The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, Dangerous Parking, Dolphins, Exodus, Flight of Fury, Grow Your Own, In the Shadow of the Moon, The Man Who Shot Chinatown; The Life and Works of John Alonzo and Ruby Blue.

Over in Los Angeles, EFILM has deployed its EWORKS colour grading system, consisting of a proprietary configuration of Autodesk Lustre and Incinerator software, to grade numerous films that went on release over Christmas and New Year, including: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, No Country for Old Men, I Am Legend, Charlie Wilson's War, The Great Debaters, The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Comebacks, Rendition, Borderland, Lions for Lambs, Southland Tales, Lust Caution and Good Luck Chuck.

LA's iO Film used Digital Vision's Film Master grading and finishing system to complete DI on The Mist, from Dimension Films. The movie, based on the Stephen King novel, features a cloud of mist that hidesblood-thirsty creatures which feed on humans. Frank Darabont directed it, with Ronn Schmidt the DP, and Keith Shaw the grader.

Graded grains: Molinare has recently completed DI grades for (l-r) Exodus, In the Shadow of the Moon and Arn The Knights Templar

As the name suggests, To Live and Let DI is all about who's grading what and for whom.

So if Digital Intermediate is your thing, get in touch with us now!

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

page

9

UK

whose shooting who?

Photo by Nick Wall

Who’s Shooting Who? Eye eye: DP Rob Hardy (L) susses out a shot on set of Is There Anybody There?, pictured with still stills photographer, Nick Wall

DP Charlie Stanfield, a graduate in cinematography from the National Film and Television School wrote in with details about a Super 16mm short called Player that he has been working on. He notes, “Player was shot with an Arri SR3 Advanced supplied by Ice Film. Peter Bryant did a very good deal, partly because we were filming in the next door village to where he lives in Suffolk, and also because he wanted to help us to make the best possible short. Player stars Pete Postlethwaite, Celia Imrie and Haydn Gwynne. It was my first collaboration with actress/director Mary Nighy (she was in Marie Antoinette by Sophia Coppola). We shot down in Suffolk for three days and one night. I used two films stocks supplied by Kodak: Sam Clark very generously gave us five free rolls along with a vast reduction on the further ten rolls. For the Night Ext/Int I used Vision 2 7218. For day Int/Ext I used Vision 2 250D 7205. At night we had a scene in a wood and beside a swimming pool. Given the nature of the surroundings it was impossible to use a cherry picker to place any larger sources so we used 2 x 4K Helium Balloons supplied by Airstar. A large

For Pete's sake: Steadicam operator Mike Scott with actor Pete Postlethwaite on Player

page

10

proportion of the film was on Steadicam and we were fortunate enough to work with Mike Scott who had recently finished Steadicam on My Zinc Bed (for Brian Tufano BSC) with Uma Thurman.

The last night, which was a night exterior in the wood and by the pool proved to be one of the toughest weather conditions I have ever had to work under. It rained like a monsoon for six hours without any rest and we were forced, owing to the nature of short films, to incorporate the rain into the sequence. If it hadn't been for an amazing crew we would never have got it in the can. Camera team wise, Catherine Brown (focus puller) and Renee Willis (clapper loader) both came on board from Wizzo and were fantastic. Lighting was supplied by Panalux, with the great generosity of Pat McEnally, and John Gray from Todd AO did us a Christmas Special deal on Neg Dev, and Neil Mockler from Arion Facilities helped out hugely as well.”

Mckinney Macartney's… Stuart Biddlecombe has just finished Avie Luthran's feature film Mad, Sad, and Bad, a comedy about mixed-race relationships for Ipso Facto Films, and Balazs Bolygo has been shooting Gunrush for ITV, a thriller starring Timothy Spall as an average man pushed to the brink while investigating the shooting of his daughter, directed by Richard Clark. Ben Butler recently lensed an Abbey commercial for Trevor Melvin, and just before the Christmas break was in Abu Dabi filming an ad for Etihad for Jim Weedon. Mick Coulter BSC has been on commercials with director Gerard de Thame, including Wachovia Bank, Dockers and Lincoln. On his return from filming The Pink Panther 2 in the US, Denis Crossan BSC has been shooting commercials with Anthea Benton through Believe Media and Danny Kleinman through Rattling Stick. Having just completed Last Chance Harvey, John de Borman BSC is set to shoot Nick Hornby's screenplay An Education for award-winning director Lone Scherfig and producer Finola Dwyer. Richard Greatrex BSC has completed work with director Jonathan Gershfield on Three and Out, a black comedy about a tube driver who needs to kill one more person on his shift to get a fat payout. Nina Kellgren BSC has filmed Women In The London Economy with director James Rogan at Park Village Films. John Lynch shot a Persil ad for director Joakin Eliason through Bare Films in South Africa, and touched down in the UK after a whirlwind trip taking in Japan, New York and LA for

a Nike campaign for director Laurent Chanez through Identity in LA. He is currently filming a teacher training commercial for Benito at Feel Films.

Hong Manley is finishing up on Baby Doll Night for director Adel Adeeb in Egypt, about the changes the Arab world underwent after 9/11. John Pardue has been lensing commercials with Sandra Yarwood and Victoria Pile, most recently in South Africa shooting a Direct Line ad through Serious Pictures. Mark Partridge is shooting a psychological thriller Cuckoo for director Richard Bracewell and Punk Cinema. Meanwhile, Jake Polonsky is currently filming an ad for The Army with director Brett Morgan, through Independent. Chris Seager BSC has been in Winnepeg wearing his winter boots, shooting the romantic comedy Chilled in Miami with director Jonas Elmer, Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jnr. Katie Swain has been shooting commercials including Sega for Clare Price at Biscuit Films, Kingsmill for Dominic Brigstocke and Lloyds for Betsan Morris Evans both through Bare Films. David Tattersall BSC is shooting The Day the Earth Stood Still for Scott Derrickson in the 20th Century Fox blockbuster remake. Clive Tickner BSC is filming commercials including KFC for Ben Sedley at Home Corp, Pizza Hut for Nicholas Barker at Rogue and Moben for Jim Canty at HSI. Darran Tiernan recently shot a Nera commercial for John Hayes through Toytown Films. His other recent work includes Road Safety Authority for Syd Macartney and SuperQuinn for Brian O'Malley. Michael

Young gun: DP Charlie Stanfield on the set of Player

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

whose shooting who?

Primeval crew: Back row – Simon Surtees, Adam Suschitzky, Jamie Payne, director, Roger Tooley. Front row – Nick Cupack, Mary Kyte.

Little Ashes: Adam Suschitzky with his Spanish camera crew, and cuddling director Paul Morrison – both taken on location at Cadaquez, Spain

Wood's commercials work includes MFI for Sarah Grohnert through The Mob, Warners Welcome Breaks for Alistair Irvine at Vanilla and Westfield for Lee Rogers through Brilliant Films in Australia.

Sundance as has The Escapist lit by Philipp Blaubach and directed by Rupert Wyatt. Heima a music documentary based on the home coming tour of Sigur Ros, shot by Magni Agustsson and directed by Steingrímur Karlsson and Dean Deblois opened last month to rave reviews.

Brand new signing to Wizzo Features is… Martin Ruhe who lit the incredible Control for director Anton Corbijn starring Samantha Morton and Sam Riley. The film has picked up many accolades, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor in a supporting role, and Best Newcomer (Sam Riley), at the British Independent Film Awards It also won the prestigious Michael Powell award at the EIFF Feature Film awards for Best New British Feature Film. Rob Hardy has just wrapped on the film Is There Anybody There? for director John Crowley, starring Michael Caine, David Morrissey and Anne Marie Duff. Shane Daly has just wrapped on Clay, a one-off independent drama for Childsplay Television through the BBC. Per Tingleff has just wrapped on Spacehopper, a comedy series for BBC Manchester. Donal Gilligan is shooting in Dublin on a documentary called With Davis Guggenheim about famous rock guitarists featuring Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge for the producer of An Inconvenient Truth Leslie Chilcott. Angus Hudson's latest film for director Sean Ellis The Broken starring Lena Headey has been selected for

Dench Arnold's… Adam Suschitzky sent in some crew shots recent jobs he's been lensing. He shot the first block, episodes 1, 3 and 4, of Primeval 2 on the Canary Islands, using three Kodak Super 16 film stocks - 7201, 7217, & 7218 using Cooke S4 lenses. He also shot Little Ashes, a drama about the young life and loves of artist Salvador Dali, filmmaker Luis Bunuel and writer Federico Garcia Lorca, using the Panasonic Varicam and Zeiss Digi Prime lenses. “We took full advantage of the camera's ability to shoot at various frame rates, finding the results to be quite stunning,” he says.

The news from PFD is that… Alan Almond BSC is attached to two feature films going in the New Year and is busy with grading work for Poirot. Charlotte Bruus Christensen has just wrapped on short feature Last Chance for director Sybil Mahir. Andrew Dunn BSC is in New York lighting the independent feature Push for helmer Lee Daniels. Felix Novo de Oliveira won the Panavision Special Award for his film

Forrest: Trevor Forrest has been busy on the short film Clive Hole as well as commercials

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Vertigo: DP Lukas Strebel has a head for heights in Canada on Kudos' Burn Up Milan at Cameraimage 2007. Neus Olle Soronellas has just wrapped shooting a documentary for director Tom Heller at Tigerlily. Lukas Strebel has been shooting Burn Up, a twopart, provocative thriller from Kudos Film and Television/Seven 24 Films that sees oil company executives, environmental activists and politicians collide in the battle between economic success and ecological responsibility. To transmit on BBC Two in 2008, Burn Up is directed by Omar Madha and produced by Christopher Hall, with Rupert Penry-Jones and Bradley Whitford in the leads. Strebel shot the production on Super 16mm using ARRI SR3s on location around London and in Calgary, Canada.

Eduardo Serra AFC, ASC is back from the forests of Lithuania where he shot Ed Zwick's Defiance starring Daniel Craig. He is attached to shoot Claude Chabrol's next film in France in the Spring of 2008. Tony Slater-Ling is being sent lots of scripts, stay tuned. Kenny Glenaan's feature film Summer for Sixteen Films, which he shot last year, reputedly looks amazing. Haris Zambarloukos BSC is attached to a project which was not fully confirmed as this went to press.

Marcel Zyskind is on the last lap of Lukas Moodyson's feature Mammoth with the studio shoot in Sweden and the New York scenes finishing soon. Daniel Bronks recently lit Egg and Virgin ads through Another Film Company with director Jeff Stark following a Malibu Rum commercial in Argentian with director Albert Kodagolian through Park Pictures. Danny Cohen and Tat Radcliffe are about to shoot a new project for the Arctic Monkeys. Brendan Galvin has gone off with Tarsem @ Radical Media for a TUI commercial in Cambodia. Peter Suschitzky BSC has also been busy with commercials and recently shot a Mont Blanc commercial with director Albert Watson through Plein Soleil in Paris and a Shell commercial with Carl Erik Rinsch at RSA London.

Meanwhile Alex Barber has recently shot the new Barclaycard ad with director Noah Marshall through

page

11

UK

whose shooting who?

Eduard Grau, on Bloodrush

Frisch: Dinedor's Adam Frisch eyeing up yet another commercial suspects his father might be working undercover for MI6.

In the commercials sector Independent Talent Group's Eigil Bryld was recently in Cairo with Chris Hartwill on a Total National Bank campaign. Despite breaking his leg, Simon Coull soldiered on to shoot a Schwarzkopf job in LA with directors Rankin with HSI, London. Oliver Curtis BSC has been with Andy Lambert in Prague shooting a Pilsner commercial for HSI London and with Marco Pinezi shooting a Gillette campaign through Independent Productions in Dubai.

Sweetshop and a Miller Beer ad in Argentina with Si & Ad directing at Academy. Simon Chaudoir has just returned from Bangkok where he shot a Sokin Bicha spot for Sam Brown through Rogue Films. Alex Melman has shot an Optimus commercial with Patrik Bergh in Argentina through Partizan and Alessandra Scherillo recently finished a massive global shoot for MTS through Metra Films in Russia.

Natasha Braier accepting her award from Gurinder Chadha at the Women in Television and Film Awards.

Photo by Liane Harris

Turnbull: back from shoots in Turkey is DP Gary Turnbull The good folks at Dinedor tells us that…. Ian Moss, fresh to their books after finishing on the Anne Frank Diaries is now shooting Curse of Steptoe for the BBC. Eric Maddison has started shooting block one for the new BBC drama Criminal Justice, and has also shot promos for Mutya and Shane Ward.

Tom Townend's new Skins promo for Channel 4 has been airing, and he has also shot for the Stereophonics, Duffy and The Feeling. Trevor Forrest has been busy on the short film Clive Hole, and commercials for Baby TV and the British Heart Foundation, as well as a promo for The Blondelles.

David Raedeker has shoot for Berj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, as well as corporates for Currys, British Airways and promos for Peter Geld and Go Audio. Garry Turnbull is back from Turkey after shooting commercials there for Bloomberg and KS Magic. Ben Filby continues to shoot a number of corporates including The Post Office, Coutts Bank, and Shell. Mike Fox has finished on Miss Nightingale and continues shooting additional photography on Skins and Hancock. Adam Frisch is in South Africa shooting for Swatch, he is also working with Sven Harding again for Greenpeace, and shooting promos for Craig David, Ben's Brother and Palladium. Steve Annis has been shooting for The Courteeners, Wild Beasts, and Malcolm Middleton's new single. David Rom is currently shooting a feature documentary with Keith Allen entitled Al Fayad Vs Windsors and has recently shot a commercial for the Bathstore. Andrew Speller has shot additional photography on Agatha Christies Poirot.

page

12

Casarottos Marsh's… Natasha Braier recently received the Best New Talent award at the Women in Film and Television Awards. She is currently prepping Claudia Llosa's film La Teta Asustada in Peru. Benoit Delhomme AFC is currently prepping Mikael Hafstrom's film Shanghai for the Weinstein Company, set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbour. Eduard Grau is grading the action packed thriller Bloodrush, directed by Paul Unwin, which he recently shot for BBC NI. Matt Gray was responsible for Oliver Twist, directed by Coky Giedroyc, which aired on the BBC over the Christmas period. Congratulations to Seamus McGarvey BSC on the birth of his first child.

