British Cinematographer - Issue 73

www.britishcinematographer.co.uk Issue 73 -- January 2016

EMMANUEL LUBEZKI AMC ASC ON

THE REVENANT

CONTENTS / BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER / ISSUE 73 / JANUARY 2016

BRITISH

CINEMATOGRAPHER

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

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire SL0 0NH t. +44 (0) 1753 650101

“I make it a point not to look at any film that is about the subject I’m about to work on.

It’s best to shut your eyes and dream-up your own world.”

- REMI ADEFARASIN OBE BSC

Publisher and Managing Editor | ALAN LOWNE | +44 (0) 1753 650101 | alafilmuk@aol.com Publisher and Digital Editor | STUART WALTERS | +44 (0) 121 200 7820 | stuart.walters@ob-mc.co.uk Editor | RON PRINCE | ronny@princepr.com Sales | TRACY FINNERTY | +44 (0) 121 200 7820 | tracy.finnerty@ob-mc.co.uk Sales | ALAN LOWNE | +44 (0) 1753 650101 | alafilmuk@aol.com Sales | STUART WALTERS | +44 (0) 121 200 7820 | stuart.walters@ob-mc.co.uk Design | MARK LAMSDALE | +44 (0) 121 200 7820 | mark.lamsdale@ob-mc.co.uk | www.ob-mc.co.uk

CONTRIBUTORS RON PRINCE has many years of experience in the film, TV, CGI and visual effects industries.

He is the editor of British Cinematographer Magazine and runs the international content marketing and PR communications company Prince PR (www.princepr.com).

ADRIAN PENNINGTON writes about the business and technology of film and TV for publications including The Guardian, Screen International and Broadcast. He is managing editor of The IBC Daily, editorial consultant for TVB Europe, a producer of the 3D Masters conference, and co-author of Exploring 3D: The New Grammar Of Stereoscopic Filmmaking (Focal Press).

DAVID A ELLIS has written for a number of publications, including Cinema Technology and Film International. He is also the author of the books Conversations With Cinematographers and In Conversation With Cinematographers is out this year.

JOHN KEEDWELL, the GBCT News Editor, is a documentary and commercials cameraman who has worked on many productions around the world. He crosses over in both film and tape productions and has great knowledge of the new file-based formats and their methods of production.

KEVIN HILTON is a freelance journalist who writes about technology and personalities in film and broadcasting, and contributes film reviews and interviews to a variety of publications in the UK and abroad.

British Cinematographer is part of LAWS Publishing.

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

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EDITOR’S LETTER

IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD

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belated, but heartfelt, Happy New Year to all of our readers and supporters around the world. We hope all is well as you move into 2016. Sometimes it’s hard to make sense of the world and the events that happen around us. Things can be bothersome, baffling or just plain mad.

Mad as in sad. Along with the unexpected, untimely passings of David Bowie (who I, as a runner on my second paying job, assisted on the music video for Absolute Beginners) and actor Alan Rickman, for those in cinematographic circles the deaths of two towering talents – Haskell Wexler and our good friend Vilmos Zsigmond – came as solemn, sobering moments indeed. Our thoughts are with their families and friends.

Things can be mad as in bad. Until the Oscars were announced, it was entirely within the realms of possibility that Bob Richardson’s 65mm film shoot, dusting-down and polishing-up of old lenses, not to mention the traditional photochemical finish, for The Hateful Eight, would have been completely overlooked during awards season. But what do we know?

They can be mad as in incredible too. It’s a possibility that Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki might win this year’s Oscar for The Revenant, making it not only three consecutive statuettes in a row for him – an unparalleled achievement – but also the first year that a digital movie might, just might, scoop the award for best picture. But who out there would like to choose between Chivo, Roger Deakins for Sicario, John Seale for Mad Max: Fury Road, Ed Lachman for Carol and Bob Richardson for The Hateful Eight? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Or how about mad as in passionately enthusiastic? Leading filmmakers – including Tarantino, Spielberg, Nolan and JJ Abrams – have been going so wild for celluloid on their productions, declaring “nothing beats film,” that Kodak reckons film is safe for the foreseeable future. With the launch of a new Kodak Super 8 camera for 2016, plus initiatives backed by those same established filmmakers to put Super 8 into the hands of a new generation of filmmakers, there’s likely to be even more life in the old girl yet.

And finally, mad as in our mutually assured destination?

The 2016 BSC Expo, with its new focal point in London, will bring together the latest kit as well as the people at the heart of 21st century imagemaking for large and small screens. You’d be stark raving mad to miss it.

RON PRINCE Editor | British Cinematographer Magazine

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 03

CONTENTS / BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER / ISSUE 73 / JANUARY 2016

IN THIS ISSUE...

07

PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE Barry Ackroyd BSC

57

76

On the cover...

Emmanuel Lubezki AMC ASC on The Revenant

Innovators...

John Venables and John Buckley

08

PRODUCTION/POST & TECHNO NEWS

The latest news concerning DPs, plus a gallery of images from the BSC Operators Night 2015

51

28

WHO’S SHOOTING WHO?

Your definitive guide to which DPs are shooting who and where

36

MEET THE NEW WAVE Oona Manges… enjoys anything hands-on!

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57

72

John Pardue on Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, Christian Berger AAC on By The Sea

Emmanuel Lubezki AMC ASC gets to grips with hot technology in a cold climate on The Revenant

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

CLOSE-UPS

51

ON THE JOB

Preview of the 2016 BSC Expo, featuring some of the latest kit

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56

Adrian Bull of Cinelab makes the financial case for shooting on film

Neville Kidd on Childhood’s End

POST-IT NOTES

Close-Up...

Christian Berger AAC on By The Sea

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Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC takes to the waves for the epic rendering of In The Heart Of The Sea

BSC EXPO 2016 PREVIEW

50

Making waves... Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC on In The Heart Of The Sea

CLOSE-UP

CAMERA CREATIVE

62

CLOSE-UPS

Remi Adefarasin OBE BSC on Pride And Prejudice And Zombies, Robert Richardson ASC on The Hateful Eight

66

CAMERIMAGE 2016 DIARY

One man’s journey through several days of cinematographic mirth and mayhem

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Clapperboard... cinematographer Tony PierceRoberts BSC

69

LETTER FROM AMERICA

LIVE & LET DI

74

CLAPPERBOARD

Leading light… ace cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts BSC

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INNOVATORS

John Buckley and John Venables at Movietech

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IMAGO NEWS

Richard Crudo ASC finds Camerimage 2015 to be a bit of a revelation

Featuring a report from the recent Oslo Digital Conference and a look at working conditions in Portugal and Greece

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80

A look at Rome-based lighting and kit provider Panalight

Chairman Tim Potter reflects on the influence of the late David Samuelson

SPOTLIGHT

GBCT NEWS

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 05

PRESIDENTS PERSPECTIVE / BARRY ACKROYD BSC / BSC PRESIDENT

GREED ISN’T GOOD BRITISH SOCIETY

OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS Board of Governors 2015 PRESIDENT: Barry Ackroyd BSC IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT: John de Borman BSC VICE PRESIDENTS: Sean Bobbitt BSC Nigel Walters BSC Haris Zambarloukos BSC GOVERNORS: Lol Crawley BSC Oliver Curtis BSC John Daly BSC Joe Dunton MBE BSC (non DoP) Mike Eley BSC Gavin Finney BSC Sue Gibson BSC Rob Hardy BSC David Higgs BSC Nic Knowland BSC Phil Meheux BSC Nic Morris BSC Dick Pope BSC Derek Suter BSC CO-OPTED ASSOCIATE MEMBER REPRESENTATIVE: Chris Plevin SECRETARY/TREASURER: Frances Russell

Those of you who know me, and the kind of films I like, should also know I like to think of myself as a realist of sorts.

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love realism. All kinds – social, magic and even neo – and along with that comes a certain distrust of fantasy films. That’s just me. So with the risk of sounding just a bit hypocritical I have to say, and I know this will hurt some people, but Star Wars is not my kind of film. This is not meant as an attack on the brilliant crew and cast, nor the incredible cinematography, the brilliant production and post-production values, not even the content. After all some people obviously seem to like this kind of thing. What I object to is the way that British cinema is being used by US corporate franchises to distort our homegrown cinema.

It seems to me that there is a long running struggle between fantasy and truth. We live in an age where we no longer expect the truth. It’s almost as if we have fallen out with reality and in love with fantasy. We elect politicians who we know will lie. We rebuild the crooked banks so that they can create new bubbles. We allow corporations to openly shape the world in their own image. We’re told all will be fine, that it’s actually in our best interest. But is it?

There was once an Age Of Enlightenment. Now there seems to be more an ‘Age Of Illusion’, and movies are no exception. This last decade has seen a huge growth in British film. We have had great success with brilliant cinematographers making great films.

But still the major producers and distributors of cinema in the English language are undoubtedly the US studios. Universal, Sony, Paramount, Fox, Disney, etc.. At one time they could genuinely have be called “studios”, implying that they added creativity to the art of cinema. But not now. They are more accurately described as corporations and they have an agenda. Let’s call it, “Give me the tax break and, while your at it, the best crews, in the coolest city.” All this and guaranteed profit. How do they do it?

It’s simple. They come over to London, go into production with a remake, or a comic book hero movie, take zero risk, just cutand-paste old ideas and, without a hint of irony, make the hero fight injustice and the faceless bad guys. Oh yeah, we get it.

And this is my point: can someone please tell me how it is possible to class Star Wars as a British film? How can accountants classify culture by creating certain criteria, like how many local people they employ? Yet, by these means, it’s possible to give Disney corporation, for example, a lucrative, George Osborne-style 20% tax break. This fiscal slight-of-hand allows US movies – that are

already pre-funded by the franchising of merchandise deals, selling everything from toys to make-up, and are guaranteed billion-dollar returns at the box office – to use a system that ought to benefit genuine filmmakers. Why should they qualify for a little extra help?

Perhaps something for George Lucas’s pension fund?

I’m no accountant, but giving free money to corporations that then reap worldwide profits of billions of dollars, none of which comes back to encourage or develop our own talent, none of whose profits are shared with any of those who made the film, how can that be right? Self-attribution fallacy gone mad.

I realise that I’m sounding-off like Mr Angry of Hackney, and I really don’t want to sound jingoistic. But this is not some mythical golden age of British cinema and although (according to the BFI’s latest release figures for British film production) £1.4 billion was spent on all British film production in 2014, less than a third was spent on genuine British films – 80 of which had budgets of less the £500,000.

Another way to look at this is to say that our industry accounts for less than 30% of production, and the vast majority of the £1.4 billion is actually US production. I guess you can say that at least the studios are full and people are working. But I have to ask how will new filmmakers get a chance to shoot and distribute original films? Where will the new cinematographers get the chance to show their talents? Distribution, other than the festival circuit, is practically out of the question. If and when these low-budget films succeed, reach larger audiences, and sometimes win the big prizes, then the talent gets drawn into the whirlpool of corporate movies.

My question to our industry is this: should we be seen to hand money over more in tax breaks to US corporations than we see being used to create our own films? At the moment we are seeing precious little payback for below-the-line crew, no residual payments and no backing for the future development of our filmmakers’ skills.

The trickle down economy is a myth. It won’t support a longterm industry and it won’t train-up the new wave of filmmakers necessary for future greatness. Greed is unsustainable. We need to protect and provide for a new New Wave, for a New Free Cinema.

We have created a multi-skilled, British-based film industry. I don’t want to see that hidden under the shadow of giant myth-makers.

Let’s keep it real. Understand what it is we do best, and make it our own.

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 07

NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

DEAKINS EARNS TOP CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARDS NOMINATIONS ONCE AGAIN

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ritish cinematographer Roger Deakins CBE BSC ASC once again features in the nominations across the Oscar, BAFTA and ASC cinematography awards, this year for his work on Sicario. Deakins is joined by Emmanuel Lubezki AMC ASC for The Revenant, Ed Lachman ASC for Carol and John Seale ACS ASC for Mad Max: Fury Road, who are each similarly nominated for the trio of top awards. Robert Richardson ASC is Oscarnominated for The Hateful Eight, and Janusz Kaminski ASC is BAFTA and ASC-nominated for Bridge Of Spies. Deakins is also shortlisted for the special technical achievement award for his cinematography on Sicario at the Evening Standard British Film Awards, as is Michael McDonough who picked up a nod for his work on Sunset Song.

Sicario is Deakins’ 13th Oscar, 14th ASC and 8th BAFTA nomination. He previously won ASC awards for Skyfall (2013), The Shawshank Redemption (1995) and The Man Who Wasn’t There (2002), and was also the recipient of the organisation’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

He won the BSC’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015, and BSC Awards for Oh Brother Where Art Thou? (2000), The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007), No Country For Old Men (2007) and True Grit (2010).

Lubezki has won the Oscar, BAFTA and ASC cinematography awards in last two years for Gravity (2013) and Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – an

Deakins… will Sicario prove the winning picture this year?

unprecedented back-to-back trio of wins.

Lachman won the Camerimage 2015 Golden Frog for Carol, and was previously Oscarnominated for Far From Heaven (2002).

Richardson is a triple Oscar-winner for JFK (1991), The Aviator (2004) and Hugo (2011), and earned Academy Award nominations for Platoon (1986), Born On The Fourth Of July (19890, Snow Falling On Cedars (1999), Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Django Unchained (2012).

Seale was Oscar-nominated for Witness (1985), Rain Man (1988) and Cold Mountain (2003), winning the Oscar, BAFTA and ASC gongs for The English Patient (1996).

Janusz Kaminski is a double Oscar winner for Schindler’s List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998), winning the BAFTA for Schindler’s List. He was Oscar-nominated for Amistad (1997), The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (2007), War Horse (2011) and Lincoln (2012). The BAFTA and ASC winners will be announced on February 14th, with Oscar victor revealed on February 28th.

The ASC has also announced three nominees for its ASC Spotlight Award, which recognises outstanding cinematography in features and documentaries typically screened at film festivals, internationally or in limited theatrical release. The nominees are Adam Arkapaw for Macbeth, Mátyás Erdély HSC for Son Of Saul and Cary Joji Fukunaga for Beasts Of No Nation.

Hounoured…

Sir Ridley gets a top honour from the ASC

The ASC will honour the extraordinary achievements of director-producer Sir Ridley Scott in advancing the art and craft of filmmaking by bestowing him with the organisation’s annual Board of Governors Award. The presentation will be made during the 30th ASC Awards for Outstanding Achievement on February 14, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza.

ALEXA 65 NOTCHES-UP AN IMPRESSIVE LIST OF FEATURES

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Large format… both Snowden and Live By Night have used Alexa 65

Snowden

08 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

n the year since ARRI Rental’s first public preview of the Alexa 65, at Camerimage 2014, the large format system has notched-up an impressive list of feature film credits. Key elements of the Alexa 65’s success are its ability to seamlessly mix with other Alexa cameras – such as the Alexa XT and Alexa Mini – and the robust workflow from Codex. This has led to post production facilities, such as Pinewood Digital in the UK, putting strategies in place to assist productions wanting to shoot with the system.

During 2015 ARRI Rental supported a total of 18 major features worldwide with Alexa 65 cameras, Prime 65 lenses and Codex Vault Lab 65 workflow systems, often in harsh environments, including: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (DP Robert Elswit ASC), The Revenant (DP Emmanuel Lubezki AMC ASC), Snowden (DP Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (DP Greig Fraser ACS

ASC), Doctor Strange (DP Ben Davis BSC), Passengers (DP Rodrigo Prieto AMC ASC), Live By Night (DP Robert Richardson ASC), War For The Planet Of The Apes (DP Michael Seresin BSC) and Planetarium (DP George Lechaptois). The Great Wall (DP Stuart Dryburgh NZCS ASC) was the first feature to use the camera on main unit throughout production.

Through its investment strategy, and previous experience with Alexa XT and the ARRIRAW format, Pinewood Digital, based at Pinewood Studios, was able to handle Alexa 65 dailies and workflow for three major UK-based features simultaneously.

Pinewood’s group director of technology Darren Woolfson said, “We took the decision to go back to the drawing board and overhaul our entire dailies infrastructure and data pipeline for the Alexa 65, investing in networking, storage, 4K screening and QC services. We’ve recently been turning around peak daily data payloads – amounting to 40TB of Alexa 65 ARRIRAW, across three shows – into graded dailies for editorial, verified LTO-6 tape backups, and then recycling 2TB capture drives for the camera back to set, all within 24 hours.

“The infrastructure investment has allowed us to deal with three times the image data from the Alexa 65 compared to the Alexa XT, without passing anywhere near three times the cost back to production.

With real-time, uncompressed 4K playback and theatrical screening services in place at the John Barry Theatre at Pinewood Studios, and the Adrian Biddle Theatre at Shepperton Studios, clients can see the full beauty of their Alexa 65 images within 24 hours of capture.”

NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP Christmas cracker… location shot from the production of And Then There Were None

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE PROVES A CHRISTMAS TREAT D irector Craig Viveros had a clear vision for the “spiffingly watchable” BBC1 flagship, Christmas three-part thriller, And There Were None, based on the Agatha Christie story of the same name, which transmitted over three nights from Boxing Day.

“Craig wanted something very European, more like European cinema than some of the current, highlygraded looks in British TV drama,” said the show’s cinematographer John Pardue. “I felt that a naturalistic, gentle type of photography would complement the fabulous design done by Sophie Beecher. For inspiration, we looked at Amour, directed by Michael Haneke and shot by one of my all-time heroes Darius Khondji AFC ASC. Although Amour was shot in the studio, the lighting is very gentle and naturalistic.”

For the production Pardue built a huge tent around Harefield House in Rickmansworth, enabling him to black out the windows and control night and day whenever he wanted. “It really paid off and I think the

cinematography came out really well, especially under the usual TV drama constraints. We had complete control over the light, which made set-ups fast, and we could make something above the ordinary.”

Other locations included Wrotham Park House for the servant’s quarters, plus Mullions Cove, Kynance and Trevose Head in Cornwall for the dramatic coastal locations. Camera equipment, supplied by Panavision, included two Alexa cameras, plus Primo zooms and primes. Nick Beek Saunders was the A-camera operator with Pardue on B-camera, along with Mike Parker.

Rupert Power and Roger Tooley both did Steadicam.

“We wanted a shallow depth-of-field,” says Pardue. “Craig and I felt that the Panavision Primos have a beautiful ‘bokeh’ when used with a wide-open aperture.

To shoot wide open we had to find a really good focus puller and we got the amazing Chris Reynolds.

“It is worth mentioning that because we effectively turned Harefield House it into a studio, we didn’t need a huge number of lights. We used

New wave… director Craig Viveros with John Pardue looking cheery on Kynance Beach in Cornwall

Flowbanks and a handful of 4K fresnels with Chimeras for most of the window lighting. We could go from night to day without any major rigs or major prelighting and obviously not have to shoot real night.

“The location gave us huge corridors and a much bigger and better set than we could have built in a studio with our budget. We could fly greenscreen, blacks and photo backdrops very quickly and everything was rigged ready to go. John Couling at JC Rigging had great enthusiasm for the idea. Best boy Rob Osborne pre-lit the house with Flowbanks, and these, along with practicals, pendants and wall lights were all channelled back to a central DMX dimmer board. Designer Sophie Beecher’s construction team covered the whole floor and helped channel the cabling under the floors.

Everything was worked out for speed.”

COOKE OPTICS SETS LENS RELEASE ROADMAP AND APPOINTS CAREY DUFFY MOVIETECH INTRODUCES NEW DUAL VIEWFINDER

Movietech has launched the Dual Viewfinder, designed and precision-engineered by the company’s in-house product development team. Featuring ARRI 435 groundglass, housed in an anodised aluminium body with a PL mount, the unit is accurate, balanced, ergonomically styled and fully-compatible with both spherical and Anamorphic lens systems. Supplied in its own flightcase and exclusively available from Movietech, the Dual Viewfinder is aimed at cinematographers shooting all formats on any production type.

“The team have worked hard to ensure that each one of our new Dual Viewfinders is a perfectly crafted piece of Movietech engineering,” said Movietech MD John Buckley. “We’re delighted to now have them available to customers to try out for themselves.”

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ooke Optics has set out a roadmap for the delivery of its latest lenses, as well as an update about /i3, the latest version of its /i Technology metadata system.

The 65mm Macro and 135mm Anamorphic/i lenses began shipping in November 2015, with the 180mm and 300mm following in January 2016.

The first of two zoom lenses – the wide 35-140mm – will begin delivery by NAB 2016.

A longer zoom is scheduled for the end of 2016.

Cooke… new

Cooke is also on UK sales leader course for testing and Carey Duffy delivery of /i3 (/i Cubed), the major new version of its /i Technology metadata system that provides detailed lens data to VFX and post-production teams. / i3 firmware now provides distortion mapping – not just a

theoretical measurement of all lenses of a particular focal length, but of the specific lens in-use.

The company has also appointed Carey Duffy to the role of director of sales – Europe. Based in the UK, Duffy takes over the European sales territory from director of sales, Thomas Greiser, who takes on more responsibility for North and South America, as well as South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Duffy brings over 35 years of industry experience to his new role.

He joins from Tiffen International where he held the position of MPTV filter group consultant. Prior to Tiffen Duffy rubbed shoulders with leading cinematographers at The London Filter Company and South London Filter, which he started with Dan Mindel BSC ASC, Ben Seresin BSC and Hugh Johnson. He also worked with his father, the acclaimed photographer Brian Duffy, at 3DZ, a production company that produced TV spots, pop promos and corporate films.

NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

IN MEMORY OF HASKELL WEXLER AND VILMOS ZSIGMOND

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movement and protests against the Vietnam War. His he mirth and merriment of the Christmas and first fiction feature as director was Medium Cool (1969), New Year season were considerably dulled with shot during the chaotic Democratic convention in news of the passing of two of the industry’s most Chicago in 1968, about the politicisation of a TV news accomplished cinematographers – Haskell Wexler, cameraman. He also shot the 22-minute Oscar-winning who died on 27 December 2015, aged 93, and Vilmos documentary Interviews With My Lai Veterans (1971).

Zsigmond, who passed on New Year’s Day 2016, aged 85.

Wexler was fired half-way through shooting One Flew

Wexler was nominated five times for Academy Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Awards, and won twice for Who’s Afraid Of Virginia (1975) because of Woolf? (1966) and Bound For Glory (1976). “artistic differences” During his long career, Wexler worked with the director equally on mainstream and independent Milos Forman, and films, fiction and documentaries, in replaced by Bill Butler. monochrome and colour, creating a They were jointly relatively homogeneous filmography, and nominated for the never swerved from radical convictions best cinematography that were instilled into him from an early age by his wealthy, liberal, Jewish family in Chicago. Wexler joined the merchant navy as a seaman in WWII, serving for four and a half years, and was decorated for bravery after in rescuing fellow crew members in shark-infested waters off the coast of South Africa when their vessel was torpedoed.

After the war, his father helped him to open a studio in Des Plaines, Illinois, where he produced a number of industrial films with an underlying social message. After closing the studio in 1947, he photographed documentaries by the educational filmmaker John W Barnes, including The Living City (1953), nominated for an Oscar for best documentary short. The first feature Wexler shot was the lowbudget Stakeout On Dope Street (1958), directed by Haskel… an influe Irvin Kershner. In the 1960s he shot mostly B&W nti whose work often al cinematographer naturalistic dramas including Kershner’s The Hoodlum bro shot from Who’s Afr ke the mold, with a aid Of Virginia Wo Priest (1961) and A Face In The Rain (1963), for which olf? he is credited with inventing the handheld running shot, by running with an actor along a narrow alley. His Oscar. Wexler’s second fiction feature penetrating cinematography in Mike Nichols’s Who’s as director, Latino (1985), had an underlying criticism Afraid of Virginia Woolf? explored the faces of the two of American support of guerrilla forces attempting to megastars, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, in large, overthrow Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, and unflattering close-ups as they squabbled bitterly. Wexler in his later years, he made films that gave voice to then turned to shooting mainstream films in colour the voiceless – from The Sixth Sun: Mayan Uprising in directed by the veteran Norman Jewison, In The Heat Of Chiapas (1995) to Four Days In Chicago (2013), when The Night (1967) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Wexler returned to his hometown of Chicago to notable for its innovative splitscreen images and zooms. document the Occupy Movement’s demonstrations

A Wexler turned back to more radical material, against the 2012 NATO Summit. mostly documentaries, influenced by the civil rights 12 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Vilmos… a cinematographer whose work changed the movies, pictured with Jack Nicholson on Five Easy Pieces

Vilmos Zsigmond, the Hungarian-born cinematographer, proved a master of lenses and light and, together with his lifelong cinematographer friend László Kovács, was one of the leading photographic lights of the Hollywood New Wave. Transforming the look of feature films, Zsigmond was the man who pre-fogged his stock for McCabe and Mrs Miller and rehabilitated the often-despised zoom lens in The Long Goodbye (both for Robert Altman). He was also the pictorial author of Deliverance, and won an Oscar for his work on Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.

Kovács and Zsigmond, aged 26 and 23 respectively, filmed the Russian invasion of Hungary in 1956 and fled the country with 30 cans of raw material three weeks after the clampdown. Deemed persona non grata after giving their footage to CBS News on arrival in New York, they understood the effect of dramatic composition and the art of storytelling through images. The story of their flight was told in No Subtitles Necessary: Lazslo and Vilmos, a riveting documentary

by James Chressanthis.

After a stint of shooting B-movie biker and exploitation flicks, industrial documentaries and TV spots, Zsigmond’s first notable cinematographic effort was The Sadist (1963). He then shot Peter Bogdanovich’s debut Targets, and Bogdanovich’s subsequent productions What’s Up, Doc?, and the shimmering black-and-white Paper Moon (1973). He also shot two movies for Bob Rafelson, Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens. For Altman’s McCabe And Mrs Miller, he took a technique (pioneered in B&W by Freddie Young BSC on the Sydney Lumet/John Le Carre movie The Deadly Affair) of pre-fogging, or pre-flashing the raw stock with a little light before exposing it fully on-set. He lit John Boorman’s cult movie Deliverance (1972) and worked on Steven Spielberg’s early comedy-thriller The Sugarland Express.

Zsigmond loved working and kept going as long as he could, shooting 24 episodes of The Mindy Project. In recent times he was also co-founder, with Yuri Neyman, of the Global Cinematography Institute in Los Angeles.

NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

KODAK SAYS FILM BUSINESS WILL RETURN WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM ITS FRIENDS

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hanks to directors including J.J. Abrams, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Sam Mendes, Martin Scorsese, Todd Haynes and Paul Greengrass, moviemakers “do not have to worry about film going away anymore,” said Kodak CEO, Jeff Clarke, in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens was shot on celluloid, as were a string of high-profile movies including The Hateful Eight from Quentin Tarantino – offered as a 70mm film Roadshow – Sam Mendes’ SPECTRE, Todd Haynes’ Carol, Suicide Squad David O. Russell’s Joy and Steven Spielberg’s Bridge Of Spies. Clarke also said, “It is our understanding that director Rian Johnson and cinematographer Steve Yedlin are planning to shoot Star Wars: Episode VIII on Kodak film. They are in pre-production and we are working with them to bring their vision to the screen the way they intend it.”

Clarke estimates that, in total, 90 studio and indie movies (in addition to television work) were shot on film in 2015. Although that is a long way from the numbers of productions using digital cinematography, Kodak is bullish on keeping film alive as another option for filmmakers. According to the chief executive, thanks to its film push and restructuring efforts, Kodak went from losing $100 million annually on its film business to “breaking even in the last three quarters,” and he expects the company to be profitable in 2016.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter as The Force Awakens premiered, he called Abrams, “an extraordinary supporter of film. His advocacy was a key part of Kodak’s decision to keep making film when we were down by 96-percent.”

The film manufacturer was considering pulling the plug until roughly a year ago, when filmmakers including Abrams, Tarantino and Nolan worked with all of the major studios to see that they inked supplier deals with Kodak, ensuring film’s existence for the foreseeable future.

“We are no longer limited by these deals,” Clarke claimed, noting that Kodak’s overall film business across industries is up. “We are building and investing in it to grow, including supporting and building labs around the world.

There’s so much artistic interest, and renewed support from studios. When artists spoke, it saved an art form.”

Kodak efforts include expanding the availability of lab capabilities in production hubs such as New York, whose last motion picture lab closed last year.

Kodak has partnered with Alpha Grips to expand its 14 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

mobile lab programme, and is currently working with cinematographer Ed Lachman ASC and other partners to bring a lab presence to major cities such as New York.

Lachman photographed Carol on Super 16mm film.

Titles scheduled for release in 2016, with all or parts shot on film, include Zack Snyder’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Coen brothers’ Hail, Caesar!, David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, Paul Greengrass’ Bourne sequel, and Antoine Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven.

On the heels of celebrating 50 years of manufacturing Super 8 film, Kodak recently launched an initiative aimed at putting Super 8 cameras into the hands of a new generation of filmmakers. At the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Kodak displayed an early prototype of a new Kodak Super 8 camera that combines the classic features of a Super 8 with digital functionality.

Director and producer Christopher Nolan, commented, “The news that Kodak is enabling the next generation of filmmakers with access to an upgraded and enhanced version of the same analogue technology, that first made me fall in love with cinematic storytelling, is unbelievably exciting.”

CINEC 2016 FOCUSSES ON DIGITAL CHALLENGE FOR THE FEATURE FILM INDUSTRY

Cinec, the biennial international trade fair for cine equipment and technology, will take place from 17-19 September, at the MOC in Munich. Cinec provides a unique marketplace as well as a forum for gathering information, networking, and brainstorming to all professionals engaged in the moving picture industry.

In the past few years, 3D stereo and 4K technologies were in the spotlight. However, the focus of Cinec 2016 will be big data, plus cloud and mobile computing, as the industry moves to meet the demand of modern audiences to consume movies on home cinema equipment and mobile devices, as well as at the cinema.

With the likes of Amazon, Netflix and Watchever engaged in new funding, subscription and distribution models, the keywords “High Dynamic Range” (HDR), “Wide Colour Gamut” (WDG), and “High Frame Rate” (HFR) are being discussed as the basic components for digital cinema and the forthcoming Ultra High Definition (UHD) TV – and standards need to be set. Registration for Cinec is now open.

Making a comeback… movies like Star Wars and Suicide Squad have used film to a greater or lesser degree

PANAVISION AND LIGHT IRON UNVEIL JOINT FACILITY IN NEW ORLEANS Panavision has opened an expanded New Orleans location. The new 30,500sq/ft space will also house Light Iron’s first brick-and-mortar facility in Louisiana.

Panavision acquired Light Iron, a leader in digital workflow solutions, last year.

The New Orleans location leverages the strengths of both companies to offer turnkey technology solutions from pre-production through delivery. Paramount’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back was the first project to utilise the capabilities of the new Panavision location in New Orleans, followed by an additional unit for Fox’s Scream Queens.

“Panavision has been committed to serving filmmakers in Louisiana for more than a decade,” said Kim Snyder, CEO and president of Panavision.

“During that time, the infrastructure and crew-base have built-up significantly, and the number of projects being shot has grown such that we needed to expand our footprint to support the community’s needs.

Incorporating Light Iron into the new facility brings an unprecedented level of service offerings under one roof to the local filmmaking community.”

Panavision’s New Orleans houses a full range of filmmaking equipment, with access to the company’s technicians and optics specialists. It also features an expanded prep floor, a private prep room for larger projects, and a 40x40ft room with an 18ft ceiling for shooting test footage. The Light Iron space houses a DI theatre which can facilitate remote DI sessions with the company’s LA and New York facilities, and can also be used for reviewing camera tests, setting looks and screening dailies.

NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

“WORK IS MY UNIVERSITY” – CHRIS MENGES BOOK REVIEW

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he life and times, through the films of one of Britain’s greatest cinematographers, will be the feature of an illustrated interview and presentation at the Regent Street Cinema, London, on March 7th, writes Nigel Walters BSC.

Chris Menges BSC ASC was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 Camerimage Festival Of Cinematography. To celebrate his life, the festival published an astonishing book, in effect his autobiography, written with honesty and simplicity by a man respected as much for his humanitarianism as he his for his imagery. Candid, and at times deeply moving, this book is unlike any other published in the magnificent series by Camerimage.

If Oscars could be awarded for documentary cinematography, then Chris Menges would have won many before gracing the interior of any film studio. And this modest man was the winner of Academy Awards for The Killing Fields (1985) and The Mission (1987), with further nominations for Michael Collins (1997) and The Reader (2009). He was also the cinematographer responsible for such iconic gems as Kes (1968) and Local Hero (1983).

The forthcoming presentation will illustrate his extraordinary life – from tales of his documentaries, to his feature films directed by Ken Loach, Bill Forsyth, Stephen Frears, Tony Scott, Franco Rosso, John Mackenzie, Neil Jordan, Roland Joffe, Roy Battersby, Andrei Konchalovsky, Jim Sheridan, Sean Penn, Tommy Lee Jones, Richard Eyre Stephen Daldry and others.

As director on A World Apart (1988, winner of Cannes Grand Jury Prize and NY Film Critics Circle) his cinematographer was Peter Bizou. Later collaborators were Ivan Strasburg, Ashley Rowe and Barry Ackroyd.

This review offers a fleeting glimpse of Chris’ journey in his attempt to make sense of the world through observation and cinematography.

His documentary experience from the age of 22 on World In Action would appear to have influenced his thinking, approach and philosophy on life. It certainly resulted in enduring images on every film he has ever photographed.

Director Jim Sheridan wrote after completing The Boxer: “Chris embodied the soul of the documentary filmmaker who had been lost in the jungle for almost a year and who persisted, but always looked under the surface to find a deeper truth. He bathes the scene in a glowing reality that you can touch. The idea of a man seeking peace inside and out.”

All that appears on the cover of the book is the name “Chris Menges” and a simple B&W photograph.

16 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Directing…

A World Apart

Nothing more is needed. The book is a “must read” for filmmakers of all ages. It embraces the history of our time through Chris’ documentary exploits in the jungles of Burma, Vietnam and the Amazon, contact with the ANC in South Africa, trouble in Congo, Cyprus and Algeria, opium wars in Burma, freedom fighters in Tibet and revolution in Zanzibar. It is the story of a unique journey by a man of his time, as recorded for posterity, with no holds barred.

While shooting for The Reader, after visiting a concentration camp he writes, “being there is profoundly troubling.

It’s hell on Earth. You cannot help being emotionally drawn into this material. I try to work only on films that I can learn doing from. Work is my Down and under… not by university – it’s about it by the rule book, flying is the seat of his pants, Chr educating myself.” in working for, “a weekly Menges in New Zealand

To understand television programme to fight the influences on the injustice with bravery.” life of Chris Menges

Crossing the peaks of Nepal to film the ambush of requires an appreciation of the enchantment of the land Chinese supply vehicles in Tibet in 1964 he writes, “We of his birth. He writes with passion in his poetic prose, zipped our bodies inside our lightweight sleeping bags. “the land of the Welsh Marches is the most amazing and We lay on a grassy slope covered in snow and cracking interesting countryside. The magical, gentle green hills, frost. It was very, very, cold. Stars came and vanished as brilliant trees and hedgerows are alive with birds and banks of cloud came across the sky.” mammals, and are dotted with sheep, cattle and farming

The book is written with honesty and passion. It folk. Come spring, it would be all blood and guts during is the latest addition to the historic series published by lambing; later, the landscape turned soft and gentle Camerimage for which all cinematographers should be during long summer days. The land would be forever grateful. To the list of Vittorio Storaro, Vilmos Zsigmond, home, and remain in my heart.”

Laszlo Kovacs, Guiseppe Rotunno, Billy Williams, Owen

A farm in Wales was purchased for £2,500 in Roizman, William A Fraker, Freddie Francis, Tonino Delli 1971, with the help of a loan from Stephen Frears. It has Colli, Robby Muller, Stephen Golblatt, Pierre Lhomme, remained the home he shares with his wife Judy. The Dante Spinotti. Michael Ballhaus, John Seale, Vadim Yusov, hills and environment have been a haven to return to Slawomir Idziak and Caleb Deschanel, Camerimage has and make sense of the world. now added with pride that of Chris Menges.

After arrest in Zanzibar during a revolution,

It is expected the copies will be available Michael Parkinson, describes Chris Menges: “A through the BSC and sponsors, following a reprint newcomer to World In Action, a quiet, seemingly shy being negotiated with the publishers. The following young man with almost a diffident manner, yet a fearless are observations from other readers: “This book is operator.” A year later in Nepal working on a film series so beautiful. It is a remarkable document. I loved it on Buddhism, Chris quoted in his diary, ”selfishness is and I was very moved by it,” Scott Rudin, and “We are the greatest evil and until egotism is eliminated demons inspired. This book will serve the young generation will await with an open mouth.” He felt immense pride well,” Tenzin Phuntsog.

NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

AFC PRESIDENT EXTENDS A WELCOME TO AFC MICRO SALON 2016 F luctuat nec mergitur, the Latin phrase meaning “Tossed but not sunk”, has been the motto of the city of Paris since 1358,” writes Nathalie Durand, president of the AFC. “Following the January 7th and November 13th attacks in 2015, it could also be equally applied to the AFC. Our society comprises 135 cinematographers and 64 associate members. It is a large vessel which continues to progress and maintains the privileged link between cinematographers and the ocean of active partners inside the French cinematographic industry. We continue to believe in a cinema that is rich in diversity, nestled in the open community – a cinema that helps thinking and keeps entertaining.

“Along with our activities at Camerimage and the Cannes Film Festival, AFC Micro Salon is among our most important enterprises. The 16th annual Micro Salon takes place on 5-6 February at La Fémis, Paris, covering camera, lighting and grip equipment, plus picture and sound postproduction, for professional filmmakers. Over 60 associate member companies will exhibit at the event, and on Saturday, 6 February, Iranian cinematographers of the IRSC will have Carte Blanche to present their association. The show will also pay tribute to Mahmoud Kalari, the renowned Iranian cinematographer of Gabbeh (1996), A Separation (2011) and The Past (2013), with screenings of his films and a masterclass to discuss his art and techniques.

“We want to showcase, to the entire world, the excellence and the vitality of French technical industries and French technicians, and you are invited.”

Seen in a new light… ARRI’s John Colley says the company is better placed to support UK lighting clients using ARRI fixtures

ARRI RENTAL UK RESTRUCTURES LIGHTING BUSINESS FOR A STRONGER FUTURE

As part of a wider ARRI group initiative to support lighting clients in the UK, and to more tightly align rental, sales and service, the lighting division of ARRI Rental UK has transitioned into a business-to-business operation. In this new form the company will provide equipment rental, servicing and support to other rental companies, rather than directly to end-users.

The move is designed to create a strong base for the future success of ARRI Rental’s UK-based lighting business and will see the company provide new and established rental companies with ARRI’s latest lighting products, such as the SkyPanel family of fully-tuneable LED soft lights, L-Series LED fixtures, and M-Series daylight lampheads.

ARRI Rental’s UK-based camera rental operation is unaffected and internationally the group is growing, having opened new ARRI Rental offices in Atlanta and Louisiana in the past 12 months, plus expanded facilities in Prague and Munich.

Johnny Colley, general manager of ARRI Rental UK’s lighting business, commented, “The business-to-business model we have put in place strengthens our links with ARRI’s sales operation. This allows us to move forward as a more integrated business that is better placed to support UK lighting clients looking towards ARRI fixtures. Under the new structure our inventory will focus more on the latest technology, which we will back with reliable service and support for anyone who wants to use ARRI lighting products.”

Recent productions serviced by the group include Carol,

By The Sea, Downton Abbey, Hitman: Agent 47 and Game Of Thrones.

18 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Elle presidente…

Nathalie Durand current head of the AFC

AFC Micro Salon… always pulls in a good crowd

BBS INTRODUCES REMOTE DIMMER FOR AREA 48

BBS Lighting has introduced a new remote dimmer for its Area 48 Soft LED light system. The new unit fits in the user’s hand and allows single or multi-fixture 16-bit dimming of Area 48 Soft fixtures smoothly from 100% to blackout, as well as On/Off.

Overriding the settings of the Area 48’s onfixture controls, the compact Area 48 remote dimmer uses a rotary knob with numerical settings, to allow lighting technicians to easily and precisely dial-in any desired light intensity. A single Remote Dimmer can control, in unison, a virtually unlimited number of Area 48 Softs that are connected via DMX 5-pin cabling. With multiple Area 48s, the Remote controls a master fixture (with current BBSNet software) that overrides the on-fixture software settings of all the Area 48’s in the chain.

The remote dimmer works at any color temperature. Area 48 Soft Remote Phosphor LED lights offer accurate colour rendering (98 TLCI) soft output, comparable to a 1200-Watt traditional soft light. Interchangeable phosphor panels offer quick change from Daylight to Tungsten, to Chroma-Green or Chroma Blue.

known for in-house technical knowledge, personalised service and close relationships with gaffers and production. Panalux intends, through the acquisition, to draw upon the team’s talent and know-how to bolster its position commercials.

TWICKENHAM FILM STUDIOS ROLLS OUT THE RED AND GREY CARPET

Royal-warranted carpet manufacturer, Brintons, has created a bespoke attraction, in partnership with Barbarella Design, for Twickenham Film Studios, where some of Britain’s most iconic films have been created, including The Beatles Help!, The Italian Job, and more recently The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Legend and The Martian. The custom Axminster carpet was specified for the “heart and soul” of the studios, The Sound Centre, which required a new floor covering to elevate a long, dark corridor into a more stimulating, creative space.

PANALUX ACQUISITION OF FOCUS TO BOLSTER COMMERCIALS SERVICES

Panalux has acquired Focus, the second largest lighting rental operation dedicated to commercials in the UK. Focus was established in 2003 and operated as a provider of lighting rental equipment, exclusively servicing the UK commercials market, becoming

Step to it… brightening things up, the snazzy new carpet at Twickenham

NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

PANASONIC VARICAM IN GOOD HEALTH AFTER DR FOSTER DEBUT

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hat the BBC has ordered a second series of drama Doctor Foster is hardly a surprise. It drew an average weekly audience of 8.2 million across the series, and the finale was watched by 10.1 million, making it the highest-rating drama episode for the BBC since Call The Midwife. Produced by Drama Republic, and written by Laurence Olivier Award-winning playwright Mike Bartlett, Doctor Foster stars Suranne Jones as Gemma Foster, a doctor who suspects her husband of having an affair and sets out to find the truth.

What may be a surprise is that the show was the UK drama debut for the Panasonic VariCam 35, given the natural history heritage of previous generations of the camera. The third-generation VariCam 35 utilises a new, Super 35mm MOS sensor for 4096 x 2160 (17:9) image capture, with 14+ sensitivity stops of latitude and a base ISO rating of 800. Unlike other cameras, however, it has a second native base of 5000 ISO, opening up shots and locations previously unobtainable whilst capturing highcontrast, wide dynamic range imagery.

“I did a side-by-side test with the Alexa, Red Dragon and the VariCam, followed by an identical grade,” said director of photography Jean Philippe Gossart. “I was looking for some texture, with a cinematic image suitable for the drama. The challenge with 4K is that it can be too sharp. I found that there was some noise in low light on the VariCam 35, but nothing that you wouldn’t expect and nothing that couldn’t be taken away in the grade.”

“Joel Devlin, the DP on the last two episodes of the show, used the 5000 ISO rating on some night shots on a beach, with very little ambient light. Aside from that we used the native 800 ISO, because it was more natural in a drama situation,” added Gossart.

Christine Healy, line producer on Doctor Foster, commented, “We were working with a very new camera and it was touch-and-go for a while as to whether the VariCam would stay on set. We’re very glad that we persevered because, once a few small technical bugs were ironed out, the production team was very happy with the camera and proud of the result. The images are perfect for drama. We were able to reproduce skin tones faithfully and the colours are warm and pleasing.”

At IBC 2015, Panasonic launched a 20m extension cable so that the recorder and camera head can be split apart, making the VariCam 35 suitable for use in helicopters, cranes and cars. The camera also supports ProRes 4444, allowing up to 60fps in HD. A new PreREC function ensures that camera is rolling before an operator selects record, particularly useful in wildlife production.

Other upgrades include Codex V-RAW recorder and playback, Anamorphic lens support as well as image flipflop functionality.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL.2 TO SHOOT WITH RED 8K WEAPON

Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, DP Henry Braham BSC, will be the first production to shoot with RED’s Weapon camera, featuring the 8K RED Dragon sensor. Joining the

Weapon 6K, recently released Scarlet-W 5K, and Raven 4.5K in RED’s latest generation DSMC2 line of cameras, the Weapon 8K pushes the envelope of modularity, image quality and form factor.

“I cannot begin to express how proud I am that Marvel and everyone involved in the production has decided to be the first to shoot on our Weapon 8K,” said Jarred Land, president of RED Digital Cinema. “Given the enormous success of the first movie, we know first-hand how critical their team was in selecting a camera for the second installment. We consider this a huge affirmation that RED’s investment in cuttingedge technology continues to be justified.”

“RED’s 8K Weapon is the little big camera,” said Braham. “It is perfectly counterintuitive. And perfect for Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.2.”

Weapon 8K captures 8K at 75fps, 6K at 100fps, or 4K at 150fps with REDCODE RAW. Its wide dynamic range produces cinema-quality images with natural colour. Additionally, Weapon 8K features interchangeable lens mounts, an intelligent OLPF system, and in-camera 3D-LUT outputs.

CREDIT TO THE CREW ON ANOTHER MOTHER’S SON

DP Sam Care visited Bath recently during the shoot of WWII drama Another Mother’s Son, directed by Christopher Menaul. Based on the true story of Louisa Gould, who took in an escaped Russian POW and hid him over the war’s course, the drama is set on the Nazi-occupied island of Jersey, although the production shot at West Country locations. The production shot using Alexa XT with Cooke S2 lenses and Cooke zooms, using nets to soften the image.

Here’s a picture of the crew (lr), who endured a protracted shoot in inclement weather: A-cam trainee Olly Hallam, A-cam focus puller David AghaRafai, A-cam loader Seb Marczewski, A-cam operator Marc Covington, DP Sam Care, B-cam focus puller Matt Waving, B-cam trainee Tom Fears, B-cam loader Evelina Engberg Norgren, grip Dan Rees, assistant grip Amos Bowler, and genny op Matt Grace.

20 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Weather un-beaten… a picture of the crew (l-r), who endured a protracted shoot in inclement weather on Another Mother’s Son: A-cam trainee Olly Hallam, A-cam focus puller David Agha-Rafai, A-cam loader Seb Marczewski, A-cam operator Marc Covington, DP Sam Care, B-cam focus puller Matt Waving, B-cam trainee Tom Fears, B-cam loader Evelina Engberg Norgren, grip Dan Rees, assistant grip Amos Bowler, and genny op Matt Grace.

NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP Nuances… DP Felix Wiedemann felt Cooke Anamorphics were equally good on sunlit and dark scenes

COOKE’S ANAMORPHIC ACTION ON STRATTON

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inematographer Felix Wiedemann chose Anamorphic/i lenses from Cooke Optics, to shoot the action thriller Stratton. The production was Wiedemann’s first collaboration with director Simon West.

“Simon has been directing action films for 20 years (his credits include Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and The Expendables 2), so clearly he knows what he’s doing, but he is also open to new ideas, and it was a very open and collaborative process,” says Wiedemann.

“The choice to shoot Anamorphic was partly for the aspect ratio, but also because I like the look of Anamorphic lenses and the way they render 3D space into a 2D image.

I tested Cooke Anamorphic/i’s and immediately liked what I saw. They give a sharp image that holds contrast and colour where others would go milky or you’d lose a lot of the image. Beyond the sharpness they’ve got ‘soul’ – there’s something beyond the technical performance of the lens, you get a warm feeling from them.”

West and Wiedemann wanted a naturalistic, atmospheric look to bring the audience closer to the lead character, a British SBS commando.

“If it looks real, the action is more impactful and it feels more dangerous and immediate to the viewer,” Wiedemann says. “I kept the lighting very natural throughout the shoot, but with a clear sense of sources and direction inspired by what the locations offered. We had a wide range of shooting conditions, from bright sunny beaches to dark scenes inside a water pipe, which were mainly lit by torches flashing around and lights that we prepared to look like coloured glowsticks. I was really impressed with how the Cooke Anamorphic/i’s held the colour and contrast equally well in each situation. They

brought out all the nuances within each shot.”

Much of the production was shot with the 50mm and 75mm focal lengths, but Wiedemann particularly liked the 25mm lens. “It’s rare to find a good wide Anamorphic lens that doesn’t distort too much at the edges. The 25mm handled it really well and we got some epic wide shots,” he says. “I’m looking forward to using Cooke’s new 65mm macro Anamorphic lens. I love close focus work and it will be perfect for that.”

In addition to the Cooke Anamorphics, Wiedemann also used a set of Kowa Anamorphics for a few selected shots; rather than match them to the Cooke lenses, he instead used the differences in look to emphasise specific moments within a scene or the story.

Stratton was shot on ARRI Alexa and Alexa Mini. Currently in post-production, the film is due for release in 2016.

NEW VP OF POST PRODUCTION & DIGITAL SERVICES AT TECHNICOLOR UK Technicolor, whose recent UK credits include BBC1’s Capital and HBO’s Veep has announced John Fleming as its new VP of post production and digital services for the UK. Fleming previously worked with Omnilab Media and AAV Digital Pictures, where he oversaw VFX, animation, sound and picture post-production activities for the international and domestic feature, broadcast and advertising clients, including Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., HBO and Roadshow Films.

CIRRO LITE LAUNCHES KINO FLO’S NEW LED PRODUCTS FOR 2016 Cirro Lite has launched Kino Flo’s new Select range of LEDs for 2016. The product line draws on the classic design of the original Kino Flo, but incorporates the latest advantages of LED technology.

The lightweight Select products come with variable Bi-colour adjustment and a smooth, flicker-free dimming range allowing for fine adjustments. Key features include: pre-set and tuneable settings between 2700K - 6500K, with no colour shift when dimming and consistent light levels; green/magenta hue control; out-of-the-box WDMX and Lumen Radio compatibility; new louvre tray which eliminates light spill, plus built-in barndoors; and a remote/detachable controller with an 8m header cable. The ballast can now be used on or off-board with the use of the header cable.

“All these features are the result of a lot of research and work,” said Cirro Lite MD David Morphy.

“However, one of the most gratifying aspect of these fixtures, and a Kino Flo hallmark, is the user-friendly design – the fact that these lights have been built by filmmakers is the real difference.”

Kino Flo is premiering the first of the range the Select 30, at the BSC 2016 Expo.

SL1 BY DMG LUMIÈRE NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH OCTICA AND CVP French manufacturer DMG Lumière has announced that its SL1 Switch, an LED fixture designed specifically for cinematography, is now available in the UK via cinema equipment specialists Octica and CVP.

The rectangular SL1 is notable for its size/ weight/power ratio and innovative design. At just 2cm thick – around one-seventh the thickness of a standard fluorescent fixture and a third of the weight – the SL1 produces 15% more light. The DMXcontrollable power box ranges from 3000 to 5600 degrees Kelvin and renders a clean quality of light.

CRI values are 96% for the SL1-5600, and 94% for the SL1-3200. Without diffusion, the SL1-Switch offers 3000 lux at 1 metre.

DMG Lumiere is a family company comprising of brothers Mathieu, a cinematographer, Nils and Jean de Montgrand, plus European gaffer Nicolas Goerg. The SL1 range was conceived from a wish-list of features and capabilities they wanted from a new LED fixture.

22 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

“The original idea was to take full advantage of the potential of LEDs for feature productions, instead of re-lamping or using fixtures designed for architectural lighting or some other field,” says Nils de Montgrand. “The result was the SL1, which has been very successful in continental Europe and North America since the introduction of the prototype in 2012. We’re very excited to partner with Octica and CVP and offer it to the UK market.”

Thierry Arbogast AFC used the SL1 on a feature directed by Luc Besson. “I really like the beam of the SL1, with the softness it has,” he says.

“I used it on car rigs in broad daylight, and it turned out to be very useful for its weight and low power consumption.”

DMG Lumiere is due to launch the SL Mini, which is half the size of the SL1, and eventually, a larger version the SL Maxi. All will maintain the same size/weight/power ratio of the SL1.

NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

REMEMBERING DAVID SAMUELSON D

avid Samuelson passed away peacefully in hospital on 28th August 2015 aged 91. Born in London 1924, he was the eldest son of British film pioneer Bertie Samuelson, and the brother of Sydney, Anthony and Michael. He was not only a great newsreel cameraman but also the inventor in the Samuelson dynasty, whose name continues to be held in high regard in the UK film industry.

David entered the film industry in 1941, at British Movietone News, as a projectionist and cutting room assistant, before becoming a film cameraman. He was in his element as a cameraman, filming in more than forty countries and often at the head of some of the most spectacular events, such as Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, Churchill’s funeral, four Olympic Games and two FIFA World Cups.

He was an avid collector of camera related literature and memorabilia, and built up a substantial library and historic camera collection over a period of thirty years, which included the collection of inventor Arthur Kingston. He also lectured on the subject of motion picture technology in many countries including Russia, China and Japan. He was the author of several manuals of cinematography, most notably Motion Picture Camera Data and Motion Picture Camera and Lighting Equipment, which have been published in several languages around the world.

His innate love of invention – which included the Samcine MKII Calculator, ruggedised aluminium equipment cases, and the dSam Depth Of Field Test Chart, amongst many others – led to his proudest moments when he received a SciTech Award in 1981 and an Academy Award Of Merit in 2005, for his part in creating the Louma Camera Crane. In 2006, he won a special award his innovative achievements from the Camerimage Festival Of Cinematography.

David was an active player in the industry holding posts with many different trade organisations. He was president of the British Kinematograph Sound & TV Society (BKSTS) from 1970-72; chairman of the British Board of Film Classification Ltd, 1971-89; governor of London International Film School, 1981-93; fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, BKSTS and SMPTE; and a governor of the British Society of Cinematographers, 1980-87.

Although cameras and anything to do with film were his passion, he also followed Formula 1 motor racing and was also a keen and active skier. He leaves behind children, step-children, grandchildren and many hundreds of people whose lives he touched and who remember him with love and fondness.

Funding appeal… if you’d like your iPhone to be a light meter then send in your money

Measuring-up… David works out the depth-offield on-set with Bardot and Eamon Andrews

Glory be… David Samuelson proudly clutches his Oscar statuette

Vinten… an influencer and innovator

TRIBUTE TO BILL VINTEN

Bill Vinten, whose achievements shaped the broadcast industry worldwide, passed away on Sunday, November 8, 2015. The son of founder William Vinten, Bill Vinten was one of the key influencers for The Vitec Group and instrumental in what it is today. As a renowned cinematographer during WWII, he understood the needs of camera operators, translating his knowledge into remarkable products that transformed the industry. His achievements included the design of the first camera pedestal that allowed cameramen to track and jib simultaneously without losing sight of the viewfinder, along with the first pan and tilt head to meet the BBC’s specifications for manoeuvrability. With further enhancements throughout the years, these designs laid the groundwork for today’s flagship products, becoming internationally recognised by broadcasters around the globe.

LUMU POWER REQUESTS KICKSTARTER SUPPORT FOR IPHONE LIGHT METER Developer Lumulabs has been working on Lumu Power, an all-in-one light, exposure, flash and colour temperature meter for the iPhone, for the last two years. It is claimed to be the first device that combines all of these functions. To bring the product to market, the firm has launched a Kickstarter campaign that it hopes will attract the attention of cinematographic community.

24 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

BSC OPERATORS NIGHT 2015

A record number of 272 guests - BSC members, patrons and friends - gathered at the Langham Hotel, for the 64th annual BSC Operators Night, held on November 27th.

T

Judith Evans of Arri and Robin Vidgeon BSC

26 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

he Langham is one of the largest grand hotels in London and the exterior has featured in a number of movies including GoldenEye (1995) when it doubled as the St. Petersburg Grand Hotel Europe with a night exterior lit for DP Phil Méheux by gaffer, the late Terry Potter, and help from AFM Lighting.

Members and their guests were welcomed with glasses of Prosecco and regaled with a video loop, courtesy of Gwyn Evans, of clips from feature and television work done by the evening’s awards nominees.

Amongst the honoured guests were visiting cinematographers Don Burgess ASC, shooting Conjuring 2, accompanied by his son, camera operator, Michael Burgess, along with Steve Yedlin ASC, shooting Star Wars: Episode VIII, and Danish cinematographer Stephan Pehrsson, who was nominated for BSC Best Cinematography of a TV Drama. The BSC also hosted operators Tomasz Nowak from Poland, nominated for feature operating on Ida, and Ciaran Barry ACO, from Ireland, nominated for television drama operating on Ripper Street.

Amongst BSC members, Robin Browne BSC made his usual trek from Michigan, USA, with irrepressible honorary members Wolfgang Suschitzky BSC, at age 103, and Sir Sydney Samuelson also in attendance.

For the first time at

Operators Night a master of ceremonies, Peter West, was called on to introduce president Barry Ackroyd BSC, who opened the proceedings fresh from shooting in Berlin on the fifth Jason Bourne series. He presented membership certificates to newly-elected members Balasz Bolygo, James Aspinall, Mike Spragg, Tony Slater-Ling and George Richmond, and to associate member Ben Wilson. Governor Derek Suter BSC gave the traditional toast to the operators and Tony Jackson Associate BSC gave the response.

After dinner, governor and past president, John de Borman BSC took to the stage to list the nominees for the BSC Award for Best Cinematography of a TV Drama, engraved by Bob Evans of Panavision. The winner was Gavin Finney BSC for Wolf Hall (Episode 2 – Entirely Beloved).

Governor and past president Phil Méheux BSC read the nominees for camera operating. The awards committee, comprising of members from the BSC, ACO and GBCT, was chaired by Mike Southon BSC, who launched a new award for Television Drama Operators.

Barry Ackroyd read the nominations for ACO/ BSC/GBCT Feature Operating Award, sponsored by Panavision. The winner was Chris Haarhoff for Birdman: or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance). As Haarhoff was shooting in the US, the award was collected by Peter Cavacuiti Assoc BSC ACO.

The ACO/BSC/GBCT TV Drama Operators Award, sponsored by Ronford Baker, was won by Sean Savage Assoc BSC ACO GBCT, David Morgan ACO, Ben Wilson Assoc BSC ACO and David Worley Assoc BSC ACO GBCT for Game Of Thrones (Series 5 – Episodes 8 & 9 – Hardhome and The Dance Of Dragons).

President Barry Ackroyd wound up the evening before Judith Evans of ARRI Rental and Robin Vidgeon BSC came on stage to oversee the raffle, which raised £3,160.00 for the Great Ormond Street Hospital For Children and the Cinema And Television Benevolent Fund. Report by BSC governor Phil Méheux BSC.

Barry Ackroyd BSC with Master of Ceremonies Peter West

Wolfgang Suschitzky BSC

Langham Hotel Tony Jackson Assoc BSC and Derek Suter BSC giving the traditional toast

Peter Cavaciuti associate BSC accepts feature operating award on behalf of Chris Haarhoff (Birdman)

Gavin Finney BSC accepts Best Cinematography on TV Drama award from John De Boreman BSC

The Game Of Thrones team accept ACO/ BSC/GBCT Drama operating award from Barry Ackroyd BSC and Phil Mehuex BSC

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 27

WHO’S SHOOTING WHO? / CINEMATOGRAPHERS ROUND-UP

You don’t have to be quackers to work here…

Andrew Kelly and Jallo Faber (r) on a commercial

S

It’s curtains…

Gabi Norlan tests out the d light

creen Talent: Davey Gilder has joined the agency and completed music promos for Vanessa White and Flux Pavilion. He’s currently prepping the short Sliding with director Lucy Campbell for Creative England. Simon Rowling shot the shorts Predator: Dark Ages, directed by James Bushem via by Sweet Potato Productions, and I Am Henry, directed by Jan Hendrik Verstraten for Flying Dutchman Films, plus a Glenfiddich ad, directed by Joshua Antoniades through Gravity Thinking. Bart Sienkiewicz shot a Barclays Premier Banking commercial, directed by Schuman Hoque, music videos for Espa ft Giggs (Swan Song) and Never The Saint (Bleed) directed by Omid Nooshin, and the short Sleep, helmed by Robin Frazer. Adam Sliwinski is shooting Signed, Sealed, Delivered with director Lynn Stopkewytch

Intrinsic: Peter Field operated second unit on Checkmate and Nightingale. Gareth Hughes is operating on How To Talk To Girls At Parties, Jun Keung Chung is lighting the Anglo Chinese co-production with a working title Secret Suicides, and Rasmus Arrildt DFF is prepping Mesteren in Denmark. Ruairi O’Brien

28 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

ISC completed his first stint on The A Word for Tiger Aspect. Chris Preston is on daytime drama Doctors for the BBC and is joined by Andy Clark and Andrew Johnson to light more blocks of Holby City. Jorge Luengas operated and lit second unit on Fox’s The Bastard Executioner. Rasmus Arrildt has done his time on New Blood, and Martin Ahlgren worked on Netflix’s Daredevil. Suzanne Smith operated on Made In Chelsea. Ed Lindsley followed David Beckham playing Seven Games for Big Earth’s documentary, and Martin Roach shot in Japan for an unnamed food and music doc for Edition Worldwide. Arturo Vasquez SVC, Andy Clark, Chris O’Driscoll, Dave Miller, Gabi Norland, Lynda Hall, Mark Nutkins, Martin Roach, Martyna Knitter, Pau Castejon, Sam Brown, and Stephen Murphy all delivered commercials, corporate films and music promos.

Berlin Associates: Owen McPolin, shot Vikings for MGM TV/History Channel, and was recently awarded a BAFTA Cymru gong for his work on Da Vinci’s Demons.

Suzie Lavelle is shooting The Living Dead with director Sam Donovan, and was nominated for The Jules Wright Prize for Female Creative Technician. The Sherlock Christmas Special, called The Abominable Bride, also shot by Suzie, aired on New Year’s Day. Andy Hollis lit Midsomer Murders with director Renny Rye and has started Mount Pleasant with director Dermot Boyd. Ollie Downey er… epp Quick-st worked on Scott & Bailey for Red ith Sm e ann Suz Prods with director Alex Kalymnios, operating the a Steadicam on and is now on Good Vibrations with ce uen dance seq director Jill Robertson.

Casarotto: welcomes Sturla Brandth Grøvlen to its roster. Sturla received the Silver Frog at Camerimage 2015 for his work on the acclaimed Icelandic film Rams, directed by Grímur Hákornason. Sean Bobbitt BSC has graded Queen Of Katwe for director Mira Nair and is preparing Codes Of Conduct with long-time

collaborator Steve McQueen, shooting in New York in the upcoming months. Lukas Strebel recently wrapped Gotthard with director Urs Egger. Pau Esteve Birba is in Colombia on shooting Orbita 9 with director Hatem Kraiche. Sam Care has wrapped on Christopher Menaul Another Mother’s Son. Matt Gray BSC lit The Living And The Dead and is now working with director Jess Hobbs on the Kudos series Apple Tree Yeard. Tim Palmer BSC is preparing Good Vibrations with director Marek Losey.

