Canadian Society of Cinematographers Magazine November 2017

$4 November 2017 www.csc.ca

Alfonso Maiorana

Spotlights Indigenous Influence in Music

Norm Li csc Never Steady, Never Still Jason Tan csc An American Dream

A publication of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers

FEATURES – VOLUME 9, NO. 6 NOVEMBER 2017

Celebrating 60 years of excellence Fostering cinematography in Canada since 1957.

The Canadian Society of Cinematographers was founded by a group of Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa cameramen. Since then over 800 cinematographers and persons in associated occupations have joined the organization.

The CSC provides tangible recognition of the common bonds that link film and digital professionals, from the aspiring student and camera assistant to the news veteran and senior director of photography.

We facilitate the dissemination and exchange of technical information and endeavor to advance the knowledge and status of our members within the industry.

As an organization dedicated to furthering technical assistance, we maintain contact with non-partisan groups in our industry but have no political or union affiliation.

In the Moment: Norm Li csc Lenses Never Steady, Never Still

By Trevor Hogg, Special to Canadian Cinematographer

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Rumble: Alfonso Maiorana Spotlights Indigenous Influence in Music

By Fanen Chiahemen

Jason Tan csc Envisions An American Dream By Fanen Chiahemen

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 2 4 8 12 34 36

From the Editor-In-Chief In the News Spotlight: Daniel Villeneuve On Set Tech Column Production Notes/Calendar

csc

Cover Alfonso Maiorana Rumble Link Ray in the 1970s: Photo by Bruce Steinberg, Courtesy of linkwray.com

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Canadian Cinematographer November 2017 Vol. 9, No. 6 EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joan Hutton csc EDITOR EMERITUS Donald Angus EXECUTIVE OFFICER Susan Saranchuk, admin@csc.ca EDITOR Fanen Chiahemen, editor@csc.ca COPY EDITOR Karen Longland ART DIRECTION Berkeley Stat House WEBSITE www.csc.ca ADVERTISING SALES Guido Kondruss, gkondruss@rogers.com EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER Bruce Marshall, brucemarshall@sympatico.ca CSC BOARD OF DIRECTORS Carlos Esteves csc Joan Hutton csc Alwyn Kumst csc Antonin Lhotsky csc Bruno Philip csc Joseph Sunday PhD George Willis csc, sasc CSC EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT George Willis csc, sasc PAST PRESIDENT, ADVISOR Joan Hutton csc VICE PRESIDENTS Carlos Esteves csc, Toronto Alwyn Kumst csc, Vancouver Bruno Philip csc, Montreal MEMBERSHIP CHAIRS Arthur Cooper csc Phil Earnshaw csc EDUCATION CHAIRS Carlos Esteves csc George Willis csc, sasc AWARDS CHAIR Andre Pienaar csc, sasc Samy Inayeh csc PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAIR Bruce Marshall OFFICE / MEMBERSHIP / SUBSCRIPTIONS 131–3085 Kingston Road Toronto, Canada M1M 1P1 Tel: 416-266-0591; Fax: 416-266-3996 Email: admin@csc.ca, subscription@csc.ca

Canadian Cinematographer makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information it publishes; however, it cannot be held responsible for any consequences arising from errors or omissions. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written consent of the publisher. The opinions expressed within the magazine are those of the authors and not necessarily of the publisher. Upon publication, Canadian Cinematographer acquires Canadian Serial Rights; copyright reverts to the writer after publication.Canadian Cinematographer is printed by Winnipeg Sun Commercial Print and is published 10 times a year.

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FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joan Hutton csc

S

ince my last column, there have been two significant developments – the federal government has ordered the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to review its decision allowing broadcasters to slash their spending on Canadian content from 8 per cent to 5 per cent. In doing so, the government effectively relegated this CRTC ruling to the slag heap where it belongs, while saving thousands of industry jobs. It seems that the government was listening to our vociferous objections to the CRTC ruling. Apparently, a record 89 petitions with tens of thousands of signatures had been sent to the government in protest.

Everyone who signed one of those petitions should be very pleased with themselves and the outcome.

After months of consultations, the federal government also laid bare its road map of sorts for Canada’s cultural industries, published under the title “Creative Canada.” It’s not policy, but a review of cultural policy, with a vision for the future that takes into account the digital shift that continues to alter our industries. While I think this road map is headed in the right direction, I do feel it’s long on generalities and short on specifics. Plus, contentious issues, such as updating the definition of CanCon or modernizing funding mechanisms, are not dealt with, but kicked down the road for more study.

The lynchpin for Creative Canada, and what has garnered the most media attention is the $500 million deal the feds brokered with Netflix. Over the next five years, streaming will spend at least $100 million dollars a year on Canadian productions and will have a brick-and-mortar production house in Canada under the Netflix banner. This translates into lots of jobs for Canadian film and television workers, which is good for our industry, but it also raises some odd questions. The Netflix deal was made outside of any rules and regulations that govern Canadian broadcasters, such as contributing to the Canada Media Fund, which finances Canadian productions. Nor is Netflix compelled to abide by CanCon quotas and rules. In essence, the government is allowing Netflix to set their own Canadian cultural policy as to what is enough “Canadian” to constitute a CanCon production and not simply a service production. In all fairness, Netflix has stated publicly their commitment to Canadian productions. But like the government’s cultural road map, it’s all in the specifics and there are none.

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IN THE NEWS

ARRI ALEXA Camera System Wins Engineering Emmy

Guy Godfree csc Nominated for IMAGO International Cinematography Award

The SIM Group Acquires Vancouver Production Complex The Crossing Studios The SIM Group announced in September that it had purchased Vancouver’s The Crossing Studios. Founded in

Credit: Courtesy of Rosco

The CSC congratulates Guy Godfree csc on his nomination for an IMAGO International Cinematography Award in the Feature Category for his work on Maudie. Godfree was nominated alongside Linus Sandgren FSF (La La Land) and Seamus McGarvey asc, bsc (Nocturnal Animals). The awards were presented on October 28 in Helsinki, Finland.

In September, ARRI was among the recipients of the 69th Engineering Emmy® Awards for outstanding achievement in engineering development for its ARRI ALEXA digital motion picture camera system. The Television Academy’s Engineering Emmys are presented to individuals, companies or organizations for engineering developments that considerably improve existing methods or innovations that materially affect the transmission, recording or reception of television. The ALEXA digital system was introduced in 2010 and is known for a film-like, organic look and high dynamic range. The award was presented to ARRI at the Awards Ceremony on October 25.

The contract signing featuring DMG Lumière’s founders (l-r) Jean de Montgrand, Nicolas Goerg, Mathieu de Montgrand, Nils de Montgrand with Rosco Chairman Stan Miller in the middle.

Rosco Laboratories Acquires DMG Lumière Lighting solutions manufacturer Rosco in September announced the acquisition of LED specialist DMG Lumière. Rosco will incorporate DMG Lumière’s technology to further develop its LED lighting product range, while DMG Lumière will benefit from Rosco’s international sales and marketing, distribution and customer service. The acquisition will facilitate customer access of DMG Lumière’s versatile Switch range of LED lights, leveraging Rosco’s worldwide distribution channels, as well as giving them greater access to Rosco’s comprehensive support network.

4 • Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017

2015 by award-winning industry writer, producer and director Dian CrossMassey, The Crossings Studios has more than 400,000 square feet of studio space, comprised of nine buildings, all located 30 minutes from downtown Vancouver. In addition to providing full-service studio rentals, mill/paint/ lockup space and production office space, The Crossing Studios also offers postproduction services including Avid suite rentals, dailies, colour correction and high-speed connectivity. The Crossing Studios’ current clients include Viacom, Fox, Nickelodeon, Lifetime and Sony Pictures, according to media reports.

Cinespace To Expand Toronto Film Studios Cinespace Film Studios in September broke new ground on two new 20,000-square-foot, purpose-built film studios on Cinespace’s Kipling Studio Campus in Toronto’s west end. It was the first phase of a multi-year, multimillion-dollar investment and intensification initiative, beginning with the construction of the new Titan Studios on the Kipling Studio Campus, which is the largest and busiest facility in Canada with the capacity for six large productions to shoot concurrently onsite. The new Titan Studios will offer capacity for a seventh project to shoot concurrently on the Kipling Campus, with two 20,000-square-foot studios and connecting support space to be constructed side by side on the Titan Road border of the campus. This will add 50,000 square feet of purpose-built, state-of-the-art production space and key support facilities to Toronto’s studio inventory, with demand currently at an all-time high.