Seamus has started work on The Soloist for Dreamworks and director Joe Wright in LA. The film stars Robert Downey Jr and Jamie Foxx. Chris Menges BSC is currently shooting Stephen Daldry's The Reader, a feature based on the amazing novel by Bernard Schlink, starring Nicole Kidman and Ralph Fiennes. Tim Palmer recently shot a block of the Life on Mars spin-off Ashes to Ashes with director Jonny Campbell for Kudos. Wojciech Szepel is just about to start shooting BBC Scotland's God on Trial with director Andy de Emmeny. It is the true story of inmates in Auschwitz.

Having finished shooting Franklyn for director Gerald McMorrow, Ben Davis BSC has been back shooting commercials with Rattling Stick's Daniel Kleinman for Monster, RSA's John O'Hagan for Goodfella's in Argentina and RSA's Johnny Hardstaff for Toshiba. He's about to be reunited with Knucklehead's Daniel Barber on a British Airways commercial. Jess Hall has been out in the US recently but shot Carling with Sonny London's Frederick Bond before heading off. Alex Lamarque has just joined the agency.

Since finishing shooting his recent film A Tale of Two Sisters, Dan Landin has been off shooting a Nike campaign in LA and China with LA directors Motion Control.

After completing photography on feature film Boogie Woogie, John Mathieson BSC has been busy in commercials with Gorgeous's Frank Budgen with whom he shot a Monster.com job in Argentina, and with Mario Testino in NY shooting a Versace fragrance campaign. Mark Patten was recently in Canada shooting a BMW ad with RSA's Adrian Moat has since teamed up with Brett Foraker to shoot the latest Hollyoaks brand campaign. Ben Smithard has been lensing for Joanna Bailey at Redbee, Damien O'Donnell at 2am, Stephen Mead at Short Films and just completed a Sainsbury's shoot with 2am's Niall Downing. David Ungaro teamed up with friend and director Antoine Bardot Jacquet on a recent Sony campaign before heading off to Prague to shoot Max Factor with Thomas Napper. Joost Van Gelder recently joined up with Traktor again on an Axe campaign shooting out in Argentina and is currently away shooting for Renault in southern Spain with RSA's David Lodge.

The news from Creative Media Management… is that Duncan Telford remains highly active in commercials. He recently shot stunning images for the ident campaign for the BBC's new multi-platform BBC Switch.

Independent Talent Group's…Barry Ackroyd BSC has started shooting Working Title's The Green Zone, directed by Paul Greengrass in the New Year. Anthony Dod Mantle BSC DFF is working on Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. Sam McCurdy is shooting block one of the sixth series of Wire in the Blood for ITV. Oliver Stapleton BSC (see Camera Creative in this issue!) is now on The Proposal, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Ed Wild is currently shooting Justin Kerrigan's I Know You Know, about a young boy who

Fields of gold: DP Mark Patten pictured knee-deep in wheat for a Barilla pasta ad last summer.

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

close-ups

2nd Unit dir. Stephen Wolfenden, 2nd Unit DP Mike Brewster

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

DP Mike Brewster

down the Thames on broomsticks. He explained what was involved.

Stephen Wolfenden was born in 1966 and has been working in the film and television industry since 1984.

He started in features as a runner on Lady Jane in 1984. The chance to work on Harry Potter was given to him by director David Yates, after he had worked with Yates on the award winning BBC series State of Play (2003).

“It was important that David and I worked very closely together,” says Wolfenden, “so I started very early in preproduction and we were able to storyboard sequences together, look at big action sequences and see how David wanted them covering. David has a very personal style and part of my brief was to follow this style closely, so that hopefully no one can tell what is main and what is 2nd unit in the final film.”

When asked if he filmed any of the principles, as this is usually left to the main unit, he commented: “I worked with most of the principles. As well as shooting stand-alone 2nd unit action sequences, and a lot of the greenscreen elements for the film, the 2nd unit on Harry Potter 'tidies up' or finishes scenes for the main unit, which means we are always working with the cast. Also, the second unit is unique in that it is very big. For instance, we flew a hundred and twenty-seven people to Scotland and another forty people were there giving ground support on the side of the mountain. That is bigger than most main units. Some days we were working with two helicopters. One was used for loading heavy equipment and the other for shooting aerial sequences.”

Speaking about the hours worked and how long it took to shoot, Wolfenden said: “We worked from eight to eight as a standard day. The shooting took place from February 2006 until November 2006. The main unit shot about 147 days and

Stephen Wolfenden

“We shot off four very fast speedboats with four cameras, each with a stabilised Libra mount head. We were able to travel, with special permission at forty knots. We shot plates, and when we got back to the studio we filmed the principle characters on their broomsticks, using a camera on a motion control rig. We shot the plates, which required pans between characters on broomsticks, hence the requirement for motion control, back at the green screen.

Splash: one of four camera boats used on The Thames the second unit 122 days, plus 20 days covering aerial shots and working with a smaller plate-shooting unit.

“As well as Western Scotland, there were several other locations including the river Thames, Burnham Beeches, a flyover at Thames mead, Blenheim Palace, Black Park and aerial shots over Northampton and Bracknell. One of the most exciting location shoots was at Black Park where the production designer Stuart Craig built Hogwarts station in the middle of the forest. The Hogwarts Express locomotive and four carriages were also transported there. Studio work was done at Leavesden studios near Watford. All stages were in use for the shoot. There was a video link between the main and second units.”

As for filming the river Thames sequence, Wolfenden says it was very expensive. It involved filming plates to be used as background material for other filming, shot back at the studio using greenscreen. The sequence is seen early on in the film and has Harry and members of the Order of the Phoenix flying

“Because it was a night sequence and we couldn't obviously afford to illuminate a one mile stretch of the Thames, we needed to shoot the sequence during magic hour, so we only had twenty minutes per night to get the sequence. We filmed over five nights in May - one night with a helicopter, and four using the boats. I would be stationed on an HQ boat in the middle of the Thames and we would rehearse all day with the four boats, which were microwave linked to the HQ boat. We would do a morning and afternoon rehearsal. When director of photography Mike Brewster said, the light was good, each boat went off and had a pre-set number of runs to do in those twenty minutes. It was one of the most exciting sequences I've done.”

Mike Brewster worked in a lab before moving into camera work. Aged 19 he went to work as a freelance, and has worked on three other Harry Potter films. When asked what cameras were used he said: “On the early Potter films Panavision equipment was used. ARRI was used on this one.”

Were the Potter films difficult to work on? “None of them have been easy. One difficult part of the film to shoot was the river Thames sequence, where we shot plates (background plates) in magic hour. To get extra detail I forced developed the stock by two stops.”

The sequence also required stunt co-ordinater Greg Powell to drive a boat that had a near miss with another. This was done to show Harry narrowly missing (on his broomstick) a pleasure boat. There were backward and forward plate shots required for this.

Brewster says the most difficult scene in Order of The Phoenix was the battle scene. “There was a circular set where, because of all the action you could lose your geography. Also matching the lighting was difficult because there was a lot of movement with people going from one side to the other.”

Wolfenden and Brewster are working together on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, final installment of the J.K. Rowling epic.

Confirmed: Wolfenden and Brewster are working together on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Close Ups was contributed by David A Ellis

page

13

FEATURE

camera creative

to work with Stephen Frears, shooting the essentially '80s films My Beautiful Launderette and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. Stapleton's approach to filming changed to suit the different directors, particularly Temple and Frears, who overlapped in his career, but he says there was a progression in his shooting anyway.

"Composition was where I started and I always understood that," he says. "Lighting came later and maybe it was only after a while that I began to understand what was involved in lighting scenes. The reason lighting is so hard to get to grips with is it is there every day - and it's so much better in real life. And that's what separates the genius cinematographers from the OK guys, the ability to manipulate light for drama.

One of the few cinematographer geniuses is Storaro, who had a ten-year spell of extraordinary work. By and large the great films are the result of collaboration between the director, the writer, costume and production designers and the cinematographer."

Oliver and Company Look back on any creative career and it usually falls into distinct periods. Oliver Stapleton BSC's filmography can be divided into three neat phases; stylish pop visuals with Julien Temple, urban stories for Stephen Frears and landscapes upon which dramas unfold with Lasse Hallstrรถm. Stapleton says he was not conscious of those distinctions at the time and, of course, his work is far more diverse than this easy labelling, particularly with his first special effects film, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, due for release in February and widely tipped for nominations during Hollywood's coming awards season.

His most recent shoot was How To Lose Friends and Alienate People, currently in post-production. This has an urban edge to it, based on the story of British journalist Tony Young's misadventures in New York working on Vanity Fair. But it is not a return to what Stapleton did with Frears, more a mixture of that with modern visuals, รก la Temple, plus a dollop of the acerbic comedy he knows from having shot several episodes of The Comic Strip Presents... during the 1980s.

Filmic youth Born in London in 1948 Stapleton knew about films from an early age - not just watching and appreciating them, but the whole idea of shooting and constructing them as his parents made home movies on 8mm. Around the age of ten Stapleton became interested in still photography, another step in creating images.

"by no great design". His intention had been to be a director, but perhaps his destiny was already mapped, shown by an encounter during his first days at the NFS. "A third year student walked up to me as I was walking through the gates," Stapleton recalls. "She had seen the show reel that had got me into the school, and because that showed her I was visual, she wanted me to shoot her film."

He did make his own film, a 70-minute drama in black and white, and took it around festivals but he had already begun shooting for others, mostly friends from school, notably Julien Temple.

Fa n t a s y i s a completely different k i n d o f s t o r y t e l l i n g, because there is a character that is not on screen as I'm shooting

During his late teens Stapleton travelled widely and was away from England for eight years. During that time he studied drama and psychology at Cape Town University, but kept up the photography, making the transition to moving images by making a short animated Spider-Man film.

As this went on Stapleton did not abandon his ambitions to be a director and made a plan. "I gave myself ten years, then I would direct," he says. "But by then it was too late. I had a family and was living in Devon. Directing is a 24/7 experience and that wasn't my life by that stage." During that first decade Stapleton worked closely with Temple on his documentaries, music videos for David Bowie and musical movies, including ABC's Mantrap, Absolute Beginners starring David Bowie, and Running Out of Luck with Mick Jagger.

Stapleton returned to the UK in 1975, aged 27, and enrolled in the National Film School (NFS), although he says this was

With the gear change of the whimsical Scottish comedy Restless Natives (director Michael Hoffman) Stapleton began

page

14

Stapleton's urban period includes other films with Frears, The Van and The Grifters among them, but also takes in Let Him Have It and The Object of My Affection. The move into landscape films was a change in pace for both Stapleton and Frears, beginning with the director's The Hi-Lo Country. In the ten years since the cinematographer has shot mostly in big, sweeping vistas, with five films for Lasse Hallstrรถm, including The Shipping News and The Cider House Rules.

Tackling VFX The Water Horse: Birth of a Legend also has a striking backdrop, which Stapleton had to photograph to its best advantage, but the real star is the digitally created creature at the centre of the story. "Fantasy is a completely different kind of storytelling," he says about his first foray into the world of visual effects, "because there is a character that is not on screen as I'm shooting."

This doesn't mean that the effects are the only things that matter, Stapleton points out. "In a way you're making something out of nothing," he says. "You've got to get the shooting right to get everything else right, it's not about making something look wonderful afterwards. If you give the visual effects house something good they will be able to make it great."

Magic: Weta Digital conjured up the creature for The Water Horse

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

photo by Oliver Stapleton

Priority: giving the visual effects house something good was a top priority for Stapleton

In his own collaborations Stapleton has worked with directors to achieve their visions and this has often informed his later work. "I made the transition from the stylish pop videos I was making with Julien to working with Stephen, who had another approach to images," he says. "It was not so much about what a great shot something was, but fitting the cinematography in with the drama. Once you've got the images the actors and the story takes over."

photo by Oliver Stapleton

camera creative

photo by Oliver Stapleton

FEATURE

VFX: The Water Horse was Stapleton’s first foray into shooting visual effects Stapleton describes this as a "completely different kind of filmmaking" from what he had done before, likening shooting the foundation scenes and then sending that to Weta Digital, the visual effects house in Wellington, to conjure up the creature as fitting together the pieces of a puzzle. Even so, most of the equipment he used on location was what he usually shoots with; his own cameras, two Arricam Compacts and a Arricam LT, with Cooke Primes lenses and an Optimo 11-1 zoom.

What separates the genius cinematographers from the OK guys…. the ability to manipulate light for drama

counter-intuitive as a storm-laden night full of lightning should not have the kind of light produced by sunlight and moonlight - and that effect has been used so often it is almost a cliché.

I was after a darkness that felt oppressive but enabled us to see what was going on."

Looking forwards Stapleton says he is on the cusp of the older cinematographers who have stuck with film and the younger generation that is working with high definition and digital cinematography. "I want to shoot in HD when I think it's better," he says. "At the moment we're in trouble because people are using a £2,000 HD camera to make films and there's not only more self-indulgence on the part of directors and but budgets and quality are also being reduced. One effect of this is that highly talented and trained people, carpenters and electricians and others, are being paid low wages on films and so are leaving the business to go where they can get decent money."

Stapleton's concern for where the business is heading shows his love of filmmaking remains strong. These days he is able to take three months off a year to sail but still enjoys the work.

He particularly enjoyed How to Lose Friends and Alienate People as it reunited him with producer Stephen Woolley "One of the few independent producers left" - and his English crew.

The film, he says, has an idiosyncratic sense of humour and after watching the lead, Simon Pegg, in his previous films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, he recognised a style of comic acting going back to The Comic Strip and Monty Python.