David Katznelson BSC is in Norway and then Colombia on Handle With Care with director Arlid Andreasen. Julian Court has graded BBC Film’s Swallows And Amazons for director Phillipa Lowthorpe. Rainier Klaussmann SCS is on Tschick for Largo Film with director Faith Akin. David Pimm shot various days on Macbeth for Globe. PJ Dillon has wrapped season six of Game Of Thrones for HBO and is shooting the History Channel’s Vikings. Zac Nicholson lit The Sound Of Music Live for ITV. Wojciech Szepel is series two of Fortitude with director Hettie MacDonald.

Mark Wolf recently finished a documentary for Lightbox Entertainment called Trauma with director Ben Anthony.

Annika Summerson has wrapped on the feature Further Instructions as well as Nothing Ever Really Ends with director Jakob Rørvik. Mark Wolf, Annika Summerson, Brian Fawcett, Percy Dean and Marcus Autelli have worked on commercial projects and promos.

Princestone: of the agency’s DPs… Laura Bellingham lit an array of music promos, five short comedies for Currys/PC World’s Christmas campaign and a fashion film on 16mm for Dazed Media, directed by Isaac Lock. Gary Clarke is on Barbarians Rising, a sevenpart drama doco for October Films and History Channel, starring Tom Hooper and Ian Beattie, directed by Declan O’Dwyer, Mo Sweeney and Simon George. Gary also shot Web Of Lies for Blast Films. Luca Ciuti has lensed concerts for various artists including PJ Harvey The Hallow Of The Hand at the Royal Festival Hall for Universal, directed by Tim Van Someren. The production used minimal lighting on a blacked-out stage, with 12 Red Dragon cameras fitted with Panavision Primo Prime and zoom lenses. Luca is now on The Truck To Berlin, directed by Laura Borgio,

tyna yarn… Mar Tells a goodon location near Knitter sider n with Out Cape Tow

Life’s a beach… Arturo Vasquez SVC shooting down by the sea

Strapped-in…

Mark Nutkins does Mad Max

shot on Alexa with Cooke Anamorphic Xtal Xpress lenses directed by Charles Martin, starring Anna Friel as the eponymous crime detective, with Ula Pontikos BSC the in London, Budapest and Istanbul. Gerry Vasbenter ACO graded sci-fi thriller Worm, provided additional DP. Cosmo Campbell shot additional material for season six of Game Of Thrones, plus sequences in Portugal for photography on London Spy, and shot second unit on Bridget Jones’s Baby. He recently won Best Cinematography the new Top Gear motoring show on Amazon Prime.

Award at Monaco Film Festival for quirky crime comedy Thomas English has worked on promotional spots and commercials as well as music videos for Dougal Taking Stock, directed by Maeve Murphy. Of the agency’s camera/steadicam operators… Peter Robertson Assoc BSC Wilson and Kylie Minogue. Dion Casey did dailies on several productions including The Crown, New Blood ACO worked on war drama The Yellow Birds in Morocco, directed by David Lowery, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and Outlander. Mark Milsome ACO was in Belfast on Tye Sheridan and Will Poulter, with Dan Landin the DP. Game Of Thrones, shooting Alexa with Cooke Primes Peter is now doing principle photography on action thriller and Angenieux zooms. Nic Milner ACO shot dailies on The Foreigner with DP Peter Tattersall, starring Jackie Chan TV series The Crown, and Pierce Brosnan, directed by Martin Campbell. Sean about the British Savage Assoc BSC ACO was in Belfast shooting season royal family created six of Game Of Thrones, with Jonathan Freeman and Fabian

by Peter Morgan for Wagner BSC among the series’ DPs. Sean and his team Netflix, directed by recently won the BSC Operators Award for the show. Joe Stephen Daldry. Dan Russell worked on the opening three episodes of Victoria, Nightingale worked Mammoth Screen’s series chronicling the life of Queen on BBC drama Victoria, with Tom Vaughan directing, Jenna Coleman series 13, with playing the young Queen, and John Lee the DP, shooting directors Vanessa on dual Amiras, with an Alexa Mini as a third body, and a Caswill and China full set of Panavision Primos. Simon Baker ACO worked on Moo-Young, and the feature Their Finest Hour And A Half, with director Lone DPs David Rom Scherfig and cinematographer Sebastian Blenkov, in Wales, and Simon Archer, plus action adventure Assassin’s Creed – Time Out Of Mind and did dailies starring Michael Fassbender, Marion on Houdini And Cotillard and Jeremy Irons, directed

by Justin Kurzel, with Adam Arkapaw the DP. James Layton ACO worked alongside Danish cinematographer Rasmus Arrildt DFF on Anthony Horowitz’s investigative drama New Blood, directed by Anthony Phillipson, produced for the BBC by Eleventh Hour Films. Xandy Sahla ACO shot B-camera/ steadicam on Marcella, the eight-part, multi-stranded, Nordic-style crime series produced

by Buccaneer Media for ITV, Gogglebox… Adam Sliwinski glued to the monitor on Signed, Sealed, Delivered movie four with director Lynn Stopkewytch

Doyle and Galavant, with DPs Chris Seager BSC and John Pardue. Tony Kay has been shooting commercials and did dailies on New Blood and The A Word, all shot on Alexa, with The A Word also using the Alexa Mini.

Wizzo Features: Erik Wilson is shooting around London for directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard on Neil Gaiman’s Likely Stories. Richard Stoddard is shooting period feature Bees Make Honey, directed by Jack Eve, and starring Alice Eve and Trevor Eve. Nick Dance BSC is prepping the film B+B, directed by Jo Ahearne. Eben Bolter lit the feature Mum’s List for director Niall Johnson, starring Rafe Spall and Emilia Fox, based on the best selling novel by St.

>>

Spooky…

Bar Sienkiewic t won the be z st cinematog raphy gong at th e British H Film Festi orror val for The Herd

They went that-a -w Owen McPolin (r) ay… at work on The Viking s

music…

Facing the a pop er on Davey Gild Pavillion Flux promo for

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 29

WHO’S SHOOTING WHO? / CINEMATOGRAPHERS ROUND-UP Landscape painter… David Katznelson BSC on location in Bogota, Columbia, on the feature Handle With Care

>> John Greene, and is prepping on the feature iBoy, directed

by Adam Randall. Mattias Nyberg shot a pilot feature documentary, Ghost Wives, for award-winning director Eve Weber. New signing Sverre Sørdal is shooting an untitled documentary in North Korea with director Matthew Halsall. Matthias Pilz shot the feature The Miner in Slovenia with director Hanna Slak. Tim Sidell has wrapped on the feature Modern Life Is Rubbish for director Daniel Jerome Gill. Dale McCready is prepping the new thriller series Him, directed by Andy de Emmony. Jamie Cairney is shooting comedy series Flowers directed by Will Sharpe, starring Olivia Coleman. Maja Zamojda shot ITV’s period drama Jericho, and did days in Mumbai for a special intro sequence on New Blood, with director Anthony Philipson.

Damian Bromley is prepping the first block of DCI Banks with director Craig Pickles. Sergio Delgado is shooting on Poldark with director Charles Palmer. Dan Stafford-Clark lit the short Candy Floss, directed by Jed Hart. David Rom has graded the first block of BBC drama Thirteen, directed

by Vanessa Caswill, and Baz Irvine has done the DI on Endeavour, directed by Olly Blackburn.

Independent Talent: Balazs Bolygo has graded Love Nina with long-time collaborator SJ Clarkson. Ulf Brantus is with director Jonathan Teplitzky on the crime thriller Marcella. Eigil Bryld is busy with commercials in New York. Simon Dennis lit the feature Limehouse Golem with director Juan Carlos Medina. Adam Etherington has graded his work with Will McGregor on One Of Us, the Williams Brothers’ new drama for BBC One. Cinders Forshaw has wrapped on her episodes of the second series of Poldark in Bristol and Cornwall. John Mathieson BSC is shooting with director Saul Dibb for the feature In Sand And Blood.

Ben Smithard BSC has prepped the opening episodes of the eagerly-anticipated Cold Feet revival with Terry McDonough. Mark Waters has graded his lighting on the Sky series Agatha Raisin that he worked on with director Roberto Bangura.

30 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Chas Bain lit Let This Be Our Secret, a three-part thriller for Hat Trick/ITV, starring James Nesbitt, in Northern Ireland, with director Nick Murphy. Darran Bragg shot the short Still There with Rattling Stick’s Austin Humphries, and a Royal Bank Of Scotland ad with Stephen Cowburn at Lightweight Media. Henry Braham BSC is in the US shooting Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 for director James Gunn, starring Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana. Bjorn Bratberg shot the crime series 35 Days in South Wales for S4C, with director Lee Haven Jones. Oliver Curtis BSC e?…

Looking at an eclips tt job shot various cke Luca Ciuti on a Ha commercials including a Palmolive ad with regular director Patricio Schmidt. Ben Davis BSC is shooting Marvel’s Dr Strange for director Scott Derrickson, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

Benoit Delhomme AFC was in South Africa on an epic three-week project for Chanel with photographer Jacob Sutton, via Psycho. Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC is in Cambodia shooting First They Killed My Father for director Angelina Jolie. Ian Foster shot in London for Jaguar with Tom Hooper and in New Zealand with Iconoclast director Markus Walter. Sam Goldie worked with Another Film Co. director Steve Reeves for Autotrader. Jess Hall BSC lit Ghost In The Shell, directed by Rupert Sanders and starring Scarlett Johansson. Darius Khondji AFC ASC lensed James Gray’s The Lost City Of Z and is prepping Okja Merry and for director Boon Joon br ig ht Laura Bel …

Ho. Seamus McGarvey up a Curry lingham lights ’s Christm as ad BSC ASC has wrapped

on Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals. ITG welcomes Tat Radcliffe, well-known for his work with Yann Demange on the award-winning ‘71 and Top Boy, and Matthew Warchus’ Pride. The agency has also signed-up Aadel Nodeh Farahani, who shot the Land Rover idents for Rugby World Cup 2015 with Partizan director Tom Barbor Might, and lured Chris Soos, well-known for his work with Jake Scott. Mark Patten is shooting Taboo, with Kristoffer Nyholm directing this eight onehour mini series starring Tom Hardy.

Set In 1813, it follows James Keziah Delaney, a rogue adventurer who returns from Africa with 14 ill-gotten Barnyard fun… wearing an easy rig Matt Gray (r) diamonds to for The Living And The Dead wit seek vengeance h focus puller Martin Payne holdin g an Alexa Mini after the death of his father. Stephan Pehrsson is shooting three episodes of the second series of Inside No. 9 for BBC. Dick Pope BSC has been shooting commercials with Gorgeous director Vince Squibb for NatWest and with Smith & Jones’ Ulf Johansson for Mountain Dew. George Richmond BSC is prepping Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman 2. Christopher Ross BSC was with Black Sheep director Tom Green on an exciting “YouTube Generation” web series for KFC, visiting underground music scenes across Europe. Ashley Rowe BSC lit the second season of Galavant for ABC. Martin Ruhe lensed American Pastoral in the US, with Ewan McGregor

>>

Behind bars… the South African camera crew of Roots: (l-r) Arno van der Laan A-cam/2nd AC; Diogo Domingoes B-cam/1st AC; Siyabulela Dumo central loader; Peter Cavaciuti A-cam/Steadicam op; Michael Carstenson B-cam/Steadicam op; Evan Maclachlan A-cam/1st AC; Craig Griffin B-cam/2nd AC; and Leon Lotz central loader. Central front and free is cinematographer Shrone Meir!

WHO’S SHOOTING WHO? / CINEMATOGRAPHERS ROUND-UP

Say cheese… Tony Kay (r) up the ladder with an Alexa Mini

>> directing and starring. Ben Seresin was in NZ shooting

with Sonny’s Fredrik Bond for Phillips, before heading back to London to finalise prep on The Mummy. Daniel Trapp worked with Surrender Monkeys, better known as Thierry Albert and Faustin Claverie, at Bold on a Format B promo, with Rupert Sansom on an Audi A4 launch, Danone with long-time collaborator Caswell Coggins, and in Italy with Amanda Blue at Filmmaster. Ed Wild BSC shot with Mustard’s Sam Miller for the Children’s Society, with Paul Weiland for Fever Tree and with 1st Avenue Machine for Stella Artois.

My Management: Jallo Faber FSF attended the London r son… premiere of SPECTRE, on which On your shoulde an es he was second unit DP, has Ed Lindsley hir ungster enthusiastic yo vid collaborated with Bart Timmer Da on the recent ll ba on a job in Oslo for Tine and with Beckham foot ve Lo Robert Jitzmark on Qatar Airways documentary Of The Game in Barcelona. Jallo was also in Johannesburg with Smuggler director Barry Bangs on a King Games project and worked with Mega force /riff raff in Cape Town.

Dominic Bartels lit spots for Pepe Jeans, MAC and Kiko Cosmetics through Spring Studios, and was in Amsterdam with Black Sheep Studios and director Ollie Murray on a Humira project.

Nicolaj Bruel has been shooting in Munich and Madrid for Mercedes with Czar Films and director Martin Werner, in Italy with director Matteo Garrone and Archimede Films, and in Ireland on a Cambria commercial.

Robbie Ryan BSC has Moody blue wrapped on I with Alexe s… Nicolaj Bruel i Am Daniel Blake atmospher Tylewich on an ic-looking set with director Ken Loach and been teaching in Mexico while fitting in a music video for director Shynola and RSA/Blackdog. David Lanzenberg has lensed spots for Garnier, Atkins, Glade and Kohls. Sy Turnbull was in Tokyo, Seoul and Taiwan shooting with directing duo Monatomi and Great Guns for beauty brand SK-11. Steve Chivers has been shooting all around the Caribbean for MSC Cruises with director Daniel Barber and the Knucklehead gang. Aaron Reid shot in West London on the latest film

32 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

from director Noel Clarke called Brotherhood. Olivier Cariou lensed a music video for Florrie with director Emil Nava and London Alley, plus spots for Arla with Bare Films director Marcus Lundin and Liptons with Lucy Blakstad through Another Film Co. Paul Mackay shot ads for Drambuie and Mothercare with Feed Films, Text Santa and Idents with ITV, working with Great Coat films Coldplay… actually and Somesuch. Dennis Madden it’s Joe Russell wrapped up against shot Tesco spots for Park the cold on Victoria

village and director Richard Young.

Tomas Tomasson has been on the documentary Little Moscow directed by Grímur Hákonarson, a commercial for The Voice in Iceland, and a Japanese Meiji commercial at the Glacierlagoon in Iceland with Truenorth Production. Simon Rowles teamed up with director Mark Henderson for L’Oréal through The Outfit as well as Leo McCrea and Studio Lambert on The Fear. John Perez lensed a music video in Morocco and a Crest commercial featuring Shakira in Barcelona. Lester De Havilland has teamed up with Blue Print and director Gavin Knight on a brand film.

Richard Stewart was in Lisbon with Jake Nava and Cherry Films on Apollo Tyres, and has shot moving content for Nordstrom with photographer Roe Ethridge. Will Humphris has shot the short film Pauline with director Fred Rowson and a Ford spot alongside Tupaq Felber and Imagination. Tim Spence lit spots for Vanish, Lego Ninjago and Becel in Cape Town all with The Mill.

Ekkehart Pollack shot in Vienna for Toyota with director Hideyuki Tanaka, in Finland on Mercedes with Ali Bach and in Athens on Eurowings with Claas Ortmann.

Tuomo Virtanen, Anders Flatland FNF, Jo Willems ASC SBC, Vincent Warin, Gerry Floyd, Roger Bonnici, Marcelo Durst, Mel Griffith, Petra Korner and Pedro Castro have all been working on personal projects.

United Agents: Barry Ackroyd BSC was recently in Las Vegas shooting the next Bourne movie. Andrew Dunn BSC has wrapped on Bridget Jones’ Baby. John Lee h out ac Ro n ti e… Mar a is continuing on Victoria for In silhouett out with the camer and ab Mammoth Screen. Gavin Struthers and David Luther are both back in Cape Town for the fourth series of Black Sails. Tony Slater Ling BSC is in Belfast with director Adrian Shergold on My Mother And Other Strangers.

Haris Zambarloukos BSC is shooting Denial, directed by Mick Jackson. Alan Almond BSC graded Dickensian for the BBC and Danny Cohen BSC shot pick-ups for Stephen Frears’ feature Florence Foster Jenkins. Martin Fuhrer BSC is prepping the first block of The Collection, directed by Dearbhla Walsh for BBC/Amazon, and David Higgs BSC has finished on Aliens for Clerkenwell Films. Ian Moss’ work can be seen on ITV Encore’s The Frankenstein Chronicles, directed by Ben Ross. Tony Miller BSC has graded Peter Pan, directed by Diarmuid Lawrence, and Kieran McGuigan BSC has finished series two of Grantchester. Laurie Rose is shooting series three of Peaky Blinders and Simon Tindall is shooting A-camera on a 20th Century Fox feature. Charlotte Bruus Christensen DFF is in the US on the feature The Girl On The Train for DreamWorks until February. James Friend BSC has wrapped on The Musketeers for Udayan Prasad and is attached to Craig Viveiros’s Rillington Place. Neus Olle and Niels Reedtz Johansen are busy with commercials. David Raedeker continues to light Tutankhamun in South Africa

>>

WHO’S SHOOTING WHO? / CINEMATOGRAPHERS ROUND-UP

Lone ranger… Fabian Wagner BSC on Game Of Thrones series six

Bird’s eye view…

Jackson Hunt got a head for heights on a recent TV commercial Front se driver… D at anny Hiele take s on a rather cramped sh ot

>> for director Peter Webber. Kate Reid has

Fist pump…

Diego Garcia on Cemetery Of Splendour

34 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Taking direction…

Stuart Bentley (r) with Shane Meadows on This Is England ‘90

finished on BBC taster The Break for director Zam Salim. Ed Rutherford is lighting The Last Hotel for Enda Walsh and Sky Arts. Anna Valdez Hanks was named one of 2015’s BAFTA Breakthrough Brits. Ben Wheeler has wrapped on Mum for Big Talk and director Richard Laxton, starring Peter Mullan and Lesley Manville.

Magni Agustsson shot a commercial for Fever Tree with Paul Weiland. Alex Barber lit a Department Of Transport commercial for Guy Shelmerdine at Smuggler and worked with Sam Brown at Rogue on a Lloyds campaign. John Barr shot a Ballantines’ spot for director Will Williamson in Oakland and LA for Archers Mark, and a Canderel spot for Barry Bangs through Smuggler. Philipp Blaubach has wrapped on TV drama Houdini & Doyle, directed by Stephen Hopkins. John de Borman BSC shot a spot for director Ulf Johansen through Smith & Jones. Daniel Bronks was in Venice on a Diesel film for Tom Beard at Partizan. Simon Chaudoir’s commercials include Desigual for Oliver Hadlee Pearch through Bandits, and a L’Oreal campaign for Laurent Chanez. Stephen Keith-Roach recently won the Fellowship Award at The British Arrows Craft Awards. Tim MauriceJones BSC shot a Sainsburys campaign for Zach Math and Spain via Bold. Alex Melman lit a Subway spot for Sam Hibbard at Somesuch. Jake Polonsky BSC has completed US project Billions. Simon Richards lensed an IKEA ad for Tom Kingsley at Blink. Christopher Sabogal lit a Churchill spot for Joe Mann at Blink, The Jump for Keith McCarthy at C4 and Arla, again for Keith McCarthy, via Stink. Joost Van Gelder was in Italy/New Zealand shooting a Booking.com commercial for Matthijs Van Heijningen at MJZ.

McKinney Macartney Management: Stuart Biddlecombe is prepping series three of Hinterland in Wales. Gavin Finney BSC recently completed principal photography on The Secret Agent for World Productions, with Charles McDougall directing. Jean Philippe Gossart is with the second unit on Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts And

Where To Find Them, with second unit director Stephen Woolfenden and David Yates at the helm. Sam McCurdy BSC shot Amma Asante’s new feature, A United Kingdom and is prepping new drama, Hooten And The Lady, in Cape Town for Red Planet Pictures/Sky. Andy McDonnell lit Dickensian for Red Planet Pictures and is shooting Happy Valley II for Red Productions/BBC in Manchester and Leeds.

Ben Butler, Sebastian Milaszewski, Arthur Mulhern, Alessandra Scherillo and Clive Tickner have been shooting commercials. Polly Morgan is prepping new Tiger Aspect series, The A Word, in Manchester with Dominic le Clerc directing. John Pardue recently completed principal photography on Quacks with director Andy de Emmony for BBC/NBC. Chris Seager BSC lensed BBC political thriller Undercover with director James Hawes in London and Baton Rouge. Mike Spragg is prepping New Blood, with director Bill Eagles for Eleventh Hour Films.

Felix Wiedemann BSC lit BBC drama Murdered By My Father, with director Bruce Goodison and is now shooting the feature Romans with Ludwig and Paul Shammasian directing. Robin Whenary is shooting the feature The Ghost Writer, with Paul Wilkins at the helm.

Lux Artists: congratulates Matyas Erdely HSC on winning the Bronze Frog at the 2015 Camerimage Festival for his work on Son Of Saul, also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. Xavi Giménez shot Penny Dreadful: Night Work, which won the Best TV Pilot award at Camerimage. Ole Birkeland has finished on the Netflix original series The Crown and is now shooting Marc Munden’s National Treasure. Natasha Braier ADF has graded Neon Demon. Lol Crawley BSC is working on Plan B and Netflix’s television series AO for director Zal Batmanglij. Kasper Tuxen lit The Underworld, directed

by Fenar Ahmad. Stuart Bentley is shooting the fivepart drama SS-GB for BBC One. Hagen Bogdanski shot Berlin Station, directed by Michael Roskam, produced

by Paramount TV. Nicolas Bolduc is shooting Mr & Mrs Adelman for Nicolas Bedos. Andre Chemetoff has prepped Joanne Chemla’s Si Tu Voyais Son Coeur.

Daniel Landin BSC lensed Alexander Moor’s The Yellow Birds. Nominated for an ASC award, Fabian Wagner

In the firing line…

Nanu Segal gets her sights set on a recent production

WHO’S SHOOTING WHO? / CINEMATOGRAPHERS ROUND-UP What a caper…

Lukas Strebe (with spectacles l ) shooting TV series Gotthard with director Urs Egger

er (r) on Derek Walk Great apes… poid in Prague with ro th the set of An tant grip Hynek Jecha.

Czech assis urtesy of Sean Ellis.

Photo co

We are sailing… and director Da Steve Chivers (l) MSC Cruises adniel Barber on an in the Caribbe an

In the news… Robert Shacklady (r) lensing an ad for The Times with gaffer Matt Hicken

Action man…

Olly Loncraine on location in the UAE

BSC has wrapped on Game Of Thrones series six. Michael McDonough BSC ASC is shooting series two of HBO’s Fear Of The Walking Dead. Ula Pontikos BSC is shooting Marcella, directed by Charles Martin, starring Anna Friel.

Luke Jacobs has wrapped on Will Kerley’s The Mad Axeman.

Ruben Impens lit the feature Grave, directed by Julia Ducournau. Belgica, directed by Felix Van Groeningen, also shot by Ruben, is nominated at Sundance 2016. Sundance will also host screenings of The Lobster, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, shot by Thimios Bakatakis; Ali And Nino, directed by Asif Kapadia, lit by Gökhan Tiryaki; Manchester

By The Sea, directed by Kenneth Lonergan, lensed by Jody Lee Lipes; Eddie Alcazar’s short film, Fuckkkyouuu, shot

by Danny Hiele and Cemetery Of Splendour, directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, lensed by Diego Garcia.

Meanwhile busy shooting commercials are: Steve Annis, Sebastian Blenkov, Justin Brown, Mauro Chiarello, Manuel Alberto Claro, Arnau Valls Colomer AEC, Axel Cosnefroy, Rob Hardy BSC, Danny Hiele, Jackson Hunt,

Daylight saving… Erik Sohlstrom on the shoot of Midnight Sun, a co-pro from Atlantique Production s (France) & Nice Drama (Sweden), for Canal+ and SVT (Swedish Television)

dard on the In the frame… Richard StodMake Honey, s set of period feature Bee ring his sister directed by Jack Eve, star Trevor Eve er Alice Eve and their fath

At cross purposes…

Sverre Sørdal on the set of an untitled North Korea feature documentary, directed

by Matthew Halsall

Jakob Ihre FSF, Chayse Irvin CSC, Magnus Joenck, Niklas Johansson FSF, John Lynch ISC, Ben Moulden, Arnaud Potier, Manel Ruiz, Jake Scott, Adam Scarth, Nanu Segal, Tom Townend, Martijn Van Broekhuizen NSC, Sebastian Wintero, Alexis Zabe and Rik Zang.

ARRI Crew: Paul Edwards ACO did Steadicam on commercials and some day-playing on the films Assasin’s Creed and A United Kingdom, plus TV dramas Agatha Raisin and Dallas With Balls. After shooting WWII feature Anthropoid in Prague, Derek Walker ACO GBCT went on Game Of Thrones, Dickensian and Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them, and then second unit of Dr Strange.

Oliver Loncraine worked on the UAE section of War

Machine and was second unit DP on the untitled thriller directed by Martin Campbell, starring Jackie Chan. Robert Shacklady shot autumn, winter and Christmas campaigns for fashion house Boohoo, plus ads for BMW’s new M2, M4 GTS and 7 Series models, SiS sports drinks dra san Ales le… ctac spe e Pur er and The Times, and went Scherillo (r) with focus pull itch to Bulgaria for the eightKate Eccarius on a uSw et Velv for cial mer com part docudrama Barbarians Rising. Jeremy Hiles did 20 weeks on BBC Undercover with directors James Hawes and Jim O’Hanlon, for DPs Chris Seager BSC and Stephan Pehrsson. Pete Cavaciuti shot a reboot of acclaimed ‘70’s miniseries Roots, where he was banged-up in the Castle Of Good Hope – South Africa’s oldest building – with a marvellous South African crew. He worked on the London section of The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist with DP Don Burgess. too Jason Ewart did dailies on Assassin’s Creed and second unit on Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them.

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 35

MEET THE NEW WAVE / OONA MENGES / CINEMATOGRAPHER Lady on the van…

Oona pictured with focus puller 1st AC Leo Winslow

NEW WAVE Filmography (so far): Social Suicide (2015), plus shorts Rubicon (2016), Looking For Albert (2014), MOTH (Man Of The House) (2014)

When did you discover you wanted to be a DoP? I was bitten by the film bug at the age of 18, working on my first-ever feature as clapper/loader with DP Sandi Sissel in LA. But it wasn’t until I was a little older, and had lived more chapters in my life, that I felt I had something to contribute artistically.

Where did you train?

On-set and with stills. My Dad trained me how to set the stop and focus by eye, hold the camera down by my hip and then whip it up when the moment was right – learning ‘the decisive moment’.

What are your favourite films, and why?

It changes as I change and grow, but off the top of my head I’d say: Once Were Warriors (1994, dir. Lee Tamahori, DP Stuart Dryburgh) – because of the story.

Local Hero (1983, dir. Bill Forsyth, DP Chris Menges) – because of the story.

Blade Runner (1982, dir. Ridley Scott, DP Jordan Cronanweth ASC) – the story and chance to play with light Chungking Express (1994, dir. Wong Kar Wai, DPs Christopher Doyle & Wai-Keung Lau) – it’s how I see.

What’s the best advice you were ever given?

I have a few, but every wrist-slap or kick-in-the-ass whilst an assistant – all of it is invaluable training.

“Truth not reality” – Chris Menges; “Remember the white spot” – Oliver Stapleton BSC; “Just get on with it” – Rodrigo Guttierez ACO and Ivan Strasburg BSC.

What have been your best/worst moments on set?

Best: arriving on-set and realising Mother Nature had lit the scene exactly as I had planned to light it myself, complete with the right colours and shadows. It was a surreal experience.

Worst: Witnessing a young man die after being crushed by a Tulip crane on a film in Argentina at the end of a gruelling night shoot.

Tell us your most hilarious faux pas?

I asked ARRI management about their F65 when, of course, I meant the Alexa 65. At an ARRI dinner recently I told the entire table of top DPs, and ARRI management, that ‘size matters.’ I once asked Peter Gabriel his name after chatting with him at his own concert.

Away from work, what are your greatest passions?

My family, friends, painting, reading, art exhibitions, films, travel, fires on the beach, canoing, water, running with my hell-hound, nature, animals, cooking, gardening, chopping wood, building, my chain-saw, anything hands-on. Laughing, laughing and laughing.

What one piece of kit could you not live without?

A piece of 216… and a camera.

Which films are you most proud of to date?

Looking For Albert.

What’s weirdest place you’ve ever shot in?

A sewer. And also a harem.

Tell us your hidden talent/party trick?

Making people laugh at my faux pas!

In the entire history of filmmaking, which film would you love to have shot?

Chungking Express What are your current top albums?

Rudimental, Ottmar Liebert, Jimmy Cliff ,Wilco, Manu Dibango.

Can you tell us your greatest extravagance?

An Alpaca stud – they are more expensive than you might think.

What’s the best thing about being a DP? The chance to study humanity through visual storytelling, and to work with teams of wonderful and interesting people along the way. The opportunity to achieve excellence through self-expression and the journey there.

What’s the worst thing about being a DP? Being told ‘No’ and to have restrictions applied when great things are within your grasp.

Give us three adjectives that best describe you and your approach to cinematography?

Vivid. Passionate. Humanitarian.

If you weren’t a DP, what job would you be doing now?

I’d be AWOL somewhere round the world. Sailing or living in a jungle. Somewhere wild.

Who are your DP/industry heroes?

Robby Müller – his passion comes through the lens and is true to the story. He’s a true cameraman – no fancy stuff.

Vittorio Storarro AIC ASC – for his understanding of simplicity and attention to detail, and his delicate but deliberate touch.

Christopher Doyle – for his sure, free and spontaneous connection from his inner-vision to celluloid.

Chris Menges - he’s God.

What are your aspirations for the future?

To work with a strong visual director on an amazing story, and to realise my internal vision.

What’s you proudest moment?

When three ARRI trucks steamed around the corner and parked up at the location of my very first shoot – all for me!

What’s the worst knock-back/rejection you ever had?

Two films I was due to shoot last summer were postponed with funding issues and another big, second unit opportunity passed on me. Three-in-one… I was bitterly disappointed until new opportunities arose.

36 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

What’s the hardest shot/thing you’ve had to light/frame?

A suicide scene in a magnolia-painted concrete room, with no windows and negligible set dressing.

Bedside light… taking care to illuminate an intimate scene on Social Suicide

PREVIEW / BSC EXPO 2016

With the UK studios full to overflowing, the BSC’s annual kit-fest is trying out a new London venue. Taking place for the first time at Battersea Evolution, the BSC Expo 2016 (January 29-30) is the premier showcase for new products and services available to the feature and TV production industry. Along with innovative kit, informative panel discussions and technical presentations, this highly-sociable event is a great opportunity to meet with friends and colleagues. And, admission is absolutely free of charge!

>>

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 39

PREVIEW / BSC EXPO 2016

Aaton Digital….