Panavision Names Johanna Gravelle Canada’s National Sales Manager Panavision in September announced that Johanna Gravelle has joined the

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IN THE NEWS

Credit: Courtesy of Panavision

Johanna Gravelle

avision began in the Toronto lighting department. He then went on to work as a commercial production manager before returning to Panavision. Flowers moved up the ranks through the camera department, and relocated to Vancouver where he led the regional office and ultimately transitioned to his national sales and marketing role.

In 2016, Flowers received the CSC Bill Hilson Award for “outstanding service contributing to the development of the motion picture industry.”

Jeff Flowers

company as Canada’s national sales manager. Gravelle, who will be based in Toronto, spent more than a decade working with Kodak in both senior sales and marketing leadership roles.

During her time at the company, she served as manager of Kodak Canada before making the move to lead marketing efforts in Australia, and eventually worldwide. Gravelle will transition into her role alongside Panavision Canada’s Vice President/Director of Sales and Marketing Jeffrey Flowers, who after 33 years at Panavision Canada will retire at the end of 2017. Flowers’ career at Pan-

The AFC in late September announced the election of Board Member Gerard Roxburgh as chair of The AFC, Board Member David Ferry as president, and the appointment of new members Prem Gill, Jan Miller, Zaib Shaikh and Teri Worthington Coombs to the Board of Directors. Gill is chief executive officer of Creative BC; Miller is an international consultant and trainer specializing in film and television coproduction and co-venturing; Shaikh is film commissioner and director of entertainment industries for the City of Toronto; and Worthington Coombs has a background in fundraising and not-for-profit administration.

Government Announces Creative Canada Initiative Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly in late September announced

ACCEPTANCES / AWARDS / NOMINATIONS / Jonathan Decoste csc (DP) L’imposteur (series) nominated for Best Cinematography for Drama TV series at Prix Gémeaux June 2017, Montreal; Victor Lessard (series) won for Best Cinematography for Drama TV series at Prix Gémeaux, Montreal, September, 2017 Isaac Elliott-Fisher, associate member (DP) Defective, (feature) screening at Toronto After Dark Film Festival, October 17, 2017; Other Worlds, Austin, TX, December 7-10, 2017 Ben Hoskyn, associate member (director and producer) 8 Minutes Ahead (feature) Official Selection of the 2017 Whistler Film Festival, November 29December 3, 2017 Guy Godfree csc, (DP) Suck It Up, (feature) won Best Atlantic Cinematographer at 2017 Atlantic International Film Festival, Halifax, NS, September 20, 2017

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Creative Canada, the Government of Canada’s vision for Canada’s cultural and creative industries in a digital world.

Speaking to the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa, Joly outlined Canada’s first strategy for the creative economy and a renewed policy approach to strengthen the nation’s diverse and vibrant creative sector. With digital technologies rapidly transforming Canada’s cultural landscape, Creative Canada aims to offer a roadmap for the future of Canada’s $54.6-billion creative sector. Creative Canada focuses on investing in Canadian creators and cultural entrepreneurs, promoting the discovery and distribution of content at home and globally, and working to strengthen public broadcasting and support local news. Joly also announced a $500 million agreement with Netflix, a first of its kind in the world.

TIFF Wins Top Honour at Leading Culture Destinations Awards The Toronto International Film Festival was recently announced the winner of the Best Soft Power Cultural Organisation Award at the Leading Cultural Destinations Awards ceremony, held in London, U.K. The LCD Awards, dubbed “The Oscars for Museums,” celebrate dedication to cultural vitality — recognizing institutions, organizations and cities that have provided exemplary contributions to local cultural life. The winners are chosen by a jury of nine established “cultural gurus” from around the world.

Goh Iromoto, associate member (DP/director/editor) The Canoe (doc short) screening at the Banff Mountain Film Festival, October 28 - November 5, 2017 Norm Li csc (DP) Never Steady, Never Still (feature) screened at the Calgary International Film Festival, September 20-October 1, 2017; Vancouver Film Festival, September 28 - October 3; Busan International Film Festival, October 12-21, 2017; Chicago International Film Festival, October 13-27, 2017 Roy Marques, associate member (DP) Interlude, (short) screening at the Reel-In ‘Sauga 2017, November 9, 2017, Mississauga Juan Montalvo, (DP) Fix and Release (doc) won Best Documentary Short at the Port Townsend Film Festival, Port Townsend, Washington, September 20, 2107 Duraid Munajim, associate member (DP) The Journey (feature), screened at BFI Film Festival, London, October 4 – 15, 2017; Busan Film Festival, October 12-21, 2017

Canadian Cinematographer - October 2017 •

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Daniel Villeneuve csc

CSC MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

with small 100-feet daylight loads. Networking from there got me involved with others. I eventually worked for a few years as a gaffer, mostly in TV multi-camera studio productions, then gradually transitioned to cinematography around 1990.

Who have been your mentors or teachers?

As mentioned above, teacher Lois Siegel has done a lot to get me going in the right direction. There are too many great cinematographers that I have had the pleasure to work with to name just one. Each is usually very patient with me and fiercely dedicated to the craft.

I try to be the same with others around me now.

What cinematographers inspire you?

Credit: Jean-François Sauvageau

I really appreciate the work of cinematographers who capture the image in a simple and discrete fashion while honestly serving the story above all. Roger Deakins ASC, BSC comes high on that list, as does Conrad Hall ASC. Gordon Willis ASC’s groundbreaking body of work is also very inspiring.

Name some of your professional highlights.

What films or other works of art have made the biggest impression on you?

Among many, I would say Apocalypse Now, Raging Bull, Blade Runner, the first Star Wars and The Godfather remain films that I will look at over and over again on a regular basis. Sergio Leone’s Once upon a Time in the West is also among my favorites. More recently, Dunkirk, Interstellar and Gravity have really impressed me on all levels.

How did you get started in the business?

My father has always been a very passionate home movie and photography

8 • Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017

buff. I have clear memories of processing my own bulk loaded black-andwhite films and printing photos in my father’s basement dark room when I was around 13 or 14 years old. After attending college for one semester in a science curriculum, I knew quickly that it was not for me. I transferred to creative arts where I got a good perspective on art in general. There I met teacher Lois Siegel who was very active directing and producing her own films, and I was quickly involved in all sorts of capabilities, helping out on her projects and those of others. When desperate, she even let me do some camera work.

I remember very well the Beaulieu R16

Working on one of the first major productions in the world shot in HD ever was very challenging. The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne in 1998-99 was a great ride. Not only was it the first large production shot on Sony F900 cameras, but the production had great resources, amazing large period sets and art direction. In 2013, going slightly outside my usual work, I shot the reenactment segments for the documentary film The Wanted 18. Shot in the occupied West Bank territories over a period of three weeks, I thoroughly enjoyed working in this completely different environment with a small local crew and non-actors.

What is one of your most memorable moments on set?

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Canadian Cinematographer - September 2017 • VISTEK.CA

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I really enjoy too many moments on set to name them. However, there is that special moment that I am sure all cinematographers get, when it seems all the stars are perfectly aligned. When the light is just right, be it through our control or a happy – sometimes elusive – quirk of nature, when the camera’s and actor’s movement and staging are just so in sync that you finish the shot and feel like you just nailed it. Those moments of moviemaking bliss are great.

What do you like best about what you do?

What I like best about working on films is the total lack of routine. Despite going basically through the same process on set for most scenes, blocking, setting up, rehearsing and shooting, having to tell a different story with a different cast in varied locations under

a myriad of conditions makes it all new and fresh to me each time. I also enjoy tremendously the collaboration with a close-knit crew and the director and the production designer. I like how a seemingly disorganized group of people with different tasks will all aim collectively towards, and usually achieve, the objectives set forth by the director and the production.

What do you like least about what you do?

Even after 30 years, there are still the “waiting for the next job” moments.

I am also concerned with shrinking budgets, especially with local productions, where the bar is being lowered constantly year after year. Crews and production resources are getting smaller and smaller but are still expected to deliver.

What do you think has been the greatest invention (related to your craft)?

Definitely the truly capable digital cameras. RED and ALEXA are gamechangers and are both such potent acquisition devices that never cease to amaze me with their vast capabilities. Recently, dependable and colour-accurate LED lights have also proven to be a turning point.

How can others follow your work?