Taken as a body of work Oliver Stapleton's career has been about adapting to suit the story; sometimes getting the best shots he can but without finessing, as for David Mamet's State and Main, other times creating the most beautiful images possible, as in The Shipping News. It's all filmmaking.

Oliver Stapleton BSC – Filmography The new Cooke 15mm-40mm T2 zoom got its first outing on The Water Horse for night work; Stapleton says it was particularly useful on the end of the 50-feet Technocrane. The stock was Super 35 full gate 4-perf, a combination of Fuji 500ASA and Kodak 200ASA, to give the maximum re-frame area for the CGI work. "I chose those stocks because I thought they were most suitable for the look of the film," Stapleton explains.

Because of the demands of the shoot some of the lighting was built specially by gaffer Dave "Brownie" Brown and his team. The lights on the wet set matched those used on the floating barge and Stapleton stipulated that all these sources had no hard light in them. "That would have created the 'rippled light' look I did not want," he says. "I felt this would be

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep The Hoax Casanova An Unfinished Life Cheeky Ned Kelly The Shipping News Buffalo Soldiers Birthday Girl Pay It Forward State and Main The Cider House Rules A Midsummer Night's Dream

(2008) (2007) (2006) (2005) (2005) (2003) (2003) (2001) (2001) (2001) (2000) (2000) (1999) (1999)

The Hi-Lo Country The Object of My Affection The Designated Mourner One Fine Day Kansas City The Van Jazz '34 Restoration Look Who's Talking Now The Snapper (TV) Hero Let Him Have It Heading Home (TV) The Grifters She-Devil Cookie

(1998) (1998) (1997) (1996) (1996) (1996) (1996) (1995) (1993) (1993) (1992) (1991) (1991) (1990) (1989) (1989)

Danny the Champion of the World Earth Girls Are Easy Chuck Berry Hail! Hail!

Rock 'n' Roll Aria (Rigoletto segment) Sammy and Rosie Get Laid Prick Up Your Ears Running Out of Luck Absolute Beginners My Beautiful Laundrette Restless Natives Mantrap The Secret Policeman's Other Ball The Comic Strip (TV)

(1989) (1988) (1987) (1987) (1987) (1987) (1987) (1986) (1985) (1985) (1983) (1982) (1981)

page

15

FEATURE

shooting the future

lighting special

Attentive: all DPs take great care with their light sources, and Seamus McGarvey BSC is no exception

Are you enlightened?

Here's a conundrum: which hard-working creative-type oversees teams of people, utilises scores of equipment, spends weeks and months and dollars by the bucket-load to achieve their ultimate goal, that the audience be oblivious to their toiling? Natasha Block spoke to a number of leading DPs about the art of lighting.

“The trick, as a DP, is not to make things look lit,” muses Ashley Rowe BSC. “The viewer wants to watch something and think that it's real. We're trying to 'recreate reality' big time nowadays. If you look at The Bourne Ultimatum, it's almost like it's been shot anywhere, as if it's been 'grabbed'.

But they've spent a lot of money doing it.”

There's the obvious way to achieve such an effect, as Rowe explains. “Traffic (directed and shot by Steven Soderbergh), used lighting so basic that when I saw it I thought, 'How did

he get away with that?' All the scenes in court were lit by fluorescent strip lights, as it would be normally; and it had a gritty, realistic look to it.”

To use 'in situ' lighting in its purest form has always been a deliberate artistic decision. More often than not, that 'natural' light is recreated and carefully controlled. In the studio, where the natural look must be constructed from scratch, a useful tool available to the DP is Chris Gilbertson's Light By Numbers.

“The system is fantastic,” says Ben Davis BSC, who used it on Stardust. “It is quite expensive to hire in but it saves you so much time because everything is back to one dimmer board.

Chris would stand by me on the set and I could say, 'Bring that light up, take that one down to 50%', and it was done instantly. One man with a little keypad standing right next to me! It was a joy to use.”

Despite its modernity, at the core of Light By Numbers is the retro and ever-versatile Mac light. “On Mamma Mia! we did a lot of special things with Macs,” say Haris Zambarloukos BSC of his experience working with Gilbertson on the large stagebased shoot. “We built a 120m scenic backing where we did day, night, sea scapes, blue and green screens using Mac 2000s, Mac 700s and customised Gobos.”

“You do have to be a little bit cautious,” warns Davis. “It's very easy to reach for the dimmer when you want to bring the intensity of a light down, but you're working with tungsten fittings you have to keep an eye on the continuity of your colour temperatures between shots. I think if you are using a dimmer system like Light By Numbers, a colour temperature metre is a good thing to keep by your side.”

Dialogue between DPs and lighting companies like ARRI, Panalux (the result of the AFM/Lee merger), Dedo and KinoFlo is vital in the development of new lights. “Dedolight is a company that has continuously tried to come up with ideas for lighting.” cites Rowe, “They obviously listen to DPs.” “The new 200W Dedos are beautiful,” says Stuart Graham, DP on commercials such as the Nokia Mayfly commercial.

“They're daylight MSR, 200W bulbs and yet again they've got a beautifully designed fresnel like the 400W Dedo.”

As a commercials DP, Graham often has the opportunity to try new things. “Something else I used for the first time two weeks ago is the 18K ARRIMAZ,” he says. “It's not part of my normal lighting kit, but it just blew me away. Almost as

Martin Ruhe: thinking in monochrome

page

16

Cracking Up: a shot of actor Richard Jenkins in The Broken

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

FEATURE

Angus Hudson: lit up by an Arri HMI powerful as a 10K Zenon, which is my other favourite light. If you want a lamp that looks like the sun and you're working at scale,” continues Graham, “then that's one way to go. I was using it at 50 feet in South Africa at 50/50 spot/flood with a flood parabolic and it was about two stops less than the sun, which is pretty incredible. It's quite brutal, but to be honest the sun itself is quite brutal in those countries with not much pollution.”

Others are trying out different developments. “We used VistaBeams (Kino Flo) on Sleuth,” says Zambarloukos, of the remake of the 1972 classic film, originally lensed by Ossie Morris OBE, both versions starring Michael Caine. “They're DMXable fluorescents, they're very soft and they use very little power. Julian White, my gaffer, suggested them. He said to me, 'You've got to check out VistaBeams, they're like ParaBeams on steroids'. We couldn't get as many as we wanted because there weren't enough in the country, so we supplemented them with Wall-o-Lites (also Kino Flo). We put them on trusses and on electric hoists, where they either served instead of space lamps, or we could lower them and have pretty much a wall of soft light without stands. That's how we shot a film like that in 24 days.”

Zambarloukos, White and best boy Dan Lowe have purchased a number of light products together for their company T1.9, including an OctoDome (Dedolight) and two ParaBeams (KinoFlo).

shooting the future

lighting special

Naked light: actress Lena Headley in The Broken shot by DP Angus Hudson he doesn't dismiss older lights. “My approach in lighting Control was to use a lot of lights Joy Division would have had,” continues Ruhe, “that's why we used a lot of Par cans.

They are very simple and roug, but that was the case on a lot of Joy Division's concerts.”

Seamus McGarvey BSC is another DP who is attentive to his light sources 'emulating' the period of the film he is shooting.

“Occasionally I get into Kino-Flos, but it depends on the project, they've got a very modern look to them. I've got a huge Kino-Flo package on this current project,” he says, referring to The Soloist, a true account of homeless schizophrenic Nathaniel Anthony Ayers who dreams of playing in the Walt Disney Orchestra. “We're shooting in a lot of real locations in downtown LA, homeless shelters, a news room… There the Kinos really come into their own because of their output compared to their size. That modern look could be inappropriate for certain projects however, something like Atonement. That I shot with conventional tungsten sources.”

A supporter of motivated lighting is Angus Hudson, a commercials and features DP who recently completed the final grade of the feature thriller, The Brøken, starring Lena Headley and Richard Jenkins.

“I'm a great fan of lighting with practical lights on the right occasions. On The Brøken the production designer, Morgan Kennedy, got together large tables of practical lights with different lampshades that we'd pre-selected. When the

practicals were in shot they'd often have to be placed in a position or set on a dimmer where they looked great on camera but didn't light the subject quite how I wanted. So I'd emulate the light from the practical with lamps, diffused and warmed up with CTO or CTS. Often you just need the light from your lamp coming from the approximate direction of a practical in shot.”

The humble light bulb does indeed still have a place even on the biggest set. “On Mamma Mia!, Meryl Streep's face was almost always lit with a Starlite HalfDome, a Chinese Lantern and a domestic light bulb at the end of a pole,” says Zambarloukos. “The great Biggles (gaffer John Higgins) was the man holding the boom, sorry, the broom and Chinese lantern!” he laughs.

Daring to keep it simple seems to be a choice very much respected by DPs amongst their own kind. At the extreme, it is a challenge for a DP not to light something.

“In my youth Barry Lyndon really caught my eye when I was thinking about lighting'” recalls Rowe. “I think it was John Alcott's use of natural light, and the fact that he used no other additional lighting in all those candlelit scenes. For a big movie like that it was a very bold step.”

So for those without access to the biggest and brightest new lights, take heart; often great things are achieved simply.

“We also have a ring light,” continues Zambarloukos, “called the Kiss-O-Lite (Gekko Technology Ltd) which is the best ring light in my opinion. It's made with interchangeable daylight or tungsten LEDs, they're dimmable and they take filters - it's the closest thing to a matte box with lights. Most of my lights I have bought from Cirro Lite, they have all the nice toys.”

Julian White also gaffered for Martin Ruhe, a former commercials and promos DP, on Control, which charts the life and death of Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division. It was not long before Ruhe himself was investing in LED technology.

“I like LED lights a lot,” says Ruhe, “and they helped us big time on Control, especially because we were shooting in a lot of very small spaces. I brought my own LED light panels.

They're brilliant, you can throw them in any corner.” However

McGarvey: taking care on World Trade Centre, with director Oliver Stone at the eye piece

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Control: excellence Par none for Joy Division

page

17

camerimage diary

photo Andrzej Lew

INTERNATIONAL

Watch the birdy: on stage for the Cinematographer's Ball at Plus Camerimage 2007, a rare gathering of award-winning cinematographers and industry 'faces'

Christmas came early Tuesday, November 27th: No fog. No delays. No train journey through the murky night this year. Just sheer excitement. Camerimage has turned 15, and for anyone with an interest in the art and craft of cinematography it's like Christmas come early. There are treats in store, and there might just be some unexpected surprises too.

Rendez-vous with Alan (my publisher) at Heathrow, who is there with Martin Mulligan from Quantel, and Chris Gilbertson of Light By Numbers who is just back from holiday after a long slog on Mamma Mia!. The BA flight to Warsaw is half empty.

Does that tell us anything about low-cost carriers?

Warsaw is cold. Falling snowflakes are at the whim of the whipping winds. And our Plus Camerimage experience begins with a touching moment. We bump into Audrey Kovacs, widow of the late great Laszlo, waiting in the airport chill for one of the cars that will whisk us to Lodz. She has come to present a new award, the Laszlo Kovacs Student Award in The Golden Tadpole competition, along with Vilmos Zsigmond, before flying off to Hungary to scatter half of Laszlo's ashes in the village where he was born.

The journey to the Centrum (a.k.a. Old Smokey, as the hotel acts as a very big chimney conveying the copious cigarette smoke upwards from the lobby) takes nearly three hours - the result of rush hour traffic and foul weather. But we get a chance to learn about Quantel's remarkable 3D stereoscopic demos during the festival. Apparently, someone had the presence of mind to shoot the HM The Queen's Coronation (albeit in B&W) in 3D in 1953, and they'll be showing some of that material.

Winter wonderland: a room with a view of Lodz

Stepping out: on the way to the Irish pub

page

18

When we eventually arrive, the Old Smokey lobby is full of faces including Stephen Goldblatt, this year's Lifetime Laureate, sporting new headgear having just come in from the cold, with his wife Deborah, who get a hearty greeting from Oliver Stapleton. We have arrived just in time to miss a screening of Sleuth, lensed by Haris Zambarloukos. There's a Framestore CFC-sponsored dinner after the screening. We say hello to Panavision's Hugh Whittaker and Judit Romwalter from Sparks in Budapest chatting to Vilmos, who has been in student screeners all day. Phil Méheux bids a cheery hello.

After a quick unpack, it's off to the Irish Pub for dinner. The place is empty when we arrive, but packed to the rafters, with Brits, by the time we leave. During the course of a vodkainfused evening, we hear that Technicolor is set to move its DI facility lock stock to Lexington Street in Soho in the coming 12 months, with the labs re-locating to Pinewood and offering increased print capacity. Did someone say Eastenders might be moving to Pinewood too? Discuss the new Panalux brand identity with the Panalux boys, Ian Sherborne and Darren Smith, and the value of a strong brand image (witness the camera in the shot of Laszlo Kovacs with Peter Bogdanovich in BC24). Later at the jam-packed Old Smokey lobby bar, we hear a disturbing story about a young Brit who unwittingly imbibed Rohypnol intended for a female victim. Brief chat with Nigel Walters, Tony Costa and Jost Vocano who are all looking

forward to the IMAGO summit tomorrow. Off to bed, tired as a newt.

Wednesday, November 28th: Over breakfast talk to producer Simon Mosely and production designer Tim Harvey (Oscar-nominated for Hamlet in 1995) about Sleuth. They are cheered by the reaction of the international audience at last night's screening, but disappointed by the reaction of the crits back home. They say the $8.7m remake of the cult classic, “with Pinter at his most Pintersesque”, was shot in story order over 23 days at Twickenham Studios. But there are modern gadgets this time around, and they applaud Haris Z's creative lighting, which enhances the shape-shifting nature of the film.

On the next table have gathered Robbie Greenberg and Harris Savides, who is showing American Gangster. They are in intense discussion with Technicolor's Dana Ross, and the “wizards of OZ”, Bob Olson and Mike Zacharia, who developed a lab process at Technicolor North Hollywood. OZ is a cousin to Technicolor's ENR process, and results in remarkably rich blacks (and whites), de-saturated colours and impressive shadow detail. Harris Savides used OZ for American Gangster.