CantarX3 24-track digital audio recorder

Aaton Digital/Transvideo: CEO Jacques Delacoux and sales director Karine Fouque will be on hand to present the latest must-see products, including Aaton Digital’s CantarX3 24-track digital audio recorder for professional sound recordists on motion pictures, location shoots and orchestral recordings. (Also see Transvideo) Transvideo… Transvideo StarliteRF HD monitor

A.C. Entertainment Technologies: the company’s specialist film and TV division is showcasing a range of innovative lighting fixtures, control and grip equipment, plus ancillary consumable supplies. On display and available for demonstration are lighting fixtures from Chroma-Q, Fiilex, Mole-Richardson and Spotlight. The latest lighting control from Jands, as well as lighting support and grip equipment from Manfrotto and Avenger, are also highlights. The company is touting its capacity to manufacture cable in-house – for data (including DMX) to high-capacity power (including BAC, Powerlock, CEE-17, 19-pin) – and holds a large range of lamps, gels and other consumables.

ARRI: is showcasing its latest technologies, including the Alexa SXT, Alexa Mini and Amira cameras, all of which offer 4K recording options and unsurpassed dynamic range, making them inherently HDR-ready. Mounted to the cameras will be ARRI professional cine lenses, such as the ground-breaking Master Anamorphics with their accompanying creative Flare Sets, as well as the Ultra Wide Zoom and its anamorphic sibling, the AUWZ. Lighting fixtures from the daylight M-Series and the LED Fresnel L-Series will be on display too, alongside the revolutionary new SkyPanel LED soft light, available in two sizes with an impressive range of versatile accessories.

Transvideo…

Transvideo Starlite on an Alexa Mini

Camera Revolution: has stabilised remote heads for every occasion. On show are the sealed, compact Libra workhorse, and Libra Mini for wire and car rigs, and pretty much anything else that moves.

Watch out for the high-end Oculus long lens and Maxima hand-operated remotes. Also on the stand are a selection of dry-hire products including Alexa Mini Splashbags, new Teradek Sidekicks, and Cobham compact video transmitter packages.

Cineo Lighting: showing on LCA’s stand, the new Cineo HS2 is the next generation lamphead featuring a single piece design for increased ruggedness, as well as an improved safety switch for greater reliability. 80/20 mounting slots on the sides and back of the fixture make attaching yokes and accessories easy.

Two distinct mixing chambers Cineo Lighting… allow custom CCT mixing via new Cineo HS2 DMX. The output is identical to next-generation the legacy HS fixture, lamphead but the new power supply, the RDM450, is smaller and lighter in weight. Also showing is the Cineo Matchbox, the latest in versatile, portable remote phosphor lighting. Matchbox is 3” x 5” x 1”, and outputs a stunning amount of highquality light at a variety of accurate colour temperatures.

Cirro Lite: year Kino Flo is premiering the Select, a completely new line of LED products. These fixtures are based on the classic Kino Flo design and are coupled with the latest in LED technology, including new colour control features and builtin Lumen Radio. From Dedolight there is the new Panaura 7 with a new 2.5Kw fixture doubling the output from this very popular line of fixtures. From Matthews there are a number of new camera mount systems adding to the company’s growing line of problem-solving camera grip products.

Codex: the manufacturer of powerhouse workflows motion picture and broadcast productions, Codex is showing Codex Production Suite, supporting ARRI, Panasonic, RED, Sony and Canon cameras, which now also runs on Mac OSX as well as Codex Vault S and XL Series. Production Suite is a complete, productionproven toolset for colour management, dailies and archiving, featuring Vault Platform, Vault Review and Codex Live. From camera into post and beyond, the company credit list speaks for itself.

Plus Codex is showing Codex Backbone – an integrated, endto-end information pipeline – that simplifies processes such as VFX pulls, returns control to production and saves time and money.

Cooke Optics: is presenting the first-ever showing of the new 135mm Anamorphic/i lens at BSC Expo 2016, together with the 65mm Macro Anamorphic/i prime lens, which was launched at IBC 2015.

Alongside this, Cooke is also hosting on its stand the 5/i, Anamorphic/i, S4/i and miniS4/i lens ranges. The latest Cooke Anamorphics have a T2.3 aperture, linear iris, are colour matched with all other Cooke prime lenses and equipped with intelligent /i Technology.

Camera Revolution remote head in acti … on

DMG Lumiere: the French LED manufacturer is back again with the SL1 Switch, a super-thin & lightweight LED fixture. The company is also showing for the first time in the UK its Mini Switch, which is exactly half the size/weight of the SL1. Lights from DMG stand out with their outstanding power/size/weight ratio and topof-the-range CRI, and have enjoyed success in continental Europe and North America.

Chat with brothers Nils, Mathieu and Jean, founders of this young and innovative company from Lyon.

Iride: is presenting a brand-new approach to basic, overhead lighting, with 26kw and 40kw lights, with the power unit encased in a geodetic structure, that can be attached to the bottom of a cherry picker, or other on- and near-set devices and structures. Weighing in at 180kg, the lights are designed to withstand wind up to 40mph. Sections can be separated with different bulbs – such as Par 64, flood, medium flood, spot – to accommodate the specific needs of the shoot with a broad variety of diffusions and colour temperatures.

The lights can travel ready-assembled and can be mounted quickly, directly from their tough flight cases.

Iride… brand-new overhead lighting with the power unit encased in a geodetic structure

PREVIEW / BSC EXPO 2016

Codex… new Production Suite on Mac

K5600 Lighting: showing on LCA’s stand, K5600 has always believed in being close to end-users and participating in exhibitions to understand the constraints and pressures of today’s production environment. The Joker Bug range and new Alpha 800W were born from this approach. Thanks to the new 90° socket adapter on the Alpha 800, the bulb moves from vertical, for Fresnel and openeye functionality, to horizontal, where it becomes a Par or a lensless focusable unit. No tools are necessary; the change between 3200K or 5600K discharge lamps is done with a twist. Coming soon, the Alpha 800+ will be followed by new 1600, 4K and 9K lamps.

LCA – Lights, Camera, Action: is a renowned supplier of film/TV lighting and grip kit, and its capacity to provide a variety of products from traditional fresnels to the latest in LED lighting continues to grow.

New and exciting innovations include the Cineo HS2, new dimmers from LiteGear, the Matrix LED Module, K5600’s Alpha 800, MantraLite from LSC Lighting, LiteMats from LiteGear, Cineo’s Matchbox and Maverick, and the bicolour Versatile.

LEE Filters: is exhibiting its new range of Zircon lighting filters. These new longer-life filters are designed specifically for LED lighting and are available in a range of warm-ups, diffusions and minus greens. Also on show are the extensive range of LEE lighting filters, including colour effects, technical and diffusion filters. Drop by the stand to pick up the latest copy of LEE’s famous yellow swatch book, or the popular cinematographer swatch book, which contain all the technical filters most frequently used in moviemaking.

LiteGear: has been working on expanding its LiteDimmer range and created a selection of straightforward, yet Matrix Modules: is introducing high-end LED colour powerful new products. LiteDimmer Micro Single is a modules for film, TV and broadcast. Dimmable, flickersimple, budget-friendly, lightweight, one-channel LED free and with the option to be controlled wirelessly via dimmer that is flicker-free and capable of four amps a Lumen Radio chip, the Matrix LED Module allows you of LiteRibbon or a LiteMat 1 fixture. It provides to create any shape, size or length. The matrix Module smooth dimming action and includes a is available in: a five-colour module of red, green, unique fade ON/OFF feature for blue, warm white, cool white; two bi-colour sensitive set-ups. LiteDimmer module; and a spacer module with no LEDs Micro Single EFX Fire and but with a power-through option. The Paparazzi are two of white lights have been TLCI tested and LiteGears’ handheld LED scored 92-97. Each module weighs effects dimmers. The ultra only 126g, measures 160mm x 40mm, lightweight, mains or batteryand has a power consumption of powered LED LiteMat is suitable 2.5w per colour and 12W per module. to light almost any area on-set or Showing on LCA’s stand. location. Available in Daylight, Tungsten or Hybrid, the LiteMat LiteGear… has created a Miller Camera Support: is comes in four sizes (1x2, selection of straightforward, showcasing the Cineline 2090 2x2, 1x4, 4x2), is fullyyet powerful dimmer products Tripod System and Arrow Series dimmable and is available with of fluid heads. With these products Miller aims to three different diffusers. There will also be an provide a solution for a variety of applications from opportunity to check out the popular LiteRibbon documentary to major features. The Cineline 2090 is with 24 different variations on display. Showing on a complete tripod system that includes LCA’s stand. an HD Mitchell Base 1-Stage LSC Lighting: has Alloy Tripod and designed the Mantra, Miller… John HD Alloy Ground Colthorpe an affordable, shotoing with a Spreader to entry-level, lighting Miller tripod complement the console that takes robust Cineline away the learning 70 Fluid Head. curve required to This system operate complex provides cinemalighting fixtures. tographers Mantra can control with must-have virtually any type stability, plus of fixture including smooth and LEDs and moving consistent pans lights. The majority and tilts, whilst of the templates offering additional of branded fixtures portability – all are all accessible at an aggressive from the onprice point. The board library. You Arrow Series can even create was designed your own on the specifically to console quickly support a variety and easily with the of location film built-in Fixture applications as well Template Wizard. as several different The Mantra has a camera models, from custom-designed, smaller camcorders App-driven, all the way up to user-interface more involved that offers a documentary colourful, simple -style rigs. and intuitive programming experience.

Showing on LCA’s stand.

>>

LEE Filters… showing its new range of Zircon LED lighting filters

PREVIEW / BSC EXPO 2016

Mo-Sys Engineering: the London-based manufacturer of high-precision camera support systems has sold over 20 systems in Hollywood, used on blockbusters such as Gravity, Life Of Pi and Birdman. The company is bringing to the show its new-generation, two-axis L40 remote head for high-end cinematography applications, that can handle big lenses, such as the Optimo 12:1, with zero backlash, lag-free operation and a payload of up to 40kg. It’s already proven popular in the USA, Canada and France.

Watch out too for the G50 three-axis, gyro-stabilised, remote head for telescopic cranes, as used on the opening scenes of SPECTRE, featuring a crisp and sharp response on payloads of up to 50kg.

Motion Impossible: makes remote camera platforms for TV, features and VR applications. BuggyCam is its modular platform that takes professional gimbals, including DJI Ronin and Freefly MoVI. It moves smoothly like a dolly and can also drive at up to speeds of 30mph. BuggyCam comes with a vertical axis stabiliser, called the V-Con, which smoothes out movement on uneven terrain. You can remove the V-Con to attach other accessories, such as the adjustable Hi-Riser, allowing you to lift the camera up to eye level, or the new V-Con XL, which gives you stability at an adjustable height.

Motion Impossible… modular BuggyCam remote camera platform

Movietech: the Pinewood-based camera, lens and grip specialist is in residence at this year’s show to introduce a selection of exciting additions to its product range.

Among the exhibits are the Leica Summilux-C super-fast lenses with their highly-accurate images and unmatched flat field illumination. Also on show is Movietech’s range of ultra HD, 4K Fujinon cine lenses, designed to deliver optimum optical performance and provide cinematographers with the best-possible image capture experience. The company’s inhouse product development team will be presenting the brand new Movietech Dual Viewfinder, built to work with both spherical and Anamorphic lens systems.

Members of the rental, technical and engineering departments will be on-hand throughout the show.

Ovide: the new Smart Assist 4 lets you work with four 2K cameras, or with one 4K camera. The capacitive touchscreen now comes in matte, to avoid reflections, was well as sunlight-viewable, 42 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Ovide… the new Smart Assist 4 lets you work with up to four 2K cameras

Mo-Sys… G50 threeaxis, gyro-stabilised, remote head

camcorder, with integrated zoom lens, that includes many top-end features, and is aimed at independent filmmakers, documentary production and event videography. Alongside the flagship professional camcorders, new updates to production tools and future innovations in product development will demonstrate Panasonic’s ability to support the film and TV production industry.

and SMA connectors let you choose the antenna that best suits your location. Four inputs let you record with up to four (2K) cameras simultaneously or link up to 128 cameras for super single shots, whilst 12 SDI outputs with small displays tell you what every output is. Smart Assist 4 is equipped with hot-swap, and an internal UPS system that will let you run the system for two minutes without any power source PAG: this global provider of portable power solutions for digital cinematography and video production, will show its new L90 Slim battery, designed for use with the ARRI Alexa Mini and similar cameras. The lightweight, low-profile battery is especially suited to gimbal or drone-mounted applications. The L90 Slim has the highest energy density of any 90Wh V-Mount LiIon battery brought to market. Visitors can also see the PAGlink system of high-power, intelligentlinking batteries, available in V-Mount and Gold Mount formats.

The PAGlink system allows PAG… L90 Slim battery battery linking in is designed for use with the ARRI Alexa Mini and series or parallel similar cameras to provide extra power for cameras and 30V lighting.

Panasonic: on show at this year’s expo is the VariCam 35.

Recently used to capture the popular Doctor Foster series for the BBC, the VariCam 35 is designed to create emotion via its 14+ stops of dynamic range, renowned colour reproduction and 4K resolution, supporting the well-known Varicam look.

Panasonic is also displaying the Varicam HS – the additional modular front-end that comes with a 2/3” 3MOS sensor and bayonet lens mount, whilst also enabling continuous 240fps recording, in-camera colour grading and dual-codec recording. Check out the AG-DVX200 – the world’s first 4/3” large format 4K

Polecam Systems: Polecam’s attraction has always been a combination of portability, the speed of rig/derig and the addition of production value without hassle. Polecam achieves crane shots where no other rig can go and gets the viewer right in the action.

Showing on the Panasonic stand is the latest Long Head Polecam rig, fitted with the new Panasonic VariCam HS, demonstrated by Polecam’s creator Steffan Hewitt. The modular design of the Long Head Polecam allows the camera to be split from the recorder, via the use of the 5m extension cable, so that the camera head can be mounted at the top of the rig and the recorder at the rear.

Polecam.. Panasonic’s new VariCam HS will be mounted on a Polecam at the show

Powergems: the company manufactures a complete range of high-speed 1,000Hz HMI ballasts for location lighting, with all units designed and built at its headquarters in Manchester. The modular design is said to offer the end-user greater reliability and performance than traditional ballasts. DMX remote control, 300Hz and 1,000Hz frequency modes, combined with multi-wattage outputs for each ballast unit, have made these products the ballast-ofchoice for many lighting rental companies and studios around the world.

Preston Cinema Systems: the Light Ranger 2 is a key feature at the Preston stand. The LR2 meets the critical focus demands of the highest-performance lenses and cameras. Its exclusive technology provides focus information simultaneously in 16 zones across the frame. In manual Preston… Light mode, the Ranger 2 meets the critical graphics overlay focus demands displays both of highthe amount and performance direction of focus lenses and cameras pull required to bring the subject within the depthof-field for each of the 16 zones.

Shots from cranes, camera cars, Steadicam rigs all

PREVIEW / BSC EXPO 2016

Panasonic… VariCam 35, as used on BBC Doctor Foster.

Photo by Liam Daniel/ copyright Drama Republic Ltd.

Tiffen… is show its best Steadicaing-off ever – the new m rig M-1

make special demands on focus, and the LR2 autofocus mode makes impossible focus pulls routine.

Prokit: despite moving the business from Chiswick to larger premises in Kendal Avenue, Acton, the weekend before this year’s Expo, Prokit, has made it to the showfloor. A proud patron of the BSC, and being a major Canon Pro Partner, it is showing-off the much-acclaimed C300 MkII. Remote phosphor lighting specialist BB&S is displaying its new Pipeline range, as well as the popular Area 48 and Flyer. Also distributed

by Prokit are SchneiderKreuznach Cine Xenar III primes, Lowel, Chimera, Kobold, Orca Prokit… showing Bags, Wally Dolly, Canon C300 MkII Zylight, Nila and Defy camera plus BB&S Pipeline lights gimbals.

Sony: “The F65 rendered everything the way my eye saw it. The images had soul,” says Rob Hardy BSC, cinematographer on Ex Machina. DPs will have the opportunity to experience the acclaimed CineAlta Digital Motion Picture Cameras for themselves, including v7 firmware for the Sony F55. Explore the latest developments in 4K and High Dynamic Range (HDR), and the courses at Sony’s Digital Motion Picture Centre, in Pinewood. CineAlta cameras are a popular choice for features, such as the Cannes Palme d’Or 2015 winner Dheepan and Woody Allen’s latest movie, plus Netflix and Amazon, with TV dramas including Marco Polo, Blacklist, Sense 8 and the recent Golden Globe winner Mozart In The Jungle.

Sony… Woody Allen with Vittorio Storaro and mighty F65 camera

Tiffen International: Terry Carey, Robin Thwaites, Danny Hallett, Eren Ibraham and Kevan Parker will all be on duty. See the new, top-of-the-range Steadicam M-1, with outstanding modular design and quick-and-easy set-up. Released a few months ago, 35 M-1s have been sold so far, with pro users reported to be loving them. See the M-1 rigged with the G-70x arm and Exovest, an unbeatable combination for motion pictures, studio, drama, location and sports work.

Tiffen filter products on show include three new diffusion filters – Blk SFX, Blk Glimmer Glass, Blk Pearlescent – plus the new Multi Rota Tray, and a new range of IRND combos. See Lowel’s new Pro Power LED for run-and-gun location lighting, offering powerful output from a wide focus fresnel lens, and enabling lighting from greater distance. Lowel’s new Prime Location, with high CRI Daylight or Tungsten output, is the company’s most rugged LED system yet, with an all-metal construction and IP-65 weather rating.

Transvideo/Aaton Digital: the Transvideo StarliteRF is a 5” 3G-SDI OLED wireless monitor/recorder with in-built wireless receiver. The lightweight unit offers low-loss, wireless video connectivity with no delay and a 200m range, making it perfect for directors, assistant directors, focus pullers, DPs and drone monitoring. It can record dailies in H264 too. The Transvideo StargateFHD is a new-generation, high-end monitor/ recorder, with 3G, HD/SD, 1920 x 1080 full HD display and bright screen luminance, plus 4K compatibility.

Fast path-processing with ‘immediate display’ means there is no latency.

Transvideo CineMultiTrack is the new focus puller’s assistant, providing precise and instantaneous measurements to the operator, including information on up to three targets, adjustable transitions, and communications with LCS CineTape interface for in-front of camera measuring. (See also under Aaton Digital)

Versatile: LCA is representing the bi-colour Versatile.

This edge-lit, LED light tile produces an extremely soft light, and has a flicker-free dimming arc. The light is 600x600mm and just 17mm thick, can easily replace ceiling tiles on location, and has numerous mounting options including barrel clamps, spigot bracket and corner hanging points. With a light output of 1500 lux at 1 metre, the Versatile shows no shift in CCT when dimmed, and it has a fast response to allow flicker or lighting effects. A four-way mains controller can operate the Versatile with local and DMX control or by single mains battery controller.

Visual Impact: as a leading supplier of broadcast equipment to the production community, offering a comprehensive range of the latest 4K cameras, lenses and accessories for sale or rental. To demonstrate its diverse product offering it is showing a selection of fully-rigged equipment including: Sony PMW-F55 with Canon CN7x17 lens; ARRI ALEXA Mini with Canon CN20x50 lens; and Sony PXW-FS5 with DJI Ronin rig. Visual Impact has supplied a number of TV shows including The Great British Bake Off and Strictly Come Dancing. If you want to discuss your next production, go to their stand for a chat.

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 43

PREVIEW / BSC EXPO 2016

BSC EXPO 2016 FLOOR PLAN

For a full programme and panel lists please check www.bscexpo.com 44 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 45

POST-IT NOTES / CINELAB LONDON

AFFORDABLE FILM Adrian Bull, founder and MD of Cinelab London, reveals how shooting on celluloid can easily stack-up favourably versus digital on a producer’s spreadsheet.

W

hen we established Cinelab London back in June 2013, it certainly wasn’t with the expectation that we would reverse the trend of what seemed like an inevitable transition of filmmaking from celluloid to digital. Indeed, we believed that there were, at most, two years left of film acquisition – and even less for print distribution.

So, our short term plan was to provide an allencompassing facility for those filmmakers who were continuing to shoot film, whilst at the same time developing a compelling solution for archiving – with the intention that this would then become the long term focus of the business.

What has come as a complete surprise (and delight) to me is that, two and half years down the line, we continue to service an ever-growing number of new film projects, and actually expect to process more film in 2016 than we did in 2015. This is largely attributable to an increasing number of clients becoming aware of: a) the existence, and b) the reputation of Cinelab – not just in the UK, but internationally too, as labs across the globe continue to close. As a result, in the last six months of 2015 we processed film from as far afield as Indonesia, Ukraine, South Africa, Nigeria, Canada, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway and Finland. Additionally, UKbased projects recently shooting in India, Malta, Belfast and Colombia have been reliably air-freighting their film into Heathrow on a daily basis for us to process (we regularly receive film within an hour of a flight landing).

This level of international work was certainly not something we anticipated. In the local market, time and time again, we hear that cost is the big challenge for ‘reel’ filmmakers. In 2014 we suffered repeatedly from projects that started out wanting to shoot film but ended up having to switch to digital due to budget constraints.

So, for productions to shoot on film internationally and then to send the rushes back to the UK for processing is somewhat unexpected, as many would imagine the cost of this to be prohibitive.

And yet, for the large part, these films are not big budget features. What they all have in common however, is a disciplined, committed and passionate production team with the experience to ensure their desired result.

Essentially, it all comes down to efficient planning and tight control on shooting ratios – the key to shooting on film.

A case in point – and a perfect example of successful budget filmmaking – is a film shot earlier in the year by Rob Tregenza, a North American director/ cinematographer. When Rob first got in touch with us, he wanted a quote for 24,000ft of processing and telecine for his feature, Gavagai, which he was shooting

Cost-effective… movies such as The Hand Of The Creator and Gavagai reveal how the finances for celluloid can become highly-attractive

in Norway. Our immediate response to his enquiry was to question his calculations! But clearly you can shoot a full-length feature, 35mm-4perf anamorphic with a little over 2:1 shooting ratio, in just three weeks, as Rob subsequently proved, using just 22,000 ft. With takes typically lasting between five and ten minutes, there was without doubt an incredible amount of very careful planning and rehearsal, and in most cases there really was only one take. Every inch of film mattered. The whole process: getting film to Norway; shooting; air-freighting the rushes back to the UK; processing and telecine, all needed to be flawless – and it was. Once the off-line was complete, we scanned a little over 20 shots using the ARRIscan at 4K. The final conform and grade then took place back at Storyline in Norway. The results were visually stunning – the highest quality production values attainable on a budget. By no means the outcome of bargain basement deals nor cutting corners, but rather a culmination of good planning and very careful control of the shooting ratio.

Take also the example of Brazilian writer/director Odilon Rocha’s The Hand Of The Creator – currently in production shooting on S16mm black and white.

This is a film within a film: a collage of diverse genres (melodrama, satire, suspense) brought together under the impressionistic light of film noir. It tells the story of a powerful producer who contracts an unknown actress to seduce and inspire a troubled film director.

Rocha says, “If I were a painter, my medium would be oil paint, not acrylic. Similarly, as a filmmaker, my choice has always been celluloid. I will always be in love with the magical grain that Super 16mm delivers; my work is pure fiction, the characters and their stories only exist on the screen, and the black and white stock used for The Hand of the Creator is responsible for a classical look.”

Clare Cahill, the film’s producer, initially dismissed the option for film, believing they couldn’t make it work within the modest budget.

However, during our discussions, it became clear that film could be possible as long as the production could keep to a strict shooting ratio. Being able to offer stock, processing, telecine, scanning made it easier for us to guarantee the price and quality of a film solution, providing the director and DP could control the shooting ratio.

As film cameras are much cheaper to rent than digital, particularly when adding in the cost of DITs and data management, then film actually becomes a financiallyattractive and viable alternative (our recent comparisons show that a two-camera 35mm, 3-perf project shooting 12:1 compares favourably to a 2K Alexa budget).

Yet perhaps the most significant change in interest in shooting film has come from the requirement for 4K delivery.

Even 50-year-old archive negatives can demonstrate inherent 4K resolution, so 35mm film as an acquisition format is an easy and cost-effective choice.

The post production workflow remains simple, with the only additional cost being the final stage of a 4K scan, conform and grade. When compared with the complexity of shooting digital 4K – whilst trying to retain and manage the high volume of data throughout a production – film is actually pretty straightforward.

Of course, it would be unwise to make further predictions on how long film will continue as an acquisition format. However, I can say with confidence that film will always be an aspirational format and that, for those that continue to use it, film will provide them with the comfort of knowing that the legacy of their high-resolution images will remain for hundreds of years to come.

Gavagai

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 47

CLOSE-UP / JOHN PARDUE / STAN LEE’S LUCKY MAN

Bonnet mount… on a speed boat with just enough light from the smallest LEDs on the actor, with rim light provided by the ambience of local street lights

Cinematographer John Pardue wrote in with details of how he used the new Sony A7s camera to capture an exciting nighttime action sequence as part of his work on the first two episodes of Stan Lee’s Lucky Man for Sky One.

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irector Andy De Emmony and myself were tasked with creating a strong, visually striking “look” for the new crime thriller series. Lucky Man is the story of DI Harry Clayton (James Nesbitt) who is given a bracelet by a mysterious woman (Sienna Guillory) that allows him to control luck. This gift comes at a price, but Harry seizes the opportunity to pay off a huge gambling debt to an underworld crime boss.

The chance to do large-scale action on British TV appealed enormously to Andy, and one of the biggest challenges was a nighttime boat chase along The Thames. Unlike 007 James Bond SPECTRE, we didn’t have a huge budget to light up the river; plus we only had four nights and one tank day to shoot the whole sequence.

The sequence went like this: our hero, Harry (the Lucky Man) jumps into a speedboat to chase an armed assailant. After a one-sided dog-fight along The Thames, he finally corners his quarry in a tributary. However, the other boat charges forcing Harry to take evasive action.

Harry’s boat hits a jetty and launches skywards. Luckily, Harry is thrown free from the boat, although his colleague is dragged down to the river bottom.

Shooting this sequence at night on a very tight budget was going to be a challenge. There is good ambient night-light west of Tower Bridge, but we only had a permit to shoot on the east, which is much darker. Andy remembered seeing a test of the Sony A7s shooting in natural moonlight and suggested we try it.

The sensor is incredibly fast, shooting up to 500,000 ISO, 48 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Under the influence…

Wong Kai Wai’s In the Mood for Love was a key reference

and in the end the A7s gave us shots that I thought were impossible to achieve. We photographed, with relatively noise-free detail, shots at night that appear to the eye completely black. It is hard to imagine how fantastic this looks until you see it.

We also used the Sony A7S camera test on The Thames as a starting point for establishing the overall look of the show, which was mostly shot using the Alexa XT. The colour space of the Sony A7s is interesting, with some colours coming out stronger than others. At times it seems like the missing colour hues give it a strange reversal film-stock feel. The slightly skewed colours moved the look of the show into something a little tougher. Some of the night blues emanating from fluorescents have a cyan quality, and the warm streetlights have a tobacco colour as opposed to the normal heavy orange.

We built on this colour range and tried to carry it through with the Alexa material where we could. The “look” of Lucky Man’s London ended up on the cool side as the Sony night tests looked more interesting with a cooler colour temperature. Other environments, such as the Casino and Chinatown interiors, we aimed to look more like Wong Kar Wai’s In The Mood For Love. All this blended together creating a great look for the show. The final grade was completed by Sonny Sheridan at the Farm, and much of the look created in these early tests were carried over by him as a starting point for the final finished product. An overall ‘style LUT’ was created by Mission Digital’s DIT, Tom Rogers. We used this for visual continuity on-set

Drone shot.. in almost pitc again using the new Son h black, y camera

We tested the Sony A7S alongside the Alexa.

As the bulk of the show was shot on the latter, we had to try and work out a good ISO for the Sony A7s boat sequence material. We then took the test down to colourist Asa Shoul at Molinare and see if we could find enough common ground between the cameras so it felt like a single style. Marine coordinator Chris Livett took us to dark areas around Deptford Creek where much of the chase was to take place. It was here that we did most of the comparisons between the Alexa and Sony A7s. We compared the Sony and the Alexa at 3200 ISO on both cameras (the maximum ISO for the Alexa).

Even at that rating, the Sony sees more in the dark with less noise. We would eventually shoot all The Thames chase footage with the Sony at a staggering 32,000 ISO and only use the Alexa and Amira as back-up cameras.

Exposing for the Sony A7s was a case of over-exposing a couple of stops to get rid of all the noise at the high ISOs: using the internal light meter along with trial and error seemed the best way to do it.

Our tests on The Thames also involved trying out ways of fixing the camera to the front of the boat for the shots looking back at James Nesbitt when in hot pursuit of the assailant’s boat. Grip Luke Stone and operator Roger Tooley worked on various stabilised rigs, but in the end it was a case of a simple car rig. We were worried that the Sony would not be robust enough to take the hits of a full speed chase along the Thames.

We also tested ways of lighting the actors so they would standout a bit on the boats. We lit the actors’ faces with gaffer Gary Chaisty’s smallest LEDs from his NesLed kit. The lights were dimmed so low they appeared to be turned off – but at 32,000 ISO we enter a world of exposure that is completely off the scale.

We used an Atmos Shogun 4K recorder bolted onto the top of the Sony, which was essential in getting the Sony to match the quality of the Alexa, even if the

Sea legs… DP John Pardue brandishes an Alexa for the exctiting boat chase sequence

eloped Cool new look… devMan by ky for Stan Lee’s Luc John Pardue

addition of the Shogun made the Sony system a little cumbersome. HDMI cable length was an issue and the Shogun was unhappy with long HDMI cables, and so it had to be mounted on or next to the Sony camera. The screen is 1920 x 1200 to allow for onscreen information and touch control. It has 4K HDMI and 12G-SDI inputs and can record UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, and 30p, as well as gull HD (1920 x 1080) up to 120 fps. (It is worth mentioning that Sony has since brought out the Sony A7sII which records 4K internally: amazing for such a small camera.)

The A7s package was initially supplied by Shoot Blue who were very helpful when we did the tests. The Alexa package for the shoot came from Take 2 and they decided to buy a couple of Sony A7s cameras for the job and add these to the package for the whole shoot.

ACs Peter ‘Skip’ Howard GBCT and Gabriel Hyman GBCT spent quite a while building the camera into a workable package. Unsurprisingly it was clear that PL lenses don’t all cover the A7s’s sensor, which is larger than S35, but for ease of use an Optimo 15-40 gave us flexibility of framing on the boat.

Using the whole rig on a bonnet mount on the choppy water of The Thames did subject the whole lot to a physical workout and the battery was prone to falling out if not secured. To its credit, Sony has well and truly

moved away from the menus of old and information is clear, although spread about. It is all too easy to bump the sensitive manual settings dials so we learned to keep a constant watch over camera settings.

The Sony A7s is a good example of how technology designed for non-professional use has moved ahead of that of professional in terms of performance, and there were resulting drawbacks. The camera is a DSLR and is clearly a stills camera at heart as the settings for video are integrated within the larger scope of the stills shooting menus. Shooting a flat response curve required knowledge of Picture Profile (PP7) to use Sony’s S-Log2 curve.

When we came to the actual shoot, we doubled up the whole Thames shoot with the Sony and the Alexa as a belt and braces exercise. The Alexa was set at its maximum 3200 ISO and considerable noise reduction was used later in any shots that we used. The Sony’s clean capture at the higher rating of 32,000 ISO displayed the magic of The Thames at night like no one had seen it before. Roger Tooley shot everything on the Sony A7s as an A-camera and everything was covered lens for lens on the Alexa as a back up B-camera. We had a whole section of the river to mess about in, and for me, standing on the front of a rib boat with an Alexa on the shoulder going flat out at 35 knots chasing a

boat firing blanks at us in the middle of The Thames at night was a lot of fun.