I have a very humble web site where my demo reel is regularly updated – dvdp.ca. I also keep a few things on Vimeo (vimeo.com/user22128239/ videos). When I am in production, I will try to post daily one photo of the day on my Instagram account – instagram.com/daniel_vi11eneuve.

By Guido Kondruss

F

or Nikon it’s always been about “unleashing the limitless possibilities of light.” In striving to achieve that goal for the past 100 years, Nikon has become a towering titan in the photographic industry and a leader in DSLR technology.

However, when Nikon was formed in Japan on July 25, 1917, it was not a camera company, nor was it known as Nikon. At the time it was called Nippon Kogaku K.K. and its focus was the manufacture of precision optical instruments. It wasn’t until 1988 that the company adopted the moniker of its famous camera brand to become the Nikon Corporation of today.

Nikon’s earlier successes included the development and manufacture of the ground-breaking JOICO microscopes and MIKRON ultra-small prism binoculars. By 1932, the company had developed its first versions of what was to become the highly vaunted NIKKOR lenses, known for their crisp sharpness in producing outstanding image quality.

10 • Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017

Nikon entered the camera market in 1948 with its small bodied Nikon 1 with a dynamite lens. But it was in 1959 that proved to be a pivotal year for Nikon when it introduced its F series, the first professional singlelens reflex camera with its revolutionary bayonet F-Mount for NIKKOR lenses. The F series camera quickly became a staple for professional photographers and a must-have for the serious amateur for decades. Nikon had now established itself as an innovator and trailblazer in the photo imaging field that continues into our modern times with DSLR photography and cinematography.

Nikon cameras and lenses have been used to shoot historic events, beautiful portraits and scenes from every corner of the earth. They have gone to the moon and flown aboard the space shuttle as a part of NASA’s space program. The astounding images produced

by Nikon gear has mesmerized and widened the eyes of the world. Nikon’s century-long legacy shows every promise of continuing for another 100 years.

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DP Brad Rushing csc adjusts bounce on lead singer Tarra Layne of Time & Space for “Outshined” music video.

Credit: Emerson Eoff

ON SET

DP Christopher Mably csc captures children as part of a 2017 SickKids hospital (Toronto) commercial.

Credit: Nicole Dyck

Credit:Yan Turcotte

Evan Prosofsky on the shoot of IMAX 70 mm film Grand Prairie in Alberta.

From left: DP Jonathan Decoste csc, actor Marc-André Grondin and key grip Guillaume Dubois on the set of L’imposteur

Scott McClellan with camera operator Mat Barkley on a shoot for Lexus.

Credit: Alex Butt

Credit: Ray Mickshaw

David Moxness csc, asc and crew on Lethal Weapon. WB/FOX -Los Angeles.

Thomas Burstyn csc, nzcs with Meatloaf on the set of Ghost Wars, September 2017

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Credit: Shaun Anderson

Associate member Stuart Campbell shooting on Manitoulin Island with TSU/Soft Citizen for Destination Canada.

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Canadian Cinematographer - October 2017 •

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E

xpanding her 2015 short film Never Steady, Never Still into a feature film directorial debut, Kathleen Hepburn explores even more deeply the relationship between a woman suffering from Parkinson’s disease and her son. The story is deeply rooted in the relationship between the filmmaker and her mother who also has the degenerative neurological condition. Hepburn directs a cast that includes Shirley Henderson, Théodore Pellerin, Nicholas Campbell, Mary Galloway, Lorne Cardinal, Jared Abrahamson and Jonathan Whitesell.

The family drama had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September as part of the Discovery Programme.

Hepburn recruited cinematographer Norm Li csc, who endured a frigid winter in Northern British Columbia, later returned for the spring, and did pickups in the summer. “Although the short was beautifully shot by a close friend of mine, we never directly referenced the look for the feature length version,” Li states. “Kathleen would generally inform me of her intention behind each scene, and from there we

14 • Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017

Shirley Henderson as Judy.

would bounce ideas back and forth. What was important to her was the fact that it felt real and not to over complicate things.”

Visual references ranged from films, music, art and videos of individuals living with Parkinson’s Disease. “Something Kathleen pointed out that really stuck with me was how difficult traditional daily tasks were, which many people generally take for granted,” Li notes. “There was one video reference that had a woman pressing an elevator button, and although persistently trying to enter in time, she couldn’t make it in before the door closed. This led to the idea of holding on specific shots for uncomfortably long periods of time to really illustrate how frustrating and difficult it can be for someone suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.”

Despite being a low-budget production, the decision was made to shoot on 35 mm and Arricam LT 2-perf. “Upon first

IN THE MOMENT

NORM LI csc

reading the script, I noticed how poetic and beautiful it was,” Li recalls. “It called for amazing landscapes, various seasons, intimate locations and intriguing characters. I immediately pitched to shoot on 35 mm film, and to my surprise, the director and producers were all on board.” A variety of factors helped to keep the film costs from going over budget. “By shooting 2-perf 35 mm movement using an Arricam LT, we were able to purchase and process half the amount of film stock compared to using 4-perf movement. We were conscious of our coverage and only shot what was truly necessary. My friend Peter Hagge and I purchased the new 4K Cintel 35 mm film scanner, formed the company Film House, and scanned and transcoded the film ourselves.”

Fuji Eterna 400T, Kodak Vision3 500T 5219, and Kodak Vision3 250D 5207 were the film stocks of choice for Li. “Fuji has a lower contrast look, which we mainly used for interiors to give their home a sense of comfort and familiarity.

For day exteriors, we shot with Kodak 250D as it has higher contrast and perceived sharpness, giving the winter landscapes a bolder feel,” he says.

LENSES

NEVER STEADY, NEVER STILL

By Trevor Hogg, Special to Canadian Cinematographer The camera equipment was provided by Clairmont Camera (now Keslow Camera), and Li says, “An Arricam LT 2-perf camera was used because it is a lightweight and compact sync sound film camera. It is simple to load and thread, which makes moving on set quick and efficient.” The film was mainly shot with 27 mm and 40 mm Cooke S4i spherical lenses. “The 27 mm was generally for following handheld so that it felt like we were with the character. The 40 mm was for accented moments allowing the audience to quietly peer into the headspace of each character. Also, for many scenes in the film, we also shot from a 3/4 back angle as this was nonintrusive and the actors would feel less aware of the camera,” he says.

Lighting equipment consisted of M18s, M40s, the JokerLeko, China balls, Sourcemaker LED Blankets and Kino Flos supplied by William F. White, as well as on-set practicals. “As for the other light fixtures, many of them were smaller units and I selected a wide range of lights to help make it a little easier to manage for a smaller lighting and grip crew. In turn, it allowed us to generally move faster as well,” Li remarks, Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017 •

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All images: Courtesy of Norm Li csc / Experimental Forest Films / Christie Street Creative

Upon first reading the script, I noticed how poetic and beautiful it was. It called for amazing landscapes, various seasons, intimate locations and intriguing characters.

I immediately pitched to shoot on 35 mm film, and to my surprise, the director and producers were all on board.”

Never Steady, Never Still was filmed partly during a frigid winter in Northern British Columbia Actor Théodore Pellerin in a still from Never Steady, Never Still.

adding that a concerted effort was made to capture natural lighting. “We tried to incorporate as much natural light as possible, especially for day, dusk and dawn exteriors. For interior locations, I often supplemented during the day with either 12x12 skip bounces from outside and with what I call ‘T-Bounces’ which are generally muslin frames rigged over windows just out of sight, bouncing M18s or M40s straight up into them. This creates a soft natural overcast effect and also allows us to avoid seeing lights and stands when looking out any window,” he says.

“For the most part, I kept most lights straight 3200K or 5600K to keep the look as naturalistic as possible,” Li explains. “I would play a little with dimming to warm practicals a touch, and also used 1/8 CTS to add a hint of warmth at times. The way I decide to light is closely integrated with a location’s surroundings and production design. Production designers Liz Cairns and Sophie Jarvis did a beautiful job with choosing colour palettes to reflect the lives of these characters in a small town. We wanted to keep the colour grading in the DI to feel as if the film had been untouched from the moment we filmed. That can actually be a lot of work but Chris Macdonald, our colourist from SKYLAB, was an essential part of the process and did a great job.” Never Steady, Never Still has a native aspect ratio of 2.39:1 cinemascope widescreen and was captured in 4096x3072 CRI files that were transcoded to 2K Apple ProResHQ 4444 files for editorial.

“We conformed back to 4K DPX files for the final DI. From there, we created a 4K and 2K DCP for festival and theatrical screenings,” Li says.