I hand them some magazines and ask Harris for an interview.

Mike Figgis is having an early-morning cuppa.

A gentle tread over the icy, ungritted pavements to the Plus Camerimage Forum, where the likes of K5600, P&S Technik, Polish Film Institute, Technodolly, ARRI, MAT, Panavision, LCA and Finnlight all have stands. Nick Shapley of LCA is showing Rosco's new LitePad LEDs, as used in the car scene in Bourne Ultimatum, and throughout Iron Man, and an X24 HMI projector that provides flame and water effects. A number of DPs are looking at the new Rosco View system - a two-part polariser comprising of a filter by the lens plus a 56-inch wide polarising sheet that can cut and stuck on to a window enabling them to control the light coming through a window.

Cathy Greenhalgh, a course director of Skillset Screen Academy at LCC & EIM, emerges early from the IMAGO summit and says how important this festival is - allowing cinematographers to talk about the politics as well as the art of their profession. This morning's debate has been full of excitement, especially around the proposed model contract.

Nigel Walters, Tony Costa and Christina Bush join the throng, all animated about how well the model contract has been received.

Harris Savides' press conference. It's hot under the lights, and Harris mops his brow, looking a little bemused, as his every word and syllable are meticulously translated into Polish.

Emanating from fashion photography, he talks about lensing

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

camerimage diary

photo Pawel Dworniak

INTERNATIONAL

Model contract: Judit Romwalter at Kodak's dinner

At The Forum: Roman Polanski and Brett Ratner

Wow: Vittorio Storaro presents the Lifetime Achievement Award to Stephen Goldblatt

features for Gus Van Sant and David Fincher, and answers questions about working with Ridley Scott on American Gangster. He says that a book of Bruce Davidson's B&W stills of Harlem in the 1960s and 70s was a big influence for the look of American Gangster, and he describes how he and Ridley wanted to make it “not a happy place”, evoking the drug culture and junkies of the time. Harris says he lit the movie flat on 5229, with no hard lighting and a lot bouncing off the ceilings. He cites his collaboration with the art and wardrobe departments in creating the look and feel. But, it's not just what they all did that made the movie look distinctive.

He speaks eloquently about using the OZ process to transform his “flat and smokey dailies” into “something else”. Of working with Ridley, he says American Gangster was a bigger movie in both scope and speed that he was accustomed to “a big Hollywood showpiece” - sometimes having to work with five cameras on set. Having shot Zodiac for David Fincher, Harris is asked for his thoughts on the DP's considerations when shooting digitally. With the opening caveat that he last worked with digital two years ago, he says the problem with digital is that it is still its infancy - it can look synthetic, and that film is still the benchmark. The point of a cinematographer's work is “to make the audience believe”, but with digital there is one more layer of artifice for the audience to cope with. Digital has its place. Sci-fi for example, would look good digitally. The Fifth Element would be a great film to shoot digitally. I leave the press conference thinking what a genuinely nice, thoughtful and creative guy Harris Savides is.

the new model contract. David believes the new document gives DPs a clearer negotiating position, and will be good for feature films where the DPs investment and involvement may hold more value. He also says more should be done to emphasise that the DP is, “the father of the unit, and should control the unit”. Meet curly Kate Kotcheff on a scouting mission for Wizzo. The Panavision party is outrageous really.

So many DPs from both sides of the Atlantic, all in one place and too numerous to mention.

afternoon, and in the late evening there's a very grand cinematographer's dinner. We share a table with Alan Parker and Michael Seresin, who are in Lodz to collect a special duo award for their director-cinematographer collaborations. I speak to one DP, about the model contract, authorship rights, and the writer's strike, who reckons these issues will pale into insignificance with the next wave that is going to smash the industry - the death of the DVD market. When the studios get a handle on financial model for downloads, says my anonymous interlocutor, it's likely to change everything including the role and standing of the cinematographer - “the vast majority of the people at this dinner are unaware of this devastating tsunami.”

Off to Orfeus for a Vesuvius pizza containing the largest number of pickled chillies you have ever seen. Thank you Kishor Ladwa. On the next table Frances Russell, Joe and Lester Dunton, Derek Suter and gaffer Terry Lewis are having a very jolly lunch.

Later that afternoon, a chat with Technicolor's Brian Gaffney, who is showing Technicolor's DP Lights on ARRI's exhibition stand. He talks about the integration of the system into his Creative Bridge pantechnicon, and of plans to roll out more trucks. Brian says 7% of feature productions were shot digitally in 2007 - a figure that is set to rise. But by how much, and how fast? That's anyone's guess. Stephen Goldblatt's press conference is crammed.

The Panavision party is crammed too. On an impromptu walk there from Old Smokey with Hugh Whittaker seems pleased at how well-attended Haris Z's workshop was on Anamorphic yesterday. The rumour is that Goldblatt is up for an Oscar nom for Charlie Wilson's War, which would make two BSC noms if Seamus gets a nod for Atonement. Pop into The Rooster where Neil Mockler of Arion, Paul Dray and Ian Robinson of Deluxe are keeping a close eye on the football results in advance of the Panavision do.

Over a delicious dinner, we hear that an eagle-eyed Polish journalist has spotted an attribution error of an image in Edition 24 of BC. Seems the shot of Laszlo with Tatem and Ryan O'Neill may not be from Paper Moon (as the header info in the Photoshop file suggested). It's probably from Nickelodeon instead. Have a really good chat with Nic Knowland, David Odd, Nigel Walters and Louis-Philippe Capelle about the changing role of the cinematographer, and

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Thursday, November 29th: Hung-over as a newt. Bimey. How many award-winning cinematographers can you find in one breakfast room at the same time? I ask Vilmos (Oscar-winner for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, plus three other Oscar nominations) to have a look at the mis-attributed image of Laszlo, and whilst he cannot be certain, he thinks the Polish hack just might be right. Ang Lee (Oscar-winning director from Brokeback Mountain) has just finished his breakfast. Billy Williams (Oscar for Gandhi, plus two other nominations) is breakfasting with Stephen Goldblatt (Oscar-nominated for Prince of Tides and Batman Forever, and this year's Plus Camerimage Laureate) and Roman Osin (not Oscar nominated yet, but he's done a great job on Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium). All of a sudden, and with an elegant flourish, in walks Vittorio Storaro (triple Oscar winner for Apocalypse Now, Reds and The Last Emperor, plus a nom for Dick Tracey), a scarf nonchalantly draped over his shoulder. Alan assists Vittorio's wife with the toaster and the serve-yourself-buffet, and before you can say “Bernardo Bertolucci” were chatting with Vittorio who tells us about a remarkable situation for cinematographers in Italy. It appears Vittorio, Dante Spinotti and the late Tonino Delli Colli, amongst others, negotiated authorship rights in Italy, now enshrined in law in that country. This obviously has ramifications for cinematographers across Europe, and it isn't long before I have the pleasure of introducing Vittorio to Andreas Fischer-Hansen, president of IMAGO.

It's on this cliff-hanger that our Plus Camerimage adventure ends. A lot has happened in this sojourn into Poland, and I'm sorry that we have not been able to take in more of the screenings and workshops - tomorrow morning there's an ARRI workshop on the D-20, plus plenty more screenings, press conferences and prize-giving. Will we get a celebrity taxi ride this year with Harris S? Or are we destined to be ships that pass in the night?

Plus Camerimage 2007 Winners Main Competition: Golden Frog - DP Janusz Kaminski for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Silver Frog - DP Bruno Delbonnel for Across the Universe.

Bronze Frog - DP Ed Lachman for I'm Not There.

In the Old Smokey lobby, I get a call on my mobile from Harris Savides. As I take the lift up to my room on the 9th, we chat about trying to link up for an interview. Harris' voice goes strange, like there's an echo. Turns out he's is in the room right next to mine. He emerges laughing into the corridor, backlit by the pale morning sun. It's not unlike a scene in American Gangster.

Student Etudes:

Lug over a heavy box of magazines to Goldblatt's lighting masterclass, which is crammed. He tells the audience, “Your eyes are your most important tools. You should always light by eye.” It is fascinating to watch him walk through a range of lighting set-ups, and talk about his mood setting techniques on films such as Rent, Closer and Charlie Wilson's War. He also provides insight into the way he grades digital stills with Photoshop as a reference for the colour grader.

A cinematography student from Bournemouth buys me a Kit Kat.

Additional Awards in the Student Etudes Competition:

Check e-mails at the Forum, and on the way to lunch at Orpheus (again), bump into Harris S. Getting an interview is not really working out. Hoping Harris will join us for the cab ride back to Warsaw tomorrow morning.

The afternoon is given over to Kodak - it's the worldwide launch of their new Vision 3 stock at the Forum in the

Laszlo Kovacs Student Award, Golden Tadpole - DP Tomasz Wozniczka for Beyond the Horizon Silver Tadpole - DP Raphael Beinder for My Father is Sleeping Bronze Tadpole - DP Michal Sobocinski for Father

Association of Polish Filmmakers Award - DP Tomasz Wozniczka The Light for the Arts, OSRAM Award - DP Weronika Bilska for Varsovienne Panavision Award for Best Picture Technique - DP Felix Novo de Oliveira for Milan

Polish Films: Best Polish Film- DP Adam Bajerski for Tricks

Nokia Mobile Movie Competition: Audience award - James Kambeitz for Decision Jury Award - Angela Swiec for The City of Joy

page

19

INTERNATIONAL

ARRI - Munich focus

A Persistence of Vision It’s ARRI’s 90th year in the production business. So here we take a look back at the company’s history and some of its milestones.

The story of ARRI began in 1917, when school friends August Arnold and Robert Richter formed a small company in Munich as an outlet for their incessant mechanical tinkering and enthusiasm for the emerging discipline of motion picture engineering. Having successfully assembled their first film printing machine from sprockets and old parts sourced from a flea market, it did not take the pair long to generate some capital through the sale of several more printers.

They also immersed themselves in film production with the help of cameraman friend Martin Kopp, catering for the post-war boom in demand for westerns with features such as Texas Fred's Honeymoon and Deadly Cowboys.

With the money they made from the printers and their prolific filmmaking, Arnold and Richter began investing in new camera and lighting technologies. In 1924 they commenced production of the first mirror facet reflectors with electric bulbs and also designed a mobile generator to power them.

That same year they developed ARRI's first camera, the KINARRI 35, which was hired out to other cameramen when they weren't shooting, thus sowing the seeds for the worldwide rental group that exists today.

Precision engineering A landmark year came in 1937 with the design and development of the reflex mirror shutter camera, the ARRIFLEX 35. This design, incorporating a reflex viewfinder that allowed precise composition and critical focusing, placed the company at the very forefront of motion picture e n g i n e e r i n g worldwide. Its position

Eberhard Junkersdorf (l), one of Germany`s leading producers together with Dr. Walter Stahl (r), one of the two ARRI owners

was fortified in 1938 by the introduction of the first ARRI Fresnel lampheads, which would remain standard lighting units for decades to come. The ARRIFLEX 35 was produced and utilised throughout the Second World War, though bombing raids on Munich necessitated temporary relocation of the company, and in 1946 its follow-up, the ARRIFLEX 35II, went into production.

Lightweight ARRIFLEX IIB cameras allowed cinematographer G i l b e r t Ta y l o r B S C t o ke e p u p w i t h J o h n , Pa u l , G e o r g e a n d R i n g o as they dashed from screaming fans.

As film industries across the world picked up again after the devastation of the war, filmmakers immediately realised how important and revolutionary a tool this camera was. In 1947 it was used for the first time in Hollywood by Delmer Daves for the Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall movie Dark Passage, which opened with an extraordinary 30-minute POV sequence, made possible by the camera's precision framing and extreme portability. The following year legendary documentarian Robert J. Flaherty used ARRIFLEX 35IIs for Louisiana Story, which put the camera through its paces in the unforgiving terrain of the Louisiana bayous. Flaherty was so impressed by the immediacy and accuracy of the reflex viewfinder that he often operated a camera himself.

On the other side of the world Indian director Satyajit Ray used an ARRIFLEX 35II to film Pather Panchali, the first part of his lauded Apu Trilogy, between 1952 and 1955. Ray was a complete novice, as were his collaborators, but the simplicity and portability of

page

20

their camera kit permitted versatile location filming with a minimum of crew throughout the protracted low-budget shoot. Mitra developed a system of bounce lighting whereby lamps were aimed at cheap white sheets angled at the performers in order to create a soft, natural light. By this method, which would go on to be utilised by cinematographers worldwide, Mitra could simulate daylight with extraordinary ease and effectiveness. The resulting black and white cinematography was stunning and played a big part in the success of the film.

16mm and the dawn of TV The 1950s also brought the dawn of the age of television and the sheer volume of professional image acquisition increased exponentially. The cost benefits of 16mm film made the format appealing to news gatherers and sports broadcasters, so in 1952 ARRI introduced the first professional 16mm camera incorporating a reflex viewfinder, the ARRIFLEX 16ST. This model became perhaps the most ubiquitous 16mm camera ever produced and aside from its applications in television, provided an introduction to shooting on film for many aspiring young directors. Martin Scorsese used one to shoot his short films and Robert Rodriguez launched his career in 1992 with El Mariachi, a $7,000 feature shot entirely on an ARRIFLEX 16ST. The early 1960s saw a spate of updates to the design of the ARRIFLEX 35mm reflex camera. These refinements resulted in a range of models offering variable shutter, high speed filming, a bayonet mount and with the 35IIC in 1964, a muchimproved viewing system. That same year, director Richard Lester made use of ARRIFLEX IIB cameras for A Hard Day's Night, his mad-cap mock-documentary that follows the Beatles as they prepare for a television appearance. The lightweight cameras allowed cinematographer Gilbert Taylor BSC to keep up with John, Paul, George and Ringo as they dashed from screaming fans, while the reflex viewfinder permitted handheld zoom and telephoto shots. The sheer freedom and energy of this filming style resulted in groundbreaking images and the film is credited with inventing a plethora of music video techniques.