The Sony seemed to clip or cap the highlights, whilst allowing the context of the light to be visible.

Rather than rows of pin lights in the darkness, we could see the surfaces illuminated by these lights: the building, skyline and the water all came alive. It gave an almost perpetual dusk feel, all night.

Such is the speed that new technology is taken up, the Sony A7s and A7sII are now being used on many other productions. Although it enable amazing night photography there is also the problem of there being too much light. In a city, light pollution can affect some scenarios: it becomes a problem trying to shoot a dark street and a brightly lit shop; the shop is completely blown out.

On The Thames, it worked well as there is a lot of inherent contrast: the smaller lights in the distance blow out while the darker reflections of the water are much brighter, and so the natural contrast of The Thames creates a fabulous look. The sky lights up so much at night it would be great to try and create permanent twilight with this camera which would look surreal with all the stars popping through the blue sky. I’m sure someone is already doing this.

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 49

CLOSE-UP / CHRISTIAN BERGER AAC / BY THE SEA / BY ADRIAN PENNINGTON

MAKING LIGHT WORK

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hristian Berger AAC, the ASC Award-winner and Academy and BSC nominee for The White Ribbon (2009), is renowned for his use of natural light, although the acclaimed cinematographer wants to correct this slight misconception.

“I don’t use natural light,” he says. “I create a light which looks very natural because, for me, there is no light more beautiful and richer in atmospheres than natural light in all its variations. But it’s a nice compliment if people think there was no other lighting used. I think I do just the same as what all the famous painters did in the past. I observe very, very precisely the quality and the ‘behaviour’ of natural light and use it to realise my artistic visions.”

By The Sea will further cement the Austrian’s reputation. This third directorial work from Angelina PittJolie, in which the actor stars alongside Brad Pitt, is inspired

by European cinema and theatre of the 1960s and 1970s in both its style and treatment of themes of the human experience. Set in France during the mid-1970s, Vanessa, a former dancer, and her husband Roland, an American writer, travel the country together. They seem to be growing apart, but when they linger in one quiet, seaside town they begin to draw close to some of its more vibrant inhabitants, such as a local bar/café-keeper and a hotel owner.

Pitt-Jolie actively sought-out Berger for the movie because of his cinematographic philosophy.

“When I asked them ‘why me?’, Brad said that they’d found an interview with me on YouTube (A River Of Light) in which I discuss my views on lighting for film,” says Berger.

“It made them curious because I mention how important it is for me to have a different working method on-set – one which favours actors and gives directors more freedom by minimising technical restrictions.”

Berger’s Cine Reflect Lighting System (CRLS), first employed on Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher (2001), changes the working method by offering a set uncluttered with cables, stands or filters. Pitt-Jolie was attracted to the freedom this would give her to tell the intimate story of a married couple’s fragmenting relationship.

Christian Berger AAC

50 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Perhaps Berger’s European heritage also inspired the director’s intention to capture the spirit of the period in the south of France. “Reproducing the feel of that time was essential, which is how we came to reference the Nouvelle Vague and directors Jean-Luc Godard, Ingmar Bergman and Roberto Rossellini,” says Berger. “This was a general reference – not related to a specific film – but one intended to capture a mix of humour and melancholia or tristesse.”

From first contact with the filmmakers in April 2014, Berger went to LA to discuss visual ideas and block scenes.

Art director Tom Brown and Jon Hutman scouted locations in Greece, Croatia, Italy and Turkey before alighting on the Maltese island of Gozo. Principal photography began mid-August until November 2014 in an empty bay where production designer Jon Hutman had built a hotel and a café. This mix of studio and on-location conditions resulted in many challenging light situations.

“It was very important in the production design to be connected to nature so that from any window or balcony in the hotel or café you can see the sea and rocks,” Berger explains. “I loved the horizontal structure in the nature that surrounded us, like the sea horizon or the coast structure, which was one of the reasons for shooting in Cinemascope.”

It was not only hot in Malta, but most of the time the production had to work with quite harsh sunlight too. Gaffer Jakob Ballinger created a unique rig for the CRLS mounted on the ‘hotel’ roof that allowed Berger to quickly change and stabilise the required atmospheres from day-to-night and from night-to-day. The CRLS uses a 1200W HMI lamp with parallel light beams and very high output, calibrated as near as possible to the quality of daylight, and a set of high-tech CRLS reflectors to modulate and direct the light. The smaller units are typically 400W HMI or halogen Dedolights but adapted for the CRLS.

“Even on a rainy day, we could keep the ‘sun’ stable or could change very fast from early morning to late afternoon or to any desired atmosphere,” explains Berger. “And we could always maintain a free view of the sea or the rocky hills through the windows of the set.

The most challenging situations were when we had to make night shots over the whole bay including the hotel and café.”

Other scenes included landscapes and scenes of a beach, one scene on a sailing boat, which required some dextrous work with a Russian Arm from a working boat.

For an artist with such a clear affinity with the treatment of light, Berger’s choice of digital is intriguing. He says, though, that he is not ideologically aligned to any media.

“For me it’s never fundamentally a question of grain or pixel. I am not swayed either way. My first experience with video (on Caché/ Hidden, 2005) was not a good one, but in the last three films working with ARRI Alexa it has been good. Angelina gave me the freedom to choose and I chose the Alexa XT Plus, rated at 800 ASA. A sensitivity which is more than enough for me and you can really use the 13-stops of dynamic range.”

Accompanying the Alexa, Berger selected ARRI/Zeiss Master Primes and a 45-250mm Fujinon Alura zoom.

“I really have to compliment not only my crew, but also the production crew I had on By The Sea because they were so good and efficient,”

adds Berger, who credits camera operator, Gerald Helf; second camera and steadicam operator, Robert Stopfer; focus puller, Dieter Knestel; and dolly/key grip, Emmanuel Aubry. Berger oversaw the grade at EFilm in LA with experienced colourist Mitch Paulson.

Jolie-Pitt, he says, didn’t require a lot of coverage; most scenes were shot single with occasional two cameras. “Her direction on this movie was concentrated more on shots to vary the acting,” says Berger. Pitt has been quoted saying that he felt comfortable expressing the scenes this way because of a set unencumbered by distracting technical paraphernalia.

“Brad loved to make variations so he’d play a whole scene more aggressively, or more tenderly or with more or less distance,” says Berger. “It was great to see how they responded to the liberation of a free set. We probably shot enough that in the edit you could create two to three different films.”

Of the finished picture Berger says, “I always like to make any film better if I see it for the first time in the cinema, but my hope is that I could serve the style of the picture which the director wanted and at the same time keep my own signature.”

Of note: Jakob Ballinger has launched a website for directors of photography and gaffers to educate and involve them with the further development of the CRLS – www.thelightbridge.com.

ON THE JOB / ANTHONY DOD MANTLE DFF BSC ASC / IN THE HEART OF THE SEA

GONE FISHIN’

In 1820, the crewmen of New England whaling ship Essex faced a harrowing battle for survival when a whale of titanic size and strength attacked with force, sinking their vessel and leaving them adrift on the ocean thousands of miles from dry land. Pushed to their limits and facing ferocious storms, starvation, panic and despair, the wretched survivors resorted to the unthinkable act of cannibalism in their bid to stay alive.

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heir incredible tale proved the catalyst for author Herman Melville to write the outstanding work of the American Renaissance, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (1851), and was also the inspiration for Ron Howard’s $100m production In The Heart Of The Sea. Based around Nathaniel Philbrick’s 2000 non-fiction book of the same name, and written by Charles Leavitt, the motion picture stars Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy and Tom Holland as the crew of the Essex, with Ben Whishaw cast as Melville and Brendan Gleeson playing Thomas Nickerson the last survivor of the haunting story, who was a callow youth at the time of the fateful voyage.

In charge of shooting the movie was cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC, who teamed-up again with Howard following their successful, collaborative outing on F1 racing drama Rush (2013). Dod Mantle’s work on In The Heart Of The Sea has been widely lauded, with critics variously praising his “gorgeous painterly visuals” and “dramatic Turner-esque palette”.

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British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 51

ON THE JOB / ANTHONY DOD MANTLE DFF BSC ASC / IN THE HEART OF THE SEA

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Along with the getting chance to work with Howard again, Dod Mantle says he was attracted by the opportunity to author images for a new version of Moby Dick for the 21st century, and by the allegorical parallels to Howard’s Apollo 13 (1995).

“I feel a brotherly love for Ron,” says Dod Mantle.

“Considering his status in Hollywood’s firmament, he’s a lovely man, so grounded, with a charming disposition and a joy to work with. Whilst John Huston’s original Moby Dick (1956) movie has wonderfully theatrical and epic moments, it is somewhat dated now. Ron wanted authenticity, but didn’t want to approach it as a classic. He wanted to approach it as though a modern group was somehow transported back and able to capture what went on.

“Its a story of exploration and survival, and amongst all the action and adventure, it’s also an allegory – about man venturing away from his natural domain, into a habitat belonging to something other than mankind, and what can happen when humans are no longer in control of the situation. For me the aesthetic of the sea and the whale’s habitat were crucially important to the texture and soul of the production.”

Principal photography on In The Heart Of The Sea began in September 2013 in London and on multiple stages at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Hertfordshire, wrapping mid-November. The production then switched to the island of La Gomera, in the Canary Islands, for seven weeks of off-shore boat-to-boat work, and some location shooting in Lanzarote.

At Leavesden some scenes were planned around built sets, such as Nantucket harbour, with others mounted on stages within interior tanks surrounded by giant bluescreens. A model of the Essex was built and mounted on a gimbal to mimic the pitch of the ship in both placid and cataclysmic weather conditions. To get the right effect for the storm scenes up to 500 gallons of icy water would be dumped from cannons, deluging not just the cast but the cinematographer too.

52 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

“To tell the story we knew we would need Technocranes on the boats, a massive underwater unit, plus a flying unit to relate the visual dialogue between the Essex, the rowing boats and the whale from above,” he says. “Shooting, controlling and matching scenes shot day and night, in exterior and interior tanks, as well as on the real sea with changing light and weather conditions – across first, second and third units – is a big ask for any cinematographer, and even more so when you’re operating. Which is probably why many ocean-bound movies end-up being done entirely in the studio, and also end-up looking overly crisp and pictorial. But we didn’t want to do it that way.”

Given the complexity of production, and to help mitigate the variables in footage coming form the various marine, flying and underwater units, Dod Mantle participated from very early-on in “methodology” meetings. Here, the director and key heads of department, “would literally move cardboard boats around on charts for hours-on-end. We would consider the tides, the height of the sun, and work out how and

when to shoot, thoroughly planning the production in blocks in advance. This was especially pragmatic for the sea-borne shoots as I prefer to light from the side, and never like to shoot with the light on my neck.”

Attempting to hook a visual starting point for the look of In The Heart Of The Sea, Dod Mantle says he and Howard spoke about all manner of movies that inspired a fear of the ocean during an on-going conversation – in cars, taxis, aeroplanes, at mealtimes and even on the golf course on La Gomera – as they travelled, lived and relaxed together during the three month recce and prep period. Ang Lee’s Life Of Pi (2012, DP Claudio Miranda), Peter Weir’s Master And Commander (2003, DP Russell Boyd), old-fashioned pirate movies, and more modern ones, such as Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips (2013, DP Barry Ackroyd BSC), were all considered in some fashion, as was JC Chandor’s survival movie All Is Lost (2013, DP Frank G. DeMarco/underwater DP Peter Zuccarini).

However, Dod Mantle says none were how he wanted to present the ocean for this movie.

Along with paintings by Delacroix and Turner, he says the most inspirational visuals came in the form of the Discovery series Deadliest Catch and the 2012 fishing documentary Leviathan, shot by anthropologists Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel.

“I found Leviathan in particular to be remarkable and thought-provoking, filmed on a fishing trawler off the New England coast in the same seas that inspired Moby Dick,” he remarks. “It’s a remarkable cinematic experience, a visceral portrait of fishing, with incredible swells where the boats disappear between the waves and the cameras are soaked in brine and blood and guts.

It reminded me of how I embedded cameras into the F1 racing cars and Niki Lauda’s helmet in Rush and I decide to run with this.

“You must trust your instincts with an idea, hold it and be consistent about what you do as an artist. We must protect the artform as well as making good movies.

For In The Heart Of The Sea I wanted to take the audience into the body, the skeleton of the Essex – to the blast of rapidly uncoiling anchor chains, hands on ropes and the ship’s wheel – to feel in tune with the crew, the boat and the seas. Often on-deck there’s not a lot of room, and shooting with bigger cameras can be more complicated and erratic, so there was a pragmatic and creative element to having embedded cameras.”

“YOU MUST TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS WITH AN IDEA, HOLD IT AND BE CONSISTENT ABOUT WHAT YOU DO AS AN ARTIST.” ANTHONY DOD MANTLE DFF BSC ASC

The Essex mo de gimbal at Leav l on es Nantucket ma den in set

From this instinctive starting point, and bearing in mind the complicated nature of the production from the methodology sessions, Dod Mantle had to expand his vision for the movie and select the main production format.

“I actually had the choice of shooting film or digital, which is quite a luxury. And I did think seriously about shooting on film,” he admits. “However I felt digital, shooting RAW, would give me a better chance to capture magical moments in uncontrollable situations.

Shooting RAW I know I can contain all the horrendous contrast ratios that are presented to cinematographers in all seasons of the year. When I get home, I can provide a graded daily that will get the editor in the right place. Then I can get pretty heavy in the grade, and finally get it the way I want.”

With the approval of the director, producers and studio executives, Dod Mantle opted for ARRI Alexa XT cameras, with Codex recording media and workflow, capturing images in ARRIRAW. Howard and Dod Mantle settled on a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, as the extra height of the frame would minimise vertical tilt and allow the audience to retain visual contact between the sea the sky in the most ferocious storm sequences. “I also felt it would look slightly more like an historical document than a modern movie,” he adds.

The lenses used included Panavision close-focus primes and Primo zooms, with the zooms often on the crane-mounted cameras. “I love the lenses in the high 20mm range as they have more fall off in the background, and I wanted to see the sea effects across the frame whilst hovering around a face,” he explains. “Along with

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British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 53

ON THE JOB / ANTHONY DOD MANTLE DFF BSC ASC / IN THE HEART OF THE SEA

“FOR ME THE AESTHETIC OF THE SEA AND THE WHALE’S HABITAT WERE CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT TO THE TEXTURE AND SOUL OF THE PRODUCTION.” ANTHONY DOD MANTLE DFF BSC ASC

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being practical to use on the different sets and at sea, the zooms also helped me shoot coverage for Ron.” When a smaller, lighter camera was needed – because of ergonomics, physical space limitations, or the kind of shot envisioned – Dod Mantle sometimes used a Canon C300, smaller video cameras, such as the 2K global shutter IndieCAM, and even a Canon 1DC DSLR.

“We wanted the camera to be physical and move around, to capture epic moments as well as moments of calm and peace too,” says Dod Mantle. “Depending on the situation, the cameras were mounted on Technocranes, handheld on the deck, or mounted on dollies. After spending two days operating myself, on the Essex gimbal, with thousands of gallons of water being dumped on me and Chris (Hemsworth), I know how Turner must have felt when his strapped himself to the mast. I never threw up, but had a vertiginous, fluid-filled feeling in my ears and head for a few days afterwards.”

When it came to controlling the light and the aesthetics of the sea scenes, Dod Mantle describes is approach as, “pretty fascistic. I hate the clear, crisp distinction between pale blue sky and deep blue sea you get in many movies – it’s too pictorial, romantic and not psychologically evocative.

“I worked with the art direction and VFX teams on how we could make the skies and sea meet, and even referred them to Delacroix and Turner. Carey Duffy at Tiffen found some ancient graduation filters, that are no longer made, that would pull down the sky by 5 or 8 stops, and are much softer than modern filters. Adding an ND3 or ND6 on top, I could get to 12 stops down, and then redeem a face from the background with some direct illumination, that I knew I could also enhance later in the grade.”

Defining and executing the colour palette for each movie he works on is always a vital consideration for Dod Mantle, and In The Heart Of The Sea was no exception.

54 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

“Having the wrong colours is like having the actors speaking in the wrong language,” he remarks.

“I worked closely with the production designer Mark Tildesley, and costume designer Julian Day, to eradicate colours and create a historical richness and vicious texture that would embody the manliness of the situation and the perils of life at sea.

“You’ll notice the colour arc change across the movie. As the crew leave the cold Nantucket coast, old fashioned lavender blues give way to more grungy, brutal blues and yellows in the stormy whaling fields. As they move into the Pacific, and particularly during their plight for survival, the images become hotter and drier, with acrid yellow and rustiness playing-up the weather-beaten skin and rotting boats.”

To present the world of the whale, Dod Mantle encouraged Howard to adopt an underwater perspective as well as the standard aerial approach.

He recruited underwater cinematographer Peter Zuccarini, calling him “the best in the world, who gave me all the angles and vignettes I wanted.”

The crew also included DIT Dan Carling, a trusted digital collaborator on many movies, who devised a system whereby Dod Mantle could maintain control despite the thorny logistics.

“Anthony wanted the ability to see all the live camera feeds, so he could give direction where appropriate, whilst operating A-camera

himself,” says Carling. “Out on the ocean, we had the ability to receive all the video feeds from the cameras, quite often up to seven – even Splish splash…

Peter Zuccarini and an underwater crew in the open camera – at sea at La Gomera the same time.

In addition to the video village and the director, we transmitted these images back to Anthony’s handheld monitor. This was crucial in order for him to quickly set camera positions whilst out at sea.”

Dod Mantle speaks highly of his crew on the movie, remarking, “they’re all bloody-good, of old-school movie-standing. It was my first teaming with Sarah Bradshaw (executive producer) and Simone Goodridge (unit production manager), who do a lot of Americanfinanced movies in the UK, and it was good to get to know them. My gaffer was Thomas Neivelt, who I take almost everywhere, and who sees me more than my wife does, as does Telfer Barnes my first AC. John Watters proved very able as second AC, and Alastair Rae shot great B-camera and Steadicam. We were blessed with the talents of aristocratic key grip Rupert Lloyd-Parry, and had a lovely set of sparks led by David Sinfield, with Ian Sinfield the best boy. The underwater gaffer Aaron Keating worked very hard for us, and Michael Wood, second unit DP, who did a lot of the underwater set sinking scenes, is getting better all the time.”

Dod Mantle conducted the DI at Technicolor with Jean Clement. “Although I forged the look of the movie on-set, you have to be an idiot not to appreciate the privilege and beauty of the DI. As a cinematic artist you have the ability to cure, maintain and improve your look, and show the director how their film can get even better. Along with the grading, I must have done 350 around digital moves, especially on the embedded cameras, to bring life to those images too.”

“Looking back, I have to say that In The Heart Of The Sea is one of my favourite films to have worked on,” he concludes. “The 15-minute sequence as the Essex gradually goes down, at a terrible angle in a sea of fire and brimstone, shot across different tanks and at different times, is an orgy of capabilities and capacities.

It’s one of my favourite scenes to have shot.”

Interview and article by Ron Prince

CLOSE-UP / NEVILLE KIDD / CHILDHOOD’S END

SPACE ODYSSEY

T

he rich city of Melbourne and its surrounding landscapes provide the backdrop for Childhood’s End, a cautionary science fiction mini-series on the Syfy Universal channel. The three-part show is set in the near future, when mankind finally has the resources and technology to fly to and inhabit other planets. Soon, aliens arrive to contain them. The way the human race has managed its world – with war and famine and various other atrocities – is not tolerated by other races. In huge spacecrafts, an alien race towers over the Earth in an attempt to prevent its inhabitants from leaving.

Based on Arthur C. Clarke’s 1950’s novel of the same name, Syfy Universal enlisted a top-notch team to create the series. The line-up included director Nick Hurran and cinematographer Neville Kidd, whose previous collaborations include Doctor Who and Sherlock.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the sci-fi genre,” Kidd says. “One of my favourite films is Alien… as it has a very specific look. Any world I create, I try to make as real as possible,” he asserts, while commenting on the realism of Alien and his desire to channel that into Childhood’s End.

This visual aesthetic became evident during Kidd’s early days as a cinematographer.

After graduating from Napier’s Film School in Edinburgh in 1989, Kidd landed a job with BBC Scotland. He shot news pieces and documentaries before gradually moving to commercials, short films and eventually longform drama.

In approaching Childhood’s End, Kidd and Hurran went through the script together in detail before talking about the look and the feel they wanted. For the duo, they wanted everything to feel as if it really could happen.

“And that’s a challenge,” Kidd says. “The story involves alien invasion and 12-foot devils. It’s quite wayout-there. I think we were trying to break down the grand scale of the story and make it more believable.”

One of the many ways Kidd went about achieving the look was to give the production a “kind of hand-held feel.”

Though the camerawork is kept quite loose, often hand-held or shot on Steadicam, the challenge for Kidd was to make the camera work invisible. It was an exercise in subtlety.

“One of the main things I wanted to put across in Childhood’s End was the composition,” Kidd says. In the series, there’s fear and paranoia as the aliens sit above the human race. “I wanted to make that paranoia about the aliens come through via the composition. So I made everything quite toppy – leaving a lot of empty space in the upper part of the screen – which makes it quite uncomfortable to look at. My main direction to the camera operators was to explore the oddness of the framing.”

56 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Kidd says the seamless integration of studio-shot sequences and real locations proved to be the most challenging. A farm setting just outside Melbourne is where most of the action takes place at the start of the story, whilst most of the spacecraft action was shot in the studio. The integration of these locations was essential to keep in with Hurran and Kidd’s vision of the audience needing to believe this could actually be taking place.

He describes the sequence where characters in the farmhouse travel through the space pod to the main spacecraft. “What I tried to do was make it feel like one shot … but it’s not. The world in the main space craft is quite different to the pod. This section of the series has an almost retro look.”

He achieved these sequences though ‘live’ lighting changes to highlight each environment, which proved a meticulous challenge for both himself and the operators.

“When you’re using a lot of moving lights,” Kidd reflects, “you can be one degree off

making it look realistic – and really fail.”

All the cues Neville Kidd needed to be bang-on with attention paid to the workings of the various moving lights being used. The HMIs with LEDs and fluorescent lights all had a bit of lag when turning on, which needed to be taken into account. It took several attempts to line up all the cues so they were correct.

“It’s a good challenge for all departments,” Kidd says. “I’m quite proud of the final sequences. When nobody notices you’re in a studio and then you go outside into the real world and then you go into a spaceship, it’s a blast. All these connections and all these worlds joining together…and it never jumps, you’re not popping out of the story. When it’s seamless, that’s the most satisfying thing for me as cinematographer.”

Childhood’s End was shot on two Alexa XT Plus cameras and an ARRI Amira documentary-style camera.

“The main quality for me is colour. Which camera shows real colour, and which camera shows the best cinematic latitude, are the most important factors when choosing a camera,” he says.

Kidd found the Alexa to be just what he was after, and the Amira being smaller worked well on the Steadicam. Of course, the great ‘film vs. digital’ debate was brought up. Having not shot on film since his days spent lensing commercials, Kidd’s choice to shoot on film or digital came down to cost and budget. “Digital does everything you need. The quality of the Alexa is so good, you’re merely achieving what film achieves.”

Since much of the look of Childhood’s End is from the perspective of spacecrafts looking down on Earth, Kidd employed drones for aerial POV shots. He spent a long time on the drone work, deciding to interview all the different drone companies and to check them out for the series.

“Drone companies are bit like the Wild West; there’s so many of them,” he jokes. The drones were sourced from a company in Tasmania and Kidd was impressed by the quality of their work. The results “look fantastic. They really add to the film in a big way.”

Kidd also discussed working Down Under with an local crew.

“You’re always kind of wary coming into any country you don’t know… the crews and working practices … it might take longer to build a relationship. But my Australian crew was fantastic,” he says. “I simply loved filming in Australia.”

Kidd says it didn’t take long for him to settle in, and he worked closely with gaffer Adam Hunter and key grip Luke Stone. He was impressed with their input as they came up with ideas and moved things along.

“The big thing is time,” Kidd says. “Time was always against us. I’d say to Luke ‘I’m aware we don’t have time get a crane in.’ Luke would say, ‘I can do it. We’ll bring it in, we’ll get the shot done in 10 minutes.’ I’d tell him ‘I don’t want to put that kind of pressure on you’ and he would do it every time. I was blown away with how they pushed themselves to help the production.”

Kidd’s cinematographic mind couldn’t help but muse on one particular aspect of Australia, “The quality of the light there is amazing. The minute I arrived in Melbourne, there’s a very sharp light that you can see forever. It was fascinating from my point of view to take on that quality of light. It’s significantly different to what it’s like in the U.K. Australian light really bites. And that really worked for Childhood’s End.” Article by Jeremy Span, with editing by Ron Prince, and is courtesy of Australian Cinematographer Magazine.

CAMERA CREATIVE / EMMANUEL LUBEZKI AMC ASC /THE REVENANT

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British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 57

CAMERA CREATIVE / EMMANUEL LUBEZKI AMC ASC /THE REVENANT

Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki AMC ASC

>>

Ron Prince caught up with Chivo to discover more about the movie described by the critics as the “consummate cinematic experience”, where painful cold of the survivalist ordeal has catapulted The Revenant as one of the hottest contenders during Awards season.

How and why did you get involved with the production of The Revenant?

EL: I was invited to shoot the movie by Alejandro, before we did Birdman together, in 2013. His DP Rodrigo Prieto AMC ASC was not available, and so I got the call. I am a great admirer of their work, and was hugely excited. I liked it that Alejandro had made the story so much more complex than a straight revenge movie, and that it’s also a story about survival. I had never done this type of adventure movie before, and I like very much productions that follow the journey of a character, such as Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, Wrath Of God (1972, DP Thomas Mauch). Also, as I am approaching middle age, I thought this might be my last chance to shoot out in the wild, facing the challenges of nature and the elements with a cast and crew.

The Revenant images courtesy Twentieth Century Fox. Behind the scenes images

by Kimberley French.

58 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

What were your very first creative discussions with Alejandro the director?

EL: The Revenant is a story about trappers, pioneers in a huge, harsh landscape. We both wanted to make it in the wild, with no stages or bluescreen, no Burbank methodology. We wanted a strong, visceral, immersive and naturalistic experience for the audience – not just to follow the journey of the central character, but to make it feel as if it was actually happening in front of their eyes. We wanted the audience to feel the sheer cold, to see the breath of the actors on the lens, and experience the powerful emotions in the story. We were also determined to shoot the movie in order of the story, which we did.

What creative references did you research?

EL: For the last five or six productions I have shot, I have not watched any movies as references. I find that if

you want to create an original look and feel, you need to get deep into the world of your own movie and keep focused on that. So, rather than research, we did a lot of scouting and walking. Watching the light, the weather conditions and the moods at our locations was far more important than watching other movies. Actually, music was a much more important reference and way for us to communicate.

Cinematographers sometime cite music as an inspiration.

Tell us about its effects and influence on you?

EL: During prep and pre-production Alejandro and I used music to imagine the visual atmospheres and emotional tempos of the movie we wanted to create. We listened to all sorts – classical, pop, jazz, Mexican and Cuban music – Bach, John Coltrane, Tom Waits, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin – but the most important music that prevailed was that of the American composer John Luther Adams. His work is inspired by nature, especially the landscapes of places such as Alaska.

It is very atmospheric, like going on a journey, and is very close the spirit we wanted to express in our visuals. We listened a lot to his music during the hours, days and weeks that we were on recces in the cold.

“WE WANTED A STRONG, VISCERAL, IMMERSIVE AND NATURALISTIC EXPERIENCE FOR THE AUDIENCE – NOT JUST TO FOLLOW THE JOURNEY OF THE CENTRAL CHARACTER, BUT TO MAKE IT FEEL AS IF IT WAS ACTUALLY HAPPENING IN FRONT OF THEIR EYES.” EMMANUEL LUBEZKI AMC ASC How did you decide on shooting between film vs digital?

EL: Alejandro loves film as I do, and we’re comfortable with filmic tools and processes. Film has a greater dynamic range than digital that can capture the brightest of highlights, such as the sun, and details in deep shadows all in the same frame. The thing that I don’t like about film, and have never liked, is grain. Some people call it texture, but for me, when you start seeing grain the movie becomes a representation. It’s almost like putting a veil between you and the subject. I expect to be criticised by other cinematographers, but that’s my view. What I like about good digital cameras is that they have decent dynamic range and do not have noise – there’s no grain.

After shooting lots of tests in California, we decided to shoot film for the daytime sequences and digital at dusk and a night. But when we moved in October 2014 to Canada, which is much further north, where the sun is closer to the horizon, and there are

longer periods of dark, the film was not looking the way we wanted at all. The digital cameras – ARRI Alexa M and XTs – were outperforming the film cameras by a wide margin. With the digital cameras, we discovered there was a mystery and intrigue, in tone and mood, to images shot at different times of day, that just did not appear on film.

The grain was a big, big issue too. So it was with some pain and regret that we sent all of the film equipment back to Los Angeles and went completely digital.

However, at the same time, ARRI called me to tell me that the Alexa 65 was ready. From the very moment I got it, I was sure I wanted only to use digital cameras, and to use the Alexa 65 as much as possible on the movie. The images had the immersive and experiential qualities we had imagined at the very start. Not a representation of the story, but reality – as if you are there, looking through a clean window.

How much did you use the Alexa 65 and for which shots?

EL: I don’t know the precise proportions, but I would estimate that we used the Alexa 65 about 40% of the time. We mainly shot with a 24mm lens. At the beginning I imagined that I would only use it for landscapes. It is much heavier than the Alexa M so it was not suitable for handheld. In low light I had to switch to the Alexa XT. But little-by-little, every time I was able to use it on a crane, dolly or a stand, I made sure I did. We did some Steadicam with it too. The reason is that the Alexa 65 is first time I have felt a camera and lens could capture what I was seeing, what I was feeling. Before the Alexa 65 there was always some compromise – that were only shooting part of what you wanted – but this gives you everything.

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British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 59

CAMERA CREATIVE / EMMANUEL LUBEZKI AMC ASC /THE REVENANT

>> How did you decide on the movie’s aspect ratio and lenses?

EL: Alejandro loves to rehearse, especially the most complex parts. Instead of storyboards and previs, he likes to bring together props, extras, stunt people, horses and wardrobe and we work on the visual language of the movie – while testing lenses and cameras and format. We ended up choosing 2.40:1 with wide spherical lenses, as it was the most immersive format. We tried Anamorphic lenses, but they have less depth-of-field, and you cannot get that close to the characters. I did not want to have blurred backgrounds.

Shooting spherical allowed me to frame the characters in their context but you can still make out the rest of the environment. We shot at a minimum of T5.6 so the images have lots of depth-of-field, and are composed with lines of perspective giving a dynamic look. We got extremely close-up. I sometimes was no more that a few inches from Leo with the camera, with my hands resting on his shoulders.

We shot with Master Primes, mainly 12, 14 and 18mm, and also with the Leica Summilux 14, 16 and 18mms, as they are much lighter and great for handheld.

Dan Sasaki at Panavision in LA made a 14.5mm Primo specially for the production that I used on a bunch of shots. I didn’t use diffusion, and have not used it for years, as I just do not like it. I prefer to capture as clean and crisp as possible on the day and then make change afterwards in the DI.

You can shoot in the snow but not feel the real cold of the climate. The combination of these lenses on the ARRI Alexa cameras, and the proximity were ware able to achieve to the actors helped to give the experience of piercing cold – you can see frozen hands, and the condensation of the breath.

What was you strategy for moving the camera?