Seasonal landscapes are visually prominent, meaning that

16 • Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017

There were many breathtaking locations, but a few that stood out for me were the oil rigs during the winter at dawn, the motel where Jamie has an emotional breakdown, and Judy’s house next to the water, which felt quaint and authentic.”

Left: Norm Li csc with director Kathleen Hepburn (seated).

Top: Never Steady, Never Still explores the relationship between a woman suffering from Parkinson’s Disease and teenage her son.

Middle: Shirley Henderson as Judy.

Bottom: Théodore Pellerin plays 18-year-old oil field worker Jamie in Never Steady, Never Still.

Li, gaffer Bray Jorstad, key grip Chester Dixon, and 1st ACs Devin Karrington and Jeremy Cox dealt with a variety of natural elements. “We had to be prepared for the frigid temperatures and snowy conditions of Northern B.C. during the winter season. Everything moves slower and setting up shots was often times more challenging due to the cast and crew being uncomfortable. After a while, though, everyone got used to it and we just powered through. For the most part, no equipment broke down and the film camera did not have any issues. It was often minus 25 to minus 30 Celsius and we would have night shoots outside. Fortunately, the last feature I shot up in Northern Ontario a year prior was even colder at minus 45, which prepared me for this film,” Li says.

Noting that the production shot in Fort St. John, Fort St.

James, and just outside of Calgary, Li recalls, “There were many breathtaking locations, but a few that stood out for me were the oil rigs during the winter at dawn, the motel where Jamie [Théodore Pellerin] has an emotional breakdown, and Judy’s [Shirley Henderson] house next to the water, which felt quaint and authentic.” Many scenes were just a single take and did not involve complicated blocking. “Before shooting began, I estimated a daily breakdown for the number of angles per scene and how long each take would be.

From there, I calculated daily totals for the average amount of film needed and budgeted the same amount of runtime as if we were shooting digitally. At the end of the shoot, I was only off by a few hundred feet,” he says.

“Sometimes there’s beauty in imperfection, which is why I try to often relate my framing to reflect what a character might be going through at any given moment,” he continues.

“This could involve extra headroom, lack of headroom, antiframing, having the camera slightly lower or higher than eye level.” Landscapes and actors were captured differently. “We made a conscious choice during prep to make sure landscape Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017 •

17

You Focus On The Shot

We’ll Focus On The Rest

Sometimes there’s beauty in imperfection, which is why I try to often relate my framing to reflect what a character might be going through at any given moment.

This could involve extra headroom, lack of headroom, anti-framing, having the camera slightly lower or higher than eye level.”

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shots were locked off and that performances were always handheld. Despite the issues the film’s characters face, such as struggling with independence, sexual and personal identity, or dealing with a death in the family, the landscapes surrounding them always remain unaffected and continue to exist independently from them.” Scenes were often shot through doorframes and windshields.

“We wanted the camera to feel observant and unobtrusive as if we were peering into the lives of the characters during private moments in their lives,” he says.

Happy accidents occurred while shooting Never Steady, Never Still. “We were lucky to have weather that always cooperated and provided us with such a range of textures and colours,” the DP recalls. “We were filming a scene of Jamie smoking next to the lake during the winter at dusk, and suddenly a beautiful rolling patch of mist rolled by in the background as we filmed it. The other memorable happy accident was when I frantically chased Judy towards the water when she first discovered her husband’s body in the lake. She suddenly tripped, almost causing me to trip and topple over her. The final footage looks so realistic and really elevates the emotion and tension in the scene.”

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ALFONSO MAIORANA Spotlights Indigenous Influence in Music

R

By Fanen Chiahemen

umble: The Indians Who Rocked the World is a feature documentary about the role of indigenous people in popular music history. The title comes from Native American rock guitarist and singer/songwriter Link Wray’s 1958 instrumental Rumble, which played a pivotal role in the creation of rock music. Inspired by the Smithsonian Institution exhibit “Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians in Popular Culture,” created by Tim Johnson and Stevie Salas for the U.S.-based National Museum of the American Indian, Rumble explores how despite attempts to ban, censor and erase indigenous culture in North America, it still became an integral part of music history. Rumble reveals the indigenous influence on blues and jazz, as well as on the folk rock era that took hold in the 1960s and 1970s. It intersperses archival footage, concert footage, recreations and animation to tell the stories of icons such as Wray, Charley Patton and Jimi Hendrix, and includes interviews with influential musicians and artists, among them Quincy Jones, Tony Bennett, Iggy Pop, Robbie Robertson, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Marky Ramone and Martin Scorsese. The documentary won the Hot Docs Audience Award in May and also received this year’s Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary. Associate member and DP Alfonso Maiorana – who co-directed Rumble with Catherine Bainbridge (Reel Injun), co-founder of Rezolution Pictures, which produces native-themed documentaries – tells Canadian Cinematographer about the process of putting the film together.

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Credit: Chris Rutkowski

Alfonso Maiorana

Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017 •

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Images this page, credit: Chris Rutkowski

Top: Stevie Salas, Taboo, Catherine Bainbridge, Alfonso Maiorana.

Left: Alfonso Maiorana, Iggy Pop, Lisa Roth. Right: Stevie Salas, George Clinton

Canadian Cinematographer: Can you talk about the decision to have you co-direct the film as well as shoot it?

Alfonso Maiorana: When producers Catherine Bainbridge

and Christina Fon of Rezolution Pictures approached me for this documentary on indigenous people who had influenced popular music, it touched a chord because I’m a big Link Wray fan. I grew up loving alternative and punk music like U2, The Stooges, The Clash, and The Ramones. All these bands loved Link Wray so the subject matter of the film piqued my interest right away. They also wanted a cinematographer with a fiction background so the film would have not just a historical style that could fall into that trap of being talking heads, but somehow find a cinematic structure that would be visually interesting in the storytelling. There’s always something visual about every aspect of music, whether it’s jazz, blues, rock and roll, or folk, the elements are colourful. As a director and cinematographer, I am always looking for inspiration that can lead you to create a memorable scene or moment. So for me it was great to have a chance to co-direct with Catherine and share these ideas.

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CC: What shaped your approach to the project?

AM: I was lucky enough to have worked with Colin Low, who I think is the greatest documentary filmmaker Canada’s ever had. There are many, but he was basically the forefather of IMAX films. His 1960 film Universe [co-directed with Roman Kroitor], inspired Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. So when I was very young and working at the NFB for a couple of years, I ended up working on Low’s last film helping with research and then eventually shooting some additional camera. One thing I learned from him while I gathered research, was he laid out this visual storyboard in his office for his last documentary. We spent about six months retrieving images that he felt would tell a story and put them all up on the board, and then afterwards he would say, “Now let’s find a narrative to all these images,” and he would reflect on what was happening during the time of each image, whether it was politically, socially, musically or in terms of war, whatever it was that was going on that day in that visual. I’ve never forgotten that and that’s how I approached Rumble. We came up with a storyboard that was in our office and stayed with us for the four, five years of work that allowed us to build a structure we could refer to daily.

CC: How did you then decide on the film’s style?

Did you have any visual references?

AM: I did not want to refer to any documentary in particular. Instead, I looked

at the films of people like Wim Wenders and especially of Jim Jarmusch, like his films Down by Law and Dead Man. The way he treated his narrative, just kind of slowed it down so that when people are speaking dramatically on important subject matters it doesn’t get lost. I interviewed Jarmusch in 2008 for Reel Injun, and the way he answered all these questions, I thought he’s such an interesting interview because he’s so intimate and so precise and was just so eloquent. So when I was pitching an idea to Catherine about the style and language of the film, the first person that came to my mind was Jim Jarmusch – his films feel like documentaries at times; there’s drama, there’s a story being told and then there’s space you can breathe and you can let the visuals speak.

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CC: You mentioned the film was shot over about five years – can you talk about the process of structuring the work and the division of labour with Catherine and the rest of the team?

AM: It was quite an adventure to approach some of these important people that we wanted in our film. Apache guitarist and executive producer Stevie Salas was a huge help with his connections in the music industry. Catherine and I shared phone calls, the producers Christina Fon, Lisa Roth and researchers also got on the phone. Most of the time everybody agreed; they were all excited about the subject matter, but how do you schedule them in, because they’re musicians, and they have much more important things to do than take part in what was at that time a small-budget documentary. So sometimes it was a crapshoot, like, “Yeah, we’re available tomorrow or in two days.” And then we’d have to fly out. Now, in two days there’s all these decisions that have to be made production-wise. We’d go there and rent the gear there because it was short notice, or we’d just bring a camera, one or two or no lights. If we were there for a week, we’d bring our own gear and plan a real shooting schedule. [For example,] we’d been trying to get Iggy Pop for four years, but in November of last year he was on a book tour.

While I was working as a camera operator on a film entitled Death Wish, starring Bruce Willis, I got a call on a Friday from the producers saying, “Iggy is available for an hour in his home town of Detroit on Sunday.” So we fly out with hardly any budget and no time, and it’s a Sunday, so what’s available? We managed to get a camera just in time, along with two LED Litepanels. And it was one of “What I’m most proud of is the best interviews we ever did. It was in a hotel banquet room – all that finally we took part in wood – and it was the best seta project that gives voice to ting possible to film an interview indigenous people, a musical in. The lighting was beautiful and he answered our questions and voice. It’s always been there then some. I had a camera slider and now it’s being projected to create movement and instilled a low light concept to be intimate and given to everyone, and so what he was saying didn’t get lost. That was my approach when it puts indigenous music in shooting the interviews, to be as the historical equation.” intimate as possible. If the location Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017 •

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and lighting permitted it, that’s what I was trying to do. Other times, like when we were in Mississippi, for instance, we were able to plan out a whole six-day shoot so we were able to get proper gear, and I was able to really visually put a stamp on Mississippi, which I was really happy about. We made a really good team. Sometimes I’d go film on my own with a crew while Catherine travelled to another location with another crew to film the next section. Sometimes we worked together. The good thing is Catherine has a journalism background, so visually she trusted me, and I trusted her journalistic intuitions and her always wanting to dig deeper in finding information, so it worked out really well.

CC: What gear did you use throughout the shoot?

AM: We started out with the ALEXA because we wanted to

interview these great musicians present and past with top-ofthe-line film gear to be taken seriously. We also used a RED DRAGON, the Blackmagic and then we finished with the Sony F7. When I had the F7, I would try to negotiate proper lenses like Cooke or Leica lenses for higher-quality results.

When I filmed with Martin Scorsese and Marky Ramone in New York, it was last minute, so I put in a call to the supplier in New York that I’ve known for the last nine years or so. I was kind of nervous because this is Martin Scorsese, I can’t

show up with just a Sony F7. I mean, you’re just going to look like a student. My hunch was right because I went to my supplier in New York and I said, “Do you have Cooke lenses?”

And he goes, “No, but I have Leica lenses.” So I said, “Great, just give me the whole package.” So the next morning when Scorsese showed up with his entourage at the DGA Theater, he sits down and says, “What are you shooting with?” And I told him Leica lenses, and he says, “Oh, yeah, yeah, that’s nice.” Of course he’s going to ask!

CC: How about your role in post?

AM: For the colour timing, I worked with Tony Manolikakis

and Francis Hanneman. With Tony, for the interviews and the scenery, we tried to capture the colour and tone of each location or place we were filming, giving the environment its true palette. For example, to film New Orleans, we examined the colourfulness of the Mardi Gras. For Mississippi, we examined the tone that reflected the swamps and the juke joints of an era. In both occasions, we chose a colour, like yellow for New Orleans and purple for Mississippi, to create an emotional attachment that could almost set us back in time. For the interviews, we wanted an intimate warmth and a contrast in light and materials, but also contrasts of modern against an older era. With Francis, for the film archives and photos, we tried to evoke a feeling and a nostalgic tone. A feeling of what films and photos might have looked like in that era, and in many cases treating the archives with a simple colour treatment for a given era but in an unexpected way. Not just sepia, for example, but tones of green or blue in otherwise black-and-white photos.

Another unique experience of the film was my collaboration with Meky Ottawa, an indigenous artist from Quebec.

We worked on the animation scenes that recreated specific childhood memories of our iconic indigenous musicians.

Her beautiful sketches in white and black with a touch of colour adds an element of genuine innocence that gives the film another element.

CC: What has struck you most about the response to the film?

AM: What I’m most proud of is that finally we took part in a project that gives voice to indigenous people, a musical voice.

It’s always been there and now it’s being projected and given to everyone, and it puts indigenous music in the historical equation. I think the best part of the whole film for me – and I only get this when we go to festivals or theatrical premieres – is how people have reacted to the film because of the history of the subject matter and the music that brings people together. The highlight for me is undoubtedly at Q and As when someone would get up – it happened at Sundance at

24 • Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017

Credit: Getty Images

Buffy Sainte-Marie, 1960s.

least two or three times –and say, “I’ve never said this to anyone before – I’m from North Carolina, near Dunn, which is where Link Wray was born, and I was always told never to talk about my indigenous roots, but I’m going to say this today.” And this young man was crying, and that really touched a chord for everyone. And then in the same moment at Sundance, a young girl gets up and she says, “I just wanted to say

one year to this day my grandmother on her deathbed told me something I never knew. She said, ‘I just want to let you know your mom is half Cherokee; I’m full Cherokee, so that makes you indigenous as well,’ and I’m really proud of my indigenous roots.” And for me, that’s the highlight of making this film. I’m happy and humbled that I got that chance to be part of Rumble.

Canadian Cinematographer - October 2017 •

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Credit: Shane Mahood

Jason Tan csc Envisions

By Fanen Chiahemen

AN AMERICAN DREAM

W

riter/director Ken Finkleman’s latest feature, An American Dream, which screened at the Canadian Film Fest in Toronto earlier this year and is now available on VOD and digital nationwide, follows the adventures of gullible college graduate William Bowman ( Jake Croker) as he makes his way into adulthood against the backdrop of paranoid 21st century America. Setting out from his lowly fast food job, Bowman’s journey takes him through the world of high finance, politics, Christian fundamentalism and reality television, eventually ensnaring him into a conspiracy in which he becomes the target of government agents who

26 • Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017

want to torture him, and revolutionary activists who want to exploit him.

When DP Jason Tan csc first read the script more than three years ago, he was instantly intrigued. “It had a real adventurous spirit. It’s written in the style of a picaresque novel like Candide, where the protagonist launches from one disconnected situation to an even worse one and just tumbles through this adventure,” he says. He was also excited to not only be given a chance to shoot the film, but to produce it as well.

“I had been dabbling in producing over the past several years just because I wanted to have more control. I was finding that I wasn’t satisfied with just coming

in as a DP and then leaving before it was completed. I’ve always been brought in to give editorial notes because I generally work with directors more in a feature landscape where you start on a project really early on and you work with the same directors all the time, so that creative collaboration was always there, and I kind of wanted to have more of an officially sanctioned opinion as opposed to just giving some notes,” he says. “And I found it to be a really fruitful combination because one of the things as a DP is you’re straddling your responsibility to the director as well as the producer.

They have similar objectives, but they are slightly different. And as the DP, I’ve

always found myself trying to satisfy both of those concerns, and so being in that seat it actually felt easier because I wasn’t trying to second guess or straddle two different power struggles. So I found it quite freeing. Part of the appeal of this project for me as a producer was taking this script that called for some truly gonzo ideas, like situations and set pieces that were way over our budget, and just seeing how creative we could be to pull it off.”

Their jumping off point in terms of the look of the project were films like Lindsay Anderson’s Oh Lucky Man and Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, and they adopted a philosophy of “trying to do a little bit less, like moving the camera less, using naturalistic lighting and trying to be more organic as a general thought,” Tan says. “And I don’t mind that – I’m not a really showy cinematographer. The best cinematography, in my personal philoso-

ger than that and then things that were a main unit.”

The crew ended up dividing the shooting schedule into four blocks based on the size of crew needed, Tan says. “Our main unit was around 18 days and then we did a B-sized unit for a couple days with a crew of maybe 15, and then we gradually spread out, and by the end it was practically just Ken and I and an actor,” he explains.

Describing what it was like being in the producer’s chair, he says, “Just having my arms around the whole production, knowing that we’re going to have to overspend here but I can pick up the pieces later on. I think a DP always has to do that in terms of where you might want to tweak the lighting for a shot if you’re pushing into overtime and knowing you can fix something in colour correction, but now I could also say, ‘Well, I know we need to turn around for this other close-up, but let’s take it off today

Credit: Shane Mahood

“I really enjoy working with [Finkleman] because he’s not at all interested in technical things; he makes decisions purely based on creativity and instinct. So it’s really fun, even though he’s sometimes running in different directions one moment to the next and everyone around him needs to keep up, and sometimes we end up spinning our wheels because we’re trying to go in multiple directions at once. But I really enjoy it because it keeps things fresh.