In the mid 1960s ARRI brought out the 35IICT/B, which was fitted with a two perforation movement, due to the growing popularity at that time of Techniscope. This widescreen process had been developed by Technicolor Italia and combined a two perforation pull-down with a 2.35:1 gate, resulting in two images being exposed on top of each other within the four perforation Academy area. Sergio Leone was

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

INTERNATIONAL

ARRI - Munich focus

Generator: ARRI’s first electricity unit one director who took advantage of this cost-saving system, putting it to use for his low-budget western A Fistful of Dollars in 1964. After the massive success of this film, Leone again used Techniscope ARRIFLEX cameras for the sequels For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), as well as the seminal Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

S t a n l e y Ku b r i c k , a lifelong camera enthusiast with an ex t r a o r d i n a r y knowledge of motion p i c t u r e t e c h n o l o g y, used ARRIFLEX cameras on every film he possibly could.

1972 saw ARRI introduce the first ever self-blimped 35mm camera, the ARRIFLEX 35BL. Weighing a fraction of a blimped camera, the compact 35BL could be used handheld and made mobile, sync-sound 35mm filming a reality. The first film to capitalise on its possibilities was Across 110th Street, which was shot that same year on location in Harlem, New York.

Soon the 35BL was a firm favourite of cinematographers and was used on a vast number of films over the next few

decades. Haskell Wexler, ASC used one for his Oscar-winning work on Bound for Glory (1976), while Vittorio Storaro shot with 35BLs for all three films that won him the Best Cinematography Academy Award: Apocalypse Now (1979), Reds (1981) and The Last Emperor (1987).

Stanley Kubrick, a lifelong camera enthusiast with an extraordinary knowledge of motion picture technology, used ARRIFLEX cameras on every film he possibly could after discovering the 35IIA while directing and photographing his second feature Killer's Kiss in 1955. He shot A Clockwork Orange on his own ARRIFLEX 35IICs in 1971 and bought 35BLs when they were released, using them for Barry Lyndon (1975), The Shining (1980) and Full Metal Jacket (1987). For his final film Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Kubrick shot with a 535B, having made use of the developing ARRI product line for almost half a century.

On-going developments In 1981 ARRI unveiled the final incarnation of the 35mm body design that began life in 1937. The ARRIFLEX 35IIIC was developed at the request of German cinematographer Jost Vacano, BVK, ASC who had been hired to shoot Wolfgang Peterson's World War II U-boat drama Das Boot. The IIIC featured a single lens mount and a pivoting viewfinder that allowed Vacano to capture running low-angle shots within the cramped submarine interior.

The 35BL's replacement came in 1990 with the release of the ARRIFLEX 535, a silent studio camera boasting a wealth of electronic functions. Cinematographer Michael Balhaus ASC made use of the camera's ability to perform exposurecompensated speed ramps on Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula in 1992. Janusz Kaminski ASC chose the 535 for Spielberg's

Action: a 235 and UP8R bolted on to a race car

visually stunning Schindler's List while Vittorio Storaro combined the 535 with an ARRIFLEX 765, the 65mm camera released in 1989, on Bertolucci's Little Buddha (1992).

The 1990s brought a number of other important developments, most notably the ARRIFLEX SR3 16mm camera in 1992, which quickly made its mark on the television drama industry, and the versatile ARRIFLEX 435 in 1994, which became a staple on promo and feature sets. The company moved in a new direction in 1998 with the appearance of the ARRILASER, which was complemented by the ARRISCAN in 2004, placing ARRI at the head of the field in the rapidly expanding world of DI transfers and opening up new possibilities for postproduction workflows.

The turn of the twenty-first century has seen ARRI step up the pace still further on its release of cutting edge products. The innovative ARRICAM Studio and ARRICAM Lite cameras debuted in 2000 and have since been used on many major features including Chicago (2002), King Kong (2005) and The Departed (2006). In 2003 came the ARRIFLEX 235, a compact 35mm MOS camera that was used to great effect in The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), as well as the ARRIFLEX D-20, a film-style digital camera that represents the next stage in the company's, as well as the industry's history. Most recently, the release and extraordinary success of the ARRIFLEX 416 16mm camera in 2006 has proved that traditional markets remain buoyant and that the wealth of formats now available has simply widened the range of tools available to the modern cinematographer.

Through the years: ARRI’s D-20 (l) is the next stage in the company’s history. Graham Hill pictured in 1952 and the 1964 Tokoyo Olympics

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

page

21

INTERNATIONAL

munich feature

Footprint in the woods: this aerial shot shows the extent of the of Bavaria Film Studio City lot

Who’s who in Munich?

Over the decades, the Bavarian capital Munich has reached international recognition as a source of highquality equipment, and for its multitude of film and TV facilities, film production services and educational centres, reports Annette Zoeh.

While some of the more important broadcast corporations such as ARD, the Bavarian Broadcast Association, private TV and sports TV broadcasters - including Pro7, RTL, SAT1 and

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Eurosport - all add to the city`s importance, the Munich area also hosts more than 60 film equipment and rental suppliers, including postproduction services and animation companies.

Beside ARRI`s major rental facilities (see separate article about ARRI's 90 years in the business), FGV Schmidle belongs to Munich's long-established film equipment rental houses.

Their family business, now run by capable successors and sons Markus and Oliver Schmidle, provided camera

equipment for the award-winning short film Fair Trade, lensed

by DP Michael Dreher and Nancy Brandt. Another wellestablished rental and manufacturing supplier with a 300m/sq studio facility is Panther, the dolly, crane and remote head maker who, among others, supplied dolly and lighting equipment for the Academy award-winning The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) and The Departed.

While trade fairs such as the Munich Cinec provide regular updates of innovations in film, postproduction and lighting technologies, Munich also offers young people the chance to enter the film business through its internationally renowned educational institutions.

The Munich Film University (HFF) provides an international gateway to anyone who wants to get a degree, or start a career, in filmmaking, and offers courses in film and TV drama, documentary, directing, camera assisting, production, media economics and scriptwriting. Among the HFF`s latest and most famous students is the award-winning director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who became an international celebrity with his film The Lives of Others.

Where movies are made Since production has always required appropriate locations too, Munich offers another famous historic site - Bavaria Film,

page

23

INTERNATIONAL

Opening: the main entrance to the Bavaria Film Studios

one of Europe`s leading film and television production companies, which was founded in 1919. Occupying 300,000m/sq, this unique film city, also known as “Geiselgasteig - Bavaria Film Studios”, today networks a wide spectrum of facilities that meet film and TV demands with high-quality production services.

page

24

munich feature

In production: actor Michael York is at the Bavarian Film Studios on the Russian production Mika and Alfred For decades, international and national film and TV productions have been using Bavaria Film Studios, where a total of twelve four-wall studios can host any kind of entertainment, drama or feature project. Bavaria Film's trendsetting and successful “all-under-one-roof” mentality aims to provide a smooth production workflow from onlocation camera equipment rental to postproduction and

sound sync. Its recently patented Bavario-System, a two-rod mobile set-up system, allows quick change of decoration at low cost.

One of the major international productions shot at Bavaria Film is Perfume - The story of a murderer, starring Dustin Hoffman with German Tom Tykwer directing, for which all studio filming

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

INTERNATIONAL

munich feature

Fluffy: a shot of Fucur in The Neverending Story was accomplished in the large Bavarian Filmhall (studio12). Current film projects include the spectacular Baader-Meinhof-Komplex, a history about the Red Army Faction terror group, produced by Bernd Eichinger. Many historic productions have based themselves at the studio, among them Das Boot, The Neverending Story and, or course Cabaret starring Liza Minnelli and British actor Michael York, who returned 35 years later for the Russian production of Mika and Alfred. Even the BBC has benefited from the studio's heritage when it used the original set of Das Boot for its production Lusitania.

When gear is needed Munich is known for its range and depth of product development.

Constant incorporation of subtle new features characterise ARRI`s highquality range, such as the updated speed rate of 48 fps for the ARRICAM

Big: features such as Perfume have taken advantage of the cavernous space

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Homegrown: Bavarian filmmaker Bully Herbig is making his latest CG film Sissy and the Wild Kaiser

page

25

INTERNATIONAL

P+S Technik: proud of their achievements in digital cinematography

Lite, the DCS-2 data capture system that records information from camera and lens into its memory while the camera is rolling and the 16mm Wet Gate for the ARRISCAN. Beside ARRI, a number of other manufacturers also provide rental services such as P+S Technik, Panther, Sachtler and Dedo Weigert Film. Gecko-Cam, also does quick camera repairs, specialising in shutter movements and magazine repair, whilst also offering its own products such as lens testing projectors and camera and lens test benches.

As a film equipment base, Munich keeps up a high standard and remains a busy marketplace in terms of film. Along with ARRI, Munich offers a large variety of equipment choice ranging from Ambient Recording to Chrosziel and Cinemedia, FGV Schmidle to Gruppe 3, the Grip Factory Munich, Kodak to Panther and P + S Technik, MovieTech and Sachtler to Dedo Weigert Film.

munich feature

Panther: the team accept the CinecAward 06 for the Foxy Advanced Crane

Two recent innovations typify Chrosziel`s matte box manufacturing expertise, which started business 34 years ago. The company's initial product was a fluid dampened zoom drive, followed by follow-focus units for cine lenses, and later on the remote wireless DigiFOX follow focus. A recent Chrosziel innovation is the matte box 602, with a 4-stage filter holder for 6.6 x 6.6” filters for use on all film and HD cine cameras and available for 15mm and 19mm support rods. Another new versatile item is the AL-RKE-clamp that attaches to Aladin-remote lens controls on tripod pan handles.

Striving and specializing in digital cinematography is P+S Technik. Its latest achievement is a “filmlook” lens adapter - the Mini 35C compact which allows camcorders such as the Canon XLH1 or JVC GY-HD 201/251 to be used in conjunction with a range of lenses. The company's PRO35 product range offers a new version for digital video cameras. It contains especially designed lenses to fully project the image from the 35mm lens onto the CCD. P+S Technik has also developed its Skater turntable, which provides complete control over rotation, speed, acceleration and deceleration. P+S Technik`s large product range includes the Skater system with many modules, Skater control, image converter and flexible interchangeable mount system for different kinds of lenses. Moreover, P+S offers accessories for SI-2K digital cine camera and an optical viewfinder for SI-2K mini. Weisscam's digital high-speed camera workflow now allows use with RAW data when IRIDAS`s Framecycler or SpeedGrade is applied.

German innovation Panther, renowned equipment supplier and manufacturer with more than 25 years experience, developed the first computer-controlled electro-mechanical dolly. Amongst the company`s outstanding technical achievements are a technical Academy

Cash in the attic: old furniture is stored for the film The Manns

page

26

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

INTERNATIONAL

Award for the Super Panther in 1990 and two Cinec Awards - the first in 2002 for the Galaxy crane, the second in 2006 for the Foxy Advanced Crane. Recent innovative products include the three-axis Trixy remote head, designed for wireless operation on light cranes with a loading capacity up to 15kg. Panthers most recent development is the Twister Dolly, which allows smooth doorway passing with a width of only 78 cm/2.7”. Three selectable steering modes - front, rear and round-a-round - enable clever twisting in all directions as well as precise navigation.

Sachtler is one of the world's leading tripod and fluid-head supplier worldwide, founded in 1958 in Munich-Schwabing, now part of the Vitec group. It is responsible for the IBC 2007 award-winning HiPod system that employs two modular components. A 75mm tripod with mid-level spreader Soom TriSpread combine with a monopod called SoomTube. Only a few moves are necessary to make the mid-level spreader transform itself into a baby tripod. Recent new products also include the Artemis DV Pro FX, a slim and new version of the Artemis camera stabilizer family. Aimed at ambitious newcomers, this new tool includes a monitor and battery and weighs only 3kg. Sachtler offers a new LED camera light for use on small 7.2 Volt DV and HDV cameras or on all common broadcast camcorders. Weighing less than 400g and with

munich feature

reduced heat radiation, the lamp can be attached close to the lens. It is also available as an HMI version.

Providing dollies, track wheels, rigs for any purpose and other professional gear is Movie Tech, whose main concern is to make the job on the set easier. From its Munich base, and subsidiaries in Italy and the US, the company offers a broad range of products from magnum, sprinter and rocker dollies with corresponding tracks to cranes and the Da Vinci remote head. Also available is the ABC product line with the most recent innovation being the G-Force HandyMan balance system, designed for users with great demands. The G-Force HandyMan includes a very light front plate and offers maximum stiffness. Back protection with aluminium profiles has been shaped comfortably to relieve spine and back muscles.

Chrosziel DV Balancer

One of Munich`s light specialists with award winning experience is Dedo Weigert Film production and rental service, established in 1965. The company constantly develops and hones its product range, such as a new Dedolight DLH-4 with a zoom focus and aspherics switchable from 3400° to 3200°K, dimmable, 24 V/ 150W, in available in four versions 230V, 240V,100V and 110V. Designed for use with existing matte boxes like the ARRI LMB-5 and ARRI LMB-19 or Chrosziel matte box MB 450, Schulz's camera support offers a new sprayoff micro rain deflector. With an optical width of 118mm it is ideal use with wide formats and wide-angle lenses, and its light weight of just 360g make it perfect for Steadicam, handheld or shoulder operation.

Last but not least, with a major reputation in postproduction is Cinemedia group`s Cine Postproduction with a history going as far back as 1911. The service includes film processing lab and a new digital lab, and plus sound sync studios. Indeed, Cine Postproduction did the complete sound sync production of the 2007 academy award-winning The Lives of Others.