EL: It very much depended on the scene and the emotion of what was happening at that moment. We generally knew what we wanted to do during our testing and rehearsal phase, but there was still an element of improvisation. We wanted to be in-tune with the characters and the

60 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

light and what happening. Alejandro likes the camera to look slightly accidental, as if you have maybe missed something, or your arrive slightly late – it gives the

“WITH THE DIGITAL CAMERAS, WE DISCOVERED THERE WAS A MYSTERY AND INTRIGUE, IN TONE AND MOOD, TO IMAGES SHOT AT DIFFERENT TIMES OF DAY, THAT JUST DID NOT APPEAR ON FILM.” EMMANUEL LUBEZKI AMC ASC audience a feeling of the suddenness of events. It’s very different to the style in a Terry Malick movie, where the camera is more lyrical, conscious and descriptive. To outline what I wanted and the reasoning on The Revenant I moved camera handheld for almost every shot then we went from there – perhaps a third of the movie was Steadicam/ handheld, and the rest on a crane or dolly.

This movie was shot before the invention of the Alexa Mini. As I operate and do so much handheld, the best camera for me at the time was the a Alexa M. I could hold the lighter part of the

camera, move freely and get close to the actors. Scott Sakamoto used the Alexa XT on the Steadicam.

How about you lighting strategy and colour palette?

EL: We used natural light for vast majority of the movie, and the colour palette was determined by the time of day at each location. At 1pm in bright sunshine there would not be anything of any interest in terms of atmosphere, but at 4.30pm, when the sun disappeared behind a mountain, the same location would then look mysterious – the light was bluer and colder, the leaves would lose their colour, moss would turn from yellow to green, the trees would become darkened, and whole environment had a sense of terror or fear.

As we were using natural light, it was important to have wardrobe that was homogenic and not lighter in tone than an actor’s face, and working with Jacqui West, the costume designer, was of vital importance.

Regarding the lighting, there were two incidents that I have never encountered before. We were shoot around a campfire at night and I wanted to use the natural flicker of the firelight as illumination. However, the wind was so strong that the light became too distracting. So I created a cushion of constant light on a dimmer and then let the fire flicker as normal in the wind. The second was more bizarre. Again we

Director Alejandro Leonardo DiCapr G. Iñárritu with io and Chivo

The Dolby Laser is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, and it’s the first time that DPs can project black.

Until now most projection systems have rendered dark and black as a mushy guacamole of greys, but now you have ten more tones to work with and its beautiful. If this system proliferates, I expect we’ll see a big change in the way DPs light and shoot.

were shooting at night around a campfire, but a strange light kept appearing on the actor’s faces and destroying the shots. I asked over the intercom for the offending light to be switched off completely, only to realise it was the full moon coming out from behind the clouds, and the digital cameras were picking up on the effect. We had to build a 40ft x 30ft wall behind the camera to block out the moonlight.

As we were in a place without urban light contamination, sometimes we used the silvery light of the moon, and you will see stars in the movie. One night, we also captured the green shaft of light of an aurora borealis. It it’s one of the most mysterious, moving and beautiful things I have ever shot.

What can you tell us about the DI? EL: I did the DI with Steve Scott at Technicolor. I have worked with him over many years on many different projects – such as Children Of Men (2006) and Gravity (2013). The great thing about Steve is his background in art. He has a unique knowledge of light as, before moving into composting then the grading, he was a very great painter. Because we shot with natural light and had little control on-set, I knew exactly what I wanted to do in the DI – to darken backgrounds, lighten a face, change a sky. It

was a complex DI in that respect, but I love this collaborative part of the cinematographic process.

We had to create four different deliverables – a normal DCP, a DCP for Dolby Laser Projection, normal IMAX and IMAX Laser – and I spent around eight weeks doing these different DIs.

What thoughts do you want to share about your crew?

EL: Because of the journey involved in the making of this movie, the strong connections that you need with your crew were more important than any other production I have ever shot. I was very lucky to have not just technicians, but incredible artistic collaborators at the top of their game around me. I valued the sincere feedback of my key grip Ray Garcia, especially on long takes about the tempo of my camera moves. My camera assistant John Conner was miraculous in pulling focus with no marks, and in having the innate rhythm to pull focus with actors and crew often moving wildly around. Same thing with Scott Sakamoto on Steadicam with his rhythm, composition and understanding of what I wanted to achieve. One of the best keep secrets is Ryan Monro, the dolly grip who can operate the telescopic crane arm and the crane move in balletic style all by himself, where normally it would take two people. I also want to give a special shout out to our DIT Arthur To, who’s ability to operate the iris, was indispensible in the everchanging natural lighting conditions we faced.

A lot of the time the cinematographer takes the credits, but without any of these guys, and their teams, as collaborators, The Revenant would not be the same, or nearly as good as it has turned out to be, and I am hugely thankful to them.

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 61

MONSTER MASH

CLOSE-UP / REMI ADEFARASIN OBE BSC / PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES

Pride And Prejudice And Zombies is Lionsgate’s hotly-anticipated romantic-comedyhorror movie, based on Seth Grahame-Smith’s 2009 novel of the same name, but written for the screen and directed by Burr Steers.

The story mashes-up Jane Austen’s classic 1813 novel Pride And Prejudice with elements of zombie fiction.

A

mysterious plague blights 19th century England, and the land is overrun with troublesome undead. The feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet, played by Lily James, is a master of martial arts and weaponry. Uniting with Mr Darcy, played by Sam Riley, they aim to rid the English countryside of the deadly nuisance, and in doing so just might discover true love. Ron Prince caught up with cinematographer Remi Adefarasin OBE BSC to discover more about the production and his creative work.

How did you get involved with the production of Pride And Prejudice And Zombies?

RA: Sue Baden-Powell, the executive producer, who I worked with previously on Cemetery Junction (2010), was looking for a collaborative cinematographer who could work with the director Burr Steers. It’s always best to meet in person if at all possible, but Burr was in LA. So Sue set up a Skype call and we got on very well. Burr, who also wrote the script, preferred to leave decisions about how to shoot scenes to the cinematographer. Anthony Minghella was the same when we did Truly Madly Deeply (1990). I very much prefer this to directors who like to “prove” that they know everything and can lead the unit up a blind alley.

Burr concentrated on the story and the performances.

Remi takes a light reading

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What appealed to you about Pride And Prejudice And Zombies?

RA: I haven’t made a version of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice and would worry about doing the 1813 novel one more time. This film holds tightly to her story and stays period, yet the characters are living in an England that has been infested with the undead for a very long time. There are obviously twists and turns that reveal the freshness of the classic novel.

When you first discussed the look of the movie with the director, how did you envisage the film?

RA: Burr knew straight away that it shouldn’t be a spoof. Characters would never nod to the audience. For the characters it was really happening. When we got together in pre-production we both agreed we didn’t want a bland look, yet we didn’t want to push it too far either. We wanted to create a world you could believe in, yet push the imagery just that little bit further. We agreed that it shouldn’t have a faux desaturated look, and we didn’t want to heighten the saturation either.

What research did you do? What creative references did you look at?

RA: I make it a point not to look at any film that is about the subject I’m about to work on. So, I didn’t look at any versions of Pride And Prejudice, nor any zombie movies. It’s all too easy to watch DVDs around the subject and you end up with a film that is a copy of someone else’s vision, often itself borrowed from an older source. It’s best to shut your eyes and dream-

“TO FOCUS ON THE LOOK FOR THIS MOVIE I CENTRED ON THE WORK OF PAINTER JOHN WHITE ALEXANDER. HIS USE OF LIGHT IS BOTH NATURAL YET MAGICAL.” REMI ADEFARASIN OBE BSC up your own world. To focus on the look for this movie I centred on the work of painter John White Alexander. His use of light is both natural yet magical. I was also inspired

by John Atkinson Grimshaw, another amazing painter.

Was there a film vs digital debate? How did you decide on the origination format?

RA: Because of the amount of VFX work, with around 420 VFX shots, and the overnight production of VFX showand-tell temps, it was clearly favourite to shoot digital. I love film as it is so flexible and always looks good. With digital mediums you have to work harder to give the film an interesting look. Often digital movies are ruined by going too far with the look. With digital work I feel that the backlight has to be minimal, same with accent lighting. I also have this method of using a very, very fine dark brown net that I stretch over the lens (with an ARRI-made holder).

I shape a custom hole in this fabric and the effect is to cause a softening and diffusion to the edges of the image.

Tell us your creative and practical reasoning behind your choice of cameras, lenses, lights and grip?

RA: We decided the best aspect ratio would be 2.39:1 and to shoot open gate on ARRI Alexa cameras. Alexas are friendly and reliable with an impeccable sensor. We used Cooke S4 primes with Optimo 24-290mm zooms.

We also had two Alura Zooms, 15.5-48mm and 30-80mm.

We shot 2.39:1, open gate, to get a larger image area and also more height top and bottom to allow VFX to steal bits of tree/wall etc. Sometimes they need to clone a bit of an image to cover up mechanical aids to the settings. Also, although we didn’t need it, they could use the extra frame area to stabilise the image. I’ve had a very long relationship with ARRI Rentals and asked to use them as supplier. They keenly support every requirement and are happy to make adjustments or customise equipment if needed.

My gaffer, Jimmy Wilson, has a good relationship with Panalux. We used conventional heads, but made great use of LED technology, which is leaping ahead.

My philosophy is that fewer lamps can produce a greater image – not under lighting but not getting multiple shadows by having too many heads with conflicting angles. It can so easily look fake, even on a zombie movie.

What was your approach to the camera movement?

RA: We used a more classic approach to the cinematography – regular dolly moves and some Steadicam shots. My A-camera operator Julian Morson is also a fluent Steadicam operator.

We didn’t use much handheld, but when we did it was for a reason and we didn’t give it the extra twitch, which drives me mad when done without reason.

And was your approach to the lighting?

And what lights did you use?

RA: Heightened realism was the intention. Neither bland flat light nor downward pointing pars. I aimed for images that were striking yet believable. This wasn’t a red and green gel film in the Hammer style. We used LEDs more than normal to bury lights in unusual positions to add just a sheen or a glimmer in hard-to-get-at places.

For example, in the crypt of the church there were many zombies. Since this was a real location it was tricky to light, so the LED’s small profile allowed them to be buried amongst the actors. Some larger interiors benefitted from small LED kicks. I have to admit that the colour reproduction of LEDs is always slightly skewed, so I avoid them on shots of leading actors’ faces. There have been a few space movies recently that use LEDs extensively in the spacecraft, and I often think the skintones of the cast could look a lot better.

How much time did you have for prep/pre-production?

Where were the locations?

RA: My first Skype call with Burr was on 23rd July 2014.

I met with my A-camera operator on 1st August, and the shoot began on 24th October. I had twenty days prep, but these were non-consecutive, so it was a lot longer really. I had a good rapport with designer David Warren and was able to travel to help select our locations. We shot five-day weeks on continuous days and could have stayed at that pace for many more months. The shoot was only 43 days, which was tight considering the scale of the film. We always had two cameras and I operated the B-camera.

We only used a studio on the final day for a few hours. The whole film was shot on locations that were very precious – including West Wycombe House, Hatfield House, Syon House and Basildon Park – so all teams had to take extra care not to damage priceless objects. The rigging of lights was very limited in most locations.

What were your main concerns during the shoot?

RA: My main concern was that each day we had a bit too much to shoot, yet we hoped for a high standard and didn’t want to let ourselves down.

We were shooting at the end of the year when the light was beautiful but didn’t hang around for long.

Who were your crew?

RA: The camera crew were brilliant. Julian Morson was my A-camera and Steadicam operator, and Alan Stewart the second unit DP. Jimmy Wilson was my gaffer, with John Arnold our key grip, who was ably supported by Charlie Wall. My B-camera first and second assistants were Leigh Gold and James Perry. Our camera trainee was Katy Ruffy. The DIT was Joshua Callis Smith. My son, René, was 1st AC, with my other son Ben the 2nd AC. René first worked with me on The Hollow Reed (1995) after studying filmmaking. John followed, and then Ben. It’s a good relationship and, like the rest of our team, few words are needed in either direction to convey thoughts.

What part does risk-taking play in your work, if any?

RA: With beautiful film, every shot is a little risk. With experience you know pretty much what you will get when printed. To get bolder, braver images you have to trust your experience, your eye and your meter. In the digital world the result is shoved right under your nose.

“Is that too bright?” “Should we be tighter?” “Is that too dark?” The imagemaker can become part of a committee and not the leader. Sometimes more energy is spent defending the vision than creating it. If we had all the time we would like, there would only be one camera.

Coverage would be limited and we would never take extra shots just in case they might be needed. In the real world you often find you have to use two cameras, just to get the day done! I like operating the B-camera as the A-camera gets the main vital shot and the B picks up more dangerous bonus images. If I operate the B-camera I know how far I dare go without spoiling the film.

Were there any happy accidents, unexpected things that worked out well?

RA: The cast were mostly very young and came with a fresh talent and knowledge of filmmaking. They all worked very hard and without fuss or complaint.

How did this movie challenge you/push your skills?

RA: With a tight schedule and limited daylight hours during the winter shoot, you had to know where you were heading. There just wasn’t time to change your mind.

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 63

CLOSE-UP / ROBERT RICHARDSON ASC / THE HATEFUL EIGHT

T

he Hateful Eight is the taut and talkative American Western mystery movie, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The $44m, Weinstein Company production, stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demián Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern as eight strangers who seek shelter from a blizzard in a stagecoach stopover some time after the American Civil War. With a score composed by Ennio Morricone, the absorbing action, in typical Tarantino fashion, packs in plenty of twists and turns, writes Ron Prince. In charge of lensing the movie was Robert Richardson ASC, Tarantino’s preferred cinematographer since Kill Bill: Vol.1 (2003). The duo teamed up for Kill Bill: Vol.2 (2004), Django Unchained (2009) and Inglourious Basterds (2012).

However, their creative collaboration reached new heights on The Hateful Eight, as Tarantino insisted the movie was shot in super-wide Ultra Panavision 70, released in extended 70mm Roadshow print versions as well as the standard multiplex format, with a traditional, photochemically colour-timed finish on the Roadshow versions thrown in for good measure.

Historically, Ultra Panavision 70 movie releases have included Ben-Hur (1959, DP Robert Surtees ASC), Mutiny On The Bounty (1962, DP Robert Surtees), It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963, DP Ernest Laszlo), The Fall Of The Roman Empire (1964, DP Robert Kasker BSC), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1964, DPs Loyal Griggs/ William C Mellor) and The Battle of the Bulge (1965 DP Jack Hildyard BSC), with Khartoum (1966, DP Edward Scaife) being the last time the lenses saw the light of day.

“Quentin called and asked me to join him for dinner at his house to discuss his upcoming film,” recalls Richardson. “I joined him in the early evening and Quentin 64 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

immediately launched into his desire not only to shoot The Hateful Eight, but also to shoot it in 65mm. There was no digital debate at all. It was to be shot in 65mm and released on 70mm. Period. He wanted to present The Hateful Eight as a “Roadshow” that would bring the audience into an experience unlike anything they would have had in many a year. Then he handed me the script, took me to his office where he said, ‘Read it and when you finish we will talk.’ With that he closed the door.”

Richardson notes: “Everything about the script appealed to me. Quentin is a unique voice in the history of cinema and his writing skills were on full display. However, he had given me a script that did not have the ending. So I was left in suspense. He told me that when we got closer to production he would provide the final pages. With that we sat down to a steak dinner and a shot of tequila.”

In terms of creative references, Richardson says the primary film that Tarantino included in his thinking was John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982, DP Dean Cundey ASC).

“The similarities are essentially the setting, with a group of individuals trapped in a building during a storm,” says Richardson. “Beyond that we did not speak of specific references. The Hateful Eight is its own movie. I try not to dive back into other films for inspiration. I believe each to be its own canvas and I hope to make an original investigation.”

Having digested the script, and imbibed Tarantino’s suggestions, Richardson says the scale, power, clarity and logistics of 65mm became the chief considerations.

“I had shot on 65mm once prior, for Shutter Island (2010, dir. Martin Scorsese), although it had proven difficult, due to the extreme cold weather affecting the performance of the cameras,” Richardson remarks. “For The Hateful Eight, landscapes on their own were necessary, but we discussed primarily the interiors – the cabin, barn and stagecoach – and how we would capture the human face as a landscape? How to keep the audience engaged while trapped? And, for Quentin, the importance of the storm as a character that builds in intensity was vital.”

Knowing that he’d be using the Ultra Panavision 70 camera system and associated lenses, the aspect ratio of 2.76:1 was a given. “The entire accident of finding the Ultra Panavision lenses was a blessing of good fortune. They date back to Ben Hur and are astoundingly gorgeous in my opinion,” he says. “2.76:1 is the widest aspect ratio I have ever photographed a film with. The primary issue of shooting a frame so wide was that interiors were vastly more difficult to light since a large portion of the room was visible – particularly true when movement was added to a shot.”

Filming began on December 8, 2014 on the 900-acre, high-mesa Schmid Ranch near Telluride, Colorado, where approximately half of the film was shot, before the production moved to Red Studios in Hollywood. Richardson had ten consecutive weeks of pre-production, and says the average shooting day was close to 14 hours, but these proved extremely rigorous during the location shoots due to the cold working conditions.

The Hateful Eight was shot using 65mm Kodak Vision3 50D 5203, 250D 5207, 200T 5213 and 500T 5219 stocks.

Richardson pushed the film in most cases by half a stop, and this increased to one-stop on the odd occasion to aid focus. Fotokem did the film processing and printing of all dailies. Dailies were shown on 70mm to the director and crew each night when possible.

Getting the lenses ready for the production saw Richardson collaborate with Panavision’s lens guru, Dan Sasaki.

“Panavision as a company were phenomenal in their dedication to the project, and Dan Sasaki is brilliant,” Richardson says. “He allowed us to take lenses that had not seen light in nearly 50 years and use them on challenging locations in Telluride. He worked very closely with Gregor Tavenner, my first assistant, in bringing these beautiful vintage lenses up to the present day.

We had a fair range of lenses from 35mm to 200mm.

My favourites were a 57mm and a 102mm, both prism lenses. Dan continually tuned the lenses – some to allow closer focus, some to give greater clarity to landscapes and infinity.”

Although the Ultra Panavision 70 camera and lens combination is a sizeable, heavyweight lump, Richardson says in no way did it limit or govern his camera movement choices, which were achieved either on a dolly or crane.

He says the bigger issues he faced were the cold weather and lighting the super wide frame.

“We were using lenses that had not been in circulation for decades. So we were learning as we went

along what the issues within the lenses were – whether it was sharpness, or the type of flares that became evident in certain conditions. The 65mm cameras were prepared for extreme cold by Gregor and the team of professionals at Panavision. In the end we had very few issues with the cameras and the lenses proved to be stunning. When we saw Sam Jackson, or anyone, in a close-up, the lenses aided the skin. It’s remarkable. We never used diffusion. The only filters we ever did were outside and the results were stunning.”

Robert Richardson ASC

The other chief difficulties were in where to place the lighting. “Walls could not be removed. So our lighting had to work from above or, when the shots allowed, had to sit on the floor. The average lens aperture was T4. I had an incredible crew with Ian Kincaid on lighting and Herb Ault, my key grip. They were instrumental in allowing us to capture what you see on film. Our lights were quite varied. We had mini-brutes. We had LEDs. We used light bulbs as well as Par cans.”

Describing how he works on-set with Tarantino, Richardson says, “There is no video village on a Quentin film. There is no video at all beyond a small monitor placed on the camera.

He rarely leaves the set, even between set-ups, and is always beside the camera when directing. He is on fire as a director and tremendously devoted to his art. Working beside Quentin is a gift. I am most proud of capturing the performances by this incredible cast of actors. And perhaps I am happiest when the work I did pleased Quentin. I love this collaboration and am deeply proud of what Quentin created.”

The Roadshow releases for The Hateful Eight, projected in around 100 cinemas across the US, were processed through Fotokem, with the DI for D-Cinema done via The Shed in Santa Monica with Yvan Lucas.

“The DI was not instrumental in the released 70mm Roadshow in any way,” Richardson stresses. “Quentin demanded that we work in a completely old-school chemical manner. To go back in time, prior to the common use of the DI, was the greatest challenge for me. I continually worked through my daily fears of whether I was achieving a strong-enough exposure with quality.”

He notes: “The DI that produced the DCP is close to an exact duplicate of the released 70mm film.

That was a request from Quentin which I honoured.

As Yvan had also assisted in the grading of the final film, it allowed the DI to be achieved very rapidly.”

“THERE WAS NO DIGITAL DEBATE AT ALL. IT WAS TO BE SHOT IN 65MM AND RELEASED ON 70MM. PERIOD. HE WANTED TO PRESENT THE HATEFUL EIGHT AS A “ROADSHOW” THAT WOULD BRING THE AUDIENCE INTO AN EXPERIENCE UNLIKE ANYTHING THEY WOULD HAVE HAD IN MANY A YEAR.” ROBERT RICHARDSON ASC British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 65

F-STOP POLAND / CAMERIMAGE 2015 DIARY / BY RON PRINCE

IT’S A KIND OF

MAGIC CAMERIMAGE 2015 – MAIN COMPETITION WINNERS Golden Frog: Carol – DP Ed Lachman dir. Todd Haynes Silver Frog: Rams – DP Sturla Brandt Grøvlen dir. Grímur Hákonarson Bronze Frog: Son Of Saul – DP Mátyás Erdély dir. László Nemes

Silver and bronze frog winners… Sturla Brandt Grøvlen and Mátyás Erdély clutch their precious new awards. Photos by Ewelina Kaminska.

Monday 16th November:

We’re taking the early flight, at some ungodly hour, from Stansted to Bydgoszcz for our tenth Camerimage. The airport’s cavernous duty free area, with its irrevocable IKEA-style path that brazenly snakes between gaudy displays offering overly-sweet perfumes and over-sized bags of chocolates, has overtaken Ryanair in the annual torment stakes. Morning chinwags with Oona Menges, Katie Swain, the good ladies of the BSC ­– Frances, Audra and Pippa - LEE filters, plus Brian Gaffney, now of Codex fame, perk-up the proceedings. The melancholic morning mist, draped like a mother’s apron over the forests that encircle our destination, is like an old friend. The mood brightens further when Ed Lachman ASC invites me to breakfast with him after we check-in at the Holiday Inn. Over a most civilised platter of bacon and eggs, Ed regales me with a humorous story about getting both lost and locked-in on the set of Jungle Book at Leavesden, tells me there’s a new film lab opening in NYC, and asks about a special screening for Carol in London. I hazard to suggest that with Carol in competition here, that it’s his year for a Golden Frog. Ed kindly gives Alan and me a lift to the Opera Nova, in a spanking new BMW X6, so we can register and get this busman’s holiday kicked-off in earnest.

We bump into Richard Crudo ASC, enjoying his firstever Camerimage, who attests to feeling virginal and like a rock star.

As we rock up to the bar, we soak up all manner of handshakes, hugs and flesh-pressing from Nigel Walters BSC, team Panavision, Jacques Delacoux at Transvideo, Marc Gallerne Mátyás Erdély

The cat in the hat… Ed Lachman ASC makes his acceptance speech for the 2015 Golden Frog, as (l-r) John Toll ASC, Chris Menges, Ellen Kuras ASC and John de Borman BSC listen intently.

Photo by Pawel Skraba.

from K5600, Panalux’s Amber Skinner-Jozefson, plus Ben and Piers at Codex. Adrian Bull of Cinelabs is here with John Mahtani, Aarti Mahtani and Roger Harlow, to extol the virtues of shooting on film. They make a compelling financial case, based around the careful management of shooting ratios, for celluloid to stack-up extremely cost effectively versus the binary alternative. All this, and it’s barely 11am!

Word has it that Son Of Saul is a top contender for the Golden Frog. Hugh Whittaker is fulsome in his excitement that Danny Cohen BSC has not one, but four movies being variously screened this year – The Danish Girl, London Road, The Program and Room. The Suffragette screen is full and Edu Grau looks both modest and nervous as he takes to the stage before the screening, with his gaffer Jim Plannette, and presenters Lone Star and Justyna Sieniawska.

“I first came here as a student in 2004, and dreamed of having a movie to show at the best festival in the world,” says Edu, which goes down well with the audience.” I had the honour of sitting next to Edu in Lodz, when they screened A Single Man, and it’s terrific that he’s back again.

After a quick cup of “herbata”, I try to get back into the auditorium for the screening of Rams with the good ladies of the BSC. But a very silly rule – enforced by a throng of teenage ushers ­– means that press are only allocated seats in the gods, or to the wide-angled sides.

After a long day, I’m tired, emotional, and so f*****d off that I decide to make a one-man protest and, a) boycott the movie, b) make a note of the distasteful moment in my diary, and c) complain bitterly to the authorities.

Supper out with team LEE – Ralph and Adam Young, and John Cuff – plus a Sex In The Hay cocktail, soon elevate the spirits. The late night bar at the hotel is in cordial chaos, and there’s plenty of conversation to be had with Kim Snyder, CEO and president of Panavision, and then Michael Kowalczyk, Matty Libatique’s DIT about the changing roll of the DIT, before I wind my way up to Bedfordshire.

Tuesday 17th November:

Whoever said, “Go to work on an egg?” Owsianka (pronounced “off-shanker”) with prunes, now that’s the breakfast of champions. I have found a way to bypass the moronic seating rules at the Opera Nova and get a great position for the 10am screening of Sicario, shot by Roger Deakins. Two hours later I am blown away by the movie and Roger’s masterful cinematography. Pure gold.

F-STOP POLAND / CAMERIMAGE 2015 DIARY / BY RON PRINCE

Please take your seats… the ever-so-chic Katie Swain and ever-so-suave Angus Hudson BSC

Three’s company… Ron Prince with Ed Lachman ASC and Alan Lowne

So is Fritz Heinzle of Otto Nemenz, who supplied Roger with Alexa XTs and Master Primes for the movie. Along with evoking vulnerability by shooting many backs of heads, there’s one sequence in particular, of silhouetted soldiers against an azure sky, who gradually disappear into the black, that is just… magical.

In the bar, I make myself known to Roman Osin BSC, who is having tea and cake with German editor/director Karin Pelte. Chat with Thomas English and Ben Todd about appreciation, or lack of it, for the art of the focus puller, especially in the light of the current trend to shoot with fully-open lenses. Richard Crudo has been trudging around the mean streets of Bydgoszcz in the rain, snapping with a Leica M camera/lens combo. I ask if he’ll snap the balloons of mistletoe that so beguile me every year?

The unmissable highlight today is Dan Sasaki, and Panavision’s masterclass on “The Artistry Of Anamorphic And Large Format Lenses” at the MCK. It’s a joy to walk over in the company of first AC John Bailie, who is emigrating back to Canada soon. Our loss. With Edu as the foil, Dan’s masterclass is masterful, another seam of pure gold. He says this is the era of large sensors and even longer diagonals at the cinema, oh, and 65mm film too with The Hateful Eight. We learn about the unique and pleasing visual characteristics of old and new glass, of bokehs and breathing, flares and fall-off, depth cues and dappled light, chiaroscuro and stereopsis, perspective and Panavision Ultra 70. He even takes time to explain the term ‘rectilinear’ to a member of the audience. Edu chimes in that whilst it’s great that DPs have such an amazing choice of sensors and lenses, what really counts is making the most beautiful image for the story. “I always ask, ‘Would my mum care about this image?’” he confides.

Back to the Opera Nova, and Eben Bolter buys me a cup of tea. How very U. Pixar’s presentation about the cinematography on Disney Pixar’s Inside Out is

packed to the rafters with a very youthful audience.

One wonders if this might also be a recruitment drive. The Pixar people are very happy and charming people. Their insight into the detailed digital layout and lighting design, story beats and emotional pathways, camera structure, lens mapping, focus pulling, motion capture, scale-progression, handheld camera and follow focus techniques on Inside Out is most absorbing.

I get a jockey seat in the auditorium, haha, to see an excellent Polish short entitled Ameryka, reflecting the chaos of fractured teenage lives. In the company of DP Kate Reid, we watch a screening of The 33, the real-life story of Chilean miners trapped underground for 69 days, shot by Checco Varese. It’s a wonderful story, although I am not it quite sure it makes it across the language barrier.

Last up today, the ARRI party. Judith will be pleased. There’s team Menges – Chris, Judy and Oona – looking relaxed and fabulous. As we feast on deliciouslylaced chocolate rum babas, I promise we’ll review the book he’s penned, which the organisers have printed in honour of his Lifetime Achievement Award. Later, Seth Emmons from Sonderoptic, lets me run around the party with his Leica M, and have fun taking snaps of Ellen Kuras, Ed, Reed Morano, Oliver Stapleton and Kate from Wizzo. Seth promises to let me borrow his camera on the morrow.

Wednesday 18th November:

“Off-shanker, prosher”. I discuss the narrative vs. experiential applications of VR with Steven Poster ASC. It’s Pippa’s birthday, and Ralph Young’s Mrs too. Alan proffers a copy of the magazine to Vittorio Storaro who is here, with Mrs Storaro, for tonight’s screening of Muhammad: The Messenger Of God. I try to take Seth’s Leica for a spin, but he weather is foul, and there’s no

n Osin Teatime... Roma

Pelte BSC with Karin

Cheese please…

Hugh Whittaker and Kim Snyder at Dan Sasaki’s lens workshop

sunlight. Bewitched by the camera, but bothered and bewildered by the gales, I catch a cab to the Multikino with John de Borman for Chris Menges Q&A screening of The First time…

Mission (1986). He won our good the second of his two friend Richard Oscars for the movie, and Crudo ASC with his trusty it’s great to see names like rangefinder Robin Vidgeon, Peter Bloor and Eddie Knight, plus Stuart Craig, on the credits.

In his documentary days, Chris had been trapped in the Burmese jungle for 18 months, so it’s little wonder to find the cinematography so sympatico with nature.

>>

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 67

F-STOP POLAND / CAMERIMAGE 2015 DIARY / BY RON PRINCE

For the kids… Chris Menges after The Mission screening with enthusiastic youngsters (l-r) Gerda Hermanowicz, Dong Hyun Yang aka Ben, Miron Hermanowicz and Minje Kim aka Robbie

Whence Deakins has chosen the backs of heads for Sicario, Chris focussed on feet to convey the physicality of man’s contact with the wild, natural landscape. He ascends the cinema stairs and gets in amongst the audience for the Q&A. One plucky dad pipes up, and asks what advice Chris has for his youngsters. “Find a great story, that matters to you, that your heart really loves, and make it. You will learn everything you need to know,” is the received wisdom.

Next up is the ARRI’s ‘Big Screen Experience’.

Well, it would be, but I am told by the junior border guards that I cannot enter the auditorium because… I am carrying my jacket! Enough of this nonsense, I go in anyway. We get the update from Marc Shipman-Mueller on the various hardware advances – matte boxes, electronic remotes, spherical and Anamorphic cine lenses – that ARRI has been working on. The highlight of the presentation is the Alexa 65 update from Neil Fanthom, who speaks about the pioneering work done by ARRI and Codex to conquer ever-higher data rates, and who talks through the impressive list of 18 movies and two

Bond girl… Judith Evans at the ARRI-sponsored drone presentation

commercials that have used the new large format system so far. The trailer for The Revenant, which saw Chivo using Alexa 65 for about 40% of production in bitter cold, looks amazing.

Next up is Garrett Brown, Steadicam inventor.

Well it would be, but the conference room is full.

A cheeky beer at the Holiday Inn, and it’s off to Panavision’s party. Chats with birthday girl Pippa about her marketing work at the BFI, Italian DP Andrea Locatelli about home and architectural lighting, Joe Cook on being very, very tall, Alan Trow BSC about the Hay Film Festival and the pros and cons of running a local cinema.