The creative process doesn’t end in the conceiving of it because the idea changes moment to moment. It’s a little bit like jazz music; it’s like improvisational filmmaking.”

Credit: Jasper Savage

Previous page and top: Ken Finkleman directing scenes in An America Dream.

Ken Finkleman and Jason Tan csc discuss a scene.

phy, tends to be more transparent and doesn’t draw attention to itself. It tends to be work that doesn’t really stand out in a demo reel, but when you watch a film, if it’s holding together the integrity of the story and not resorting to too studied an approach or too much artifice, that’s generally what I gravitate towards.”

Tan felt the benefit of being a producer in preproduction because he had the freedom to find new ways of stretching the budget. “Being in the producing seat, you’re looking at the schedule and looking at the crew, and we had over 70 speaking roles, and of course there are a lot of explosions and buildings blowing up and gun fights, so it was really written for a larger budget,” he says. “The first thing we had to do was figure out how to even just shoot it. So we had to break down the script into things we could shoot with just a handful of people and things that were a bit big-

Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017 •

27

and we’ll come back at it another day when we’re in this other location and I know the actor will be in that day.’

So just having that sense of the schedule in my head. You don’t always have that knowledge of things when you’re just in charge of your department.”

Tan says he generally prefers motivated lighting, but he found that An American Dream “kind of contradicts partly what my philosophy is because it exists as a fever dream, almost, where it’s quite chaotic; one scene is very different from the next. That was a little bit of me moving out of my comfort zone to keep up with Ken’s frenetic concept for the film.”

But in general, he kept the lighting motivated and natural using his own lighting and grip truck with most of his lighting setups only needing to run on house power. “I tend to light towards daylight colour temperatures, so it was mostly HMIs and Kino Flos; my biggest lamp on the truck is a 1200 HMI,” he says. “Also, I’ve been using mirrors to multiply lights, so I have a couple of custom-made mirror rigs that focus multiple mirrors into the same position so that when you hit it with the HMI you end up tripling or quadrupling the output in a very focused area.”

On An American Dream, he used the

28 • Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017

“The best cinematography, in my personal philosophy, tends to be more transparent and doesn’t draw attention to itself. It tends to be work that doesn’t really stand out in a demo reel, but when you watch a film, if it’s holding together the integrity of the story and not resorting to too studied an approach or too much artifice, that’s generally what I gravitate towards.”

mirror rig whenever he was trying to create sun coming in from outside. “Normally, you’d put a 12K or an 18K or even just a 6K outside, but you can achieve the same effect as oblique shards of light with a 1200 going through one of these rigs,” he states. “It’s a rig of about nine mirrors that’s on one stand so it’s easy to move around. And also, by its own nature, it creates a degree of randomiza-

tion very quickly, which I find comes off looking quite natural.”

One of the biggest lighting setups on An American Dream was a public execution that was staged like a U.S. presidential nominating convention in a large stadium. It was a scene that required lots of extras, stunts and CG, but they could only budget one day to shoot it, with no opportunity to pre-light. So Tan asked location manager David Flaherty to find a dance club in Hamilton to double as the stadium. “All I really wanted was their lighting grid and enough space to wrap the walls with our chroma green,” Tan says. “So David found this great place and I put the actors underneath that lighting rig and then wrapped the walls with chroma key, and then we composited the whole set around it.

That was really the only way to get it done. That was probably one of the hardest scenes to pull off.”

To further complicate things, the day of the shoot happened to land on the Toronto Municipal Election day so the crew needed to be released early before the voting stations closed. “That part wasn’t planned,” Tan says. “I think we realized that just a couple days out, and I was fairly stressed about that, but we managed to get in and out of that insane scene in about seven and a half hours.”

MOTION PICTURE LABORATORY

Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017 •

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Credit: Elly Dassas

“I had been dabbling in producing over the past several years just because I wanted to have more control. I was finding that I wasn’t satisfied with just coming in as a DP and then leaving before it was completed. I’ve always been brought in to give editorial notes because I generally work with directors more in a feature landscape where you start on a project really early on and you work with the same directors all the time, so that creative collaboration was always there, and I kind of wanted to have more of an officially sanctioned opinion as opposed to just giving some notes.”

Previous page: Jake Croker in a scene from An American Dream. Top: Using the lighting grid of a Hamilton nightclub to stand in for the governor’s stadium rally. Bottom: Jake Croker and Julian DeZotti in a scene from An American Dream.

Exteriors were shot in natural light using negative fill, and Tan describes employing some remote-control technology in scenes in which William is being chased through a forest. “We used some techniques that arborists use when they need to trim trees,” he says. “It’s basically a system of ropes and pulleys on a hightension cable between trees from the ground, so you don’t even need to climb the tree, you can do it from the ground.

And it doesn’t require any cranes and

30 • Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017

scissor lifts or anything, you can just walk in with a backpack, and using a knowledge of pulleys and knots, rig up a high-tension line at any height or distance, and then there’s a motorized trolley that rides on this cable with a remote head. One person is controlling the acceleration and the other person controls the head like a normal remote head. It’s perfect in a forest because you can get really close to the trees, unlike a drone, and also every take is 100 per cent re-

peatable and really safe for the performers. And again, because we didn’t have the budget and time, it was something that you could just walk into the forest and within an hour you have it rigged up. And the big thing was not having the power; we wouldn’t have been able to get a Zoom Boom into the forest,” he says.

Tan also owns a couple of RED DRAGON camera bodies, which he fitted with his set of Angenieux Optimo

William gets caught up in a bizarre government conspiracy.

zooms, comprised of the 15-40 mm, 28-76 mm, and the 45-120 mm.

His background in special effects translated into cost savings when it came to creating things like large explosions or big crowds. “There were days where we couldn’t afford to bring an actor back, so we’d shoot an actor’s coverage on green screen,” he recalls.

“There was another situation where we had these barking dogs in a camper van, and we couldn’t even afford to bring the dogs to set, so we shot the dogs on

green screen at the trainer’s farm and then composited them into the scene.

In scenes that you wouldn’t even think would need special effects, it was necessary to get the scene done.”

Reflecting on his relationship with Finkleman, Tan says, “I really enjoy working with him because he’s not at all interested in technical things; he makes decisions purely based on creativity and instinct. So it’s really fun, even though he’s sometimes running in different directions one moment to the next and

everyone around him needs to keep up, and sometimes we end up spinning our wheels because we’re trying to go in multiple directions at once. But I really enjoy it because it keeps things fresh.

The creative process doesn’t end in the conceiving of it because the idea changes moment to moment. It’s a little bit like jazz music; it’s like improvisational filmmaking.”

A short behind-the-scenes video of some VFX shots is available at: anamericandreammovie.com/bts/

CSC at Inspired Image Picture Company’s Summer BBQ AUgust 15, 2017

Photos: Bruce Marshall

Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017 •

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EYEPIECE Excerpt from:

Adventures in Canadian Film and Television from the Chapter “Documentaries: the Reality of Life”

By Vic Sarin csc Published by Durvile Publications, 2017 100 b/w photos and 30 colour photographs $35.00 book, $16.95 e-book durvile.com

Vic with Ron Neely, host of CBC’s Country Canada, in Egypt, 1972.

D

ocumentary and drama, or ‘fiction’, are two very different concepts of filmmaking; they’re both satisfying and provoke emotion in people, but on different levels. The power of film, fiction or documentary, is so strong, that when the audience watches, you’ll see them cry, or they’ll laugh or sometimes even get angry. When you move people’s minds and hearts from a moving image or from a scene, the power is wonderful to see. Documentary and fiction are quite different in execution. With fiction films, I recruit the help of ac-

32 • Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017

tors, musicians, editors, and by having everything under control, I can push emotional boundaries. Documentary, on the other hand, teaches us the honesty and reality of life.

We often point fingers about the ills of the world at others without ever thinking that Hey, maybe I am part of the problem. Over the years, I have seen a huge shift in political correctness throughout the world, particularly among Western countries. It’s ironic that we profess how democratic we are with the freedom of speech and so on, and yet we are afraid to speak our

minds. In my documentaries, I am not afraid to go head on with tough subjects, with honesty. At the same time, especially now as I grow older, I feel that one needs to look for hope as well.

If subjects are all doom and gloom, then what is the point of living? It is important to me to be honest with the subject but at the same time to have an anchor of hope and even celebrate the beauty of our world.

I did my very first ten-minute colour documentary Endless Cycle soon after I arrived in Canada in the early sixties.

I didn’t have any money and film stock was expensive, not to mention the processing so I begged favours from cameramen who were working in the news department of the CBC. They would let me have the short ends of unexposed film stock they hadn’t used or didn’t think was worthwhile to keep. People at the film lab were also kind to me and they would sometimes process my film either for free, or with a discount.

My Endless Cycle documentary was just a simple story of the cycle of seasons; no dialogue, only visuals in colour using Niagara Falls as a metaphor for the cycle of life, contrasted with the cycle of nature. While my friends were enjoying weekend parties or outings to Cottage Country, I would take my little Bolex camera and drive up to Niagara Falls. I must have done a couple of dozen trips in all to capture the Falls in different seasons.

Every penny I’d saved went into

finishing the film and I was delighted when my little film was purchased by CBC. Back then, small film fillers were often used between television programs, because there were far fewer commercials those days and sometimes no commercials at all. It was a great high for me as a young filmmaker to see my work screened on television, and the compliments and

Photo by Scott Eldridge

Vic and Adrienne Clarkson on the set of Artemisia, 1977.

comments I received served as a road map for generating more ideas for documentaries.

Since then, every documentary I’ve ever embarked on has taken me from knowing nothing about a topic to having a new door of knowledge open to me.

I’m not looking for a great story in a documentary, I’m looking for an idea, and then I go and open that idea and discover what’s there. If you have a great story, anyone can make a film.

The challenge is to allow an idea to unfold, and see where it takes you on an unknown journey.

Following the unknown path is what I thrive on. Something I insist on for my own style of documentary is that it not be contrived.

The fun thing in life is discovery, on any level – if I knew exactly what I’d be doing with the rest of my life, it would not be nearly as interesting. Not knowing and then discovering is the greatest joy.

“Vic Sarin csc... has become one of the greatest cinematographers Canada has ever produced.”

— The Right Honourable Mme. Adrienne Clarkson In Eyepiece: Adventures in Canadian Television and Film, brilliant Kashmiri/Canadian cinematographer and director Vic Sarin lays out the landscape of his life, focusing on highlights of his over 150 documentary and dramatic films. As a cinematographer, he captured the filmic beauty of many well-loved Canadian films such as ByeBye Blues (Wheeler, 1989), Margaret’s Museum (Zimmer, 1995), and also directed his own award-winning work such as Partition (2007) and A Shine of Rainbows (2009). The book charts his twenty-five years at CBC television on shows like the fifth estate, The National News, Front Page Challenge, and Telescope, and progresses through his extraordinary film and documentary accomplishments.

To Vic, film is a window to magic. Touching people with his art and celebrating the human side comes through in every chapter of the book, just as is comes through in every one of his films. His trailblazing, gung-ho approach to film making is remarkable and inspiring beyond any question of a doubt. His stories about John Lennon, Prince Charles, Christopher Plummer, Paul Gross, Helena Bonham Carter, Dennis Hopper, Indira Gandhi, Adrienne Clarkson, Dalai Lama and many others will captivate film professionals, film students, film buffs, as well as the general public.

The book is rich with black and white and colour photos from CBC archives and from Mr. Sarin’s private collection.

The book is available at bookstores such as Indigo and Chapters and also at Indigo.ca, Amazon.ca, and Kobo for e-books.

Vic with Suzanne Cook and Dawa Tenzing for Solitary Journey, 1989.

20% discount for CSC members. Send order directly through durvile.com for discount and mention CSC in the message.

Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017 •

33

TECH COLUMN

Ten Years On, Still Seeing RED

H

as it only been a decade since RED ONE burst onto the scene to make pro-quality digital capture affordable? Yep. Back in 2007, RED ONE’s 2K at 120 fps and 4K at 30 fps was pretty impressive. More eye-catching was the sub-US$20,000 price.

A decade later and the lineup is ever more impressive. It’s also installed RED as a top dog in the digital cinema hardware sector, fostering an alliance with the granddaddy of cinema cameras, Panavision, whose Millennium DXL shares the 8K VV sensor. They’re no longer the feisty startup; they’re the establishment, though they’re determined to keep disrupting, but more on that later.

Their current top-of-the-line offering, the WEAPON 8K S35, is armed with a HELIUM 35.4 Megapixel CMOS sensor, capable of 8K widescreen capture at up to 75 fps, 16.5 plus stops of dynamic range, pushing that data at 300 MB per second. It’s US$49,500 for the “brain” alone, as RED calls their digital box modules, and it’s also available with the RED 8K VV sensor and the VV anamorphic configuration.

Just before deadline, RED announced a new top-of-the-line sensor for its WEAPON camera, MONSTRO 8K VV, a cinematic, full-frame sensor and an evolutionary step beyond its predecessor, the DRAGON 8K VV sensor.

The new camera, WEAPON 8K VV, has started shipping to customers who were previously wait-listed for upgrade and will be available for new orders in early 2018. WEAPON 8K VV offers 17+ stops of dynamic range, full 8K 2.4:1 at up to 75 fps, or 8K full format at 60 fps on a 40.96 mm x 21.60 mm sensor. WEAPON owners can upgrade for US$29,500. New orders are priced at US$79,500 (for the “brain”), while the WEAPON 8K S35 is armed with a HELIUM 35.4 Megapixel CMOS sensor, capable of 8K widescreen capture

34 • Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017

at up to 75 fps, 16.5+ stops of dynamic range, pushing that data at 300 MB per second and priced at US$49,500.

If there’s a sweet spot in the RED lineup, perhaps it’s the EPIC-W 8K S35.

It features the same HELIUM sensor and same resolution, though only up to 30 fps and slightly lower data speeds at 275 MB/s. RED says its versatility is resonating with rental houses, bigbudget episodic television and owneroperators shooting music videos and corporate advertising, as well as some independent filmmakers who like the US$29,500 price tag.

Both the WEAPON and EPIC-W are in RED’s DSMC2, which is their smallest and lightest form factor, while still pretty much compatible with all the modules and add-ons you can think of.

Still, RED hasn’t abandoned its “hyper-disruptive” legacy, as they billed it back then. The RED ONE launched at under US$20,000 and the RED SCARLET-W currently occupies that niche, retailing around US$12,500 but offering more than two or three times the technology.

The lineup rounds out with the RAVEN, which is offered as a kit for US$15,000 through Apple and Red. com. Tying all four brains together is REDCODE, their proprietary compressed RAW format which has variable ratios.

The support is pretty legendary too, with firmware upgrades and sensor upgrades in most cases for the entire legacy line, right back to the RED ONE. The workflow processes are also designed to capture entry-level users and make their transition to higher-end cameras bump free as they rise in their careers. Loyal users like Alex Bros agrees, noting it’s the flexibility and familiarity RED offers that is one of the big attractions. He’s been a RED man since he “sank every bit of money I made as a PA into a RED SCARLET MX” before

moving to an EPIC MX, and more recently, a RED WEAPON 6K. “Once you’ve been using them for a while you know where everything is,” he says. “I mean, I shoot with ARRI as well, but with ARRI you get that look, with the RED you get the flexibility.”

The codec compression also means shooting in RAW isn’t a hassle and opens up more options for postproduction.

Still, he says, every camera has its own idiosyncrasies and RED is no exception, but experienced RED operators know how to work around those issues.

Their reputation for being finicky and prone to problems is also overblown, he says.

Nothing sits still in the digital world, so what’s next? RED has already announced their upgraded Image Processing Pipeline (IPP2) with enhancements throughout. But how about something out of this world? HYDROGEN ONE, is a mobile phone running Android, which, according to CNET. com’s report, will be offered in titanium for US$1,595 or aluminum for US$1,195. Why would RED build a phone? Because they can? Well, CNET says it is also designed to be a mobile 5.7-inch touch screen monitor for RED’s cameras.

More interestingly, patent filings show a mount adaptor for interchangeable lenses covering Nikon, Canon and Sony. Given RED’s design history, it’s also no surprise there’s an anticipated modular aspect to the HYDROGEN ONE with snap on batteries and a camera sensor module making it more camera than phone when fully kitted out.

Now, that’s light years from RED ONE and into a whole new planetary system.

Ian Harvey is a Toronto-based journalist who writes for a variety of publications and covers the technology sector.

He welcomes feedback and eagerly solicits ideas at ian@pitbullmedia.ca.

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Canadian CanadianCinematographer Cinematographer- March - April 2017 •

23 31

Director & DP Vic Sarin csc

to November 17

Kelowna

DP Bernard Couture csc (alternating episodes)

to May 8, 2018

Vancouver

ANNE II (series)

Camera Operator Andreas Evdemon

to March 20, 2018

Toronto

ARROW VI (series)

DP Gordon Verheul csc & Bruce Worrall csc (alternating episodes)

to April 20, 2018

Vancouver

THE BEAVERTON II (series)

DP Gerald Packer csc Camera Operator Paula Tymchuk B Camera Operator Matt Phillips csc

to February 2, 2018

Scarborough

BLUE BOOK (series)

DP C. Kim Miles csc

to April 19, 2018

Surrey

BYE BYE (TV special)

DP Geneviève Perron csc

to December 18

Montreal

CARDINAL: BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS III (series)

DP Dylan MacLeod csc 1st Assistant Pierre Branconnier B Camera Operator Justin Beattie

to November 24

North Bay

COLONY III (series)

C Cam Operator Stirling Bancroft csc

to February 16, 2018

Burnaby

CROSSING, THE (series)

Camera Operator Greg Fox 2nd Unit DP Brian Whittred csc

to November 20

Burnaby

CORRUPTION OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE, THE (feature)

DP Eric Cayla csc

to November 5

Winnipeg

DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW III (series)

David Geddes csc, asc (even episodes)

to February 26, 2018

Burnaby

DESIGNATED SURVIVOR II (series)

DP Michael Storey csc B Camera First Assistant Jim Chirayouth Saysana

to March 23, 2018

Toronto

EXCORCIST, THE II (series)

B Camera Operator Keith Murphy

to November 14

Burnaby

EXPANSE, THE II (series)

DP Jeremy Benning csc & Ray Dumas csc (alternating episodes)

to December 8

Toronto

FALLING WATER II (series)

B Camera Operator Perry Hoffmann

to March 20, 2018

Toronto

FATHER CHRISTMAS (TV movie)

DP Russ Goozee csc

to November 6

Toronto

FLARSKY (feature)

DP Yves Bélanger csc B Camera Operator Alfonso Maiorana

to December 14

Montreal

FLASH, THE IV (series)

DP Brenton Spencer csc & Alwyn J. Kumst csc

to April 21, 2018

Vancouver

FUGUEUSE (feature)

DP Pierre Gill csc

to November 10

Montreal

GOOD DOCTOR, THE (series)

DP John Bartley csc, asc

to December 15

Coquitlam

GOOD WITCH, THE IV (series)

DP John Berrie csc

to December 14

Toronto

HEARTLAND XI (series)

DP Jarrett Craig

to December 4

Calgary

IMPOSTERS II (series)

1st Assistant Ciaran Copelin

to December 1

Toronto

IMPULSE (series)

DP David Greene csc, asc

to January 26, 2018

Etobicoke

IN CONTEMPT (series)

DP Kim Derko csc

to December

19 Toronto

iZOMBIE IV (series)

DP Ryan McMaster csc & Michael Wale csc

to January 23, 2018

North Vancouver

LAST SCENE ALIVE (MOW)

DP Ron Stannett csc

to November 3

Burnaby

LIFE SENTENCE (series)

DP Kamal Derkaoui csc Camera Operator David Bercovici-Artieda

to January 12, 2018

Burnaby

LE TRIOMPHE DE L’ARGENT (feature)

DP Van Royko csc

to November 8

Montreal

LUCKY DAY (feature)

DP Brendan Steacy csc Camera Operator Peter Sweeney

to November 3

Toronto

MAGICIANS III (series)

DP François Dagenais csc

to December 14

Vancouver

MARY KILLS PEOPLE II (series)

DP Gavin Smith csc

to November 18

Toronto

MENSONGES IV (series)

DP Jérôme Sabourin csc

to December 31

Montreal

MURDOCH MYSTERIES XI (series)

DP Yuri Yakubiw csc Camera Operator Brian Gedge 1st Assistant Kevin Michael Leblanc

to December 8

Toronto

ONCE UPON A TIME VII (series)

DP Tony Mirza 2nd Unit Operator Neil Cervin csc

to April 2, 2018

Burnaby

RIVERDALE II (series)

DP Brendan Uegama csc

to March 21, 2018

Langley

SHADOWHUNTERS III (series)

DP Mike McMurray csc & David Herrington csc (alternating episodes)

to May 15, 2018

SPLINTERS (feature)

DP Luc Montpellier csc

SUPERNATURAL XIII (series)

DP Serge Ladouceur csc

to April 27, 2018

SUITS VII (series)

Camera Operator/Steadicam Michael Soos

to November 21

Toronto

TAKEN II (series)

DP David Makin (odd episodes) csc

to February 6, 2018

Toronto

THE CORRUPTION OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE (feature)

DP Kristen Fieldhouse

to November 1

Winnipeg

THE HUMMINGBIRD PROJECT (feature)

DP Nicolas Bolduc csc

to November 30

Montreal

TITANS (series)

DP Boris Mojsovski csc

to May 21, 2018

Toronto

TWISTED (MOW)

DP Serge Desrosiers csc

to November 17

Toronto Halifax Burnaby

UMBRELLA ACADEMY, THE (TV series)

Craig Wrobleski csc

to July 11, 2018

Etobicoke

UNTITLED SIMONE BILES STORY (MOW)

DP Jan Kiesser csc, asc

to November 15

Burnaby

VICTOR LESSARD II (series)

DP Jonathan Decoste csc

to December 15

Montreal

WHEN CALLS THE HEART V (series)

DP Michael Balfry csc

to December 12

Burnaby

X-FILES EVENT II (series)

DP Craig Wrobleski csc

to December 21

North Vancouver

WRITE TO US

Connect online with the CSC, www.csc.ca

Follow us on Instagram to see featured full members' work @canadiancinematographer

Canadian Cinematographer welcomes feedback, comments and questions about the magazine and its contents. Please send your letters to editor@csc.ca. Letters may be edited for clarity and space.

36 • Canadian Cinematographer - November 2017

@csc_CDN

CLASSIFIEDS

PRODUCTION NOTES

A FATHER’S NIGHTMARE (feature) A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS II & III (series)

EQUIPMENT FOR SALE I have 15 - 3x3 Tiffen filters for sale - fogs, Promists Grads, 812's etc. all with cases $185.00 - contact Barry Casson csc - 250-721-2113 or e-mail bcasson@speakfilm.com TIFFEN ULTRA STEADICAM , HD Ultrabrite color monitor ,HDMI Decimator 2,Iso-elastic arm, 4-24 volt batteries, 1-Pag battery charger 24v,1-Lentequip battery charger 12/24v,Klassen vest and carrying bag, 1 Preston F1+Z transmitter 1 Preston MDR-1 receiver,1 Preston control, 2 motors, 2 batteries, charger, numerous Hill motor mount brackets rossette brackets and rods, 1 long dovetail plate,1 short dovetail plate, 1 docking bracket,1 fgs wheel chair/dolly adaptor,rain cover, too many cables, hard cases and accessories to list.This rig was well maintained looks new,all it needs is a few upgrades. $ 35000.00 can 416 817 3938 or acadian@rogers.com Rick Kearney Preston FIZ 2 kit - $13,000 2 x Arri MB-20 studio matte box $8,000 Arri LMB-15 Clip-on matte box - $1,200 Power-Pod Classic - $13,500 Please contact Michael Balfry csc @: michaelbalfry@gmail.com for a complete list of items.

Looking for a set of old, no longer used, standard legs with Mitchell base. Or any type of disused heavy camera support.

This is to be used to mount a Mitchell BNCR camera in order to place it on display.

Anyone with access to such a tripod or with information about one, please contact me: rawi@earthlink.net 416-691-6865

CAMERA CLASSIFIED IS A FREE SERVICE PROVIDED FOR CSC MEMBERS. For all others, there is a one-time $25 (plus GST) insertion fee. Your ad will appear here and on the CSC’s website, www.csc.ca. If you have items you would like to buy, sell or rent, please email your information to editor@ csc.ca.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS NOVEMBER 7-8, ProFusion, Toronto, profusionexpo.com 11-12, CSC Lighting Faces Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca 17, CSC Lens Testing Module, Toronto, csc.ca 18-19, CSC Camera Assistant Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca DECEMBER 2-3, CSC Tabletop Lighting Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca JANUARY 18-28, Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, sundance.org 31, CSC Awards entry deadline, csc.ca

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