Twister Dolly by Panther

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

The exquisite film equipment location Munich, networking a positive, experienced cooperation between film technology leader ARRI , the outstanding technologies and services ARRI DIGITAL offers, combined with the Munich Film University, the Munich Film Commission and the large variety of rental houses and service facilities succeeds in creating an efficient, future-orientated platform for today`s ambitious, national and international filmmaking newcomers.

Chrosziel Sunshade 455 R1

Chrosziel HDV Rig VariLock

page

27

UK

post and techno

Kodak introduces new negative The Eastman Kodak Company unveiled Kodak Vision3 500T colour negative film 5219/7219, the first product in a new generation of colour motion picture films, at the Plus Camerimage festival of cinematography in Poland last November. The new stock is based on a new “emulsion platform” incorporating technical breakthroughs that deliver greater efficiencies and expand creative options for filmmakers - including increased exposure latitude and colour detail with noticeably reduced grain, especially in the brightest highlights and darkest shadows.

Cooke Optics releases Red lenses

The new film has a proprietary advanced Dye-Layering Technology (DLT), which renders finer grain images in underexposed areas and produces cleaner film-to-digital transfers for post production. The new emulsion also processes light more efficiently and records greater detail in the highlights for use in digital post.

The new stock, available in 35mm and Super 16mm formats, has been designed to retain the imaging characteristics of the Kodak Vision2 500T 5218/7218 in normal exposures, and to cut seamlessly with the Vision2 family of film stocks.

Gary Einhaus, CTO of Kodak's Entertainment Imaging Division explained some of the product's advancements.

“The technological improvements incorporated in Kodak Vision 3 film give cinematographers more latitude to extend exposures into the shadows without fear of excessive grain and into the highlights without loss of image discrimination. The extended dynamic range of the Vision 3 film creates a powerful companion to the tools in DI. Together they further enhance the creative process with the ability to more easily reach into the highlights and shadows without introducing unwanted image artifacts."

“The new emulsion has a much wider range of latitude in the overexposed areas,” said Daryn Okada, president of the American Society of Cinematographers. “I found at least two more stops of range in the highlights, which enabled me to record more details. I got a rich range of colors and skin tones without saturation contamination.

Also, there was an almost magical reduction in grain without affecting colors.”

After timing the images in a DI suite, Okada observed, “This new film is very DI-friendly. I could isolate backgrounds and make them darker without introducing electronic noise. I chose to overexpose large parts of the frame in some shots, and it was transparent. That gave me a lot of freedom to fine tune looks. I think VISION3 widens the gap between film and digital imaging.”

Meanwhile, Kodak has announced that Dreamscape, lensed by Matt Aeberhard, and directed by Aeberhard and Leander Ward, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, shot

by Bruno Delbonnel with director David Yates, and Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, helmed by Nicola Pecorini, will all shoot on Kodak stocks.

Kodak is to receive an Oscar statuette for the development of photographic emulsion technologies incorporated into the Vision2 family of colour negative films. It is the company's ninth Oscar.

page

28

Glass: Cooke's new colour-coordinated lenses for the Red camera Cooke Optics has unveiled a set of lenses designed specifically for the new Red One camera. The Cooke Red Set is a special package of four S4/i lenses that offers a range of focal lengths from 15 to 100mm.

Each lens is colour coordinated with special red engraved lettering to complement the Red One brand.

The Cooke Red Set includes: a Cooke S4/i 15-40mm T2.0 CXX Zoom, plus 50mm, 75mm and 100mm T2.0 prime lenses; a protective glass cover for the CXX Zoom lens and a rigid carry case to hold all four lenses.

The lenses all include the new protocol, the /i Technology from Cooke Optics. /i enables film and digital cameras to

automatically capture focus, zoom and iris settings of each take, sync'd to timecode. There is no manual data recording to be done, helping to eliminate errors. The recorded metadata is then passed through the chain to post-production to improve VFX creation and DI calibration.

The Red One camera is fully /i compatible and will communicate directly with Cooke S4/i lenses via special contacts in the camera's lens mount. There is no need for additional equipment. These lenses are PL-mounted Cooke S4/i lenses that will work with any PL-mount camera system - film or digital. /i is also supported by devices from ARRI, Cinematography Electronics, Preston Cinema Systems, Cmotion, Service Vision and Mark Roberts Motion Control.

Production 2.0 Rescheduled Codex Digital. Sohonet and The Hat Factory have announced a new date and venue for Production 2.0, their freeevent designed to help filmmakers master new digital workflows and show new possibilities from camera to post.

Production 2.0 will now take place on Wednesday 30th January, at Moving Picture Company's screening theatre.

Visit www.productiontwozero.com to register.

Cinec dates Cinec, the biennial international trade fair for motion picture technology, will take place on 20, 21 and 22nd September 2008 at the MOC event centre in Munich, Germany. One of the film industry's most significant specialist trade fairs, Cinec will focus directly on professional camera technology, grip and camera support equipment, sound, lighting, post production, archiving, data management, accessories. The accompanying cinecForum will investigate “The Future of Cinematography”, with special awards given to groundbreaking and trendsetting technologies. Visit www.cinec.de for more information.

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

post and techno

Apical launches new picture enhancer Imaging technology company Apical, a developer of products that enhance the performance of electronic imaging devices, including the very latest digital SLRs, will launch a new real-time picture enhancer at the Broadcast Live show on January 30th.

The new D-Rex LCP-100 incorporates Apical's Iridix advanced Retina-Morphic Processing, which enables electronic devices to “see like the human eye”. Iridix mimics the way the human eye and brain compress the massive dynamic range of realworld scenes, balancing contrast to retain a natural “artefactfree” appearance. Iridix provides automatic adaptive adjustment of the tonal range in an image, enhancing deep shadows and oversaturated bright regions, without affecting mid-tones or colour.

D-Rex is a co-development between Apical, Storenet Inc and Fuji Television Network Inc. Users, such as a DP or camera

Contrast: before and after shots show what the new D-Rex from Apical can do on HD footage technicians, can apply real-time, dynamic-range correction, non-linear chroma correction and sophisticated noise reduction on a wide range of SDI input sources.

In a scene where highlight detail is well-captured, but the subject is underexposed and chroma oversaturated, the D-

Park Road Boosts DI

Rex controls enable the correction of the underexposed and oversaturated area automatically, without affecting the highlights. D-Rex is effective for situations where it is either difficult or inconvenient to achieve complete control over scene illumination at source. D-Rex supports real-time processing of sources up to 1080p.

Rogue Element opens at Pinewood Digital film service provider Rogue Element Films has opened a new suite and 4K digital data lab at Pinewood Studios based around a Quantel 4K GenePool and Pablo grading suite.

Wellington: Park Road's head of DI, Adam Scott, using Pablo on NZ short Taua

Wellington's Park Road Post Production will soon have the biggest Digital Intermediate infrastructure in New Zealand. The facility has added a second Quantel 4K Pablo suite to its current DI offering of the Quantel 4K Pablo, iQ, Pandora and Spirit Telecine. The new setup will improve workflow and enable Park Road to work simultaneously on several projects, with reduced timescales. The suites will be connected to and share 32Tb of storage, and projects can be moved between suites without the need to export or import data.

Head of DI Adam Scott said, “Essentially we will offer maximum operation with minimum interruptions. Clients are a lot more techno-savvy nowadays and demand a better, faster, cheaper result. Since Park Road installed its first Pablo 12 months ago the following feature films have gone through the suite: Bridge to Terabithia, Lucky Miles, The Ten Commandments, Gun of Mercy, The Water Horse, 30 Days of Night, as well as New Zealand feature films The Tattooist and Rain of the Children.

Quantel is running stereoscopic 3D shows, in conjunction with Axis Films, at Shepperton Studios, Middlesex on 25th and 26th January, 2008.

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

Explaining the decision to open at Pinewood, Ralston Humble, the company's DI editor said, “We have recently been providing productions at Pinewood with our Viper FilmStream cameras and during the production phase, it became obvious that large amounts of online data support was required.

With our Quantel GenePool we are able to offer this service right up to 4K here on site.”

"We are confident that line producers will reap enormous benefits in having their 2K or 4K data managed securely using our central GenePool storage. 2K and 4K Digital Dailies can be downconverted and recorded directly to HDCAM SR for fast ingesting into Avid or Apple Final Cut Pro editorial", he added.

Rogue Element also offers a Digital Film Camera business, based around Viper Filmstream cameras running alongside S-Two data recorders.

"We are very serious about servicing our clients requests both during production and then into post production here at Pinewood. With high end data capture you can't just deliver a series of hard drives, you need to follow through with the digital lab process, delivering the formats that the production requires", said Dan Mulligan, MD at Rogue Element Films.

"Being located at Pinewood at the start of this data revolution means we can all embrace the new working techniques and share working practices. We're at the heart of the film making community in the UK and are very accessible to both UK and International clients."

To date, Rogue Element Films has completed principal photography on the motion picture Skin in South Africa, and the company is currently involved in shooting and post production work on two more HD feature films.

page

29

INTERNATIONAL

f-stop hollywood

Photo credit: Douglas Kirdland

Can we grab an Oscar (or two)?

Oscars: the contenders for the golden statuette are likely to include Roger Deakins (l) Janusz Kaminski (m), Roberto Schaefer (r) pictured taking a metre reading on The Kite Runner, and Seamus McGarvey With Awards season underway in Hollywood, it looks like this will be a competitive year in the cinematography category, and the buzz surrounding several BSC members is loud, writes Carolyn Giardina.

Roger Deakins BSC, ASC is widely expected to earn his sixth Academy Award nomination. Deakins' credits this year include Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country for Old Men, Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah and Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

With No Country viewed as a strong contender for a best picture nomination and Deakins' photography of the West receiving much acclaim, some believe this is the film that will earn the nomination for Deakins, although cinematographers also speak very highly of the DP's work on Jesse James. In fact, he has already won best cinematography honours for Jesse James from the Chicago Film Critics Association (here he was also nominated for No Country) and Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Associations. Deakins also earned second place recognition from the Boston Film Critics for his trio of 2007 films.

Seamus McGarvey BSC is also getting a lot of attention for his rendering of another best picture contender, the adaptation of Ian McEwan's Atonement, and in particular, for an ambitious five minute and 20 seconds Steadicam shot of the Dunkirk retreat during WWII. The carefully choreographed shot, which follows lead actor James McAvoy and two additional actors as they survey the scene, was shot in 90 minutes by A camera/Steadicam operator Peter Robertson. It served the dual purpose of revealing the scene at the beach, while working with a limited budget that forced the crew to shoot this entire scene in a single day.

Atonement earned best cinematography recognition by the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards, and was a nominee of the Chicago Film Critics.

Robert Elswit ASC is also viewed as candidate for a nomination, on the strength of his rendering of California in the early 20th century in Paul Thomas Anderson's oil tycoon drama. Blood was honoured for best cinematography by the New York Film Critics Circle and runner up in the L.A. Film Critics Association.

Meanwhile, Janusz Kaminski's work on The Diving Bell and the Butterfly from director Julian Schabel, earned the Golden Frog at Camerimage, as well as cinematography honours from the Boston and L.A Film Critics. In the film, he uses the camera to tell a good deal of the inspiring story from the perspective of journalist Jean-Dominque Bauby, who suffered a stroke that left him with locked-in syndrome.

page

30

Others considered potential candidates for nominations include Roberto Schaefer ASC for The Kite Runner, Rodrigo Prieto ASC for Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, Steven Goldblatt BSC, ASC, for Mike Nichol's Charlie Wilson's War, and Ed Lachman ASC for I'm Not There.

Harris Savides is also viewed as a contender with two films this year, David Fincher's Zodiac and Ridley Scott's American Gangster.

Best Picture The best picture competition similarly has no clear frontrunner. No Country and Blood look poised to be factors at Oscar time, both having earned best picture kudos from Critics groups, but Joe Wright's Atonement led the recently announced Golden Globe Awards nominations with seven, including best picture, actress for Keira Knightly and actor for McAvoy.

The best picture-drama Golden Globe nominees include these three films, as well as American Gangster, Eastern Promises, The Great Debaters and Michael Clayton. The nominees for best picture-musical or comedy are Across The Universe, Charlie Wilson's War, Hairspray, Juno and Sweeney Todd.

Globe director nominees are Tim Burton for Sweeney Todd, Ethan and Joel Coen for No Country, Ridley Scott for American Gangster, Joe Wright for Atonement and Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

In pre-Oscar buzz, the foreign language category is generating more than average attention this year. The animated Persepolis is France's entry in the foreign language category, meaning that the also critically acclaimed Diving Bell will not compete in that division despite already winning many accolades including best director at Cannes for Schnabel.

Both films are both nominated for best foreign language film in the Golden Globes. Persepolis, meanwhile, was not nominated for a Golden Globe in the animated feature category, although it is viewed as a contender in the Academy Awards race in that competition.

Another frontrunner in the feature animation category, Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille, is also viewed by some as a best picture candidate.

To date, the only animated film to earn a best picture Oscar nomination was Disney's Beauty and the Beast, back in 1991, before the best animated feature category existed.

Also bringing some attention to the animation category is Robert Zemeckis' performance-capture-based Beowulf, which

has strongly demonstrated that the lines are blurring between visual effects and animation. Oscar watchers will be waiting to see if this film will earn a nomination in either or both of these categories.

Like Beowulf, Ratatouille is also on the initial list of features that will compete for a nomination in visual effects; highly unusual for an animated film. This list of 15 VFX films also includes some big sequels such as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Critics groups such as those in New York, Los Angeles and Boston showed consistently in the best actor category, many selecting Globe nominee Daniel Day-Lewis for his role as a miner turned oil tycoon in Blood.

Contenders for nominations in the best actress contest who have already been recognized with Golden Globe nominations as well as honours from critics groups include Julie Christie for her portrayal of a women suffering for Alzheimer's in Away From Her. Meanwhile, Cate Blanchett earned two Golden Glob nominations, for actress (drama) in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and supporting actress (drama) for I'm Not There.