I learn that the zealous patrolling of screenings is due to sensitivities around the screening of Vittorio’s movie. A quick sip of Vodka with Judy and Oona, before making the walk to Bedfordshire.

Thursday 19th November:

Was that the morning sun peeping through the curtains?

It’s “Off-shanker” again, as we breakfast with Hugh and Kimberly Snyder, who thinks she might have seen a ray of sunshine too. We chat about Panavision lenses and the trend for old glass, especially on large format productions such as The Hateful Eight, shot by Bob Richardson ASC Halo sailor… d our goo on Panavision Ultra ven Ste friend 70. The Pixar people Poster ASC are still happy people, really enthused at being here and happy to talk more about the cinematographic qualities imbuing their work. However, it will still take a lot of maths

Double-ta ke Leonardo? … is that be Kazik? Or could it

68 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Watch out for… talented cinematographer and very lovely person Kate Reid

to calculate the binary breath of an Anamorphic focus pull. Perhaps they should visit Dan Sasaki?

Wow, outside the sun really is shining. Vitamin D! And it’s brought out Alan Trow to capture Bydgoszcz in the sunlight with his iPhone. The Helicopter Girls are giving a free-flying ARRI workshop outside the Opera Nova, covering the visual language of drones and the importance of the ‘tech recce’ in advance of the shoot.

The wind is whistling around our ears, and the drone pilot gamely gets the winged beast flying over the river.

We’re advised to watch out for “prop wash”. Festival organiser Kazik Suwala appears, looking like Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant, and is clearly used to the cold in his smart whistle.

After a delicious lunch with Judith Evans at the downstairs student café, I try to persuade the ladies of the Menges family to see Son Of Saul. But they have spent the morning being entertained by Local Hero and want to stay in their happy bubble.

Close-up shots around the back and side of the head, with glimpses of an horrific Nazi extermination factory in the background, are the features of the harrowing Son Of Saul. The cinematography of Mátyás Erdély is superlative and stifling, brilliant in fact, and highly likely to be a Frog contender. For light relief, I decide to watch the music video competition. Again swatting-off the fanatical attendants to keep seats for Katie Swain and Angus Husdon BSC, who have popped out to spend a couple of pennies, is irksome. This year’s music videos are mainly miserable takes of human existence, but my favourites are: Kendrick Lamar’s raptastic “Alright”, for the consummate handling of B&W and camera work by cinematographer Rob Witt; the visceral energy and rawness of Steven Annis on U2’s “Every Breaking Wave; and Hook N Sling “Break Yourself” (feat.

Far East Movement) shot by cinematographer Nicholas Wiesnet, because IMHO that’s what music videos ought to look like.

There’s just time to catch the late night screening of Michael Collins, for which Chris created a special peacock blue/green filter to colour the nighttime scenes.

Again, it’s another masterclass in cinematographic storytelling. The enthusiastic audience are eager to question Chris, who again dispenses sage sentiments. “With time, anyone can learn about the energy of light, and how to use it,” he says. Shine on!

LETTER FROM AMERICA / RICHARD CRUDO ASC / PRESIDENT - AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS

CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION Discover the 2015 Camerimage Festival of Cinematography, through the first-time experiences of Richard Crudo ASC, president of the ASC.

I

f you’re not aware of the Camerimage International Film Festival, you ought to be. And if you haven’t yet found a reason to attend, I’m putting you on warning: you must find a way to do so. Believe me, this is no Hollywood-hype show, nor is it the chilly preserve of Eastern European cinephiles eager to one-up each other with sooty prints of obscure art films. No, my friends, this is the bash you’ve all been waiting for.

By focusing its celebration purely on the art and craft of cinematography, Camerimage exists as the world’s best venue through which those who paint with light are given their proper due. The fact that we are generally kept below the radar (not to mention below the line) across the industry is of no consequence during this week-long rave up. Get this, producers, directors and studio executives, the cinematographer is the star here in every sense of the word! I must admit, that proved to be somewhat of a discomfiting feeling right off the plane in Bydgoszcz, Poland, but any and all misgivings dissipated quickly in the warmth and camaraderie provided by the thousands of attending colleagues, manufacturers, students and cinematography fans.

This past November marked the festival’s 23rd consecutive gathering; it also presented my first opportunity to travel there in person. Having been stymied by work commitments at that time of the year for as far back as I can remember, I now kick myself for having missed so much of Camerimage’s already mythic-legendary history. Everything relevant to the attendees’ enjoyment was located within close walking distance of their accommodations and that led to some very long days and nights, indeed. Which is not to say that every minute was not thoroughly enjoyable! A tremendous excitement filled the air as I approached

the festival’s nerve center at the Opera Nova; once inside I immediately understood why. This event was mounted by people with a unique appreciation for what we do and they were not shy in letting us know it. As the first and most prestigious offering of its kind, Camerimage deserves great praise and encouragement from everyone associated with motion pictures.

The idea for Camerimage originated in 1992 with festival director (and ASC Honorary Member) Marek Zydowicz. His reasoning was that cinematographers needed a forum through which to highlight their contributions to world cinema – and those contributions alone. He has done a sensational job. The explosive growth in attendance and recognition over the years – 2015 saw more than 500 cinematographers and some 5,000 others in attendance – is proof enough of his great achievement. Along with his top lieutenants Kazik Suwala and Marek Zebrowski, Zydowicz warrants high praise for a job well done. Their effort is akin to pulling off a moon launch while performing open heart surgery... only what they’ve done is harder.

In addition to the requisite whirl of seminars, panels, roundtable discussions and masterclasses that are taught by some of the profession’s most elite practitioners, there were an endless number of screenings chosen to showcase the best of the best. Using an unconventional yet wholly correct approach, distinguished panels of cinematographers judged the films in competition purely upon their visual merits. According to Zydowicz, by structuring Camerimage in this fashion, he hoped to not only introduce new talents to the world but to also refine and expand the scope of our art by dissecting it in fresh, ever more passionate ways. After seeing just a portion of the work, it’s clear that he has exceeded his initial expectations.

Camerimage hands out a huge variety of honours to students, educators, actors, directors and other industry figures who have demonstrated an Richard Crudo ASC

appreciation for cinematography. The 2015 feature film award – the coveted Golden Frog – went to Ed Lachman ASC for his outstanding work on the feature film Carol, which he shot on Super 16mm. The festival also draws attention to the collaborative nature of our work by bestowing the unique Duo Award.

This honour is reserved for cinematographerdirector teams that, as termed by the organisers, have shown a “special sensitivity” to the image. Past winners have Carol included some of the greatest combos in history. This year, it went to director Majid Majidi and the legendary Vittorio Storaro AIC ASC. For a complete listing of winners and honorees, I refer you to the official festival website: www.camerimage.pl. You will be astonished!

But I would be remiss if I didn’t single out the granddaddy of them all: the Lifetime Achievement Award. There’s not much I can add that will make it seem a bigger deal than it already is. Just consider, if you will, a partial list of previous awardees: Sven Nykvist ASC; Vittorio Storaro AIC ASC; Vilmos Zsigmond ASC; Laszlo Kovacs ASC; Owen Roizman ASC; Freddie Francis BSC; William A. Fraker ASC; Witold Sobocinski PSC; Haskell Wexler ASC; Conrad Hall ASC; and Caleb Deschanel ASC. This year, Chris Menges BSC ASC took the prize.

Chris is one of the all-time greats and I can tell you, he deserves that much and more.

And did I mention the nightly string of parties that redefine the meaning of fun? If you’re a cinematographer, you haven’t lived until you’ve been absorbed into the generous bosom of so many people who truly love you and what you do. I’m not exaggerating when I compare the feeling to something one of The Beatles might’ve experienced circa 1964.

Like I said, If you ever have an opportunity to attend, I cannot urge you strongly enough to do so.

Poland is a beautiful country and is home to some of the warmest, most welcoming people on earth. No one else in the industry celebrates cinematographers in as significant a way. Thanks to Marek and his crew for providing a thriving platform for just such celebration.

We all should salute them for it!

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 69

SPOTLIGHT / PANALIGHT ITALY / BY ADRIAN PENNINGTON

WHEN IN ROMA I

n Roberto Jarratt’s varied career, spanning 60 years in the industry, he has helped BBC Italy produce documentaries, acted as consultant to Lord Sidney Bernstein, founder of Granada TV, and been managing director for revered lighting specialist Mole Richardson Italia. Perhaps his most enduring achievement began in the early 1990s, following from the realisation that the Italian motion picture community faced a gap in the market for a high quality, new-technology-focused rental and service company.

With three young industry enthusiasts, Jarratt set about creating a modern rental company for the motion picture business. With himself as president, Panalight was born with its three original partners still heading the company: Carlo Loreti, managing director; Jarratt’s son David as vice president and director of light & grip; and Roberto Schettini, vice president and camera director.

“The aim was to focus on the international market which was just beginning to show renewed interest in Italy at that time,” explains David Jarratt. “We were able to lead the company to the top of the European market by investment in technology research and development, combined with technical expertise.”

To establish an edge over other rental companies, Panalight immediately invested in the most advanced technology of the time – the ARRI 535 and 435 35mm cameras and the top-of-the-range film unit Moviecam developed by Fritz Gabriel Bauer – striking deals exclusive to Italy. In the lighting sector, Panalight offered the De Sisti and ARRI product range – again aiming for the top of the market – providing the full range of filters together with the Lee Colortran products. More recently, Panalight has concentrated investment in ARRI products strengthening collaboration with the German company.

“From the beginning, Panalight had the chance to supply important and large Italian-based productions which demanded more and more technological commitment,” explains Jarratt. These included The American (DP Martin Ruhe), The Passion (DP Luca Bigazzi), La Vita è Bella (Tonino Delli Colli), The English Patient (John Seale ACS ASC), The Talented Mr Ripley (John Seale ACS ASC), The Tourist (John Seale ACS ASC) and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (DP Robert D. Yeoman).

70 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Over its 25-year history Panalight has established a strong relationship with Panavision. This stems back to the 1990s when, with Panavision’s global chairman Bill Scott, Roberto Jarratt helped develop Panavision’s business in Italy, Malta and Greece.

“Roberto always envisaged the importance of working jointly with Panavision and thanks to his insight, Panalight today can offer the very latest Panavision products,” says David Jarratt.

Headquartered a couple of miles from Cinecittà Studios in Rome, where they also have an office on the lot (Cinecittà Panalight) which serves as the studios’ official kit supplier, Panalight maintains branches in Milan, serving the north of Italy, at Panalight Sudtirol in Bolzano and Panalight Apulia in Bari.

Since 2011, a Maltese division offers full service to the island.

Last year was a record one for the company, attributed to the attractive tax incentives issued

by Cinecittà Studios and the government’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism.

The tax credits, which came into force last April, were intended to attract bigger budget Hollywood movies and to benefit domestic film and TV projects.

As a result, blockbuster productions such as Baltasar Kormakur’s Everest (DP Salvatore Totino AIC ASC), The Man From UNCLE (DP John Mathieson BSC), Ben Hur (DP Oliver Wood) directed by Timor Bekmambetov, Zoolander 2 (DP Dan Mindel ASC BSC) and Giuseppe Tornatore’s La Corrispondenza (DP Fabio Zamarion) were all based in Italy and all serviced by Panalight. The company further supplied equipment and services to Point Break (Ericson Core) and the Ron Howard-directed Inferno (Salvatore Totino AIC ASC).

Last year, the company serviced Alice Rohrwacher’s Le Meraviglie (DP Helene Louvart), which won the Grand Prix du Jury at the Cannes Festival.

Panalight’s proven ability to win business is explained by its continued investment and smart eye for the latest equipment. “We’ve grown the company to the same technological level as any company in the US or UK,” says Jarratt. “But we have to keep vigilant. The market is increasingly competitive and always demanding higher-end new technologies.”

Aside from the full range of traditional film cameras, Panalight offers digital units from Blackmagic Design to the ARRI Alexa XT and Red Dragon, supported with a comprehensive lens inventory

including vintage Anamorphics from Todd AO and Xtal to the recent modern Zeiss Master and Cooke Anamorphics.

Its lighting roster, features new LED lighting fixtures, like the Cineo and ARRI Skypanel, as well as the ‘M’ series which grips to a special Technocrane and 3-axis stabilised remote head like the Flight Head V.

Significant investments in the last two years have been made in a Scorpio Arm, a controlled motorised arm for filming on a Mercedes driving up to 150kmh, and the Panaranger, for mounting on a Polaris Ranger Crew 800 jeep.

These gyrostabilised pursuit systems and remote heads are operated by PanaTeam, a crew of qualified professionals who “represent one of the few top teams in Europe able to produce first class results with this kind of system,” says Jarratt.

Sister company Cinetecnica provides gear for transportation, from grip trucks and trailers to motor home and generators.

Despite adopting these latest technologies, Panalight has also taken another important step in traditional equipment when this year it become the Italian seller for Kodak Film stock.

“This is a prestigious commitment which will ensure continued availability for unique shooting choices,” says Jarratt. “It is the experience and passion of our staff that allows Panalight to meet any technical and creative requirements and to achieve the best possible solution for every budget.”

LIVE & LET DI / WHO’S DIALLING-IN THE DI GRADES Goldcrest… completed the grade on The Danish Girl

Company 3, London: working on James Bond SPECTRE was one of the highlights for the company in 2015. Its dailies team processed over 1,200,000ft of 35mm, plus 70 hours of digital footage, during the 12-month shoot and post, whilst senior colourist Greg Fisher worked with cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema to enhance the looks of the various locations and deliver the final DI. The team worked with colleagues in the US during the Mexico shoot, that saw Deluxe Burbank developing and scanning dailies and sending 100-minutes of 2K scans everyday across the company network to grade Company 3… and deliver in lured Asif London.

Kapadia for the DI on Ali Other DI And Nino highlights in 2015 included: Legend (DP Dick Pope BSC), Everest (DP Salvatore Totino ASC AIC), The Martian (Dariusz Wolski ASC), The Lady In The Van (DP Andrew Dunn BSC and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (DP Robert Elswit ASC). CO3 reports a strong slate of projects this year, with colourists travelling the globe to work with other leading DPs. Senior colourist Paul Ensby is collaborating with filmmaker Asif Kapadia who returns for Ali And Nino following their working partnership on Amy – The Amy Winehouse Story. Ali And Nino tells the story of young love and its challenges across contrasting cultures just as WWI breaks out.

Goldcrest: Lee Clappison graded Ronaldo, about the global football superstar, for director Anthony Wonke and DPs Mike Eley BSC and Neil Harvey, and the documentary A Divorce Before Marriage, for Benjamin Lankester and Matthew Hopkins, about life after the record deal ends for indie-rockers I Like Trains. Adam Glasman teamed up with Tom Hooper and DP Danny Cohen BSC to grade The Danish Girl. He also graded Special Correspondence, Goldcrest’s first full 4K start-to-finish feature directed by Ricky Gervais, lit by Terry Stacey, plus Churchill’s’ Secret with DP Fabian Wagner. He most recently put the finishing touches to director Luke Scott’s first feature Morgan, lit by Mark Patten, produced by Sir Ridley.

Rob Pizzey collaborated with DP George Richmond BSC on Dexter Fletcher’s feature Eddie The Eagle, the true story of Britain’s greatest sporting underdog, and graded the fast paced thriller Bastille Day with DP Tim MauriceJones and director James Watkins. He recently completed the final grade on Thea Sharrock’s Me Before You with Remi Adefarasin OBE BSC. 72 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Technicolor PostWorks, NY: When it came to grading The Americans, where the central characters lead double lives, colourist John Crowley knew he would need to create some distinctive looks. He used Baselight to grade series two and three of the New York-shot, 1980s-set show, working closely with DP Richard Rutkowski.

The show recreates faithfully the cold war era of 30 years ago. The Jennings family appear to be the perfect American family – but both husband and wife are actually Russian KGB spies, living and working under cover.

“This show has a plethora of intriguing story lines that ultimately result in a number of special looks” explained Crowley. “While the Jennings’ home is warm and pleasant, the Rezidentura (KGB headquarters) and missions are generally mysterious and somewhat foreboding.

The one constant goal was to make the images seem more filmic to convey the nostalgic look as one may expect from that time period.”

As well as creating tension between the two sides of the central characters’ double lives, Crowley also had to faithfully recreate the look and feel of the 1980s. “Richard and I spent time looking through still photography books

Halo Post… achieved a set of period looks for The Honourable Rebel

from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. We discussed how shadow detail fell off in parts of the frame, and the amount of saturation there was in skin tones. The main aim was to create a “rich” image without it being overly saturated.”

Crowley started by adding film grain to the images – shot on ARRI Alexa – to enhance the period feel. The base grades for regular scenes – like the home and the KGB headquarters – were established in Baselight and exported as ARRI Look files, so the DP on-set got a sense of what the final result would be.

Crowley even ensured that the monitor on-set was calibrated to match the monitor in the grading suite.

“When a Look file is activated in the camera, it automatically travels as metadata in the QuickTime file,” said Crowley. “I was presented with a locked cut that had a CDL from the ARRI Look metadata, so all our looks lined up from production through to post.

“These pre-grades were a great starting point, so I could spend most of my time shaping frames with vignettes to darken walls, The Americans using various gradients to suggest lighting effects, tracking faces for skin tones, de-saturating vibrant colours and generally trying to replicate that 80s vibe,” he added.

Halo Post: senior colourist Ross Baker used the digital toolsets in Nucoda Film Master to achieve a set of period looks for director Mike Fraser’s acclaimed The Honourable Rebel, lit by DP Peter Edwards. This film explores the extraordinary life story of Elizabeth Montagu – writer, actress, musician, linguist, lover and secret agent – from the 1920s, through WWII, to her death in 2001.

“The Honourable Rebel was one of the those projects that inspires you to get creative, and with the toolsets available it was possible to establish unique styles for each chapter of the story as it passed through the decades.” For the 1920s Baker turned the image into soft B&W with bluish blacks and creamy highlights with a slight projector burble.

The 1930s were given a greenish tone to the lowlights and a soft contrast with pink skin tones. The 1940s were set with brown tones with a slight green and cream hint in the whites while popping out the reds when they were available. The 1950s had a slightly off hue tone for the flesh tones and muted all other colours apart from yellows and teals. The latter part of the movie has a more contemporary look.

Sony Pictures Entertainment, LA: recently completed a 4K restoration of Cover Girl, director Charles Vidor’s 1944 Technicolor musical that marked one of the first starring roles for Rita Hayworth. The new restoration, completed under the supervision of Grover Crisp, Sony Pictures’ EVP of Asset Management, Film Restoration & Digital Mastering, premiered at The Museum of Modern Art as part of the 13th International Festival of Film Preservation.

Cover Girl was Columbia Pictures’ first big film shot in the Technicolor three-strip process. For the 4K restoration, the team went back to the original 3-strip nitrate camera negatives. “There was a preservation initiative with this film in the 1990s that involved making some positive intermediate elements for video transfer, but our current process dictates that we source the most original materials possible to come up with the best visual result for our 4K workflow,” recalled Crisp. “The technical capabilities that we have now allow us to digitally recombine the three separate B&W negatives to create a colour image that is virtually free of the fuzzy registration issues inherent in the traditional analogue work, in addition to the usual removal of scratches and other physical flaws in the film.”

We consider this new work to be our contribution to the 100th anniversary and celebration of Technicolor,” noted Crisp. “Working with our colourist, Sheri Eisenberg, we strived to get the colours, with deep blacks and vibrant reds, right.”

Technicolor, London: renowned colourist Peter Doyle said Dunckley. “I enhanced the “countryside” look with a recently worked on Aleksandr Sokurov’s Francofonia, lensed custom LUT to add warmth to the high-end, push some

by Bruno Delbonnel AFC ASC, and Joe Wright’s Pan lensed cyan into the shadows, and collapse colours to make richer

by Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC, whilst Jean-Clément hues. This created a lush environment for the traditional Soret completed the love story, with warm skin tones for the main characters. grades on the Danny “For the “in-between” world, from Boyle-directed Steve where the zombies attack, I moved the Technicolor, London… did the grade for Aleksandr Jobs, lit by Alwin gamma point higher and crushed the Sokurov’s Francofonia Küchler BSC and Ron blacks a little more on the curve. I also Howard’s In The Heart desaturated the image from the top Of The Sea, shot by down, like a bleach bypass process, and cinematographer pushed a fair amount of blue into the Anthony Dod Mantle shadows. Then I windowed and tracked DFF BSC ASC. the heroes’ faces to blend the bleach look out by fifty per cent. The final result was Cheat: has finished a post apocalyptic zombie world without its expansion and losing all the skin tone of the heroes.” is partnering with First Light Audio, which has set up a 5.1 mixing Park Road Post, Wellington: supervising suite next door for sound post as well as new digital dailies Colourist Matthew Wear used SGO Mistika to grade services. Joseph Bicknell is full-time at Cheat and headingBilal, the animated feature directed by Khurram H. Alavi up the second large da Vinci suite at the company. Come and Ayman Jamal, produced by Barajoun Entertainment, February they hope to have VFX/online editorial up-andvoiced by Ian McShane, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. running too, with multiple workstations, and a client space.

Set a thousand years ago, in the historic Middle East, Bilal is about a boy with a dream of becoming a great warrior.

Light Iron, NY: senior colourist Sean Dunckley used Quantel He is abducted with his sister and taken to a far away land Rio to process native ARRIRAW files, viewed with a Christie where greed and injustice rule, but where Bilal finds the 4220 projector, to perform the DI on Pride & Prejudice & courage make a change.

Zombies, lensed by Remi Adefarasin OBE BSC. “Remi’s

“The film’s extensive and rich colour palette takes in impeccable cinematography created two distinct worlds,” expansive deserts, exotic palaces, vibrant markets and dark

Molinare… did the DIs on Fungus The Bogeyman

foreboding environments,” said Wear. “We paid special attention to characters’ skin tones, particularly those of the hero Bilal as we follow his life journey. Textured and colourful fabrics, warm red sands, and clear blue skies across the film offer a fresh take on an ancient story.”

Colourist Clare Burlinson dialled in the hues for Mahana, director Lee Tamahori’s sweeping epic of family rivalry and reconciliation, set against the stunning backdrop of rural New Zealand in the 1960’s.

Shot by DP Ginny Loane Park Road Post… delivered a rich and in rural Auckland, the the colourful result on l Bila colour palette of lush animated feature green farmlands and mercurial nights supports a story of two dynamic families, creating a loving postcard to a period the director knew well. Mahana was shot on ARRI Alexa with Anamorphic lenses and was leveraging the full dynamic range of ARRIRAW in the grade.

Burlinson worked hard to enhance classic, period scenes such as golden shearing contests, dramatic landscapes and the volatile family rivalry. As with Bilal, Park Road mastered DCP and HD deliverables for global audiences.

Molinare: senior colourist Asa Shoul did a three-week Baselight grade on 20th Century Fox’s Victor Frankenstein, directed by Paul McGuigan, lensed by Fabian Wagner, starring James McAvoy as Viktor Von Frankenstein and Daniel Radcliffe as Igor. Told from Igor’s perspective, the movie follows the troubled assistant’s dark origins and his redemptive friendship with the young medical student Frankenstein.

“We worked closely with Fabian in the autumn of 2013, testing 35mm and Alexa together with a range of spherical and Anamorphic lenses,” said Shoul. “The final combination was spherical and Alexa. Paul and Fabian were concerned about being able to control the flares with so much of the film being night interiors using candle light and practical gas lamps. However, we ended up adding flares in the grade with our library of real flares in the Baselight and also provided some from our Avid DS, which had been created specifically for three scenes in the film.

“In the grade I worked closely with Fabian to create a rich and colourful film that reflected the period, being one of exciting new inventions. We added diffusion to the candles and Anamorphic diffusion to the electric lights and lightning sparks. In the final reel we key-framed the lighting every time lightning struck to make it bluer. There were over a thousand dynamic grading changes for the lightning in the reel.”

Meanwhile, DI grader Chris Rodgers was at the controls for Sky 1’s Fungus The Bogeyman, produced by The Imaginarium Studios, starring Timothy Spall, Marc Warren, Victoria Wood and narrated by Andy Serkis. The three-part series comprised both live action and animated elements to bring the well-loved Raymond Briggs book to life.

“I worked with DP Dave Marsh to set the look and feel for the live action ‘Up Top’ and animated ‘Bogeydom’ environments,” said Rodgers. “These two worlds are visually very different, and we looked to emphasise the lighter, more open, feel of Up Top and the more closed-in, stein Victor Franken flambo-lit caves that the bogeys inhabit. One of the biggest challenges was hitting the correct ‘bogey green’.

Human skin tones are pivotal in any grade, so scenes that only feature bogeymen didn’t have that familiar point of reference. In effect I had to re-learn how to grade green skin tones, and we worked closely with VFX supervisor Hayden Jones to make sure that we were being faithful and consistent with their work. What they delivered to the grade was so incredibly consistent that we hardly ever had to isolate or key any of the CG elements.”

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 73

CLAPPERBOARD / TONY PIERCE-ROBERTS BSC

Affectionately known, far and wide, by the simple diminutive “TPR”, British cinematographer Tony PierceRoberts BSC has the best part of 50 motion picture and TV narrative credits to his name, with landmark productions featuring in a successful career path and garnering the highest accolades along the way.

Puppy love … TPR pictured in Alaska on White Fang

74 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

P

ierce-Roberts was double Oscar, BAFTA, ASC and BSC award-nominated for the Merchant Ivory productions Howards End (1982) and A Room With A View (1985), securing wins from the BSC for Howards End, along with Evening Standard British Film Awards and NY Film Critics Circle awards for A Room With A View. His gongs also include BAFTA wins for BBC2 Playhouse (1981) and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979). Some of his other notable credits include Voyage Round My Father (1982), The Good Soldier (1983), The Remains Of The Day (1993) and Underworld (2003), to name just a few.

“Shooting, especially movies,” he says, “is a job I love, and I want to continue for a long as I can.”

Pierce-Roberts hails originally from Birkenhead, Cheshire, but moved with his family to Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, at age of 11. His first job, aged just 15, was with the Central African Film Unit, which produced big game and wild animal documentaries. After completing national service at 18, he continued to work in films and television and, having worked with film crews visiting from the UK, he had the idea to return to the UK and successfully applied for a job at the BBC in Ealing. It was the start of a 13-year stint that saw him rise to the role of cameraman, and to photograph notable BBC productions including Days Of Hope (1975) and the seven-part series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979), for which he won a BAFTA.

Pierce-Roberts decided to leave the corporation in 1980 with the aim of spreading his wings as a freelancer and shooting more on 35mm. After working briefly for Granada Television, and shooting commercials, he moved into features, making his debut with Moonlighting (1982), Jerzy Skolimowski’s acclaimed drama about a Polish contractor and his immigrant workmen in grimy workaday London, starring Jeremy Irons, which was nominated for the Cannes Palme D’Or.

“I was very pleased to be able to use the latest Fuji 250ASA, medium speed, film on Moonlighting,” remarks Pierce-Roberts. “Kodak at that time had only

Moonlighting

A Room With A View

one speed of filmstock, at 100ASA. Using the new Fuji film meant we could shoot at lower light levels, in a semi-documentary style, which I felt was appropriate to the subject.”

It was the start of a stellar rise. His work on Handmade Films’ A Private Function (1984), directed

by Malcolm Mowbray and co-written by Alan Bennett, attracted the attention of director James Ivory, and his producing partner Ismail Merchant, and Pierce-Roberts was quickly signed to photograph the period drama A Room With A View as cinematographer.

Looking back on the production, Pierce-Roberts recalls, “James Ivory said, somewhat apologetically, ‘Do you know the most exciting thing to happen in a Merchant Ivory movie is a tea party?’, as though to put me off. Shortly afterwards, however, I found myself knee-deep in fake blood in the Piazza Signoria in Florence, courtesy of an enthusiastic Italian first assistant and some very keen extras.”

Working within a tiny $3m budget, the sumptuous compositions and rendering of idyllic Tuscan locations he created for A Room With A View, changed Pierce Robert’s life completely – getting him recognised by American, and other producers, and triggering an international career encompassing a broad range of styles on UK and Hollywood productions, as well as a further six Merchant Ivory productions.

“For me, and Merchant Ivory, Tony was a momentous discovery,” said Ivory. “In all he shot seven of our features (as well as some of my commercials) at the apex of our box-office success and critical

Howards End

“FOR ME, IN DECIDING ON A PROJECT, THE MOST IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE QUALITY OF THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT.” TONY PIERCE-ROBERTS BSC endorsement – from A Room With A View through to The Remains Of The Day (1993). With every film his work became more ravishing. It would be the greatest pleasure to team up with TPR once more.”

For Merchant Ivory’s Howard’s End (1992), Pierce-Roberts effectively blended lush pastoral landscapes with scenes of dingy urban confinement.

For Joel Schumacher’s Mafia thriller The Client (1994), and Barry Levinson’s powerful drama, Disclosure, starring Demi Moore and Michael Douglas, PierceRoberts gave both movies the big screen treatment in Anamorphic, shooting both in the US.

“Stylistically one of the things we tried to achieve on Disclosure, was a sense of paranoia on the part of Michael Douglas’s character, by utilising

Line-up… on The Client (l-r) Jeff Hand - focus, Brian Osmand - loader, with Tommy Lee Jones and TPR

Cast & crew… on Delovely (l-r) Stephen Endelman musical director, Rob Cowan - producer, Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, Robbie Williams, Irwin Winkler and TPR

glass partitions in the set to put in shadowy, moving reflections to isolate him,” recalls Pierce-Roberts.

Other highlights of Pierce-Roberts’s varied credits include: WW1 drama The Trench (1999), featuring the now famous Daniel Craig; the groundbreaking Dinotopia (2002) TV series, which garnered both Primetime Emmy and VES Awards; Oliver Parker’s The Importance Of Being Earnest (2002), the first film to come out of the newly-invigorated Ealing Studios; Len Wiseman’s vampire warrior Underworld (2003), shot in Budapest, which successfully kicked off the longrunning horror action franchise; Andrzej Bartkowiak’s sci-fi action adventure Doom (2005), starring ‘The Rock’ Dwayne Johnson; Irwin Winkler’s post Iraq soldier’s story Home Of the Brave (2006); and Paul Weiland’s romcom Made Of Honor (2008). Most recently PierceRoberts shot the teen horror flick Vampire Academy (2014) for director Mark Waters.

“For me, in deciding on a project, the most important consideration has always been the quality of the original script,” says Pierce-Roberts, “and I have been lucky to have been able to work on projects with wonderful writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Alan Bennett, William Boyd, John le Carré, Barry Levinson, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Stephen King.

“One of the great things I learned early-on, especially from Jim and Ismail on the Merchant Ivory productions, was the value of working, where possible, with the same collaborators. In England, I worked on many films with my gaffer Tommy Finch, with either Malcom Huse or Darren Quinn as my key grips, and John Bailie or Rawdon Hayne as my focus pullers. In US I’ve always used Pat Murray as my gaffer and John Janusek as key grip.”

Peirce-Roberts lives in Norfolk, East Anglia, dividing his time between there and London, where the beauty of his images lives on. As he explains, “I suppose I am identified with A Room With A View more than any other of my projects. I recently had the pleasure of remastering it in 4K and think it looks better than ever.”

We look forward to reporting on the next magical frames that TPR conjures up for the big screen. You can enjoy his new website at: www.tonypierceroberts.com British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 75

STILL WORKIN’ IT

INNOVATORS / JOHN BUCKLEY & JOHN VENABLES / MOVIETECH / BY KEVIN HILTON

John Buckley

Movietech is one of the UK’s leading camera and accessories rental houses for cinematographers shooting throughout all sectors of the production industry.

The company prides itself not only on the provision of quality equipment solutions, but also on the creation of bespoke products, developed-specifically for use in high-end production, many of which has gone on to become industrystandards.Company founders John Buckley and John Venables learned their craft at Samuelson’s and JDC before striking out on their own. They talk to Kevin Hilton about their innovations and how – even now – they are still working engineers.

How did the two of you meet?

JB: We both started as young men at Samuelson Film Services. We were in the Vicarage under Bill Vickers, who was a great camera engineer. I joined in May 1967 as an engineer and John [Venables] in November that year as a camera engineering apprentice.

What were your backgrounds?

JB: Before Samuelson’s I was a five-year apprentice doing my City & Guilds in mechanical engineering.

I’d been working as an engineer for a big company at Park Royal and then was lucky to get a job in the machine shop at Samuelson’s. I had a fair bit to do with camera maintenance – it was interesting and I got more involved in it – after which I was offered a job. I was taught a lot and gained a lot of knowledge at Samuelson’s. Sometimes it was a case of making mistakes and then not making them again.

John Venables and John Buckley

76 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

JV: When I left school my father set up an interview for me with Sidney

Samuelson and I got the job a week before my 16th birthday. I went straight into Samuelson’s as an apprentice in the camera department. At that time cameras and lenses were two separate departments.

Movietech is known as a camera supplier, but it does have a particular reputation for lenses.

When did your interest in optics begin?

JB: We both joined Joe Dunton Cameras (JDC) in 1976, me in March of that year and John after that.

We helped develop an awful lot of stuff and were very involved in Anamorphic lenses. One of the big successes with that was Star Wars: Episode VI Return Of The Jedi (1983, DP Alan Hume BSC).

JV: For the first three years at JDC we were working with normal, spherical lenses, learning how to repair them and adapting them to what people wanted. Then we were approached by someone in Japan about Anamorphic lenses. We produced a set based on Cooke Primes, which were used on two or three different movies, including Jedi. They were the first set of Anamorphics at the time that looked really sharp because, until then, it had been a bit hit and miss. Nobody knew how to adapt Anamorphic lenses and alter them to make them sharp. Joe Dunton had the idea of going to Japan and it was from there that we learned how to adjust the lenses. We then produced a 3:1 Anamorphic zoom, which was a move forward. After Return Of The Jedi we did lots of films with those lenses, including Legend (1985, DP Alex Thomson BSC).

JB: We learned how to fine-tune them and were learning about optics every day. You can be tied down to tolerances and at Samuelson’s they had been very wide, which we felt was not accurate enough particularly with the new generation of fast lenses which highlighted the problem. So we tightened them down to seven tenths of a 1,000th, which made a hell of a difference.

JV: What also changed was how the lens and camera departments worked with each other. At one time they had been separate, with the camera set-up to one tolerance and the lenses to another. At JDC it was one person doing the same thing, a procedure that others followed afterwards.

Through JDC and then Panavision with Joe Dunton still in charge, how much input did you have into the developments being made?

JB: We were involved in everything in those days. We were the practical guys in the background and Joe came up with the ideas. He was the figurehead with other people in the background making it work.

JV: We sorted out the details and made them work.

But we came up with ideas as well.

When did you finally decide to go out on your own?

JB: I left Panavision first, in 1991. I was managing director at the time and Joe Dunton had gone on to other things.

JV: I took over as joint-MD of Panavision and joined John in his new venture in 1998, after it had been renamed Movietech in 1997.

What has been your approach with the services Movietech offers?

JB: We’d made so many accessories stuff over the years and had so many ideas. Film crews were asking for things and that’s something that has continued. Recently we have done some major engineering work on the Sony F65 with the viewfinder and the power supply, as well as producing accessories that it didn’t have before. When we take delivery of a camera that’s only the start. A lot of companies don’t listen to the film crew, but we do. We can see the problems with cameras as soon as we take delivery and can make improvements.

Anamorphic lenses have come back into vogue recently. Is it something you’ve been interested in for some time, going back to your association with Joe Dunton?

JV: The three of us – Joe, John and myself – have a passion for that format of lens. It’s harder to work with Anamorphic and they do go through cycles. Now they’re extremely popular and there are new companies making them.

JB: Anamorphic has really taken off.

We’re developing a new viewfinder for Anamorphic, which will be at the BSC Expo. It’s been done from scratch and we think it will be quite good for crews.

What is your particular area of interest right now?

JB: John has been working on a lot of specialised lenses over the last two to three years. We’ve been Anamorphising macro lenses and have quite a big range of unusual lenses and special requests now.

Are both of you still hands-on in the design and development of new products and systems?

JB: There are four of us on the engineering side of Movietech. I’m the MD and John is company director, but we’re both working engineers and are both very much involved in the engineering and design that the company does, building things for practical shoots. We’ve two other guys working with us in a lovely little machine shop at Pinewood doing maintenance and engineering. We turn out a number of things making prototypes. If someone needs something and it doesn’t exist then we make it. But if we need to knock out 50 of something we’ll send that out to another company. There’s often very little time to make decisions, which is exhilarating.

JV: We introduced the marco zoom six months ago ­– there’s only one other available. There is also a 200mm Anamorphic Cooke-based lens, which has full control over the focus and is the only one in the world. We get asked for longer lenses and it’s something we’ve decided to do. What we’ve done is something that is simple and compact with the ability to control focus with no focus shift. The focus also goes down to two feet, which is very close for that size.

Does being on the Pinewood lot mean that you can work with people on the spot?

JB: If something goes down on-set then we can make a replacement or new unit straight away. We also get cinematographers, production managers and focus pullers coming into the office all the time, up to half a dozen people a day. Maybe it’s because we have free tea and coffee on offer. Over the years we’ve worked with DPs such as David Watkin, who would always try to use us, Jack Cardiff,

JV: Crews want accessories made up for them and we can do that straight away, for example taking an idea and making something that is better for focus pullers to use.

Pulling power…

Movietech has supported movies such as Beauty And The Beast, plus popular TV series including BBC’s Silent Witness

e Beast Beauty And Th

Gilbert Taylor and Alex Thomson; more recently it’s been John de Borman and Dick Pope, and many up-and-coming young DPs.

Where is your main interest at the moment, lenses or cameras?

JB: We are quite a capital-intensive company and in the last few years we’ve concentrated on lenses. We find the camera side quite volatile because the developments happening so fast and often. From our point of view lenses are timeless. Take a production like Mr Turner (2014, DP Dick Pope BSC), shot on Cooke Speed Panchros, which are 40-year old lenses. A lens is expensive, but it is a long-term investment. The problem with cameras at the moment is that large format seems to be in vogue, but we’re not sure about that, mainly because of the lack of lenses for the format. You could easily spend an awful lot of money and pick the wrong one, so we’ll wait and see. We do have a large inventory of cameras, though.

Where do you see the market and Movietech going in the future?

JV: The market is changing all the time. Going forward, we will adapt with the demand and we will be investing in new technology and really good staff.

JB: We’re remounting classic lenses, which give a unique look, only in a modern housing. It’s all on-going.

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 77

IMAGO NEWS / TONY COSTA AIP / IMAGO

OSLO DIGITAL CINEMA CONFERENCE 2015

Dick Pope BSC

Far from those hyper-days of 2006, when the Oslo Digital Cinema Conference was held for the very first time, this fifth edition marked the total acceptance and consolidation of the electronic image in the industry.

I

n contrast to 2006, when many cinematographers were still resisting and struggling to understand the electronic image, this year marked a definite understanding and a desire to look forward to a brighter future. The digital image is no longer a mystery for cinematographers. The language of pixels, lines, bit-rates, frame rates and compression poses few doubts today.

The aim now is to use the tools and the technology at their utmost for creative and artistic images, but the development in this digital age is so rapid that cinematographers have a great need for updates and to exchange their knowledge. This is where the Oslo Digital Cinema Conference comes in. Cinematographers from around the world can exchange experiences and discuss developments with equipment manufacturers. Sony, ARRI, Panasonic, Red and Canon were on-hand to present and discuss their latest developments.

And this was how conference started, with a great panel of speakers – including cinematographers, colourists and manufacturers – discussing “creative cinematography and camera control”. On the opening panel were Philippe Ros AFC (France), Tom Crocker of Sony, Harald Brendel of ARRI, Yvan Le Verge, Canon, Luc Bara of Panasonic, Dave Stump ASC , Rolf Coulanges, BVK (Germany), Kommer Kleijn SBC (Belgium), John Christian Rosenlund FNF and colourist Cem Ozkillicci from Canada.

Many other speakers followed: Kommer Kleijn SBC, chairman of IMAGO’s Committee of Creative

78 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

Technologies in Cinematography, gave us the state-of-the art-on projection. Harald Brendel from ARRI, Per Böhler and Henrik Moseid from Softlights/France discussed colour science and the limitations of digital photography and LED lighting.

The DIT (Digital imaging technician) is considered a crucial part of the camera crew, especially for the cinematographer on-set. With the aid of a DIT the cinematographer can create and protect their images in a good way. As always, the archiving of images was another important matter discussed.

The first day ended with a screening of the highlyacclaimed Mike Leigh film Mr. Turner, beautifully shot by Dick Pope BSC. The movie couldn’t be more appropriate to show at the digital conference, as it was entirely shot digitally. Dick’s great cinematography won him many awards, including the BSC award, along with a prestigious nomination for an Academy Award. The morning section of the second day, competently moderated by Rolv Haan FNF, was a masterclass dedicated to Dick’s career and the way he works, with several clips screening from films he has shot. The audience also learnt about the relationship between the director Mike Leigh and his cinematographer through their many years of close collaboration.

The afternoon provided the opportunity get closeup with a range with drones and cranes, plus fresh news from ARRI which presented a new Alexa, and also from Panasonic which presented the new Varicam 35, and Canon with its new extreme low light model.

The third and last day there was a case study of Norwegian feature The Wave, shot by John Christian Rosenlund FNF. The film demanded a great deal of VFX and post-production. John explained his involvement with the project from pre-production to colour correction. In collaboration with the colourist Cem Ozlillicci he extensively and successfully used ACES, (the Academy Color Encoding System) during post production to get the desired results. ACES was also discussed thoroughly

by Dave Stump ASC. Dave Stump ASC presented the results of ACES and virtual reality.

The ODCC was again a great success – organised

by Paul René Roestad, the new president of IMAGO, and the Norwegian Society of Cinematographers (FNF), in collaboration with IMAGO. It was supported by the Norwegian Film Institute and the Nordisk Film and TV Fund, with attendance of more than 200 cinematographers from different countries around the world.

The Danish Society of Cinematographers (DFF) every year supports 25 of its members in attending the Oslo Conference – paying their entrance fees, accommodation and flights. The DFF has special funds that are the result from secondary author’s rights that Danish cinematographers get from their collecting society, and this fund is always used for educational purposes. It’s an example to be followed perhaps by other cinematographic societies around the world.

DIFFICULT TIMES IN PORTUGAL Portugal’s neighbour Spain has gained considerable international exposure and its cinema and is well known worldwide. Names such as Pedro Almodovar and Luis Buñuel amongst others are immediately recognised. But Portuguese cinema is regarded to be of minor importance internationally, and Portuguese movies have so far had limited international exposure, apart from at festival screenings.

Unlike the Spanish industry, that manages to distribute productions internationally with great results, Portugal has never had the capacity to succeed in the same way. The Portuguese have never had a nomination for an Oscar in any category ­– ever.

These poor results, of course, derive from the lack of investment in Portuguese cinema. Not only does it lack state funding, but also private investment. Some tentative moves have been made, but none has so far ended on solid ground.

This situation is also due the critically reduced number of spectators going to watch movies: at the moment less than one percent of the total Portuguese cinema audience. So there is no business in the industry for distributors and producers to be interested in investing in cinema.

The only source of film finance comes from the National Film Institute, which supports eight films per year to the tune of €600 000 Euros each. This is the maximum for a major production, and is away too low to produce a high quality feature. The majority of films are author genre type productions, attracting only a very limited audience.

The mainstream audience therefore seems to have little interest in Portuguese films.

There have been some exceptions recently from the private sector. Digital has reduced the cost of production considerably and there are some investments, mainly in

the comedy area to attract audiences, but this does not move the Portuguese film industry forward. Even though it is good that there is strong will from at least a few to try to make cinema into a business.

The industry both reveals and reacts to the lack of interest by the Portuguese public, who have not got the habit of watching their own stories on the big screen, but rather prefer watching foreign films with subtitles. It seems that the audience have gained aversion to listening and prefer to read. There are some filmmakers who consider that Portugal has made a mistake by adopting the subtitling instead of dubbing. The Spaniards have chosen dubbing and the result of that is that Spanish audiences are used to listening instead of reading subtitles, unlike the Portuguese. It is just a theory, but the truth is that Spain has a real film industry with studios in Madrid, Alicante and Barcelona.

The result of having better production is that Spanish cinematographers have a much better perspective over their careers. We can see by examples such as Jose Luis Alcaine AEC, Javier Aguirresarobe AEC and others, who have international careers, and we see that none of the Portuguese has ever made it. Unless they have emigrated, like Eduardo Serra who fled to France in the late ‘60s from the Portuguese dictatorship. Eduardo today is a prominent member of AFC and has made a very interesting international career, nominated twice for the Oscars.

However, the result of this success has had nothing to do with the Portuguese cinema, but rather with the French.

These examples illustrate very clearly what is at stake in the Portuguese industry for a cinematographer’s career, and the difficulties caused by the irregular production of feature films. TV series are just nonexistent. In the last decade Portuguese TV has produced maybe ten TV films, an average of one TV film per year. A one-hour show per year.

Of course, there is the commercials industry, which gives cinematographers a means of living, and there are maybe six cinematographers who make a living exclusively as directors of photography in advertising. Most other cinematographers survive by working in different occupations.

The cinematographer faces another major problem in Portugal. The Portuguese cinematographer is not regarded as an author of a feature production, and within in this experiences a lack of respect for our profession. A cinematographer in Spain, Italy or in any other country is respected for their skill and knowledge.

In Portugal cinematographers are regarded as technicians.

This situation came about because Portugal never had a tradition of filmmaking and when the first film school appeared, in 1973, it was already very late. The cinematographer was a craftsman working in the studio as a technician and therefore did not have the opportunity to develop the sense of artistry as others did abroad. The history is the reason that the cinematographer has little power to impose rights on to the producers.

It could all be changed if cinematographers could understand that there is time to change: to claim moral rights of the craft and to lay out the conditions of performing the job. Some do it on certain productions, but it is not a norm.

If one or two, who are already better known in the industry, can impose some artistic respect and therefore can get better conditions to perform the job, it is just an exception.

The cinematographer is still seen as a technician, and someone costly for the production if they request too much lighting, additional camera assistants or focus pullers.

Some of the most prominent and active cinematographers could themselves make the change to benefit all cinematographers, whilst also improving the image and the quality of work of cinematographers, but the situation is difficult. In 2011 Portugal was financially rescued by the IMF for a period of three years. The situation imposed a high degree of austerity and a brutal raise on taxes, something that was never seen before in the country. The film fund was cut to zero in 2012. No film was funded that year and the following year the number of films funded didn’t increase.

The lack of work plus the brutal reduction on salaries, due in part to the digital revolution, has made it more difficult to make a living solely on cinematography work, with the exception of those half a dozen DPs doing commercials and the odd feature every two or three years.

There is little courage amongst cinematographers to change the status quo in regard to the producer, because everyone is afraid of retaliation. In the small business as it is in Portugal, a bad reputation quickly spreads. There is fear, a lot of fear about getting together and implementing a change to the situation, and with little or no growth, very little optimism either. So with this backdrop, all one can do is to wait for better days.

WORKING CONDITIONS IN GREECE

Yiannis Daskalothanasis GSC

“I woke up today in my home in Athens and realised my situation at age 61. In the morning I work as a DP on a TV series, in the afternoon I videotape lectures and conferences, and at the night I do colour grading,” writes Yiannis Daskalothanasis GSC. “I work for more than 12 hours a day, to earn about 25% of what I was earning four years ago by doing one job. Meanwhile 90% of young cinematographers remain unemployed. Despite the guilt I feel, I am obliged to take over jobs they would have taken as novices, just to cover my running expenses.

From 1976, when I started working, until 1995, there were three pillars regulating labour relationships in film and television in Greece:

to be. The Greek state did nothing but neither did the Union. The situation was getting more and more out of control. But so many productions were taking place each year and so many people were happily employed that nobody had time to worry.

From 2007 on, however, the situation started changing drastically. The various private TV channels started collapsing as they were indebted with millions of euros. From 2007 till 2010, the private TV channels drastically cut down their programming and their 1. Compulsory insurance and pension benefits budgets. Banks refused to give more loans and Every person working in the audiovisual sector production simply stopped. The economic crisis hit had to be insured by the National Health System.

Greek television and film productions hard, and 80% Each employer and employee was obliged to pay of film technicians were suddenly unemployed. contributions for health care and pension. The

In 2010 the Technicians’ Union attempted some employee had to contribute 13% of their salary hectic efforts to bring back the three and the employer 34%. pillars. Unfortunately it was too late.

In 2011, collective labour contracts 2. Working licenses were officially abolished according to For someone to be able European regulations. And in 2013, to work in cinema or the Ministry of Culture also officially television, they had to be abolished working licenses, again licensed. The Ministry of according to European regulations.

Culture was responsible From then on, everyone could for issuing licenses for work wherever and whenever they each specialty after wanted in cinema and television.

GSC asis lothan Daska is Yiann On location… his ing examining each person’s As a result of this, the various enjoy still and e Greec in ng shooti vehicle educational degree and film schools became redundant cinematography even in a wrecked qualifications. and it was quite hard for them to attract students. Why would anyone decide to 3. Collective labour contracts spend money and time to get a degree in art direction, for Becoming a certified technician in cinema and example, if they could work without it? television, meant that one would automatically enter

Today about 90% of certified technicians are the umbrella of legal, labour and trade union legislation unemployed. In the few productions that take place covering the audiovisual sector. The Technicians’ Union in Greece nowadays, the producers employ mostly (ETEKT) had signed a collective agreement with the uncertified technicians, as they are cheaper and producers’ association which was mandatory to be more manageable. The reaction of the old and skillful followed by all producers regardless of whether the cinematographers was to get no salary and rely only on technicians were members of the union. However, in back-end profits, which in 90% of the cases didn’t come. the mid ‘90s the situation started changing. Several

In 2014, under my suggestion, the Technicians’ private TV channels appeared and transmitted on a Union set up a cooperative to undertake Greek productions national scale, having no license whatsoever. The state or offer services to foreign productions shot in Greece. imposed no sanctions and so the TV channels kept

The Technicians’ Union continues to fight for its working unperturbed. On top of this, many of these three pillars: insurance and pension benefits, working private channels imposed their own labour terms, their licenses, and collective labour contracts. I am not sure sole purpose being to maximise their profits. how successful this struggle could be, even with the left-wing government we have now in Greece. I think The great demand for employees by these private that this disease is going to spread from the Southern channels led to the creation of an army of unskilled countries to the rest of Europe very soon unless we do technicians, who would work with no license, outside something about it collectively. the norms of collective labour contracts, demanding minimal or no health or pension contributions.

Yiannis Daskalothanasis GSC is an award-winning Unfortunately, the Greek state did nothing to regulate cinematographer working since 1976 in the Greek this situation, which continued and thrived. and international film and television industry. For a

Little-by-little, the above deregulation in the second term, he is president of the Greek Society of television sector extended to the cinema sector.

Cinematographers. He is board member of the Greek Producers started employing technicians who were Film Centre and the collective rights management not certified by the Ministry of Culture as they ought organisation ISOCRATIS. British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 79

GBCT / NEWS FROM THE GUILD / BY TIM POTTER - CHAIR - GBCT

FOCUS PULLER’S FRIEND The sad passing of David Samuelson, honorary member of the GBCT, on August 28th last year, cannot go without noting his contribution to the work of the focus puller. I, like many, was introduced to the technicalities of the world of the film camera by his books, used his depth-of-field tables to solve issues on-set, and have lived with his depth-of-field calculator in my kit bag for all of my professional career.

T

he sad passing of David Samuelson, honorary member of the GBCT, on August 28th last year, cannot go without noting his contribution to the work of the focus puller. I, like many, was introduced to the technicalities of the world of the film camera by his books, used his depth-of-field tables to solve issues on-set, and have lived with his depth-of-field calculator in my kit bag for all of my professional career. David’s work on making definitive calculations of depth-offield and turning them into many useful devices for the focus puller may not have brought him the fame that his other work did (although it did bring an Academy Technical Achievement Award at the 59th Oscars), but it did make a deep impression on this young technician.

David was much fêted for his work on developing the Louma Crane and by those who worked with him as an exceptional documentary and news cameraman. The cameramen who taught me in the 1980s had themselves assisted and learned from David in the 1960s. However, it is his books (Motion Picture Camera Data and Motion Picture Camera and Lighting Equipment) that camera assistants of my era will remember.

They were invaluable compendiums of knowledge about every aspect of the use of every make and model of film camera, every kind of accessory and the technical problems that a camera assistant will encounter. When first faced with an unfamiliar camera, there was not a button, switch nor dial that was not fully-explained. It meant that a very green, young loader could cover his lack of experience and do a good job without being discovered!

One of my treasured possessions from those days is the Samuelson Group Catalogue from 1985. This is not because it lists long-forgotten cameras and accessories, but because at the back it has the Samuelson Manual Of Cinematography.

This rare imprint meant that all of us had a huge data resource in our kit bags. David’s fingerprints were all over this volume. It had everything from the expected depth-offield tables, lacing patterns and HMI windows to things as esoteric as sun charts, video plug wiring diagrams and even the symbols used by editors on rough cuts.

David’s work with Bill Pollard, co-creator of the Guild Kelly Calculator (David’s Samcine Calculator was a rival to the Kelly, and which one you used was a bit like the choice between Mac or PC, love or hate!), led to the development of the first programme for calculating depth-of-field for use on hand-held electronic devices (PDAs in those days). Those of you who now use apps to do this work should give a thought to this pioneering work of 30 years ago.

They rightly won the 1986/7 Academy Technical Achievement Award for this development that we now take for granted.

While everyone else is remembering David Samuelson for the many things he did for the benefit of our industry, I will be remembering him as the ultimate focus pullers’ friend.

“DAVID WAS MUCH FÊTED FOR HIS WORK ON DEVELOPING THE LOUMA CRANE AND BY THOSE WHO WORKED WITH HIM AS AN EXCEPTIONAL DOCUMENTARY AND NEWS CAMERAMAN.” 80 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

GBCT / NEWS FROM THE GUILD / BY JOHN KEEDWELL

LOOKING AHEAD

It’s that time of year again where we reflect on what has happened over the last year, and also which direction we might be heading for this year and beyond. Even more than that, it’s worth looking at some of the technology we have at our disposal now, and how improvements in technology have been over the past few years.

W

hen RED gave the whole business a shakeup a few years ago with the introduction of the Red One, acquiring pictures in 4K, there were many who dismissed this at the time as fantasy, and pie in the sky. Now we have seen the GoPro camera being used in a few major cinema productions, perhaps most notably (and noticeably becoming part of the plot ) in Ridley Scott’s The Martian (DP Dariusz Wolski ASC) released last year. This is a camera costing only a few hundred pounds, yet is able to be combined with main cameras to great effect, and can even enhance the storytelling for the filmmakers.

The film Back To The Future (1985, DP Dean Cundey ASC) was noticeable for the fact the original time travel was to October 2015, and that was 30 years into the “future” as it was then. Sadly we don’t all go around with hover boards, and with flux capacitors powering our cars, yet a real hover board does exists, albeit in liquid nitrogen-cooled and short-lived form, and there are many hybrid and electric cars now on our roads, so it wasn’t too far off. It was interesting to see that 30 years was seen as way into the future then, yet I guess most of us reading this will remember it like it was almost yesterday. The speed of technology change is truly immense.

It is only a few years ago that I was hearing discussions with a friend of mine about the possibility of putting motion picture cameras on small remote control helicopters for motion picture use. If the technology were possible at the time they would have been able to provide shots no other camera system could. However, at the time motion picture quality cameras were way too big and heavy to be a viable possibility, and my friend was ultimately discouraged enough to be diverted into other areas of great success. Yet over time the weight came down and then some systems developed a few years on. Now we have the possibility of buying a fully-working camera drone with a 4K sensor camera, GPS navigation, gyro-stabilised, HD downlink and with self-landing and take-off systems all included for around the £2,000 mark. I know, I have just bought one from Pro AV, and as I write this article I am in a hotel in Bali planning some interesting quality visuals. But I digress.

The pace of change is immense, and with that come great possibilities and also challenges.

After attending the IBC show last year, the thinking for the future is on even higher resolutions than 4K. (IBC is mainly focussed on TV, of course, not cinema, yet the crossover is so close nowadays), Indeed, the BBC don’t even have a full service of HD broadcast yet, and yet there is talk of 8K and even 16K was mentioned in different discussions I witnessed. Where will this craving for definition all end?

Yes, of course transmitting that amount of data to audiences at home with conventional methods will always be a technical challenge, but for cinema it should not really be an issue. The transmission to audience is via screen and projector based in a custombuilt auditorium, with sound systems and other elements joining together to bring an emotional experience to the audience.

At the camera end there is simply a data rate challenge to be solved, and how quickly the data can be accurately recorded on the camera sensor and stored conveniently is always of vital importance. Recording all the information output of a camera sensor is desirable for later post production, as all the information will be there to be manipulated. Yet in practice this is often a compromise between data volumes and cost, recording technology and simple logistics. Often a great deal of information created by the sensor will be thrown away in the name of compression. Note I said “accurately”, as the various flavours of camera recording compression will play a large part of the future of cinematography, and also the role of people working in camera the camera department. Data wrangling and systems are here to stay.

Largely gone are the days of tape around a film magazine denoting whether a magazine had film in it or not, and if it is exposed or not. It is now much easier to wipe data in

error, as the media cards are used many times over, unlike movie film, where once it’s exposed that’s it!

This is ultimately the point. Technology is a fantastic tool to help the story unfold and this has been embraced by some filmmakers to great effect – think Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and 127 Hours (2010), both shot by Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC, and along with more recent films such as The Martian. This needs a new thinking within all departments, but particularly in the camera department.

Last year saw the latest in the Star Wars series (DP Dan Mindel ASC BSC), the new James Bond film SPECTRE (Hoyte Van Hoytema NSC FNF) and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (Robert Elswit ASC) and many more, all using the technology to tell exciting stories. With this technology come opportunities and new thinking in terms of training, and the GBCT has a fine reputation of advancing the training and enabling Drone with 4K crews to be the very sensor camera best in the world.

Yet the pace of change is so fast the training needs to be flexible, adaptable and on-set training, with experienced crews helping others to learn the craft. Long may this live in the GBCT tradition of the training schemes offered. There is only a certain allocation of trainees possible, and the criteria are suitably tough and stringent, yet the trainee scheme is rightly seen as the very best way of learning from experienced crews who are able to pass the knowledge and on set-techniques used for the future of the UK technicians being seen as the very best in the business. Talk with the GBCT office if you are looking to further your career in the movie making technician role. There is no other business quite like it.

British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 81

GBCT / NEWS FROM THE GUILD / BY JOHN KEEDWELL

ONLY THE BEST IS GOOD ENOUGH On writing different articles and also books, I find myself looking more closely at areas of the business most other people may not notice. It’s a bit like how you look at things when you have a stills camera with you: there is a closer attention to your surroundings as a picture opportunity. The fact you have a camera focusses attention on that area. Try it one day, and go out looking for photographs to make, you could be amazed at the detail and beauty around us each day that we never normally notice.

This was very apparent when I was writing my recent book, as I was looking at how the movie business is structured compared to more “conventional” businesses. There were many interesting areas for discussion, yet the main factor I noticed was the progression through the “ranks” to become the Head Of Department. Without fail the most successful HODs came through from sweeping the floor as a runner, then worked through the various areas of the department to rise to the top. Of course, not everyone who starts as a runner will inevitably become a DP. It takes much more than that. Being a respected DP requires dedication, hard work, potentially taking huge risks and, most of all, it means a respect gained by doing the groundwork and learning a craft from the ground up.

A traditional company doesn’t often do things like this, and perhaps they should learn a few lessons from how the movie business runs. In my experience of working fulltime for a few companies over the years, there is definitely a “worker” route, and a “manager” route, and it’s often extremely difficult to leap the gap. You are either in one box or the other, and changing over is extremely difficult. It can be done, of course, it’s just tricky.

What’s more the manager is given many perks and incentives to join, such as a company car and huge pension, yet it is often the people on the floor 82 | British Cinematographer | January 2016

who are creating the magic behind the success. Think of the army of immensely talented plasterers, carpenters, animatronics and prosthetics, costumers, hair and makeup people in sheds, creating magnificent works of art to be put in front of camera lenses and worked into a story for the audience to enjoy.

The team of people making their very best efforts seen on a screen is due to the fact their most recent work is their CV, and their calling card. An employee in another business doesn’t often have this pressure and intensity, so can often offer work that “just gets it done”, and can often be mediocre, bland and safe. That’s one area the movie business can never be accused of! Being bland and mediocre, and a “that’ll do” mentality is not a way to get ahead in this business. If you settle for that you are left behind. Don’t ever “Do” second best. Give it everything.

WHAT IS THE MOVIE BUSINESS? On the long flight over to Bali (did I mention that?) I had the opportunity to see a number of films that I had on my radar, along with a few others I was not aware of.

There was a wide variety of films, including the 2013 film about Steve Jobs called Jobs (DP Russell Carpenter), seen alongside Hitman: Agent 47 (2015, DP Ottar Guonason) and a film called Batkid Begins (2015, DP Don Hardy Jnr), a touching documentary about a child with a life threatening illness who wanted to be

Batman. On the face of it these were hugely different films: one about one of the most influential businessmen of the last 50 years in Steve Jobs, another about a small child who wanted to live his dream of being a superhero.

This latter story was fascinating for many reason I will get to in a minute. It was taken up by the Make A Wish charity, who decided to make it a special day, and then the interest grew and grew until thousands of people were involved, with the police department closing entire blocks of streets, and even Barack Obama ended up being involved in sending a personal video tweet.

Now, here’s the thing. The big movies were all planned out, with some great stunts, cinematography, set design, make-up, acting and had great stories (trueto-life in the Steve Jobs film) whilst the Batkid film was unplanned video footage, and the main interviews were mostly retrospective, looking at the reaction after the day, as nobody had any idea it would be such a big story.

What swung the film in this case was the “emotion”. The story was such a massive event it was hard to imagine writing that as a script for a movie, many would probably say it was too far-fetched.

However it was real, and because of that it moved the audience (including myself). It had a raw energy and reality and was all the more powerful because of that. The point I hope to make is the story is the most important aspect of any movie. This may seem to go against all I have said above, about the very best cinematography and all departments working together for a common goal. But no. A good story combined with realistic effects, props, cinematography and all the other elements can move an audience to tears, laughter, being shocked and scared, and can move them to a state outside of their normal level. This is the tool we have as part of filmmaking. It is a powerful tool when handled correctly, and can truly change the world for the better.

Movies can entertain and inform at the same time. Think of that when Hitman: Agent 47 you start 2016, and think of the film business or movie as an extremely effective communication to the world, and one that can literally influence the world. What a great business! Is there any other like it? I really don’t think so. Let’s hope 2016 is more peaceful and harmonious throughout the world. Perhaps a movie can change a few things to make the world a better place.

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British Cinematographer | January 2016 | 83