Other Golden Globe nominees to watch include Johnny Depp, up for best actor (musical or comedy) for Sweeney Todd; Helena Bonham Carter, up for actress (musical or comedy) in Sweeney Todd; Tom Wilkinson, who is up for a supporting honour (drama) for Michael Clayton; and Saoirse Ronan, for her supporting role (drama) in Atonement. Ballots have been mailed for the 80th Academy Awards. Nominations with announcements made on Jan. 22, 2008.

SOC Honours Dunton In related awards season news, The Society of Camera Operators will present Joe Dunton the society's Board of Governors Award for Lifetime Achievement in the service of the motion picture industry.

Additional honourees include Mitch Dubin, who will receive the SOC's Lifetime Achievement in Camera Operating Award; and past International Cinematographers Guild president George Spiro Dibie will be presented a distinguished service award.

Technical achievement awards will be bestowed on Panavision for the Genesis camera system, and Tiffen and Garrett Brown for the Ultra2 Steadicam. Meanwhile, a cloud hangs over awards season in the form of the WGA strike. At press time, it remains unclear how this story will end.

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

shooting the future

Phot by John Keedwell GBCT

INTERNATIONAL

Burbank or Bust John Keedwell GBCT reports from Burbank on third Band Pro “One World on HD” event, the annual get-together that provides fresh insights into the evolving world of cinematography and beyond.

In December 2006, Band Pro Film & Digital, Inc., hosted its second annual “One World on HD” Media Forum and Open House that was designed to showcase the newest developments in HD technology. At that event the Sony F23 camera was launched, and after the success of the event these last two years, the third annual celebration of today's HD world took place in front of 64 trade press journalists with coverage in over 70 countries.

Here was an elite audience attending a jam-packed itinerary of presentations, panels, plus Q&A sessions featuring industry professionals and led by the Band Pro staff of experts, including CTO Michael Bravin, and HDVS market development manager Jeff Cree. The courageous idea was to take a look at the current state of the industry and the latest developments in acquisition; to see where the industry is heading, and what the future might hold. Amnon Band, Band Pro's president and CEO, opened the discussions and pointed out that the event was held in order to educate both users and the various manufacturers. He said that manufacturers need to listen more closely to the market, and then feed back what the market actually requires - which is not necessarily what the manufacturers supply.

It is about understanding the market and helping people understand what HD really is. As there are many different

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

“flavours” of HD camera and workflows, users can easily become confused about the options available to them. HD cameras start at a few thousand pounds and can go up to hundreds of thousands for a camera system, so it's not surprising in many ways.

One of Band's core messages was the fact that the consumer will ultimately drive the market, and they appear to be remarkably knowledgeable about what they want from HD. Governments also need to be involved also to drive the future, to bring standards in to make the market move, and also assist new technologies.

Gerhard Baier from Germany's Band Pro office echoed what Band had said, and looked at the domestic market for TV's. It is clear that “HD ready” sets, games and DVD content have pushed the market towards larger, higher resolution screens, and there are over 20 million “HD ready” screens now in Europe's households.

All this is clearly academic until the content is produced, of course, and that's where camera crews and DPs should be looking to the future methods of acquisition - whether that involves shooting on film and going the DI route to cinema, or shooting totally in the digital domain and outputting to digital projection and HD television.

Solid Design Band Pro have now backed Carlos Acosta from Solid Design and have gone into design and production of various camera mounting systems, including base plates, eyepiece mounts, camera grip systems for hand-held and shoulder mounts. The current range encompasses 25 products that were modelled originally around the F23, but can be common to all cameras.

The key is that the user has been asked what they want, and this feedback has been used to model a series of radical new ideas that will make the mounting of the camera, and changing configuration from tripod or dolly to hand-held a lot quicker. It will be a much more pleasant experience for the operator and assistant camera people. For example, many camera operators want different personal configurations for the handheld mode, and often do not have the necessary adjustment for their preferences. The Solid Design system allows a much greater flexibility in where the operator's handgrips can be positioned from underslung to normal handheld mode.

Another extremely interesting design was a new shoulder pad system that travels on internal small runners, enabling the centre of gravity of the camera to move approx 20cm (8”).

When tilting the camera down the weight of the camera is largely transferred to the shoulder of the handheld operator, leaving the operator with the dexterity to operate the camera, but without taking the whole weight on their arms and hands.

In addition, instead of screws mounting the base plate in the centre of the base of the camera (which can potentially cause the camera to wobble laterally), it is mounted with six screws via the “waffle” (as it is lovingly referred to) making it much more stable.

page

31

Divine: Hollywood Boulevard will blow you away

Manufacturers need to listen more closely to the m a r ke t , a n d t h e n feed back what the m a r ke t a c t u a l l y requires - which is not necessarily what the manufacturers s u p p l y.

All the accessories are designed so that they are able to be detached and attached without tools, and all able to be handtightened. Whilst still in early stages of prototype design and development, this has a potential to be a large market for most cameras, and also to become a standard issue (and preference by camera crews) around the world.

biggest mistake was making the F900 look like a news camera. I am glad they didn't make the same mistake with the F23”. Also present were, Mike Spodnick for the SOC, Denny Clairmont from Clairmont Cameras, Geoff Boyle and several DITs (or Digital Imaging Technicians, as the 1st AC's are now called when working on digital)

Post production The next few days brought an illuminating focus on high definition production and post-production processes, including visits to Hollywood facilities. Technicolor was first to open its doors and show some of its state-of-the-art facilities.

The keyword here was workflow. Film-based production has evolved over 100 years, and its workflow is smooth, efficient and well-understood. If conventional film is to be replaced, this new way of working must be at least as good and preferably better.

Many of the panel have worked on both film and various digital formats, and it is safe to say the panel that had used the F23 were all very complementary about the camera. They particularly praised the colours seen by the camera, the functionality and the way that it can be used “straight out of the box” in Log mode to capture the greatest depth of colour and shadow detail possible, ready for the grade afterwards.

Geoff Boyle certainly preferred this way of working, and others wanted to create the look on set, so that is what the editor works with and everyone sees downstream.

The Codex Digital system, from the Soho-based manufacturer, provides a complete system for acquisition, and is a selfcontained location recording system. Furthermore, “looks” can be established and applied non-destructively to the source material for previewing and evaluation purposes, and the rushes are able to be viewed back in Hi rez instantly.

HD/2K/4K rushes can then be transferred from the set to the editor, colourist, compositor, and finally the producer's desktop or director's hand-held PDA

Either way is a valid method of working, of course, and it all depends on whether there is time to get the look on set, usually there isn't due to time constraints. Geoff Boyle summed this up when a producer mentioned one day on the set just how much his latest production was costing per day.

Then again, there are potential problems if the production falls in love with the flat RAW “look” too much in post production, and then doesn't want to change it back to the DP's intentions, so then a battle ensues.

International Forum

The question was asked, “What would you like to improve on the F23?” After some thought the panel decided that a fibre link out to a recorder would be great; the eyepiece could be improved; and a form of waveform monitor could be incorporated somehow. Also standard batteries need to be used, which was such an issue that The Camera House felt it necessary to make its own. The cost was also an issue to those who actually buy them, including Rufus Burnham from the Camera House and Denny Clairmont.

The International Cinematographers Guild on Sunset Boulevard was the venue for the largest discussion panel of experts I have probably ever seen. There were many ASC DPs including Michael Bonvillain ASC who mentioned that, “The

Phot by John Keedwell GBCT

shooting the future

Festival: Band Pro puts on quite a do every year

These challenges are being overcome with the introduction of Hi Definition digital cameras, and some sophisticated electronic switching between Left and Right projections.

3ality Digital uses passive and also active polarisation glasses for different systems. The projector uses an interleaved pixel system, so a single projector can be used, and the cameras shoot through half silvered glass to enable the lenses to be close enough together.

The cameras use 16 motors to compensate for the differences in lenses and telecentricity that happens when two lenses have slightly different characteristics. Each system is then individually calibrated and the LUT is dialled in for each lens to align perfectly and compensate. It isn't just a simple case of putting two cameras next to each other and start shooting!

3ality Digital demonstrated their U2 3D concert shot in stereo, and the results were truly magnificent. The film will be premiered at the Sundance festival on January 18th 2008, and will be released later in 2008.

Phot by John Keedwell GBCT

INTERNATIONAL

This feedback was all enthusiastically noted by the Sony representative in attendance at the event who will report back directly to the head of Sony in Japan. It was refreshing to see such feedback, and hopefully these improvements will happen soon.

Phot by John Keedwell GBCT

3ality Digital

Work in progress: Solid Design's eyepiece bracket

page

32

3D stereoscopic cinema has an interesting past, littered with many experiments (and failures) during its long history. The main problems have really been in getting the cameras close enough together to see like the human eye does, with a distance between the centres of the lenses of 2.5 inches (6.25cm). Not to mention the synchronisation of two film projectors together, and the potential pitfalls of dirt and scratches on the different prints that can cause the audience to have headaches due to any anomaly showing up more readily.

Stereo: 3ality Digital camera used for the U23D concert

Some useful websites: www.codexdigital.com www.thecamerahouse.com www.3alityDigital.com www.bandprodigital.com

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

gbct

GBCT – The chairman speaks care so much about c i n e m a t o g r a p h y.

Where else in the world is there a festival like this?"

After the ceremony Joe invited us back for dinner at the Centrum Hotel and I made the most of an opportunity to meet Roman Polanski who had earlier been honoured with a lifetime achievement award. I had always remembered Gil Taylor talking so enthusiastically about working with him, and am delighted to be able to pass on Polanski's warmest wishes to you Gil. Later in the evening at a small studio, there was a lively dinner and party with a band and entertainments, but I have to admit I was flagging a bit after 90 minutes or so, and staggered back to bed.

Crew: Some of the crew on Wall to Wall's New Tricks. From left to right they are... Terry Montague, gaffer; Ted Ladlow, locations; David Hedges, focus puller; Fletcher Rodley, 1st AD; Gabriel Hyman, loader; James Chesterton, camera trainee; (sitting down) Jamie Harcourt, operator; Chris Howard BSC DOP; Barry Summerton, stand-in; Terry Pate, grip; Rob Evans, director; Joe Lacey, stand-in; Santi Martinez, camera car driver; and Micky Wilson, sparks.

For a number of years now I've had a niggling ambition to go to the Camerimage Festival of Cinematography in Lodz (pronounced "woodge"), which is a couple of hours by train to the southwest of Warsaw. This year I made it, aided by my son Sam, who works in Warsaw as a cameraman for Reuters. I'm currently working on a new series of the TV show New Tricks, and they kindly allowed me to clock-off early on the final Friday of 'woodgeweek' and make a dash for Heathrow. By 10.30 that evening Sam had met me at Warsaw airport and dragged me with his flatmate to a bar in the basement of the Palace of Culture. A good start.

The whole point of the Camerimage Fe s t i v a l i s t o encourage the art and science of c i n e m a t o g r a p h y. I f the only way to cut your teeth is by making a film with a phone camera then good luck to you.

My first camera was a Ko d a k i n s t a m a t i c .

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

By eleven on Saturday morning we were comfortably on our way by train to Lodz. A ten-minute walk through the drizzle of the town got us to the Grand Hotel, which Frances Russell of the BSC had kindly booked on our behalf, and by three we were meeting Joe Dunton in the foyer of the festival's centre.

It was somewhat strange to be going to the prize-giving and closing ceremony of a festival that I hadn't been able to partake in, but my keenness to just get there, come what may, with the added bonus of doing it with my son, just made a crazy sort of sense to me. I have it in my head that this trip was just a teaser to doing the thing properly one year and go for the whole week.

We clapped our way through three hours of speeches and film clips which at times were a bit weird to watch as from the upper balcony where we were, the headroom was about 30% cut off by the proscenium. (The screen had been pushed to the back of the stage to accommodate the prize-giving activities.) But, hey ho, we were there and I loved it. Billy Williams (who had always encouraged me to go to Lodz), and Phil MĂŠheux, were judges this year and both gave terrific speeches in representing their jury colleagues. Phil, I think I am right in saying, helped to judge the Nokia prize for a fiveminute film originated on a camera phone.

Don't Nokia till you've tried it! The whole point of the Festival is to promote and encourage the art and science of cinematography. If the only way to cut your teeth is by making a film with a phone camera then good luck to you. My first camera was a Kodak instamatic I won at the Daily Mail show, and look where I am now!

As the closing ceremony was being wound up by the town's ebullient Mayor, Joe turned to me and said so succinctly, "You know, we should be so grateful that these people

Breakfast on Sunday morning found me bumping into Vittorio Storaro by the muesli bowl, and again I couldn't resist saying hello. I reminded him that Jeremy Gee and I had clappered and loaded for him and his crew on Agatha in Harrogate etc , and he remembered it was 30 years ago. He sent his love to you Jeremy and asked how you are. He still wears a big hat and a huge scarf.

So then it was back to the station and a brand new shiny train courtesy of the EU community coffers. They are upgrading the line from Warsaw to Lodz and I guess when its completed the journey times will be 90 minutes or so. Lunch in the old town in Warsaw and back home to Blighty by ten in the evening.

What an exhilarating weekend . One I shall never forget.

Thank you Frances and the BSC, and most especially thank you Joe Dunton, who took my son and I under his wing as if we were his own.

Jamie Harcourt GBCT Chairman, GBCT

Libbie Barr Scoops BAFTA Scotland Award

Congratulations to Libbie Barr who has just been awarded The BAFTA Scotland Award for Craft. All the UK Script Supervisors are delighted to hear that one of their colleagues has been recognized in this traditionally unrewarded and yet highly skilled craft.

page

33

UK

gbct

Hawkeye –

Grip NVQ qualifications

The place to air your views

Red One digital camera

DITs With digital cameras now being used much more on higher end productions, such as the Red One, Sony F23, ARRI D20 and the Viper, the camera assistant/ clapper loader role has now changed a great deal from the days when everything was shot on 35mm film. Certainly the Clapper (2nd AC) role has changed radically in recent years, although there is an alarming trend reported that some productions want to eliminate the 2nd AC altogether as “there is no loading of film magazines to do any more”. That is clearly the case, however there are many other duties are now required that weren't ever needed when the production is shot on film.

The trend is now to have a blacked-out viewing tent for the director and DP to watch the live feed from the camera. This is now taking the director away from the rapport they need with the actors, and the DP is taken away from the set where the lighting can be evaluated. I digress.

The tent needs to be set up and the monitors properly calibrated, and this takes a trained person to do otherwise the benefits gained from the tent are negated. Also there are now more cables, digital storage media to keep track of, and downloading and backing up to now do, as new roles. The media is then wiped and used again. Clearly the rushes need to be transferred and backed up and checked by a competent person, as that is the “digital negative” or camera original.

The Red One camera (as an example) currently uses 8Gb flash cards that enables the camera to run for only five minutes before it needs to be reloaded. Clearly on a large dialogue scene the cards will be being put in and taken out the camera at an alarming rate, and it needs a competent technician to stay on top of all this, otherwise there will ultimately be a disaster.

Why trust this to anyone other than a trained person? Whilst budgets have soared, the camera crew seem to be taking the brunt of the cuts in a budget, and with some DPs operating, and the 2nd AC being cut, there will only be two people around some cameras. However this is a false economy, and there will potentially not be the crew available when the going gets tough at the end of a day that wraps after that shot.

The camera assistant now seems to have gained the anachronism of DIT, or Digital Imaging Technician, which may possibly describe the role more accurately. Data management and a clear head are required, so keep the camera technicians, they are definitely worth their experience, and otherwise it is a truly false economy. Rant over!

Make sure you send your mail to hawk@northsky.co.uk

page

34

Grip Rupert Lloyd Parry GBCT on a difficult dolly track shot It's a brave new world out there and besides melting icecaps, the super information highway and Alistair Darling mislaying 25 million taxpayers' bank details, a slow but creeping trend is seeping into the film and television industry. The cynical desire to employ ever younger and more inexperienced crews under the guise of tighter budgets is becoming an alarmingly increasing practice, not as trainees and aspiring filmmakers but as heads of departments. In response there is a quiet revolution amongst British Grips.

Any director, DP or camera operator that steps onto a camera crane entrusts their safe return to the grips operating it. Cranes are large heavy pieces of machinery and not only dangerous but lethal in the wrong hands. Last week I was responsible for a 50ft arm with a stabilised head swinging at speed over the heads of two hundred and fifty people. The counterweight alone weighed fifteen hundred kilos, the weight of a small minivan. The very nature of filmmaking involves the fast assembly and operation of complex equipment. For that to be accomplished safely the crew employed to undertake these tasks must be experienced and well trained.

In the very near future the vast majority of British grips will have obtained a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ), which now has gained the high status of a City and Guilds Qualification. This has required the grips to register logbooks and contracts from previous employment with supporting evidence of their involvement in those projects. Independent assessors, themselves experienced grips will have, on three different occasions, observed and completed complex reports on their performance operating and rigging specified equipment. The laying of complex tracks, assembly of vertical rigs, operation of camera cranes, rigging of low loaders and car mount construction are all scrutinised. This is then independently verified and monitored by a Government appointed body.

The NVQ is awarded at increasing levels dependant on experience, training and assessment. Level-3 grips are considered proficient in every area of their profession whilst Level-2 grips will need supervision or assistance in some areas. A cameraman about to step onto a crane would be wise to ensure a Level-3 grip has been hired to conduct crane operations that day. The Level-3 grip will in return

ensure crane and head technicians also have a relevant NVQ, and that all personnel involved are competent to operate the machinery on that day.

By insisting only qualified personnel are hired to construct, operate and supervise grip operations the hope is this will move from a voluntary initiative to a compulsory health and safety requirement. Everyone in the industry is aware of some terrible accidents and although occasionally mechanical, human error is almost always the culprit.

Accidents are very rarely the result of a single action and by employing qualified personnel who have been thoroughly vetted the hope is we can all operate in a safer more professional environment.

The driving force behind this scheme has been Dennis Fraser MBE and is not the first initiative he has been responsible for. Dennis himself is a well-established grip who is internationally renowned, and he is rightly proud of the progress that has been made to the status of the whole of the grip department. It is now considered standard practice that with every crane two competent grips and a crane operator be hired. This was not always the case and took enormous effort to ensure it as common practice. We now have larger cranes than ever and due to this benchmark in crane safety any arm over thirty five feet now requires a further remote head technician. Production companies are now unable to use this equipment unless they have made provision for properly trained technicians and thanks to the NVQ initiative have the qualifications to prove it.

With almost universal membership of BECTU by British grips, the drive for ever more stringent health and safety has never been stronger. Producers often get hot under the collar when unions are mentioned, but the grips branch of BECTU is not about jobs for the boys. This is an organisation of like-minded individuals moving forward as a cohesive group to try and insure a safe, highly motivated and qualified workforce. In the short term it might save a few pennies to employ a young inexperienced crew, but it's certainly not insuring a sustainable, talented and experienced workforce.

From now on, anyone considering employing a technician unfamiliar to them can at the very least insist that he carries the correct credentials.

Rupert Lloyd Parry GBCT

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK

gbct

Is the movie star faltering?

The movie business needs its acting stars, that's certain, and it is safe to say that major movie stars today can certainly help the opening weeks when a movie is released. However it is becoming apparent that they cannot always guarantee success after that. However, more crucial than this, recent research into the financial dealings of many recent films now suggests that the everincreasing financial demands made by actors have turned the movie business into a loss-making industry. All this at the time of the bitter screenwriters' strike in America, and at the same time the audiences are falling at the box office. Some are even suggesting that the link between big stars and the box office have taken far too much for too long, and the money is not ending up on the screen where it should be.

A recent report has revealed that 132 films distributed by the six leading Hollywood studios in 2006 will make a pre-tax loss of £920 million ($1.9 billion). The report “Do Movies Make Money?” has been made by Global Media Intelligence (GMI), an offshoot of Screen Digest. The golden age for filmmaking was apparently between 2000 and 2004, and since then production costs have escalated rapidly, mainly due to stars' inflated pay packets. Many of the most popular box office hits of 2006 actually made a loss or failed to return profits. Such blockbusters as Dreamgirls, Mission: Impossible III, Superman Returns and Miami Vice have all been rumoured to have made a loss, even though the perception is that they made millions and turned a profit.

Dwindling revenues There have been various theories given why the movie business revenue is now apparently dwindling, and these include faltering DVD sales. This could have been brought on partly by the emergence of yet another format battle for dominance in the form of Blu-ray and HD DVD's, and the battle still has to play out there to see who may finally gain the upper hand. Many consumers are holding back from investing in buying discs while the battle ensues, so DVD sales have fallen. There have also been ever more expensive marketing campaigns that cost a great proportion of the budget of the

by John Keedwell GBCT film (some estimates say that up to 50% or more of a movie's budget is now spent on the promotion of the film).

Stars such as Tom Cruise are typically paid $20 million for a role in a movie, and are then also entitled to perhaps 20% of the studio's revenue for the worldwide gross. This can potentially be up to $500 million on such films as Pirates of the Caribbean, for example. It is estimated that $3 billion was spent last year on deals that pay actors, directors and producers a share of the gross revenue from a film on top of their official salaries.

This is at a time when the Writers Guild of America has recently called a screenwriters strike, as they are understandably annoyed that the work they sweat over to produce is being used, yet the writers rewards do not come close to the stars payments. Yes, the writers get paid some residuals, but this has been reported as a mere $121.3 million paid out last year. A reported figure of less than five cents per DVD are reported as being the payment to the writers that create the original work.

Global Media Intelligence calculated that Tom Cruise was paid in the region of $95 million from Mission: Impossible III. The film cost Paramount an estimated $150 million, yet they “maybe got $10 million as its share” and the global movie box office takings were just under $400 million. This was probably the catalyst that ended with the studio cutting any further business relationship with Tom Cruise, and this ended a 14year previously harmonious and mutually financially beneficial relationship.

Ownership This whole concept of huge pay packets is at the heart of a much bigger issue, that of ownership of the work. Who owns the work of movie art that maybe over a hundred people have a hand in producing? Of course there are deals currently in place that limit the artistic ownership of a movie to a few, and

thus restrict the payments that can be made if a film is a success.

However many are now asking why should the stars be paid such huge fees when many camera crews are currently being badly squeezed when negotiating the pay rates, and most are now working longer hours than ever before. This is not only not safe, it is bringing the reputation of the whole business into appearing like a sweat shop. Many crews are now quietly saying that their fees have not risen in the past ten years or more, and the bigger the movie's budget is, the more difficult it is apparently to make a reasonable living any longer. Surely that is something to address when there is a budget of over $100 million for a movie! All the camera crews are requiring is a fair pay packet that gives them a comfortable life, and not taking a huge pay packet that can potentially bring the whole business to its knees.

Backlash This may even yet develop into a major backlash, and already many movies are being made with much-reduced budgets and new stars, as the vast expenses of production are ultimately becoming far too high to make any kind of useful return for the investors. It is obvious that the more that is spent the more has to be taken at the box office to recoup the costs. Participation deals seem to be taking all the profitability out of the hits, and Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Jodie Foster and Halle Berry have all been marked as A-list stars whose recent films have not performed as well as the studios would have anticipated.

There have clearly been recent summer blockbuster hits such as Spider-Man 3 and now Transformers, however the main success stories are films such as Knocked Up, which was a low-budget film that simply and clearly told a story without major stars. There is now a great interest in smaller films which can make their money back quickly, and offer better returns than a major Hollywood blockbuster. Maybe the day of the movie stars are numbered, or maybe someone will see sense and realize that this cannot continue spiraling upwards with no upper limit to pay packets.

The GBCT section is written and compiled by John Keedwell GBCT ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

page

35

FEATURE

family matters

There are many families, dynasties even, involved in the business of making films, where the experience of

dedicated

handed

down

people

is

between

generations. The Humes are no exception to that rule, as Kevin Hilton discovered.

Meet....

The Humes Alan Hume, BSC stalwart and a cinematographer with a long and diverse list of credits - from the Carry On films to a Star Wars instalment - says, "people follow their fathers into a business", although he broke the rule by not going on the railways. His own children followed the new path and Martin, Simon and Pauline Hume are as recognised in their own fields as Alan is in his.

The new tradition began with eldest son Lindsey becoming a second assistant editor at Twickenham Studios, working with Alan's younger brother, the late editor and director Kenneth Hume. Sadly, Lindsey died in a car crash in 1967. Younger brothers Martin and Simon eventually became camera crew like their father and worked with him and other leading directors of photography. Pauline, the middle child of the three, also wanted to work behind the lens, but the attitude at the time was that girls were not strong enough to operate cameras. Still, Pauline bucked the trend of going into continuity, establishing a reputation as a title designer.

The children knew their father did something for a living that was different from what their friends' dads did, but to them his job was normal. Alan spent a lot of time away on location but, of course, they looked forward to his return, which very often meant a visit to a film set. Pauline remembers visiting Pinewood with a while Alan was shooting Carry on Cowboy (1966); during the lunch break they rode two ponies up to the saloon on the deserted Western set.

Kingdom of Heaven: Martin and Simon Hume with Ridley Scott and DoP John Matheison – Photo David Appleby

page

36

Shirley Valentine: Alan, Martin and Simon Hume on the set of Shirley Valentine, with Pauline Collins

and eventually returning to her first company as art director.

She met Bond films title designer Maurice Binder in the early to mid-1980s - but not through her father, although he had worked on For Your Eyes Only (1981). Pauline formed a long professional relationship with Binder, making her Bond debut on A View to a Kill (1987), shot by her father Alan.

Simon pulled focus on the film, having graduated to the job after seven years as a loader. He says he has been a focus puller "for what seems like forever", working with Roger Pratt BSC, Mike Roberts and Peter Taylor and making four films with Ridley Scott. Martin made a similar progression, being a focus puller for eight years and moving to camera operation in the mid-1980s. His credits include Kingdom of Heaven, with Simon, The Bourne Ultimatum and Band of Brothers, for which he won the GBCT Operators Award in 2001.

Martin and Simon have preferred not take on the managerial and political responsibilities of being a DP, even though they have seen the job done close up by their father, each working with him at different times. All three were on Lewis Gilbert's Shirley Valentine, which is the cause of some regret for Pauline as she would have liked the four Hume names to have been on that production.

When the time came to graduate from childhood visits to working at film studios Alan used his influence where he could. Martin started at Rank Labs in 1966, leaving after six years to work as a trainee clapper loader on Don Siegel's The Black Windmill (1974). Simon also went from school to the backroom, working at optical and titles house GSE on many rostrum camera projects, including the openings for early 1970's Dr Who series. "A nice way to learn about film work," he says.

"Roger Pratt asked me to do Troy," says Simon. "I saw it would be a massive film so I brought in Lewis and he's now a very accomplished loader." Lewis and his father worked together on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, joined for a few days by Uncle Martin.

A "strange break" came Simon's way in 1976 when he took two weeks off from work and talked his way on to The New Avengers as a loader. He worked on The Professionals before making his first film in 1977, the horror flick The Legacy, followed by Yanks. Pauline studied sculpture and graphics at art college, partly paving the way for her to spend two years in the art department of GSE, before joining National Screen

Lewis' grandfather was an invited guest one day, chauffeured

by Pauline. In recent years she has contributed titles to Troy and end credits to The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Casino Royale, keeping her Bond association going. With her brothers and nephew building up their credits the Hume name is going to be seen on cinema screens for many more years to come.

Alan is now retired, but there is still an opportunity for the Hume name to appear four times on a credits list as Simon's son Lewis has joined the business as a clapper loader.

ISSUE 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

CLASSIFIED

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

Talent & Literary Agency Representing Cinematographers around the globe

830 Palm Avenue, West Hollywood, CA 90069 Tele (310) 855-2411 www.lenhoff.com

>> 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 25

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER