American Cinematographer - September 2016 PDF

SEPTEMBER 2016
AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER • SEPTEMBER 2016 • PETE’S DRAGON – KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS – TULIP FEVER – INTERNATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHY SUMMIT • VOL. 97 NO. 9
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6 V O L . 9 7 N O . 9
An International Publication of the ASC
On Our Cover: Ten-year-old Pete (Oakes Fegley) takes to the skies with his best friend,
the green-furred Elliot, in Pete’s Dragon, shot by Bojan Bazelli, ASC. (Image courtesy of
Disney Enterprises, Inc.)
FEATURES
36 A Fierce Friendship
Bojan Bazelli, ASC embraces New Zealand’s natural light
52
for Pete’s Dragon
52 Hero’s Journey
Frank Passingham welcomes AC to the Vancouver sets of
the stop-motion feature Kubo and the Two Strings
66 Grand Delusion
Eigil Bryld re-creates the Dutch Golden Age on stages and
locations in the U.K. for Tulip Fever 66
78 Global Gathering
The ASC hosts the International Cinematography Summit
DEPARTMENTS
78
10 Editor’s Note
12 President’s Desk
14 Short Takes: Berlin Metanoia
22 Production Slate: The Eagle Huntress • Tanna
86 Filmmakers’ Forum: Shooting Yegna Movie in Ethiopia
92 New Products & Services
104 International Marketplace
105 Classified Ads
106 Ad Index
108 ASC Membership Roster
110 Clubhouse News
112 ASC Close-Up: Vanja Černjul
— VISIT WWW.THEASC.COM —
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6 V O L . 9 7 N O . 9
•ACCESS APPROVED•
New digital outreach by American Cinematographer means more in-depth coverage for you.
The career trajectory of every cinematographer is a unique story — with inspirations,

knowledge, opportunities and creative partnerships combining to produce a body of work. Each of
American Cinematographer’s ongoing blogs have recently examined this dynamic:
PARALLAX VIEW
Former AC editor David Heuring digs into the career
of Guillermo Navarro, ASC, AMC — revealing his
early struggles against adversity, work as a still
photographer, and eventual breakthrough into motion
pictures with the help of Argentine cinematographer
Ricardo Aronovich. Also, Heuring examines a
memorable shot created by Michael Chapman, ASC.
THE FILM BOOK

Longtime AC contributor and European
correspondent Benjamin B takes an extensive
look at the career of cinematographer
Peter Suschitzky, ASC in a creative two-part
video document, discussing such films as
The Empire Strikes Back, Naked Lunch, Crash
and Mars Attacks!
JOHN’S BAILIWICK Get all this and much

As a member of the American Society of Cinematographers, John Bailey more via theasc.com and our
social-media platforms.
offers keen and unique insight into the career of cameraman and ASC
President Arthur C. Miller, as well as the artistic rivalry between ASC
members John Alton and Alfred Gilks.
www.theasc.com
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 6 V o l . 9 7 , N o . 9
Visit us online at www.theasc.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF and PUBLISHER

Stephen Pizzello
————————————————————————————————————
WEB DIRECTOR and ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
David E. Williams
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EDITORIAL
MANAGING EDITOR Jon D. Witmer
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Andrew Fish
TECHNICAL EDITOR Christopher Probst
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Benjamin B, Rachael K. Bosley, John Calhoun, Mark Dillon, Michael Goldman, Simon Gray,
Jay Holben, Noah Kadner, Debra Kaufman, Iain Marcks, Jean Oppenheimer, Phil Rhodes, Patricia Thomson
PODCASTS
Jim Hemphill, Iain Stasukevich, Chase Yeremian
BLOGS
Benjamin B; John Bailey, ASC; David Heuring
WEB DEVELOPER Jon Stout
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ART & DESIGN
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marion Kramer
PHOTO EDITOR Kelly Brinker
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ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Angie Gollmann
323-936-3769 Fax 323-936-9188 e-mail: angiegollmann@gmail.com
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SUBSCRIPTIONS, BOOKS & PRODUCTS
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Saul Molina
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SHIPPING MANAGER Miguel Madrigal
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ASC GENERAL MANAGER Brett Grauman
ASC EVENTS COORDINATOR Patricia Armacost
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ASC ACCOUNTING MANAGER Mila Basely
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6
American Society of Cinematographers
The ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but
an educational, cultural and professional
organization. Membership is by invitation
to those who are actively engaged as
directors of photography and have
demonstrated outstanding ability. ASC
membership has become one of the highest
honors that can be bestowed upon a
professional cinematographer — a mark
of prestige and excellence.
OFFICERS - 2016/2017
Kees van Oostrum
President
Bill Bennett
Vice President
Lowell Peterson
Vice President
Dean Cundey
Vice President
Levie Isaacks
Treasurer
Frederic Goodich
Secretary
Roberto Schaefer
Sergeant-at-Arms
MEMBERS OF THE
BOARD
John Bailey
Bill Bennett
Curtis Clark
Richard Crudo
Fred Elmes
Michael Goi
Victor J. Kemper
Stephen Lighthill
Daryn Okada
Woody Omens
Robert Primes
Cynthia Pusheck
Owen Roizman
John Simmons
Kees van Oostrum
ALTERNATES
Roberto Schaefer
Mandy Walker
Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Oliver Bokelberg
Dean Cundey
MUSEUM CURATOR
Steve Gainer
8
Editor’s Note Cinematography is truly a global art form, as we acknowl-
edge on the cover of each month’s issue by declaring our
magazine to be “An International Publication of the ASC.”
Here at AC, we pride ourselves on casting our editorial net
far and wide to get the inside scoop on productions shot
everywhere on Earth. Our September issue once again
offers a special focus on international production, with
reports on projects that were mounted in New Zealand,
England, Germany, Ethiopia, Mongolia, and on Tanna
Island in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu.
Set in the Pacific Northwest, the fantasy adventure
Pete’s Dragon was in fact shot in New Zealand. As director
David Lowery explains to Jay Holben (“A Fierce Friend-
ship,” page 36), “New Zealand’s got plenty of magic on
hand.” Adds cinematographer Bojan Bazelli, ASC, “I suggested to David that since a lot of
scenes were based in the forest and could be shot on location, and in open space, that we
should utilize natural light as much as possible — being true to indie style, free of equipment,
and minimizing the imprint on the nature around us. He loved that idea.”
Tulip Fever is another show that used onscreen sleight-of-hand to create its geography
(“Grand Delusion,” page 66). Although the period drama takes place in Amsterdam during
the 1600s, cinematographer Eigil Bryld tells Iain Marcks, “There isn’t any 17th-century archi-
tecture like that in Holland anymore. Denmark has some, but it was too expensive to move
the production there, so we did it all in the U.K.”
The makers of this month’s other spotlighted shows had to contend with a wide vari-
ety of circumstances that tested their mettle. Raoul Germain endured a bout of giardiasis —
an illness caused by a single-cell parasite that attacks the belly — just before shooting Yegna
Movie in Ethiopia (Filmmakers’ Forum, page 86); director Otto Bell and cinematographer
Simon Niblett had to earn the trust of Kazakh natives while shooting the scenic documentary
The Eagle Huntress at various sites in Mongolia, including an eagle’s nest perched on a steep
cliff-side ledge in the Altai Mountains (Production Slate, page 22); and on the award-winning
feature Tanna, a core crew of two — cinematographer/co-director Bentley Dean and location
sound recordist/co-director Martin Butler — shot on an island in the Vanuatu archipelago that
has no electricity, and took three trips to the rim of an active volcano to capture an eruption
for a pivotal scene (Production Slate, page 28).
After reading about these far-flung challenges, cinematographer Frank Passingham,
director Travis Knight, and their collaborators on the stop-motion adventure Kubo and the
Two Strings (“Hero’s Journey,” page 52) may feel that the relative safety of the stage-bound
production more than compensated for the painstaking nature of their work.
This issue also offers an overview of the International Cinematography Summit hosted
by the ASC in June (“Global Gathering,” page 78). Representatives from more than two
dozen cinematography societies visited the ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood and other nearby
Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.
facilities, where they attended four days of demonstrations, screenings and communal meals.
Most importantly, attendees were given the opportunity to engage in open dialogue about
their goals and priorities, an experience that will surely bode well for the future of their shared
visual language.
Stephen Pizzello
10 Editor-in-Chief and Publisher
President’s Desk
Jost’s Triumph
This past June, a Munich court ruled in favor of Jost Vacano, ASC, BVK, who was the cinematog-
rapher of the well-known German film Das Boot. The court recognized that he did in fact have a
“great deal of influence on the film as the cinematographer.” And with this decision, the court
recognized the cinematographer’s artistic contribution, declaring that Jost should be entitled to a
share of the profit. The ruling has set a legal precedent in Germany that could prove crucial for the
future of the cinematographer’s role.
But that is not all that caught my interest — I was most intrigued by the spirit of it all.
It is now almost 10 years to the day since Jost, over a few drinks at Camerimage in
Poland, explained to me what he was up to. Discouraged that the cinematographer was generally
regarded as a technician and a hired hand as opposed to an artist and creator of images — a
contributor to the fabric of the movie — he had decided to stand his ground, challenging Das
Boot’s production company in the German court. He was determined to make his point utilizing
the European copyright law, which theoretically grants originators of a work the basic right of ownership.
Along with a few other colleagues, I walked away from the bar a bit perplexed but nevertheless energized by his spirit
and ideas. But, as it goes, by the next morning the previous night’s “spirits” had lost their euphoric empowerment, and we all
thought that Jost had gone mad. We were convinced he was going to fight for a lost cause.
Now, 10 years later and out of the blue, he has proved us all wrong. His victory in court is a remarkable “triumph of the
spirit.” I took it to heart because in our world today, driven as it is by the ever-changing landscape of new technology, our role as
cinematographers has come under attack. We all share the feeling that sometimes — and now more than ever, given the “democ-
ratization” of our craft — we are told how to express ourselves: how to light our scenes, how to color, etc.
During the International Cinematography Summit that the ASC recently hosted [see page 78], representatives of more
than 20 cinematography associations from around the world spoke about how to defend and retain our creative rights — rights
that might not exist as written law, but through knowledge, respect and tradition. Admittedly, these are intangible principles we
each define with our individual spirits, but for almost all of us, these ideals are among the reasons why we do what we do, and
why we love and care for our cinematography.
In my opinion, it’s all of this that makes Jost’s decision to stand up and speak out so important.
That Jost has the spirit we should all be true to seems apparent. In behind-the-scenes photos from Das Boot, a feisty Jost
can be seen with a helmet, protected like a gladiator, diving through the small, authentic hatches and passageways in the subma-
rine and creating a palpable feeling of claustrophobia. His work on the film revolutionized the moving camera, and in 2011 the
Society of Camera Operators presented Jost with its Historical Shot Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his impact; to
date, this remains the only time the organization has thus honored an operating cinematographer.
Jost parlayed the energy he demonstrated in shooting Das Boot into his later legal quest. I would like for you to be
inspired by his victory — both behind the camera and in the courtroom — and to keep at it, to not give up, to not acquiesce
because you think something might not be possible.
All of this brings to my mind the words of Howard Beale, the character played by Peter Finch in the film Network, which
was shot so eloquently by Owen Roizman, ASC: “I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot. … All I know is that first
you’ve got to get mad. You’ve got to say, ‘I’m a human being, goddamn it! My life has value!’ So I want you to get up now. I want
all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out,
and yell, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’”
Photo by Gunther Campine.
Kees van Oostrum

ASC President
12 September 2016 American Cinematographer

Short Takes
Citizens are
either
panicked by
or oblivious
to the surreal
events
overtaking
the city in the
short Berlin
Metanoia.
I Panic in Berlin
By Peter Tonguette
Because Berlin Metanoia consists of a series of vignette-like
episodes that differ sharply in content and atmosphere — such as
the stuffy solitude of Kore’s recording booth and the sleek luster of
On an otherwise ordinary day in Berlin, a young woman the newscaster’s studio — Louis sought to unify the film with a
named Kore (Marleen Lohse) reads from a script in the darkened consistent visual approach. “It’s always a big question how to
booth of a recording studio, but she seems unsettled. Outside, manage and solve all these small problems, and to have one over-
another young woman races about the city square with her hair on arching idea or look to the film,” he says.
fire, and a passerby lights a cigarette from her flaming locks. Mean- For the majority of the short feature, visual unity was
while, a brown bear is on the loose after escaping from the zoo, an achieved through the use of Samyang 24mm and 35mm lenses.
event reported breathlessly by a slick studio-bound television news- “They have a very soft flare, kind of like the Canon K35 lenses that
caster. A sniper, who initially appears disguised as a punk rocker, were used on Aliens,” Louis says, referring to the science-fiction film
prepares to fire on the escaped animal from an apartment window. shot by Adrian Biddle, BSC (AC Sept. ’86). “If there is a hard light
The weather, at least, is pleasant — until a pitch-black cloud rolls in going into the lens, they have this very soft, milky flare, which I really
to blot out the clear sky. like.”
The words of the newscaster — “Berlin in panic, ladies and The use of 24mm and 35mm lenses also lent the film a sense
gents” — sum up the wild, unpredictable tone of writer-director Erik of intimacy. “The camera is physically closer to the actor,” Louis says.
Schmitt’s Berlin Metanoia, which was screened earlier this year at the “I think nowadays that’s an optimum place for the audience, so that
Berlin International Film Festival. The 15-minute movie careens from they feel physically closer to the person or to whatever is going on.”
Images courtesy of the filmmakers.
one surprising incident to the next, yet the surreal scenario is The cinematographer employed IRND filters and a polarizer for
grounded by the skillfully subtle photography of Johannes Louis. nearly all exteriors.
A native of southwestern Germany, Louis is a frequent collab- Although Louis and Schmitt had worked in widescreen on
orator of Schmitt’s, and the two share the same office space in Berlin. prior projects, the cinematographer did not want Berlin Metanoia to
“With Berlin Metanoia, I knew about certain ideas [in the story] before have an epic quality. Instead, he chose to shoot the film in the 1.78:1
there was an actual script,” says Louis, who studied at the Filmuniver- aspect ratio. “[Widescreen] didn’t quite match the field of view you
sität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf and attended an ASC Master Class last would have if you take in the city — and its vertical structures —
year. “He or I will have an idea and we’ll talk about how we can realize with your own eyes,” the cinematographer notes.
it, and eventually it will end up in a script or in a short film.” Louis utilized four main cameras during production: Sony’s

PMW-F55, Blackmagic Design’s Production
Camera 4K, GoPro’s Hero3 Silver and
Canon’s EOS 7D, the latter of which was
used for several stop-motion sequences.
Louis estimates that 75 percent of the film
was shot with the Sony camera; the other
cameras were used to achieve particular
types of shots, such as the Blackmagic for
gimbal shots and footage featuring a cloud
tank, and the GoPro for a shot from the point
of view of a bomb descending from the sky.
In part, the decision to rely on the Sony was
a pragmatic one. “The F55 is rather light and
I knew that I was going to do a lot of hand-
held work,” says Louis, who — as is custom-
ary in Germany — operated the A camera
himself. Material shot on the Sony was
recorded in XAVC 4K to SxS cards, the Black-
magic in ProRes HQ 4K to SSD drives, and the
Canon 7D in M-Raw to CF cards.
In lighting Berlin Metanoia, Louis let
each section dictate the style. While exteriors
featured natural light and reflectors, interiors
required a variety of approaches. For Kore’s
recording studio, “the challenge was to make
her look good, but at the same time make
her look miserable,” Louis says. “I decided to
use soft lights from above, and control them
with a skirt made out of duvetyne so that the
whole room has a dark feeling to it. Because
light is coming from above, it’s not the most
flattering, so there are shadows around her
eyes that would reinforce the idea that she
did not feel comfortable in this space.” For
toplight, the cinematographer employed a
Dedolight PanAura with a duvetyne skirt.
“Very hard, very strong” overhead
tungsten studio lights were used to faithfully
replicate the newscaster’s studio, Louis
explains. And a variation of this technique —
in this case a flat frontal-lighting setup — was
employed when the newscaster introduces a
bear expert who appears on the program via
remote feed. Though the expert seems to be
stationed in front of the Brandenburg Gate, it
turns out that he is reporting from his apart-
ment and standing in front of an enlarged
photograph of the location — and secretly
not wearing trousers.
“I derived my lighting from the
character,” Louis says. “I thought, ‘This is the
kind of person that stands in front of a print-
Top: A black cloud rolls over Berlin. Middle: A crew member applies the finishing touches to the out, and wears a shirt and a jacket but
city model. Bottom: The model was constructed with flat cutouts that were stacked to create a doesn’t wear pants. What kind of lighting
three-dimensional space.
would he use?’” Louis opted here for Tecpro

Felloni LED light panels with minimal filtra-
tion.
Although storyboards were not
required for dialogue scenes, the film’s climax
— in which Kore encounters the bear and
the two share a surprisingly calm, placid
interaction — required considerable plan-
ning. “We were shooting with a live bear, so
we storyboarded the whole scene,” Louis
says. The filmmakers had initially hoped to
capture the bear sequence in Berlin, where
the majority of the movie was shot, but
when permits proved too difficult to obtain it
was decided to intercut shots of Kore in the
capital city with shots of the animal that were
captured in a small town about 185 miles
away. The cinematographer notes that one
of the primary challenges was “how to show
the emotional closeness between the bear
and the main actress when they couldn’t be
in the same [physical] space.”
Split screens were used for certain
shots in the sequence featuring Kore and the
bear. The illusion was furthered by several
shots of Kore in which the bear is out of
focus in the background, and in shots over
the bear’s shoulder; in those cases the animal
was actually a team member in a bear
costume. For close-ups of Kore seemingly
touching the bear with her hand, “That’s just
some fur with somebody ‘breathing’ behind
it to create some movement,” Louis reveals.
For the black cloud that blots out the
sun and casts a shadow over all of Berlin, the
filmmakers employed a cloud tank, a tech-
nique Louis learned about in AC’s piece on
The Fountain (Nov. ’06), directed by Darren
Aronofsky and shot by Matthew Libatique,
ASC. “It’s a big aquarium filled with water
that has different percentages of salt in it,”
Louis says. “The lower part has more salt,
and then you carefully put in water with less
salt. When you put in another liquid, it gath-
ers in between these two layers of water and
creates the illusion of a cloud. We experi-
mented with several liquids [for the middle
layer] — like milk, ink and colored water —
and in the end decided to use a mixture of
ink and milk.”
For the dark shadow that the cloud
casts over the city, production designer Clau-
dia Steinert came up with the idea to film a
Top: A sniper takes aim at a bear towering over Kore (Marleen Lohse). Middle: The crew preps piece of white kitchen cloth as it was placed
the scene with producer Fabian Gasmia wearing the lower half of a bear costume. Bottom: into a container of black ink, soaking it up.
Animal wrangler Dieter Kraml works with a real bear named Hera.
“We filmed that and then adjusted the

contrast a bit,” Louis explains. “We then
projected the footage on [a model of the
city] using an Optoma HD20 projector. The
model was built for the projected shadows
to crawl over.
“[For the model] we took photos of
buildings and streets, printed them on photo
paper, and cut [them out],” Louis continues.
“Then we stacked the cutouts behind each
other with some space in between. The
photos were two-dimensional, but we
created a three-dimensional space with
them. The advantage of that is that once we
projected the shadow, it would fall on the
model in a much more realistic way. If it had
just been one two-dimensional photo, you
would have noticed that something was off
and the effect would have been given away
[immediately].”
The final grade was completed in 2K
at the Post Republic by colorist Nadir
Mansouri on Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci
Resolve for a 2K DCP final deliverable.
One of the film’s few digital effects
was required for the woman whose hair is
on fire. For the most part, though, Louis real-
ized Berlin Metanoia with the low-tech
resourcefulness that Schmitt prefers. “He’s a
director who really challenges me to think
out of the box,” Louis says. “[His projects]
create problems that there is no generic way
Top: A history buff (Tom Lass) notices bomber planes flying overhead. Middle: The sniper (Timo to solve — you always have to come up with
Jacobs) gets into position. Bottom: Cinematographer Johannes Louis (right) frames a shot of a new idea.” ●
actor Anna Brüggemann.

Production Slate
After learning
falconry from
her father,
13-year-old
Aisholpan
pursues her
passion — and
in the process
breaks gender
barriers within
her traditional
Mongolian
culture —
in the
documentary
The Eagle
Huntress.
The Eagle Huntress photos by Andrew Yarme and Asher Svidensky, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
I Taking Flight
By Betsy A. McLane
Huntress he used an ABC Speedy crane, which he modified for
greater reach.
Bell became fascinated with Aisholpan’s story through a
The documentary The Eagle Huntress paints a portrait of series of stills taken by Asher Svidensky. Those photos attracted
daring opposition to centuries of male prerogative in a traditional worldwide attention, and Bell persuaded Svidensky to help turn the
Kazakh community. Set against the remote beauty of the Mongolian photo essay into a film. Other filmmakers were also interested, so
steppe and Altai Mountains, the movie follows 13-year-old Aishol- Bell had to act quickly, but Niblett was committed to another project
pan, who — with the support of her devoted father, Agalai — sets at the time. Instead, Bell made his first trip to Mongolia with Sviden-
out to become a champion eagle hunter. The true story resonates sky and New York-based cameraman Chris Raymond.
beyond borders, and it could only be told by filmmakers willing to Flying into Ulaanbaatar, the trio continued in a twin-prop
embrace physical, financial and artistic risks. plane to Ölgii, a village in the Bayan-Ölgii province of northwest
The movie marks director Otto Bell’s first feature, but he and Mongolia. From there, it was a two-hour ride in a Soviet-era bus to
director of photography Simon Niblett had previously collaborated the nomadic yurt — known locally as a “ger” — where Aisholpan’s
on numerous shorts. The close camaraderie they established on family makes its summer home. Over the course of the journey, with
those projects was only one reason Bell called on Niblett for his Mongolia’s seemingly endless beauty stretching out on all sides, Bell
feature-documentary debut. The cinematographer is also an expert realized the landscape itself would have to play an important role in
in tough outdoor shoots and an inventor of specialized camera the documentary.
equipment that he constructs at his own workshop in England’s The filmmakers sat down with the reserved Kazakhs over a
coastal village of Bantham, in the county of Devon. cup of tea, and discussions began about the possibility of making a
Niblett says his approach to equipment is intuitive, not reac- documentary. This was a delicate moment. To achieve the results he
tive — meaning that rather than getting a piece of gear and seeing wanted, Bell and his collaborators needed to gain the trust of people
what it can do, he looks first at what he wants to accomplish, then who are deeply tied to the timeless patterns of nature and the
creates what is needed to reach that goal. He calls this “back-to-front customs of their ancestors. These Kazakhs survive traveling by horse-
technology — what to do, then how to do it.” For The Eagle back and pickup truck across the steppe, herding goats and cattle

the GoPro on her sweater for POV shots —
by rope down to the huge nest. Meanwhile,
Raymond was situated below to establish
the vast background and the cliff’s height.
In order to shoot up at Aisholpan and
be close enough to record sound, Svidensky
and Bell were also lowered to a precarious
ledge, below and to the left of the nest. Bell
recalls, “Asher didn’t have a tripod, so I was
just trying to get him to hold [the camera]
steady. I was holding the Zoom [recorder],
talking in Asher’s ear, and meanwhile we
had the mother eagle circling overhead.” It
took Aisholpan more than one try to
capture the fledgling in a bag, but she
succeeded. Her triumphant smile as she
holds her eaglet became the climax of the
film’s first act.
Once Niblett’s prior commitment
wrapped, he was able to join the production
as director of photography following this
first sequence. He made four trips to
Mongolia, and he used three of his own
cameras; a Red Epic Mysterium-X was the
main camera, a Blackmagic Production
Camera 4K served as the second camera
during the Golden Eagle Festival, and a
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera was
used for drone shots. “The Epic affords high
frame rates and can be stripped down to
use on the crane and DJI Ronin gimbal, [the
latter of] which we used both on the crane
as a remote head and handheld out of a
Top, from left: Camera assistant Ben Crossley gets the collapsible crane into place while truck for some horse-riding tracking shots,”
cinematographer Simon Niblett and director Otto Bell observe. Bottom: An eagle supervises as
Crossley checks the camera. Niblett explains. “The Pocket camera was
the perfect drone camera due to its small
during the warm months and settling into Capturing an eaglet is the first of size and raw capabilities. We used a 12mm
small villages during the brutal winters. Only three main trials undertaken to become a [Olympus Micro Four Thirds] lens exclusively
men hunt. Training a girl to be an eagle master eagle hunter, and it has to be done with the Pocket camera.” The cinematogra-
hunter flouted age-old rules. during the brief period when the bird has pher adds that the lens had to be disman-
The elusive goddesses of documen- learned to fly but is still living in the nest, fed tled “at least twice to clear the dust that
tary seemed to be smiling, though. Bell and protected by a fierce mother. Once an gathered from takeoffs on the steppe.”
recalls the moment during that first meeting eaglet is taken, only one hunter works with Even with the need to move between
when Agalai said, “My daughter and I are it for seven years before releasing it back grand landscapes and intimate portraits,
going to steal an eaglet from its nest in the into the wild. Niblett used only a few lenses with the Epic
morning. Is that the kind of thing you would For Aisholpan and Agalai, stealing and Blackmagic Production Camera: a PL-
like to film?” The director’s joy was matched the eaglet was the culmination of months mounted Tokina 11-16mm (T2.8) zoom
only by his trepidation; the small crew had of preparation. He, a two-time winner of rehoused by Duclos Lenses, Red 18-50mm
not come prepared to shoot a scene of such the annual Golden Eagle Festival in Ölgii, and 50-150mm zooms (both T3), Canon L-
magnitude. They had only Raymond’s had taught her to hold and feed his bird, series 200mm and 300mm primes, and a
Canon EOS C300 Mark I, Svidensky’s Canon how to gently remove its hood, how to call Canon 150-600mm T5.6 zoom. All of the
EOS-1D Mark IV and Bell’s GoPro Hero4 it to her. Bell and Svidensky followed Aishol- Canon lenses were Optex-modified for PL
Black, with Bell’s older Zoom H4n digital pan and her father up a mountain, then mounts. “The Canon 150-600mm was a
recorder for recording sound. But there was scaled down a steep cliff to a ledge where $25,000 lens when new — circa 1985
no chance of reshooting this crucial event. Agalai lowered his daughter — who wore — and is super sharp,” Niblett says. “I use a

suffered a serious broken arm before this trip,
and although he made it to Mongolia, the
injury forced him home, leaving only Niblett
and Crossley to film this final test. With aver-
age temperatures of -4° Fahrenheit, and
nights commonly at -40°, this proved to be
the most physically brutal shoot of Niblett’s
career.
To keep certain pieces of equipment
from freezing, he enveloped them in racing-
car tire warmers that were placed inside an
insulated cooler bag, and then put this on
top of a running auto engine. “Mainly drone
batteries,” Niblett replies when asked which
equipment needed such warming. “[They]
have to be lithium polymer due to the very
high discharge rates. Their performance
drops hugely if they are below about 5
degrees C. Also the Blackmagic Pocket
camera batteries, and indeed the camera
— we would sometimes record continuously
on the camera to keep it warm. Because it’s
a raw camera, the small processor in it has to
work very hard, so it generates a lot of heat.
We also ran the tire warmers off batteries
when away from the van, and it was ‘chicken
and egg’ [because] the tire-warmer batteries
needed warming!”
It was often impossible to see
anything on the cameras’ LCD screens, since
they frosted almost immediately, and Niblett
and Crossley had to choose between work-
ing with bulky gloves and frozen hands.
Aisholpan’s task was not an easy one, and
she and her father ventured out many days
Top: Crossley shoots a scene with Aisholpan’s father, Agalai (right), and a competitor on a before ultimately succeeding.
hillside during the Golden Eagle competition. Bottom, from left: Niblett, Bell and Crossley, with Both Niblett and Bell realized the film
their driver and interpreter observing, employ a Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera on a
DJI S1000 drone. needed more than spectacular outdoor
scenes to truly reveal Aisholpan’s story, but it
Redrock Micro lens motor and thumb wheel drone, rigged with the Pocket Cinema was difficult for two Englishmen to overcome
to focus it.” Camera, was also put into service, capturing her natural reserve. Fortunately, they were
The documentary’s second act culmi- aerials of the eagles swooping down to land introduced to Martina Radwan, a cinematog-
nates at the festival. After training her eagle on their masters’ arms. rapher and director who has extensive expe-
for months, Aisholpan and Agalai — wear- Niblett found the story’s heart in rience making films in Mongolia and helping
ing traditional regalia — set off on horse- medium shots and close-ups of the competi- young people. She traveled with only a trans-
back, riding a full day to compete against tors’ and judges’ faces. He registered the lator to live with Aisholpan’s family in their
70 of the greatest Kazakh eagle hunters. judges’ initial condescension, and the shock one-room house in the countryside, and then
During the festival, Niblett was supported of everyone — except Agalai and Aisholpan with their relatives in the village where
by camera assistant Ben Crossley, who was — when the 13-year-old girl not only won Aisholpan attends school.
positioned with the Blackmagic Production the competition, but bested the record time Radwan’s intimate work opens up the
Camera on the mountaintop from which for calling an eagle. family’s personal life. Shooting with a C300
the birds were released. Niblett stayed on Winning the Golden Eagle competi- Mark I, she sometimes used a polarizer with
the ground with the Epic to capture tion did not yet make Aisholpan a master, her set of Canon EF zooms, comprising a 17-
competitors on horseback calling to their however; she still had to prove her skill in a 55mm (f2.8), 24-105mm (f4) and 70-
eagles. A DJI Spreading Wings S1000 winter hunt, tracking foxes across snow. Bell 200mm (f2.8). “I would use the polarizer

filter only for exteriors, to enhance the
contrast in sky and clouds,” she says.
“The people are not used to a camera,
so it’s a bit of a struggle to capture them,”
Radwan continues. “They often are shy or
think they need to perform for the camera. In
that sense, it was good that I was by myself.
I captured beautiful moments of Aisholpan,
particularly at school, where I encouraged her
to talk to her friends about her experience as
an eagle huntress, which she had never done
before.”
Despite having multiple cinematogra-
phers shooting in various locations at differ-
ent times of year, The Eagle Huntress is visu-
ally seamless. Niblett credits much of the Star-crossed lovers Wawa (Marie Wawa) and Dain (Mungau Dain) flee their tribe in order
continuity to the cameras. “We captured in to be together in the feature Tanna, which was shot on the island of the same name in the
full 5K on the Reds, 4K on the BM Cinema Vanuatu archipelago.
Camera and 1080p raw on the Pocket
Camera,” he explains. “The Epic is versatile
and robust, and the R3D files it produces are
highly gradable, which meant we could
I Trouble in Paradise
By Simon Gray
and a cast. “Our pitch to the villagers was to
collaborate on a story that would come
from and be acted by them,” Dean recalls.
match the cameras more easily. Both of the There has never been a version of “We showed the whole tribe Rolf De Heer’s
Blackmagic cameras shoot raw DNG files, so the archetypal “doomed lovers” story quite Ten Canoes [AC March ’07] on our solar-
again it made the grade more efficient.” The like the one told in Tanna. A core crew of charged laptop to demonstrate the type of
grade was conducted at executive producer two — cinematographer/co-director Bent- film Martin and I wanted to make — and
Morgan Spurlock’s New York studio, where ley Dean and location sound recordist/co- indeed what a film was, because few had
colorist Brian Boyd — with Niblett present — director Martin Butler — shot the movie in seen one before.”
worked with Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Yakel, a traditional village high in the hills of The plot of Tanna originated from a
Resolve. Tanna, an island in the Vanuatu archipelago. real-life dispute in the 1980s over an
Niblett has shot more than 200 docu- Performed entirely in the little-known arranged marriage. “Star-crossed lovers,
mentaries in 150 countries, built some 18 Nauvhal language, Tanna is Vanuatu’s first intra- and inter-tribal disputes, challenges to
drones of his own design, and flown them in feature. The picture has won numerous the status quo of tradition — we were fasci-
locations as remote as Antarctica. With The accolades, including the Best Cinematogra- nated by all these powerful and dramatic
Eagle Huntress he faced some of the tough- phy Award and Audience Award for Best themes,” Dean says. The details of the story
est conditions of his career and returned with Feature Film at the 2015 Venice Film Festi- were then plotted out over the next two
brilliant imagery of a magnificent landscape val’s International Film Critics’ Week. months with Butler, script editor Janita Suter
Tanna photos by Philippe Penel, courtesy of Lightyear Entertainment.

and the unique people who inhabit it. That Dean believes that “among the and the inhabitants of Yakel.
Niblett can artistically thrive on today’s cutting myriad Pacific Islands, Tanna is probably the High-spirited Wawa (Marie Wawa) is
edge is due in part to the fact that he inte- strongest in following Kastom [Melanesian in love with Dain (Mungau Dain) — the son
grates the old with the new. As he says, “I traditional culture]. A few tribes, such as the of Village Chief Charlie (Chief Charlie Kahla)
used my good old Ronford-Baker tripod, villagers of Yakel, still hunt with bows and — but their nuptial plans are thwarted
which — in 30 years of owning all sorts of arrows and make their traditional clothes when a tribal decision is made to pair Wawa
equipment — is the only piece of equipment and houses entirely from materials gathered with someone else. Due to an attack on the
I have had since I started in this job.” in the surrounding jungle. Their days begin Yakel shaman (Albi Nangia) by men from
with the rising sun and end with a kava the Imedin tribe, the peacekeeping chief
TECHNICAL SPECS ceremony at sunset. It’s a way of life that (Chief Mungau Yokay) has arranged for an
has all but disappeared in modern times.” end to hostilities if Wawa marries an Imedin
1.85:1 Only 25x12 miles, Tanna bursts at man. Determined to be together, Wawa
Digital Capture the seams with dense rainforest; both and Dain flee their tribe.
Canon EOS C300 Mark I, EOS-1D Mark IV; black- and white-sand beaches; brilliant Dean and Butler’s combined experi-
GoPro Hero4 Black; Blackmagic Design corals; pristine, iridescent water; and the ence on both short- and long-form docu-
Pocket Cinema Camera, Production Camera stark grey ash plain of an active volcano, the mentaries ideally positioned them to tackle
4K; Red Epic Mysterium-X 1,184' Mt. Yasur. Dean and Butler had great such an unusual project. While shooting
Duclos, Red, Canon locations — all they needed were a script their feature-length production Contact

and translator Jimmy Joseph Nako,” Dean
explains. Worried that the performances
might feel stilted — since the vast majority
of the villagers had never seen cinema
before the filmmakers’ arrival, let alone
acted for it — Dean decided to shoot the
rehearsals so the villagers would become
used to the presence of the camera. His
fears proved unfounded, however, as the
performances in the very first rehearsal were
so spontaneously confident, natural and
captivating that it quickly became a take.
“There have only been a couple of times as
a cinematographer where I’ve felt goose-
bumps while filming,” says Dean, “and this
scene was one of them. Sure enough, that
very first ‘rehearsal’ is in the film’s final cut.
From then on, Martin and I decided we
would shoot everything.”
The complete absence of electricity
Above: Dain treks up on location, apart from the small solar panel
the active volcano Mt. for charging batteries and laptops — the
Yasur. Right: latter of which were used to view rushes —
Cinematographer/
co-director Bentley precluded any big lighting setups. “Most of
Dean operates the the film was shot simply with natural light,
production’s Canon modified by bounce as required,” Dean
EOS C300 camera for a
scene with Wawa and says. “The villagers were creating brilliant
Dain at the volcano. visuals in their everyday life: lots of smoky
fires producing atmosphere, [which formed]
shafts of sunlight in wide shots and [soft-
ened] the light for close-ups; dark skins
covered in coconut oil contrasted against
(2009) — about first contact with a group of Is the Warmest Color was shot on the swathes of green foliage; the sinewy
women and children from the indigenous Canon C300, I knew it was the camera for textures of natural materials used for huts;
Martu tribe of Australia’s Great Sandy Desert us. It was small enough for comfortable penis sheaths and head-gear — what more
— and the four-part First Footprints, Dean handholding and allowed me to move could you want?
and Butler “established a successful way of quickly to capture any spontaneous action “Because of these occurrences, I
filming traditional people with respect, by the villagers.” always tried to work with whatever nature
patience and personal rapport,” Dean Recording in Canon Log, the C300 was throwing at us,” he continues. “The
explains. “It’s the best way for a film such as was mostly handheld throughout the constant exposure to the elements felt more
Tanna to be made. It also helps that Martin production, with the workhorse lens being a like an opportunity than a restriction. For
and I are a very tight unit — both co- Canon EF L-series 24-105mm f4 L IS USM. A example, as we filmed a chase scene on Mt.
producing and co-directing. With Martin on 50mm f1.2 L USM was used for low-light Yasur’s dramatically barren ash plain, a huge
sound and me on camera, we respond to night scenes on the volcano and for night dust storm swelled up, and rather than fight
whatever is happening in front of us quickly scenes that took place around campfires. it, we reconfigured the action to exploit the
and organically.” The camera recorded to SanDisk Extreme storm’s inherent drama.” Night scenes were
As principal photography was sched- Pro CompactFlash 64GB cards, using MPEG- lit by a portable CN-600HS 1x1 LED panel
uled to last at least six months, and in fact 2 Long GoP 4:2:2 codec, at 50 Mbps CBR. bounced off a flexible gold reflector to simu-
lasted seven, purchasing a camera was a Tanna was captured in a manner late firelight.
better option than renting. “We had no perhaps best described as art-meets-life, Befitting a film shot entirely on loca-
significant budget to begin with,” Dean with the villagers drawing on their own tion, the island’s diverse geographical
says, “so we needed a camera that was experiences to inform their performances. features were used as touchstones for the
affordable and could produce results for the “Much of the story and dialogue was devel- increasing drama. Gentle scenes of Wawa
big screen. When I learned that the oped through improvisation on location and Dain happily planning their future
gorgeous-looking, Palme d’Or-winning Blue with the Yakel villagers, and cultural director together were shot at Sulphur Bay — a

day the ISO was generally set to 850, and I
didn’t adjust it; I’d do a series of spot read-
ings and make a call on the best [exposure]
on the run. This sometimes created hard
work for C.J., but you wouldn’t know it
from the final product. The look is sumptu-
ous yet realistic.”
“While the latitude of Canon Log
isn’t anything like an Alexa,” Dobson adds,
“scenes with actors very much in shadow
but with bright skies in the background still
retained detail at both ends of the curve.
When the camera did capture a greater
range of light on their skin, it really shone,
creating beautiful images.”
Also linked to contrast issues was the
removal of green bounce on the actors’
skin. “This is a natural occurrence in a loca-
tion covered in lush rainforest,” Dobson
From left: Peter Kowia, co-director/sound recordist Martin Butler, Lingai Kowia, Dean, Caha Toata and says, “but when the footage with a lower
cultural director/translator Jimmy Joseph Nako pose for a group picture.
exposure index was lifted, the green on the
skin tones became very obvious. I also color-
name that belies the location’s crystal-clear, tion all had to happen at the same time. The picked specific green tones and gave them a
shimmering blue water and pristine white- actors were initially too shy to embrace each less digital, softer, more cinematic feel.”
sand beach bordered by black boulders and other, as there is a strict taboo against show- The world premiere of Tanna in early
large palms — with the beauty of the bay ing physical affection in public, but the end 2015 almost fell victim to the region’s
signifying the hope of the lovers. By way of results are extremely moving and the scene inclement weather when Cyclone Pam
contrast, the climactic scene — in which the is the tribe’s favorite. I challenge anyone to — one of the worst natural disasters in
pair believes they can only be together in think of a more romantic rendezvous.” Vanuatu’s recorded history — devastated
death — occurs on the rim of Mt. Yasur “Our intrepid editor, Tania Nehme, the Vanuatu archipelago, sparing neither
amid powerful bursts of steam, ash and who was editor on Ten Canoes, came to Tanna nor Yakel. The filmmakers were
lava. Tanna for six weeks,” Dean continues, thrilled, however, when the villagers insisted
Although Mt. Yasur is the world’s “which proved invaluable for discovering that the planned screening take place as
most accessible active volcano, local knowl- and rectifying any gaps in the story. It was scheduled. The movie was projected onto
edge was invaluable when the production great to be able to share such a directly two white sheets tied to a large banyan tree
team was scheduling the sequences that collaborative process of making a film from and received an enthusiastic welcome. “This
take place on the rim. “Yahul [Mt. Yasur’s beginning to end.” was the first film the majority of the people
traditional name] could get quite violent,” Color timing for Tanna was of Tanna had ever seen,” says Dean, “and it
recalls Dean. “More than once we found completed at Soundfirm’s Melbourne facility starred them, in one of their own
large blobs of solidified lava lying in the with Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve in languages, telling their own story. It was
exact place we had last filmed. We always DCI P3 color space for a 2K flat DCP final unforgettable.”
relied on advice from the chiefs about when deliverable. “The master of the film [was] a
it was safe to work up there, as they know DSM — Digital Source Master — which is a TECHNICAL SPECS
her better than anyone.” DPX image sequence, also at 2K flat 1998-
No visual effects were employed in by-1080 in DCI P3 color space,” Dean 1.78:1
portraying Mt. Yasur’s hauntingly beautiful notes. Digital Capture
lava eruptions during the climactic scene — The cinematographer has nothing Canon Cinema EOS C300
it was all a matter of timing. “It took three but praise for colorist Christine “C.J.” Canon L-series
separate journeys to the top of the volcano Dobson: “Tanna would not have looked as ●
— considered by the Yakel villagers to be good as it does, nor would it have won cine-
their Spirit Mother — to get the shot of the matography awards, if not for the extremely
lovers coming together at the precise time talented work of C.J. I deliberately protected
of an eruption behind them,” Dean the highlights to better cope with the
explains. “The right tone of very subdued contrast of dark skin speckled with bright
light, the actors’ movements and the erup- sunlight through a forest canopy. During the

A Fierce
Friendship
Bojan Bazelli, ASC and director David Lowery
employ natural light and minimal equipment to shoot Pete’s Dragon in
the forests of New Zealand.
By Jay Holben
•|•

Opposite: Lost and alone in the woods, 4-year-old Pete befriends a dragon he’ll name Elliot in
the feature Pete’s Dragon. This page, top: Forest ranger Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) takes a
walk in the woods. Bottom: Cinematographer Bojan Bazelli, ASC inspects a setup.
Unit photography by Matt Klitscher
F
courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc.
or years, old wood-carver Mr. young daughter, Natalie (Oona Meacham’s stories. Together, these
and Eric Zachanowich. All images
Meacham (Robert Redford) has Laurence), discovers a mysterious 10- characters embark on a grand and often
delighted local children with his year-old boy who has been living among harrowing adventure, and they all come
tales of the fierce dragon he once the trees for the past six years. His name to understand that there’s far more
encountered deep in the woods. To his is Pete (Oakes Fegley), and he claims to magic in the world than they ever would
daughter, Grace (Bryce Dallas have survived with the aid of his friend, have imagined.
Howard), who works as a forest ranger, a green dragon named Elliot. And from A re-envisioning of the classic
these stories are little more than tall Pete’s description, Elliot seems remark- 1977 Disney film (AC Oct. ’77), this
tales. One day, though, her fiancé’s ably similar to the dragon from Mr. version of Pete’s Dragon is helmed by
www.theasc.com September 2016 37

◗ A Fierce Friendship
director David Lowery, known for his

critically acclaimed independent film
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (AC Sept. ’13).
Pete’s Dragon marks the director’s first
big-studio, big-budget, big-effects
feature, but as he told a crowd of
journalists gathered at the El Capitan
Theatre in Hollywood for an early
glimpse of select scenes, “I always looked
at Ain’t Them Bodies Saints and my
previous films as sort of fairy tales. This
is a more literal one, but it’s in the same
zone thematically and tonally.”
Like Ain’t Them Bodies Saints,
Pete’s Dragon is set in an undefined time
period that could loosely be placed in the
late ’70s or early ’80s. Working again
with production designer Jade Healy,
Lowery sought to take elements from
that era and “make everything congeal in
this cohesive whole that doesn’t have a
literal date on it but just feels like
‘yesterday,’” he says. “When you have a
movie that has a fantastical concept in it,
you’re going to accept it more easily if it
has the veil of time hanging over it. And
by setting the story in the past, you’re just
a little more accepting of the idea that
there might be magic there that you
overlooked in your own past.”
In a later phone conversation with
AC, the director adds, “Picking a director
Top and middle: Pete and Elliot get acquainted. Bottom: Bazelli (kneeling with camera) and the crew work
out their coverage on location in New Zealand.
of photography for this project wasn’t
necessarily a tricky process, but it was

Having survived in
the wild for the
past six years,
Pete (Oakes
Fegley) spends his
days playing with
Elliot — running,
flying and
exploring the
great outdoors.
delicate. I wanted to find someone who

fit my sensibilities, which come from a
more independent world of filmmaking
that is spontaneous and free-flowing —
but I also wanted someone who could
handle the demands of a big special-
effects picture and make Disney
comfortable. That was an important
aspect, because I was doing a movie of
this scale for the first time and it was
important to the studio for me to have
collaborators who had tread this territory
before. The studio wanted someone who
could handle the greenscreen and make
the image polished, but I wanted
someone who wouldn’t make it too
polished, to keep that independent
feeling.
“My taste in cinematography runs
all over the place,” Lowery continues. “I
love so many cinematographers, but I
definitely thought The Lone Ranger [AC
Aug. ’13] was spectacular. The way it was
lit so thoroughly, yet so old-fashioned
feeling, without feeling like it was lit —
that is exciting to me. Old-fashioned but
completely modern.”
The cinematographer behind The
Lone Ranger was Bojan Bazelli, ASC,
whose additional credits include The
Ring (AC Nov. ’02), Mr. & Mrs. Smith
(AC July ’05) and Burlesque (AC Dec.
’10). “Oddly enough, I was very
interested in David about a year before I
met him,” recalls Bazelli. “I had seen
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, and I really
liked it a lot. I looked into David and

learned he was an up-and-coming

director, but that was pretty much the
extent of my research. A year later, I was
shooting a movie in Budapest and I got
a call from my agent asking me if I would
take a call from a new director about a
project. Turns out it was David — I
almost said ‘yes’ to the project instantly.
We had a Skype interview and we hit it
off fantastically, with great chemistry, and
that was that.
“I saw an opportunity with this
project that was fairly unique,” the
cinematographer continues. “Here was a
director with a very ‘independent’
background and working style, who was
now working on a large-budget studio
film. I thought, ‘What if we could adopt
that indie filmmaking style for this film?’
It really seemed to be conducive to the
story, and good for the actors and
Top: Children
gather around as children to not necessarily be surrounded
Grace’s father, and bogged down by moviemaking
Mr. Meacham equipment. During our Skype
(Robert
Redford), tells conversation, I suggested to David that
the tale of his since a lot of scenes were based in the
own encounter forest and could be shot on location, in
with a dragon.
Middle: open space, that we should utilize natural
Meacham works light as much as possible — being true
in his woodshop. to indie style, free of equipment, and
Bottom: Director
David Lowery minimizing the imprint on the nature
confers with around us. He loved that idea.”
Bazelli. “I wanted a mix,” Lowery says. “I
wanted it to feel like an adventure — big
and epic — but I wanted it to feel
handmade. That’s my aesthetic for

Top: Grace
questions the
veracity of her
father’s stories.
Middle: Grace
comforts Pete after
the boy is
discovered in the
woods. Bottom:
Grace, Meacham
and Natalie (Oona
Laurence) meet
Elliot.
anything I do. I want my images to

have a texture that betrays the craft a
little bit, where you can tell that people
have exerted energy on the movie —
production design, costume, cinemato-
graphy. I want there to be a rough-hewn
quality that doesn’t feel sloppy, but shows
that it has been made by human hands.
You can do that in a lot of ways:
composition; lighting; exposure; what
you’re shooting; and how the design,
costumes and cinematography come
together as a whole. I wanted to combine
that with the scope, scale and sense of
adventure you expect from a summer
tentpole movie — the glossy ‘Spielberg’
quality, along with the old-fashioned
handmade aesthetic from my past few
films. That was what Bojan and I initially
talked about, and we were completely
simpatico with the concept of how to
approach this film.”
“This wasn’t just a conceptual
discussion that went by the wayside,”
Bazelli adds. “This was our mandate, and
we followed through with it. It became
our trademark on this film — to shoot
with available light and without
equipment for pretty much the entire
movie.”
The production, though, had
originally planned for a predominantly

stage-bound shoot to double for the got plenty of magic on hand. It had the
exteriors, with a heavy reliance on green- forests we’d need, it had the weather we’d
or bluescreen for visual effects. “We had need, and also visual-effects vendor Weta
to reschedule the entire film,” the digital was there, which was very
cinematographer recalls. “They had us convenient.
on stage with gimbal rigs and we said, “We would get up at 4 a.m. every
‘Let’s move this outside and be true to day and drive two hours into the middle
natural light.’ It was very hard on the of the forest to shoot in these remote
production department to turn redwood groves because we wanted it to
everything around and reorganize the really feel like the ‘best’ version of being
show as an exterior shoot scheduled out in the woods,” the director continues.
around the sun, but the film looks better, “That was really important to keeping
more realistic, and true to the the story grounded — because you have
environments where the scenes take this 20-foot-tall dragon to unground you
place. Everyone was actually on board every step of the way if you’re not
with it, extra work notwithstanding.” careful.”
The production — now at the Production of Pete’s Dragon, which
mercy of the elements — got underway shot on both the North and South
in New Zealand, where the Islands of New Zealand, began in late
unpredictable summers are known for January of 2015 and spanned 66 days.
rain, clouds, wind and an overall weather With the location-based shoot, there
pattern that changes by the hour. Lowery were no cover sets and there was no plan-
Top: Two cameras capture the action as Gavin (Karl explains that the movie is set in “the B. “We had to bite the bullet,” Bazelli
Urban, center) and his crew of loggers follow Elliot’s Pacific Northwest, but it’s a slightly attests. “We were open to the possibility
tracks through the forest. Bottom: Bazelli and Lowery
check the framing on a field monitor. elevated, more magical version of the that we might not get things done on a
Pacific Northwest, and New Zealand’s daily basis. We had to be flexible enough

to adjust to weather changes. Luckily, we

had a very good summertime with very
good weather; it wasn’t bad at all, and it
really paid off for the film to take this
natural approach.”
“Making a movie for Disney, they
will give you anything you want,”
Lowery submits. “This wasn’t a case of
deciding to go natural because we didn’t
have the budget or resources; it was a
decision that was made to best tell the
story. Our rule of thumb was that turning
Above: Bazelli on an 18K was a little bit of a failure on
finds a frame
looking into a car.
our part. We did have to light a few days
Right: Pete because of rain, and there was a sadness
struggles to feel to that. We wanted to capture things as
comfortable in his
new surroundings
they were; we wanted to treat these kids
after he’s brought as kids and create a context for them
out of the forest. functioning in the real world. Our
schedule was based entirely around the
rising and falling of the sun, and we
picked locations and angles based on
daylight and natural shadows.”
“I’ve done a lot of work in
New Zealand,” Bazelli says. “I’ve always
liked it there. The landscapes — and
the light, especially in the mornings
and the evenings — are just beautiful.
The specifics of that climate constantly
create fantastic, interesting and very
beautiful clouds. The sky is always

Right: Natalie and

Pete hatch a plan
after Gavin and his
crew capture Elliot.
Below: Grace is
heartbroken to see
Elliot in chains.
shutter,” he emphasizes — shooting

3.2K ArriRaw to internal Codex XR
Capture Drives, and employing the
camera’s 4:3 Open Gate full-sensor
option for its added sensor height,
which best suited their desired
anamorphic extraction area of
2626x2198 photosites (21.66mm x
18.13mm). The cinematographer flirted
with the idea of using the Alexa 65 for
the forest sequences, but at the time of
production there were still too few
models in existence for Bazelli to be
confident of the camera’s availability.
The filmmakers elected to shoot
anamorphic with Cooke Anamorphic/i
and Arri/Zeiss Master Anamorphic
primes. “We decided to go with
gorgeous. Wellington has a great “The light through the trees changes anamorphic on this movie to accentuate
population of skilled craftsmen; the quickly; the contrast range is off the the landscape and add more visual
crews are very good.” The scale. We looked for locations that gave interest,” Bazelli offers. “We received one
cinematographer makes special mention us the most interesting look in terms of of the first sets of the new Cooke
of his “whole camera crew, but especially the density of trees and the quality of anamorphics and combined them with
the focus pullers — shooting light filtering through. We decided to Arri Masters. We carried two sets of
anamorphic, almost always wide open add ambient smoke and atmosphere in each on the entire show. Although the
— including Dean Morin on A camera the forest to create more depth — two lens systems are very different, they
and George Hennah on B camera, and because it had felt a little flat, and actually worked well together. The
great camera operators Cameron introducing the ambience created a Cookes very much have that ‘Cooke
McLean and Andrew McGeorge. whole new wonderful pictorial.” look,’ where they have a soft spot around
“The forest is one of the hardest Bazelli chose Arri’s Alexa XT the center of the image; it is more of a
locations to shoot in,” Bazelli continues. Studio — “with spinning-mirror portrait lens. That was beautiful, but

because of it I had to compose the close- thing about anamorphic is that even shot with a lower ISO if I was able to get
ups with unconventionally high with a wide-angle 32mm, it has a the exposure,” he explains. “The way that
headroom to avoid getting the soft spot stronger perspective and greater depth- digital works is that the 800 ISO speed
over the actors’ eyes. of-field fall-off than the spherical provides an equal split between
“The Arris are sharper, with more 16mm.” highlights and shadows in dynamic
resolving power, and are more ‘perfectly’ Bazelli primarily used the Alexa range. The lower the speed of the sensor,
designed,” he continues. “I would at its native 800 ISO, but notes that he the better and cleaner the shadows are,
generally use them to complement the occasionally deviated from that approach but you’re not protecting your highlights
Cooke lenses, with the Arris playing for when the situation dictated a change. as much. When it got dark in the forest
wider shots and low-light situations, and “When the forest was darker, I went in I stepped down on the ISO, to 400, to
the Cookes for mediums and close-ups. the opposite direction than most and protect the details in the shadows and
The Arris are really beautiful lenses and
very fast, with a true T1.9, and they
perform really well at that stop. The
Cookes feel more organic — they’re not
quite a true T2.3; I feel they’re a little
slower, more like T2.8, actually. The
Arris really came in handy when we
were losing light and needed that extra
stop. Our favorite lens for the wide shots
was 40mm; for the rest of the coverage
we used 50mm and 75mm. I love
putting a diopter on a 50mm lens and
getting close to an actor’s face. It is one
of the stylistic choices that we adopted
for shooting the close-ups in this
movie.”
The cinematographer notes that
he and Lowery had an initial concern
about shooting in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio
given the significant height of one of
their lead characters — Elliot the
dragon. “We knew that shooting 1.85 or
1.78 would help open up the top of the
frame to accommodate that height, but
that didn’t work with the compositional
approach we wanted,” Bazelli explains.
“We didn’t want to be too precious with
our composition; we wanted ‘dirtier’
handheld-like compositions where we’d
have to tilt up to catch the dragon and
maybe clip his head a little bit and then
come back down. We wanted it to feel
more spontaneous and imperfect, and to
introduce little honest mistakes that
might make it feel more filmic. Our
widest lenses were a 32mm Cooke
Anamorphic/i and a 35mm Arri/Zeiss
Master Anamorphic. I did carry
spherical Master Prime 16mm and
14mm lenses with us, just in case, but
never really used them. We tried on a
few occasions, but we did not like the
‘wide-angle spherical’ feel. The beautiful
interiors in the cave, the cinematographer

adhered to the spirit of the natural-light
mandate and employed the single source
of firelight. “We lit the whole inside of
the cave with gas fires that simulated the
look of the campfire,” he says, “and that
was it — no movie lighting at all. This
was possible thanks to the technical
achievement of the Master Anamorphic
lenses, which work beautifully in these
situations.” Sunlight filtering in through
the cave’s opening for day scenes was
simulated by “bouncing an 18K Arrimax
into bleached muslin,” Bazelli adds.
The filmmakers’ lighting approach
extended to more traditional interiors as
well. For interiors in the house where
Grace, Jack (Wes Bentley) and Natalie
The crew prepares exteriors on location. Lowery notes that the story is set in “a slightly elevated, live, and where Pete stays after being
more magical version of the Pacific Northwest, and New Zealand’s got plenty of magic on hand.” discovered in the woods, “I wanted to
create a cozy, warm, family feeling,”
avoid noise artifacts. If my image is 70- Elliot’s cave — which, in the Bazelli offers. “The set was built
or 80-percent shadows and mid-tones, I movie, is situated in the hollow beneath practically onstage, with two stories and
rate down, and for the opposite — if the a massive tree hidden deep within the hard ceilings; this was done to help create
highlights are the priority — I rate up at forest — was built on stage at Stone a natural and real world for the child
800.” Street Studios in Wellington. For night actors. We had three practical lamps in

Grace and her father marvel at the sight of Elliot.
Natalie’s room, one of which I put a with natural light coming in from
warmer-toned shade on to create a outside.”
mismatched combination of color tones. Due to the limited time that a
“It was intriguing to apply a really child performer can spend on set, the
naturalistic lighting approach to the production extended “Pete’s” working
places where the characters live,” he hours by employing several body doubles
continues. “I wanted it to be a challenge to stand in for Fegley in over-the-
and an exercise in the decision-making shoulder and wide shots. Even so, there
process — to see what would be the were limitations that the production
minimal amount of equipment needed could not avoid. “The best light of day
to achieve a realistic and interesting- was not always available with our
looking film. For night interiors, I started schedule, and we didn’t have the luxury
by lighting the rooms with practical of waiting to shoot, because we would
lights, lamps and chandeliers. In some lose our lead actor five hours after call,”
cases when more shape was needed, I’d Bazelli explains. “We had to cheat now
bounce a Source Four light into the hard and then, and know when we could ‘fix
ceiling or the wall draped in unbleached it in post.’
muslin, and that was it. It was about “I will often shoot a little brighter
using the practicals to light the set as it to bring things down later, but we
would really be in real life. That, along pushed that concept a bit further with
with daylight for day interiors and the Pete’s Dragon,” the cinematographer
beautiful color palette of the sets and continues. “It was never as dramatic as
costumes, made for a really beautiful taking a full sunny shot and converting
look.” it to moonlight, but we had to
Indeed, the filmmakers even occasionally take the shadows of the
utilized natural daylight for the sets built forest and change them to evening; we
onstage. “We lit the daylight interiors by would shoot in the afternoon and know
opening the big stage doors and letting that the scene would be played for dusk.
in natural sunlight,” Bazelli says. “For a For those scenes we’d avoid seeing any
scene when Pete is waking up and is sun in the frame as much as possible and
visited by Grace, for example, we shot in rely on medium shots where the sun isn’t
three setups, and it was all lit on stage playing into the scene. Then, in the final
49
grade, we used windows and graduated
filters to shape and darken the
surroundings of the frame so that it
doesn’t feel like afternoon. It’s not
anything unknown to filmmakers, but
we may have used it a little more than
normal due to the limitations of our
schedule.”
The final grade was performed at
EFilm in Hollywood, where supervising
digital colorist Mitch Paulson worked
with Autodesk’s Lustre. Visual effects
were all delivered at 2K, and Paulson’s
final output was a 2048x858 EXR file.
Bazelli is quick to note his strong
belief in proactive grading, and thus in
employing an on-set dailies colorist. In
the case of Pete’s Dragon, Pete Harrow
was stationed in a truck outfitted with a
full Blackmagic Design DaVinci
Resolve system, where he was able to set
a near-final look for every day of footage
before it was sent off to the studio or
The crew positions a crane atop a cliff. “I’ve done a lot of work in New Zealand,” says Bazelli. “The
landscapes are just beautiful.” editorial.
“I’m a big fan of grading dailies
50
footage,” Bazelli attests. “Not just that we be there when the visual-effects the actors to do what was natural, instead
applying a LUT, but getting the closest team does the work that impacts how of being structured and controlled by the
to the target look of the movie as possible our lighting interacts with the character. placement of equipment. We tended
right from the get-go, and putting that Many aesthetic choices about lighting more toward the emotional approach
in front of the studio and everyone so that character are formed at the time of and stayed away from traditional
that they all get used to the look of the shooting. In this new era, though, where technical filmmaking. We wanted to
film — and so there’s no surprise, so much is done in post, I want to ensure create an environment where the
months later, in the final grade. That’s my unique visual intention is fully children could be children, and offer a
the point of filmmaking: You have an realized with the stylistic choices I’ve stronger belief in what they were doing
idea, you shoot it, and you present it to made. Therefore, it is crucial that we by surrounding them with reality. It was
the director and the studio. Why shoot cinematographers be involved in this part an incredibly fun project!” ●
something just to change it later into of the post process.”
something totally different? I believe in “We had a great time on this
the initial visual concept of the film, and film,” Bazelli concludes. “David is a
in carrying that directly into execution wonderful director and a wonderful
and seeing it right away. The advantage human being. We worked together very
of digital is that you can really do that; well. Sometimes when you work with
TECHNICAL SPECS
you can see your film, the way it will look someone who has not done a big effects
onscreen, the day after you shot it. film before, the tendency might be to 2.39:1
“But my greatest desire with these step into his department and take over a
sorts of films — where the hero is an epic bit. I didn’t even think of helping him Digital Capture
CGI character — is that we that way. I gave him as much room and
Arri Alexa XT Studio
cinematographers should always be freedom to do what he wanted with the
involved in the postproduction work,” he actors, with essentially no limitations. Cooke Anamorphic/i; Arri/
continues. “It’s particularly important And it was liberating to be free and allow Zeiss Master Anamorphic
51
Hero’s Journey
Cinematographer massive swell rises in front of her boat. Thinking fast, she lifts
her arm high and then, in one fell swoop, strokes down on her
Frank Passingham and a team stringed shamisen instrument. A blinding light erupts from
of artists bring director the sound and parts the storm-wracked sea in two, creating a
Travis Knight’s stop-motion clear path for her to follow.
So unfolds the opening sequence of Kubo and the Two
adventure Kubo and the Two Strings Strings, the latest stop-motion feature from animation studio
to life. Laika. Set in a magic-infused ancient Japan, the swashbuck-
ling fantasy follows the young Kubo (voiced by Art
By David Tolsky Parkinson) — whose mother wields the shamisen in the
opening scene — as he teams with Monkey (Charlize
•|• Theron) and Beetle (Matthew McConaughey) to reclaim his
samurai father’s suit of armor and put an end to an age-old
vendetta. AC visited the Laika crew at their studio outside
V
iolent waves crash and dissipate into the sea. Rain pours Portland, Ore., toward the end of Kubo’s 23-month shoot.
from threatening clouds. Flashes of lightning intermit- Travis Knight, Kubo’s director and Laika’s president and
tently illuminate the stormy night, while the blue glow CEO, remembers reading the opening passage in the feature’s
from the full moon accents the sky. In the midst of this script. “My first thought was, ‘How the hell are we going to
natural chaos, a small fishing boat slices through a wave. A do this?’” he says, laughing. “That’s not an unusual reaction
woman paddles furiously, hoping to glimpse dry land, when a here at Laika. Everything we do pushes the medium to its

breaking point. Innovation and radical
new thinking has guided us in every
film we’ve done, and Kubo was no
exception.”
Photos by John Leonhardt, Jason Ptaszek, Steven Wong Jr. and Amy Rivera, courtesy of Laika Studios and Focus Features.
From the outset, Knight knew he

wanted fellow stop-motion veteran
Frank Passingham to serve as Kubo’s
cinematographer. “I’ve known Frank for
nearly a decade,” the director explains.
“He was the [lighting cameraman] on a
couple of sequences I animated on
Coraline, and he was an utter joy to
collaborate with. I was enormously
impressed with Frank’s keen eye, his
superhuman work ethic and his ency-
clopedic knowledge of film. He demon-
strated generosity and sensitivity to his
crew and animators. He understands
the ballet of light, camera and human Opposite and this page, top: Kubo (voiced by Art Parkinson) teams up with Monkey (Charlize
performance that breathes life into a Theron) and Beetle (Matthew McConaughey) to reclaim his samurai father’s suit of armor and
puppet.” put an end to an age-old vendetta in the stop-motion feature Kubo and the Two Strings.
Bottom: Cinematographer Frank Passingham surveys a set.
Passingham supervised a team of
lighting cameramen — a.k.a. “LCs” —
comprising Mark Stewart, John Ashlee animated rehearsal and either approve would start out with the camera assis-
Prat, Chris Peterson and Dean Holmes, or give notes for changes. tants checking all the units for shooting.
all of whom had worked on the earlier “As LC, I am allowed to have my We’ve got to sort out any issues they
Laika productions Coraline (AC Feb. own creative input after getting my come up with, like a lighting or camera
’09), ParaNorman (AC Sept. ’12) and notes from Frank,” Stewart explains. “If shift. We’ve been lucky on this show;
The Boxtrolls. Passingham also LC’d his Frank and the art department are there have been very few problems.
own units. happy with the look, we’ll then show it We’ll then watch rushes with Frank,
With each LC, Passingham to Travis. At that point, a sequence and then editorial starts. We begin our
explains, “We would have an initial launch meeting will be scheduled with work with editorial’s notes — lighting
discussion of the direction of the key the key people involved to make sure it, submitting it, changing it [as
light throughout the sequence, and then we are all on the same page. The needed].”
it was over to him.” The cinematogra- process is very collaborative.” “A ‘unit’ was a set and a camera
pher would then view the lighting in an Peterson adds, “Our long day shooting part of a scene for the movie,”

◗ Hero’s Journey
Passingham notes. “At times there were
over 50 units in the studio. Some of
these were greenscreen units shooting
puppets against green when the set was
not available due to scheduling.”
Ashlee relates, “There could be
anywhere from eight to 12 units that
any of the LCs would be handling at
one time. Sometimes Dean would have
more units, sometimes Chris had more.
It ebbed and flowed depending on at
least three variables: how many anima-
tors got assigned to the sequence, how
many were scheduled to do certain
shots, and how many units were shoot-
ing the same sequence.”
Kubo was shot in native stereo
with Canon EOS 5D Mark II and III
DSLRs. Laika has used the Mark IIs
since ParaNorman, and the crew
continues to work with the 5Ds in large
part due to the cameras’ full-frame
sensors and live-view feature. The
cameras were primarily fitted with
Nikon prime lenses; the 55mm was a
favorite focal length. A Cooke 5:1 20-
100mm (T3.1) zoom was used on occa-
sion, and Canon tilt-shift 24mm and
35mm lenses were employed as well.
The crew composed for a 2.39:1 release,
while capturing full-frame 5760x3840
raw files and recording directly to a
tethered local computer. Once a shot
was completed, the images were
“published” via the production’s
pipeline, thus delivering the footage to
the relevant departments. The files were
then converted to EXR for visual-
effects work, which was supervised by
Top: Animator Steve Emerson.
Anthony Straus Dailies were viewed at 2K, which
works on the was also the chosen resolution for the
opening storm
sequence with digital grade — for which Technicolor
Mother. Middle: colorist Mike Sowa worked with
Lighting Autodesk’s Lustre — and the movie’s
cameraman Dean
Holmes works on final output. For a brief period, the
the set for production considered shooting in
Kubo’s village. anamorphic, delivering in 4K and
Bottom:
Animator Gabe having a stereo conversion later on. “I
Sprenger never liked the idea of the stereo being
positions Little posted elsewhere and the construction
Hanzo on the
village set. of the stereo being out of my control,”
says Passingham, who also served as
Kubo’s stereographer.

The shooting methodology called
for a single camera to get both the left-
and right-eye views for each frame. The
cameras were always mounted to 3D
sliders, which remain similar to those
used during the production of Coraline;
for Kubo, some sliders required extra
travel distance in order to accommodate
a larger interocular (I/O) — the distance
between the left and right “eyes” of the
taking cameras — and all of the sliders
have been made slightly more compact.
Passingham notes that the sliders have a
very fine pitch to enable the cameras to
travel a fraction of a millimeter with
extreme accuracy. “Sometimes [the
“Passingham
understands the
ballet of light,
camera and human
performance that
breathes life into
a puppet.”
camera] would be required to move

between the left-eye and right-eye posi-
tion for as many as six separate expo-
sures for a single frame,” he explains.
“You can imagine the tens of thousands
of left- and right-eye movements that
were required from these stereo sliders
throughout the duration of the produc-
tion!”
To take full advantage of the 3D
effect, the team would sometimes even
“animate” the I/O and alignment.
“Alignment and convergence are [essen-
tially] the same thing in our world,”
Passingham clarifies, “although we
shoot parallel and do not ‘converge’ our
lenses as was done in films like Avatar. Top: Camera assistant Jake Carlson takes a measurement of Kubo in the Great Woods.
Our [alignment] is constructed after Middle: Production designer Nelson Lowry touches up the trees. Bottom: Members of the art
department prepare the woods and cemetery set.
shooting our stereo and is something

that is easily changed at the post stage.”
As an example, Passingham
offers, “There is a scene where Kubo
discovers the armor underwater. As he
puts the armor on, we increase the I/O
and animate the alignment point
farther back so he pops forward, in front
of the screen plane, for an exaggerated
3D effect.
“Sometimes it’s best to play down
the most obvious 3D gags and to creep
up on the audience,” the cinematogra-
pher continues. “The effect does not
have to be obvious, but it might have
more of a psychological effect. I believe
that playing with the transitory I/O and
alignment effects is the best way of
Top: Monkey
“You want to use
braces for action
on the Long Lake
3D in a way that
set. Middle: The
Rapid Prototype benefits the story-
department tests
a Monkey face.
Bottom: A 3D
telling as much as
artist in the Rapid
Prototype possible, yet keeps
department
creates faces
for Monkey.
people entertained
throughout.”
doing this. We’ve come a long way since

the early Fifties when 3D was used in
a much cruder and more sensationalist
way. These days our approach is with
far more subtlety and stealth. You can
certainly have your big 3D moments,
but it’s [about] choosing when to
unleash them.”
Passingham’s notes to the LCs
included information detailing the I/O
and whether it would be animated
during a shot. The LCs were then
responsible for executing the stereo
effects. “We all knew the parameters
that we needed to work within to give
the audience a good 3D experience,”
says Passingham. “You want to keep 3D
comfortable. You want to use it in a way

that benefits the storytelling as much as
possible, yet keeps people entertained
throughout.”
According to Passingham, Kubo’s
look comes down to one key ingredient:
the use of colors. Each of the main
characters has a signature color, as does
the mood of any given sequence. “In
previs I worked out how I was going to
use colors and light the whole project,”
the cinematographer notes. “I like previs
because it helps me work out how much
space we need for a set, how we can
move sections out to give the animators
access, and in what order we can shoot.”
Regarding preproduction, the Top: The journey begins as Little Hanzo,
Kubo and Monkey trek across the tundra.
cinematographer worked part time for Middle: Kubo is swept up by origami wings.
the first two months as the color script Bottom: Animator Thiago Calçado works
was developed. He then launched into with Kubo on the Hall of Bones set.
full time, continuing to work with color
and commencing “testing on the studio There were three characters that
floor with available puppets and sets for required compromises after Passingham
about six weeks,” he says. evaluated their appearance. “The first
“Hopefully you get to see some Monkey they showed me was so white
characters early on, but most come in at that I was horrified,” he exclaims.
the last minute,” Passingham continues. “Monkey then became another color
“I was able to get Kubo early, and I with a bit of lavender. We also had to
tested him in different lighting scenar- make Beetle a bit lighter. And then
ios. I was fairly confident with him; I there was the Moon King [Ralph
could put him under any light and he’d Fiennes]. I had a good dialogue with
still look good. Usually certain charac- the puppet and costume makers to
ters won’t look good in a certain light — make sure nothing was too dark on
certain colors might turn a character too him. When I lit him, I could generally
green. Those are the things you want to get him to look like this bright, spectral
discover early.” character.” ➣
Toward the end of the movie

Kubo returns from afar to confront the
Moon King in the main village, some
time after smoke demons have paid an
unwelcome visit and left the settlement
charred in their wake. “Whenever we
meet evil characters like him or the
Sisters [Rooney Mara], we have
specific colors on them,” Passingham
explains. “The Sisters unleash these
smoke demons, which are a mustard-
yellow color, so there is a little high-
light of the same color on the sisters, as
well.
“The smoke demons had a core
of mustard-yellow but were mainly
dark wreathes of smoke,” the cine-
matographer elaborates. “We used a
Lee gel called Mustard, and this would
be augmented by some Plus Green at
times when we wanted it to look
particularly evil. This color was tracked
on moving gobos to suggest the
mustard light emanating from the
smoke demons.”
Passingham adds that the Moon
King’s arrival brings a shift in the light-
ing from “a dusky, burgundy light” to a
greenish moonlight. “I used a combi-
nation of dark magenta and [blue gels]
to produce the color for the dusk
light,” he says. “Arri 2K lights filtered
Top: Monkey stands protectively at Kubo’s side. Middle: Animator Michael Hollenbeck readies with these colors were bounced off 8-
Kubo, Monkey and Beetle in the latter’s underground lair. Bottom: Beetle joins Kubo and Monkey on
their quest.
by-4 silver boards on a set already lit
with the green-tinted moonlight.” The

Top: Beetle,
Kubo and
Monkey set off
on a promising
path. Middle:
Animator
Matias Liebrecht
works with
Kubo on the set
of Hanzo’s
fortress.
Bottom:
Animator
Dobrin Yanev
positions
Monkey and
Beetle on the
fortress set.
moonlight color was achieved with No

Color Blue gel, “which is actually quite
green,” Passingham says. “Later on,
when Mother has a nightmare in the
cave, we [again] introduce that green
moonlight.
“The 1⁄6-scale Skeleton Monster
was mainly keyed with an Arri 2K with
a 1K bounce, and there is a gold,
yellowy light that comes from his
midsection and a soft blue moonlight
that comes from the top,” Passingham
continues. “The main [gels] used were
Spring Yellow and Mist Blue
augmented by other blues and yellows.
We never geographically pinpoint
either of those [light] sources, so when
we want to, we can cheat the sources
around. For instance, if we need to
emphasize the drama and rake that
light across his face, we can do it. Of
course, the average viewer will be so
caught up in what’s going on that our
light changes should be invisible.”
Naturally, color also plays a key
role in Kubo’s opening sequence, for
which Stewart was assigned as the LC,
with Jake Carlson as camera assistant
and Tyson Carpenter as gaffer.
Passingham explains that the basic
lighting for the cold open was achieved
with a 2K key, which was gelled with
Opal and No Color Blue and bounced
off a 12x12 white, and a 5K key gelled
with Summer Blue, which was directed
through a “tracking cloud gobo,” the
cinematographer says. “[The 5K was]

mounted to a motion-control rig with

another linear mover in front of that,
holding cloud gobos to create the
stormy movement.
“The lightning effects were
produced with a combination of 2Ks,
low-voltage and LED units,” he
continues. “All LED units were
custom built by practical-lighting
engineer Matthew DeLeu because
they all served different purposes —
whether to illuminate a lantern, give a
character an eye light, or produce [the
many] other [lighting special effects]
employed in the making of this
movie.”
In initial lighting tests, the crew
discovered that the Mother puppet’s
face registered as being too blue on
camera. “We asked Brian McLean in
the rapid-prototype model shop to
come up with a warmer face for her for
this sequence,” Passingham recalls.
“After a few tests, the look was much
more satisfying.
“We also had to [devise a
method for] key-lighting her fine
hair,” he adds. “I had used ultraviolet
light in the past to lift fine detail, and
that technique worked again on Kubo.”
Supervising gaffer Bryan Garver notes
that the production used Wildfire
ultraviolet lights.
Top: Monkey engages in a fierce battle to protect Kubo. Middle: Animator Florian Perinelle “Indeed,” says Georgina Hayns,
works with Monkey and Sister on Kubo’s boat. Bottom: Lighting-camera lead Mark Stewart
examines the village. creative supervisor of puppet fabrica-
tion, “the most challenging part of the

Mother stunt puppet was for the hair
department. Jessica Lynn, head of hair,
took on the challenge of building the
wig in two components: from the head
attachment to the hair ribbon and
from the ribbon to the ponytail. On
the top piece of hair there is essentially
an internal spine, which is attached to
the head and a connector point, allow-
ing the hair to move around; the spine
can twist and bend up and down and
side to side. The ponytail works in a
similar way and is also rigged at the
connection point. Halfway down the
ponytail, the rigs are located 360
degrees around, allowing for optimum
access and performance. Chris Gough
of the rigging department devised the
entire rig, which looked like a spider
when it was finished. There were so
many winders and arms with small
clips attached to allow it to animate.”
For the opening sequence,
Hayns continues, “the fabricators
made the hair and costumes look wet
by painting them over with a combi-
nation of silicone and gloss medium.
For each shot, we would have to see a
lit frame and then either dull [the
puppet] or add more gloss accordingly.
We were custom-dressing the puppet
for every shot in the sequence!”
As the sequence progressed,
Passingham watched dailies and
visited the sets as often as he could,
“more often when new sets and scenes
were being set up,” he says. If any
adjustments were needed, they would
be implemented based on his and
Knight’s notes. Stewart offers, “Most
changes happen when we are in our
editorial review. There will be a meet-
ing between the director, LC, an editor
and the animator. We also have to
make sure the visual-effects supervisor
is getting what he needs.”
Speaking to those needs,
Emerson recalls, “Three years ago, I
saw my first Kubo storyboards. They
were images of his mother on a small
boat navigating her way through a
stormy sea. Enormous, angry oceans
aren’t environments you typically see
in a stop-motion film. Whereas in the
brought with him more experience
with water, having worked on Life of
Pi.
The team broke its water system
into foam, whitecaps, churn and spray,
Rigging then called upon the art department to
supervisor
Oliver Jones choose physical materials from which
prepares the some of these elements could appear to
Giant Skeleton be made. The art department, in turn,
on the Hall of
Bones set. produced patterns made of tiny pieces
of paper to emulate foam and spray,
and these patterns were then simulated
in the CG process.
The most difficult part of the
process, Emerson opines, is finding the
appropriate balance between natural-
past we may have used K-Y Jelly to CG efforts. The rig consisted of a large ism and design. These effects needed
simulate water, this scene would require metal grid covered with different to look like they belonged in Kubo’s
a different look on a much larger scale. fabrics and tarps that were then world without giving away how they
We suspected the ultimate solution was animated to move like ocean waves. were achieved. He says, “On first look,
likely going to be computer-gener- Satisfied with that look and feel, the the element should only read as what it
ated.” visual-effects team began to create a is intended to be: an angry ocean. If
The stage rigging techs, headed digital version of the stormy sea. Lead viewers take a second look, they’ll
by Oliver Jones, produced a physical effects artist David Horsley joined in notice the details: the woodblock
water rig as a reference for any future as lead digital-effects animator and texture, the paper foam, the grid-like
64
patterning from our initial animation
tests. We’re trying to make sure the
effect is not getting in the way of the
storytelling.
“The distinctive look of Kubo’s
opening scene would not have been
possible without the combined efforts Sprenger works
with Kubo and
of multiple departments across the Kameyo on the
studio,” Emerson stresses. “Animation, village set.
rigging, lighting, camera, art and visual
effects came together and collaborated
on what I view as one of the most
beautiful and exciting environments
we’ve ever created.”
Reflecting on his collaborators’
contributions to the movie as a whole,
Knight offers, “I knew at the outset two years with him slogging through TECHNICAL SPECS
that I was saddling Frank with a nearly the mire of the puppet mines, sweating
impossible task. We needed to make a the details. Now it’s a thrill to share 2.39:1
stop-motion David Lean film. A this hard-fought bit of our lives with
small-scale movie shot on a tabletop the rest of the world.” ● 3D Digital Capture
needed to look like a large-scale epic.
And he did it. Frank Passingham is an Canon EOS 5D Mark II, III
artist and a first-rate storyteller. It’s
been an honor to have spent the last Nikon, Canon, Cooke
65
Grand
Delusion
Unit photography by Alex Bailey, courtesy of The Weinstein Co. Photo of Eigil Bryld courtesy of the cinematographer.
Opposite and
this page, top:
Cinematographer Sophia (Alicia
Vikander) falls
Eigil Bryld channels for a young
Dutch Golden Age artist whom her
husband,
painters for the period Cornelis
Sandvoort
drama Tulip Fever. (Christoph
Waltz),
commissions to
By Iain Marcks paint her portrait
in the feature
Tulip Fever.
•|• Bottom:
Cinematographer
Eigil Bryld.
P
hotographed by cinematographer tion made the flowers a thrilling gamble and the two develop a plan to play the
Eigil Bryld and directed by Justin among the Dutch aristocracy. risky tulip market in a bid to secure their
Chadwick, Tulip Fever is set in a Tulip Fever presents one such future.
time and place that many filmmak- aristocrat, the merchant Cornelis “Painterly” is an adjective cine-
ers love to reference, directly or other- Sandvoort (Christoph Waltz), whose matographers often use to describe the
wise: 17th-century Holland. Also heart is fully invested in his young wife, way a soft three-quarter key light wraps
known as the Dutch Golden Age, it was Sophia (Alicia Vikander). Cornelis around a subject’s face — as in the
a period rich with developments in commissions a talented young painter, portraits of Rembrandt — or how the
science and art, and its economic pros- one Jan van Loos (Dane DeHaan), to soft, directional light of a north-facing
perity was fueled by a fanatical obsession paint Sophia’s portrait. Soon enough, a window spills into a room — as in the
with, of all things, tulips. Indeed, the passionate romance develops between tableaus of Vermeer. “For me, a painterly
visual delight and unpredictable varia- the young wife and the talented artist, quality has defined sources, strong

◗ Grand Delusion
Top: Bryld sought
to emulate the
lighting evidenced
in the paintings of
the Dutch Golden
Age. “For me, a
painterly quality
has defined
sources, strong
sculptural volume
and a tight light-
dark composition,”
he says. Bottom:
William (Jack
O’Connell) meets
with the Abbess of
St. Ursula (Judi
Dench).
ArriRaw took place on set. In prepara-

tion for this film, I worked very closely
with Eigil, [colorist] Jean-Clément
Soret, Technicolor and Mission Digital
to sculpt the correct film-emulation
LUT and color workflow for this job.”
By the time Bryld joined the
production, much of the design work
had already been fleshed out by
Chadwick, production designer Simon
Elliott and costume designer Michael
O’Connor. The cinematographer had a
little more than two months to complete
sculptural volume and a tight light-dark oped a master LUT based on the curve six non-consecutive weeks of prep. “It
composition,” offers Bryld. of Kodak’s 3383 print stock and tweaked was a matter of going through the refer-
The painters of the Dutch it during hair and makeup tests to ence materials, talking about the things
Golden Age rooted their work in real- enhance details and tonality in the toe. that inspired us, and letting Eigil fill the
ism and favored portraiture, historical “If there are too many variables, too gaps in our design,” says Elliott.
subjects, landscapes and depictions of many knobs to turn, it can be a distrac- “It’s a gift of a period for any
everyday life. Bryld was particularly tion from the real world,” says Bryld. creative,” he adds. “I did quite a lot of
drawn to their “quality of light and the “It’s better to create a single LUT and reading on the subject and went to
beautiful simplicity of their composi- adjust what’s in front of the camera, as galleries. I was aware of other films set in
tions. Those paintings are alluring, beau- opposed to tweaking the image on a this period, such as Girl With a Pearl
tiful and elegant.” day-to-day basis — that’s how you paint Earring [AC Jan. ’04], and I wanted to
Striving for a similar quality with yourself into a corner. When I shot film avoid making similar references to
the look of Tulip Fever, Bryld chose to I would choose one stock for the whole Vermeer, so I focused my attention on
shoot with Arri’s Alexa XT Plus camera, project.” the work of Gabriel Metsu and Pieter de
recording 2.8K ArriRaw files to internal Nunn also served as dailies Hooch.”
Codex XR Capture Drives and framing colorist on the production. “I had the Bryld and Elliott also used their
for a 2.39:1 anamorphic aspect ratio. “I usual responsibilities of the DIT on set,” research to glean specifics of 17th-
think the Alexa has more tonality in the he explains, “but I also graded the rushes century Dutch architecture. The long
shadows and mid-tones than film,” the at my station and transferred the color windows and narrow Amsterdam streets
cinematographer opines. “I knew we information/metadata to the Mission informed the high angle of light seen in
would have a lot of dark interiors, so the Digital near-set lab for processing. The many paintings of that era. “You can see
challenge was to bring out that tonality lab technician was Neil Gray and the that every window has shutters, but
but still preserve a contrasty image.” workflow consultant was Jody Neckles. they’re only on the bottom section of
Bryld and on-set digital-imaging It was actually quite a unique workflow windows,” Elliott notes. These shutters
technician Christopher Nunn devel- for this job. Proper grading from the were incorporated into sets both on

stage and on location, and Bryld used
them as a means of controlling and
shaping the light while remaining true
to the period.
The filmmakers first considered
shooting on location in Amsterdam, but
as Bryld points out, “There isn’t any
17th-century architecture like that in
Holland anymore. Denmark has some,
but it was too expensive to move the
production there, so we did it all in the
U.K.”
Tulip Fever’s story primarily spans
the months between early spring and
fall, and more than half the movie takes
place in the two-story Sandvoort house,
which was constructed in its entirety —
complete with a courtyard — on
Pinewood Studio’s B Stage. This
allowed Chadwick to direct his actors The production built an Amsterdam canal on the lawn next to an old Tudor building that offered
a 300'-long brick facade and an elevated ground floor.
from room to room in long takes, or
Canal images courtesy of Simon Elliott.
move between the stories without an

edit. Bryld tried to give each of the low-profile 2'x2' tungsten and daylight- warm glow. Another set of Lightflos,
house’s rooms its own character, and balanced Barco VersaTile LEDs in each behind 3mm Depron diffusion, was
Elliott designed the set in such a way room. positioned farther back from the same
that Bryld could emulate the depth and Bryld lit through windows in two window, to create a directional source
compositions of the paintings they had tiers. He stacked DMX-controlled Arri that fell off in a more even fashion. The
studied. The ability to see the ceilings 8x4 Lightflos fitted with tungsten and cinematographer notes, “I went for a
offered an additional level of realism, daylight bulbs into 16x4 configurations slightly harder, more directional light,
and when the ceilings were out of shot, behind Full Grid Cloth, positioning which allowed me to embrace the
Bryld could hang a grid formation of them close to the panes for a bright, textures and details in faces and sets.” ➣

◗ Grand Delusion
the sun. “We wanted to constantly

remind Sophia of the passage of time
and this outside world that’s being
denied to her,” Bryld remarks.
A Full Grid Cloth soft box
containing 400 1K tungsten Par cans
was hung over the house’s courtyard.
Each Par can was either left clean or
gelled with varying strengths of CTB,
and each was connected to its own
circuit, allowing Gilmour to dynamically
control the intensity and color of ambi-
ent light based on the weather, time of
day and season.
Another key set was the tulip
exchange, constructed on Pinewood’s C
Stage. “We imagined it as the kind of
place where fortunes are made and lives
are ruined,” says Bryld. “We wanted it to
be a scary and unsettling underworld.
Not much daylight penetrates the
inside. By lighting with practical fires
and candles we created all these moving
shadows and this sort of ever-changing
environment.”
Elliott adds, “There’s very little
The painter Jan van Loos (Dane DeHaan, top left) works on Sophia’s portrait under reference for these places because most
her husband’s watchful eye. of them were illegal. The [exchanges]
were held in back rooms, cabins, broth-
Onstage, board operator Peter Mark Clayton to control the fixtures’ els and barns. That gave us license to
Gilmour used a GrandMA lighting intensity without affecting their color conjure an environment that felt like a
desk to program ripple effects and other temperature. The Fresnels were darker part of town. We went from the
patterns for the stage lights. Direct “sun” mounted to Arri MaxMover motorized brick and plaster of the residential area
was provided by Arri T24 and T12 heads and were panned while the shut- to rougher architecture and materials.”
tungsten Fresnels equipped with remote ters opened or closed to make it seem as The set actually made use of an
shutters, which enabled Bryld and gaffer though clouds were passing in front of authentic 17th-century barn that the

◗ Grand Delusion
in my designs.”
The prop and special-effects
departments handled the on-camera
flames. Off-camera, Bryld enhanced the
practical flames with double-wick
candles mounted in 1,000' film cans;
custom soft boxes called “fire boxes,”
which were fitted with a random mix of
six to nine clear and soft tungsten bulbs
ranging from 60 to 275 watts; and coiled
tungsten-balanced rope lights mounted
to boards of various sizes, from 8" square
to 4' square. The fire-box and rope-light
effects were controlled by the lighting
desk, with some presets designed in prep
by Gilmour and Clayton and some
carried over from their last collabora-
tion, 2015’s Victor Frankenstein.
Depending on the shot, key light
would be provided by the rope lights or
fire boxes, or by bouncing Source Fours
directly off the set, using the color of
the walls to add a more natural hue to
the light. Additional ambience was
provided by Dedolight PanAura 7s, and
eye light by a PanAura 5 behind an 8'x8'
Sophia and Jan devise a plan to invest in the tulip market to allow her to escape her husband. Full Grid frame. An electrician or
standby rigger hoisted and lowered the
production purchased from a collector. “It wouldn’t have been possible to get lamps from a pulley in the ceiling when
The production crew disassembled the this kind of set on our budget if we had they needed to quickly fly in and out of
structure into two parts and recon- tried to build it from scratch,” Elliott the set.
structed it in an L-shape onstage, where muses. “And it gave us these beautiful Throughout the film, Bryld had
it was also heightened and embellished old timbers, with all the gnarls and to be mindful of where and how the
with galleries, walkways and staircases grain and joints and pins, and things characters used candlelight, “because
crafted from pieces of leftover timber. that I wouldn’t have thought to include real candles would have been expensive

◗ Grand Delusion
Right:
Windows provided
motivation for
day-interior
lighting. Middle and
bottom: For the
tulip exchange,
Bryld explains, “We
wanted it to be a
scary and unsettling
underworld. By
lighting with
practical fires and
candles we created
all these moving
shadows and this
sort of ever-
changing
environment.”
and wide angles. “At the time, [the

Master Anamorphics] didn’t come any
longer than 100mm, which was fine
because I don’t like using long lenses
unless I have to,” says Bryld. “I’d rather
stay on the same lens when we go from
a wide shot into a close-up and just
move the camera.”
According to 1st AC Jennie
Paddon, the 50mm and 40mm Master
Anamorphics were the hero lenses, with
the 100mm used for special close-ups.
“We would also use the 50mm and the
40mm with a diopter to get us a close
focus with a dramatic falloff,” she notes.
Exterior scenes set along the
canal in Amsterdam were also filmed in
the U.K. The production found an old
Tudor building in Kent with a 300'-long
brick facade and an elevated ground
floor above a wide, rolling lawn. The
filmmakers built their canal on top of
the lawn so that the raised footpath met
the building at its ground floor.
“It was a clever and fantastic set
to photograph,” says Bryld. “Windows
in those days, and as a source they can hotter in the frame. “They weren’t regu- became doors. There were bridges and
sometimes be too cosmetic,” he lar-wick candles — more like fires in walkways. The challenge was that we
remarks. “There’s the cliché of people cups and bowls — and they gave off an [always] had to face the building
moving around at night with candles, erratic flame as opposed to pretty, flat- because there was nothing on the other
but if you’re in a dark environment and tering candlelight,” the cinematogra- side. On top of that, we were shooting
the only light is a candle in your hand, pher explains. “We spent a bit of time in in the summer, and our set was facing
then the only thing you’ll see is your the DI bringing color back into the south, which meant that the sun would
hand. It would kill your night vision.” flames.” be behind us for most of the day.”
Low light levels in the tulip Tulip Fever was photographed Clayton notes that while shoot-
exchange forced Bryld to stop down to primarily with Arri/Zeiss Master ing the canal exterior, the crew “had to
a T2/2.8 and push the Alexa’s ISO up to Anamorphic primes, with spherical design shots around where the sun was.”
1,250, which made the flames burn Master Primes rounding out the tight The exterior set also limited the gaffer’s

ability to supplement the natural
daylight. “We had two small pavements
on either side of the canal, so it wasn’t
really accessible for cranes. I used pieces
of poly or frames of bleached or
unbleached muslin to make a little bit of
fill or back edge if we could fit it in, and
then a Rosco Half Soft Frost for a close-
up, just to take the edge off the sun if it
was coming in directly.”
Bryld also had to limit when the
camera would look toward either end
of the set. “There are some visual-
effects extensions, but it was some-
thing we had to be careful about,
because doing that with a moving
camera can get quite expensive,” he
comments.
In general, though, Bryld and
Chadwick wanted the camera to be
close to the drama and to move among
the characters, to capture their
constantly shifting viewpoints. “One
of the things that attracted me to the
script is that even though Cornelis
marries a much younger woman, he’s
not a mean person,” Bryld observes.
“Everybody has his own point of view,
which was important to reflect in the
way we told the story.”
Chadwick staged sweeping
masters with the intention of assem-
bling scenes from parts of longer takes,
as opposed to breaking them down
into pieces of traditional coverage. A-
camera/Steadicam operator Paul
Donachie had previously worked with
Chadwick on Mandela: Long Walk to
Freedom and The Other Boleyn Girl,
and it was the director who brought
him on board Tulip Fever. “Paul and I
got along really well and had similar
ideas,” says Bryld. “It was good for me
to have him there, because he knows
how Justin works and what he’s think-
ing. It was a happy trio.
“In many of the exteriors we had
lots of extras and we wanted to create
the sense of a very dense world,” the
cinematographer continues. “We
could [use the Steadicam to] weave
amongst the crowds without having to
lay track, and it allowed us to move
from room to room and up and down
◗ Grand Delusion
a FilmLight Baselight system. Soret,
MPC’s global creative director of color
grading, had worked previously with
Chadwick, and he met Bryld just
before production commenced on
Tulip Fever. “Eigil liked the LUT he
used on set, and wanted to build on
top of that [in post],” says Soret, who
used the dailies as a reference to guide
his work when Bryld was unavailable
to sit in on a session. Soret was offered
the dailies CDL at the start of the
two-week grade, “but I would rather
Sophia and Cornelis meet with an acquaintance. not have anything more than just the
LUT,” he says. “I prefer to start from a
the stairs in the Sandvoort House.” panning. “It puts a lot of pressure on blank canvas.”
When the camera wasn’t on the the dolly grip,” says Bryld. “On this Bryld and Soret communicated
Steadicam, it was frequently on either film we did some quite involved moves frequently during principal photogra-
a Chapman/Leonard PeeWee or J.L. with the B camera, and dolly grip phy, and they came to the shared
Fisher Model 10 dolly with a jib arm. James Sams was basically our opera- conclusion that, from an aesthetic
Working as B-camera operator, Bryld tor.” standpoint, color was a luxury in 17th-
employed a technique developed while The final grade was handled by century Holland. “Wealthy people had
shooting the Netflix series House of Technicolor’s MPC London, where colorful clothes and the tulips were
Cards (AC Feb. ’13), jibbing instead of colorist Jean-Clément Soret worked colorful, but that was about it,” says
tilting and tracking instead of with the native 2.8K ArriRaw files on Soret. “Eigil’s LUT drained away satu-
76
ration levels over a certain threshold, overall correction,” Bryld continues. TECHNICAL SPECS
which gave us a good color space to “This is something you can do
work with when we wanted to empha- when you are painting, but when you
2.39:1
size things like wardrobe and, of are lighting, you don’t have that degree
course, the tulips.” of precision,” Soret observes. No film
Digital Capture
According to Soret, the grade grain or digital filtration was added to
was fairly simple in terms of matching the picture, other than “the odd sharp-
Arri Alexa XT Plus
density and saturation. However, ening sometimes to help focus within
Bryld’s strong, directional approach to the image, or a little blurring of the
Arri/Zeiss Master Anamorphic,
lighting meant deep shadows edges,” says the colorist.
Master Prime
throughout much of the film. The “Simplicity is our style,” Bryld
cinematographer recalls, “One of the muses. “If you want to create a
first questions Jean-Clément and I complex image, you have to start with
asked ourselves was, ‘Should we a simple premise.” ●
preserve the soft tonality in the shad-
ows, or should we make the image
harder and more contrasty to bring out
highlights?’” They observed in many
17th-century Dutch paintings the
presence of fine details and textures in
the shadows, and therefore opted to
re-create that look in their own work.
“Jean-Clément did a fantastic job of
building subtle elements with power
windows, as opposed to just doing an
77
Global Gathering
I
n 2011, the American Society of Cinematographers
hosted its first International Cinematography Summit
at its Clubhouse in Hollywood, with representatives
from 24 cinematography societies traveling from all
around the globe to participate (AC July ’11). It was an epic
undertaking: four days of demonstrations, screenings,
shared meals and, most importantly, open dialogue among
peers who — whatever their native tongue — all share a
common visual language.
It was also a smashing success, and one that begged
to be repeated. And so, in late 2014, Frederic Goodich,
ASC, chair of the Society’s International Committee —
with the encouragement of ASC board members Michael
Goi, ASC, ISC and Kees van Oostrum, ASC — proposed
Cinematographers from around the that the Society mount a second summit. Goodich notes,
world come together to discuss the state “It would not be our intent to hold a pixel-for-pixel tech-
nology conference, but rather a forum within which we
of the art. could exchange ideas, with particular emphasis on the
storytelling artistry of the cinematographer to nurture and
By Debra Kaufman, Steve Chagollan and the AC staff to retain the integrity of our profession while protecting
the visual integrity of the final product. We cinematogra-
phers are the custodians of the image. This is our heritage
•|• and our responsibility.”

1.
2. 3.
As Goodich explains, the ICS

would serve three primary purposes:
• To generate an atmosphere of
Photos by Bill Bennett, ASC; Eduardo Fierro, SVC; James Neihouse, ASC;
open dialogue between cine-

matographers worldwide regard- 4.
ing the elements of their craft and
the issues that impact the repre-
sentation and preservation of
their work.
• To share experiences regarding
the work environments that exist
in their respective countries. Opposite: The International Cinematography
Summit gets underway at the ASC Clubhouse.
• To focus and clarify objectives 1. The participants gather outside Panavision’s
that would grow the contribu- Woodland Hills facility. 2. Michael Goi, ASC,
tions of the cinematographer on ISC. 3. Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC (left) with
Frederic Goodich, ASC. 4. The delegation
an international level.
and Steven Poster, ASC.
caravan prepares to hit the road. 5. Richard

Crudo, ASC.
Invitations were extended to as
many international societies as possible,
and on Monday, June 6, the delegates
descended on the Clubhouse for the first 5.
day of the four-day summit. Those in

Global Gathering
attendance included representatives from
Argentina (ADF), Australia (ACS),
Belgium (SBC), Brazil (ABC), Canada
(CSC), China (CSC), Costa Rica
(CRSC), Denmark (DFF), El Salvador
(SVSC), Estonia (ESC), Finland (FSC),
France (AFC), Germany (BVK), Great
Britain (BSC), Greece (GSC), Italy (AIC),
Malaysia (MySC), Mexico (AMC),
Mongolia (MSC), Netherlands (NSC),
New Zealand (NZCS), Philippines (FSC),
Portugal (AIP), Serbia (SAS), Slovakia
(ASK), Sweden (FSF), Turkey (CAT) and
Venezuela (SVC).
The first day began with the official
welcome from then ASC President
1. Richard Crudo, followed by opening
remarks from Goodich and Goi, and state-
ments from each of the gathered represen-
tatives. As the cinematographers
introduced themselves, the conversation
quickly turned to the topic of “authorship”
— recognizing the director of photography
as the author of the image.
“We are not [fighting for this recog-
nition] to become enemies with the
producers,” noted Ricardo Matamoros,
3. SVC, president of the Venezuelan Society
2. of Cinematographers and secretary general
of the newly formed Latin American
Federation of Cinematographers. “By
regaining our authority, we’ll create order,
[and] make things happen more rapidly
and efficiently on set.”
Richard Andry, AFC; M. David
Mullen, ASC; and Ron Johanson, ACS
then kicked off the “Future of the
Cinematographer” discussion, which
looked at the ways in which the cinematog-
4. rapher’s role is expanding given the increas-
ing democratization of technology. “We’re
5. trying to exert control over a process that’s
gotten faster, more condensed, and I think
1. Attendees don 3D glasses for a we’ll keep struggling with that,” Mullen
presentation in the prototype Dolby noted. “It’s a Wild West that will never
Cinema. 2. Moderator David Morin
(foreground) in discussion with (from settle down.”
left) Brigham Taylor; Jon Favreau; Bill Zhao Xiaoding, HKSC added, “We
Pope, ASC; and Rob Legato, ASC. have less time in preproduction due to new
3. Richard Andry, AFC with Goodich.
4. (From left) AC contributor Michael technology. In postproduction, the direc-
Goldman, Arthur To and ASC associate tors can change the image without any
Steven J. Scott. 5. Emmanuel Lubezki, consideration of the entire picture.
ASC, AMC. 6. Legato and Pope.
Artistically, that’s a disaster. We have to
6. keep on talking about this and show that
our knowledge offers more options and

understanding for the audiences.”
Technology presents another danger,
said Johanson: “We have to be careful not
to become technocrats. At the end of the
day, we’re artists. The way to get control
back is to understand the technology and
be well versed in it, but to convey to the
people on the set that what we do is art.
We’re not just pushing buttons to record an
image.”
“People working together have
mutual respect and understand each other’s
1.
role,” offered ASC Technology Committee
Chairman Curtis Clark, ASC. “The word
‘trust’ has to come back. We have to inte-
grate collaboration into these new work-
flows that are so much more open.”
After a short van ride across
Hollywood, the day continued at the
prototype Dolby Cinema in the former
Vine Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. Bill
Villarreal, Dolby’s senior director of 2. 3.
content development, introduced the ICS
participants to the space, which has been
outfitted with state-of-the-art Dolby
Vision HDR laser projection and 38 Dolby
Atmos speakers.
AC contributor Michael Goldman
moderated a session spotlighting the work
of cinematographer Emmanuel “Chivo”
Lubezki, ASC, AMC; digital-imaging
technician Arthur To; and ASC associate
and supervising finishing artist Steven J. 4.
Scott, who shared clips from and discussed
their objectives on director Alejandro G. 5.
Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning drama The
Revenant (AC Jan. ’16). “Without the
collaboration of the studio, Technicolor, the
timers, we couldn’t have done it,” Lubezki 1. (From left) Elen Lotman, ESC;
stressed. “We all know that filmmaking is Natasha Braier, ADF; Stephanie
Martin, ADF; Nina Kellgren, BSC;
collaborative. Everybody had to fuse into Richard Bluck, NZCS; Ron
one organism to make this movie.” Johanson, ACS; and Claire
The next session, also conducted at 6. Pijman, NSC. 2. Zhao Xiaoding,
HKSC. 3. Carlos R. Diazmuñoz,
the Dolby Cinema, detailed the fusion of AMC. 4. Braier and Martin.
live-action and virtual production for The 5. Casper Høyberg, DFF listens as
Jungle Book (AC May ’16). Moderated by Nigel Walters, BSC addresses the
attendees. 6. (From left) Mark
visual-effects veteran David Morin, chair- Worthington; Guillermo Navarro,
man of the ASC Technology Committee’s ASC, AMC; David Keighley; and
Virtual Production subcommittee, the Goi. 7. Rolf Coulanges, BVK
wields the microphone.
panel comprised director-producer Jon
Favreau; cinematographer Bill Pope, ASC;
visual-effects supervisor Rob Legato, ASC;
producer Brigham Taylor; and supervising 7.
finishing artist Scott. ➣

Global Gathering
“It’s a lot to ask of a cinematographer,
to collaborate on a project that isn’t the
traditional method,” said Favreau. “But, by
1. Honorary ASC member
Larry Mole Parker (left) the same token, [Pope] would also have a
chats with Andry and chance to weigh in on things as a partner
Mehmet Askin, CAT. 2. Oli through the whole process.”
Laperal, FSC confabs with
fellow attendees. 3. The “You have no idea what you are
delegates mingle before doing, and then at the end, you think, ‘If I
dinner. 4. ASC members knew what I know now, I’d do it differ-
Richard Edlund (left) and
Dion Beebe. 5. (From left) ently,’” Pope added. “You’re always in post,
Ricardo Matamoros, SVC; [and] you can redo anything and every-
Lauro Escorel, ABC; and thing, which is kind of a frightening place
Federico Cantini, ADF.
6. Conversations to be. In cinematography, we like to do a
continue over a meal. 1. shot and get it out of the way. But when you
can redo anything at any time, you wonder
if you’re moving forward. On the other
hand, it’s really exciting.”
Ultimately, Favreau noted, the
production was “really emulating the expe-
rience of being on a real set. It preserves the
film-set culture. Just because there’s techni-
cal innovation doesn’t mean we have to
change everything.”
Day two kicked off at the Linwood
2. 3. Dunn Theater at the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences’ Pickford Center
for Motion Picture Study. Dean Cundey,
ASC greeted the ICS delegation by noting
the significance of the theater, which is
named after the late ASC president and
visual-effects pioneer who invented the
optical printer. ASC associate Andy Maltz,
AMPAS’ Science and Technology Council
managing director, also welcomed the
4. 5. group to a day that would start off with a
presentation about solid-state lighting and
end with reports from the ASC Technology
sub-committees. Another highlight was a
guided tour of the Pickford Center’s
archival vaults during the lunch break.
The Dunn Theater was an appropri-
ate setting for the day’s in-depth conversa-
tion about the current state of the Academy
Color Encoding System (ACES). Maltz
reported that a long list of movies and all six
major Hollywood studios have committed
to developing an ACES-based archiving
standard, and that 25 companies have
signed on to the ACES Logo Program.
How ACES is being used in produc-
tion and post was discussed during a panel
moderated by the International
Cinematographers Guild’s Michael
6. Chambliss. The speakers included

DIT/workflow supervisor Francesco
Giardiello, Mytherapy chief colorist Dado
Valentic, and Legendary Entertainment’s
director of postproduction technology,
Brandon Bussinger. “What’s important
about the workflow is that with ACES, the
cinematographer regains the authority that
digital took away,” said Valentic. “The
benefit is that ACES creates a color-
managed workflow from the outset, with
superior image quality, reduced postpro-
duction time and cost, and the same look 1. 2.
on every monitor and system.”
Stemming from the ACES discus-
sion, Jim Houston, ACES Project
1. Harold Escotet
Committee co-chair; ASC associate tries a VR headset.
Garrett Smith, Next Generation 2. Predrag Bambic,
Technology Project co-chair; and ASC SAS. 3. Andry
takes his turn.
associate Joshua Pines described efforts to 4. Jacek Laskus,
create “next-generation cinema technology ASC, PSC. 5. Oliver
test material.” The afternoon then Bokelberg, ASC,
BVK. 6. The
concluded at the Clubhouse, where each delegates delve
society had the opportunity to screen a into the virtual
short reel of representative work. realm.
On day three, the ICS delegation 3.
returned to the Clubhouse, where the day’s
agenda began with the discussion “The
Continuing Relevance of Film.” In this
segment, Roberto Schaefer, ASC, AIC
introduced a panel on the future of shoot-
ing on film, moderated by Imax chief qual-
ity officer David Keighley. The panel
focused on one of the last remaining
network TV shows to shoot film, American
Horror Story: Hotel, and included cine-
matographer Goi; production designer 4. 5.
Mark Worthington; and Kodak executive
and ASC associate member Bruce Berke.
Goi pointed out that Worthington is
“acutely aware of the cinematography and
lighting — that’s key to our relationship.
When he builds sets, he builds lighting into
it. Shooting film enables me to go with
lighting that’s a little more audacious [and]
out of the box.”
In a separate presentation,
Guillermo Navarro, ASC, AMC addressed
“The Life of Film Language.” He
cautioned, “We’re destroying the very sense
of what’s important in our work, which is
the use of a language. The negative belongs
to the cinematographer. It’s our medium,
our canvas. This whole industry owes its 6.
life to the existence of film.” ➣

Global Gathering
The morning concluded with
“Research in Cinematographic Style.”
Rolf Coulanges, BVK spoke first, explor-
1. Attendees tour the AMPAS
archive vaults at the Pickford ing whether a “digital look” is emerging as
Center for Motion Picture a new aesthetic value. Elen Lotman, ESC
Study. 2. ASC associate then took the podium to discuss the
Michael Cioni. 3. ASC
associate Joshua Pines. 4. Mu impact of cinematographic style on the
De Yuan, CSC takes a look at audience’s empathy for onscreen charac-
Panavision’s inverted 35mm ters. Rounding out this portion of the
underwater camera. 5. The
delegates fill Panavision’s Tak proceedings, Timo Heinänen, FSC
Miyagishima Theater. 1. presented “Aspect Ratio as a Creative
Tool.”
After lunch, the day’s focus turned
toward cinematography in virtual reality.
This portion featured numerous VR
demonstrations, followed by a panel
moderated by 3ality chief executive and
ASC associate member Steve Schklair.
The speakers included David Stump,
ASC; Virtual Reality Co. chief produc-
tion officer Chris Edwards; director
Randal Kleiser, who recently directed the
VR series Defrost; ASC associate and
2. 3. Radiant Images co-founder Michael
Mansouri; Sony Pictures Entertainment
vice president of production technology
Scott Barbour; and Virtual Reality Co.
founder and chief creative officer Robert
Stromberg.
Schklair asked the panelists to
comment on whether VR is a cinematog-
rapher’s or a director’s medium. Stump
noted, “In its rudimentary form now, I
could see why it would be easy to say it’s a
director’s medium. Directing is the prin-
4. ciple way to give the viewer an experience,
and cinematography is just to give enough
exposure to give the director a way to tell
the story. But we’ll find ways to design
cinematographic capabilities into VR. At
the same time, the cinematographer has
to bring something new to VR to have
input into this medium. We have all kinds
of nifty tools we use to tell stories that we
have to rethink in this new medium.”
Photos 1 and 3 courtesy of AMPAS.
Mansouri pointed out that 100

years ago, the rules of cinema were just
beginning to emerge. “We’re facing the
same challenges today,” he said. “We don’t
know what this is becoming.”
The final day of the ICS began at
Panavision’s headquarters in Woodland
5. Hills. There, ASC associate Dan Sasaki,
Panavision’s vice president of optical engi-

neering, chose to accentuate the positive at The attendees then returned to Lotman pointed to her own expe-
a time when filmmakers are inundated the Clubhouse for an open discussion riences apprenticing for Christopher
with a bewildering array of technology. titled “The Role Your Society Plays in Doyle, HKSC, on a shoot in Thailand.
“There’s a unique opportunity in optics Your Workplace Environments.” “Chris, as you know, is no typical cine-
that we’ve never had before, and through Moderated by Ron Johanson, ACS and matographer,” she noted. “I came to
the choice of different types of lenses and Richard Bluck, NZCS, the session understand that the only thing about
different types of sensors, you’re going to touched on a broad range of topics, being the best in the world is being
get the greatest type of control you’ve ever including safety issues and opportunities myself, and that goes for all of you, too.
had,” Sasaki explained. “In fact, it’s so for women, minorities and students. At that point, I stopped trying to be a
strong that you’re going to be able to create Bluck noted, “We as societies must look middle-aged man and became what I
a defining look that’s going to be able to after the people we’re working with and am today.”
survive the entire imaging chain.” look after ourselves.” After a brief presentation of
Sasaki seized the opportunity to One of the most compelling regional reports, the ICS officially
cover a wide range of topics, from how discussion subjects may have been saved wrapped with a closing-night reception.
optics influence aesthetics, to the unique for last, when the five women cine- The next morning would see the dele-
properties of anamorphic and what he matographers in the room — Natasha gates traveling back home, where they
called the “Foundations of Imaging”: Braier, ADF; Stephanie Martin, ADF; could share all the information they’d
perspective, magnification, and resolution Elen Lotman, ESC; Nina Kellgren, gleaned with their compatriots.
and contrast. BSC; and Claire Pijman, NCS — were “It was wonderful to meet so
Following lunch, the delegates trav- given the opportunity to talk about their many colleagues from abroad,” Goodich
eled to Technicolor in Hollywood, where experiences as minority figures within reflects. “The delegates’ openness and
they were shown a presentation of HDR their respective cinematography soci- willingness to communicate was key.
processes. The discussion here focused on eties. “I think the only way things are Clearly, great work is being done all over
recent technological solutions — devel- going to change is that we lead by exam- the globe.”
oped by Technicolor’s Research and ple, by letting other women see us work- For complete coverage of the ICS
Innovation division — that extend the ing,” said Martin. “I’ve always tried to event, visit www.theasc.com/site/news/
creative intent of cinematographers and avoid looking at it as being a ‘female international-cinematography-summit-
directors through the downstream lifecycle cinematographer,’ because I do the same launches-at-asc-clubhouse/. ●
of their projects. work that you guys do.”
Thanks to all of the sponsors

who made the ICS possible:
4Wall Entertainment Kino Flo A special thanks to the
Lighting companies and organizations
MAC Group that hosted presentations
Cinelease Mole-Richardson Co. during the four days:
Company 3 Panavision
CW Sonderoptic PRG – Production Academy of
EFilm Resource Group Motion Picture Arts
FotoKem The Rag Place
and Sciences
Fujifilm Sim Digital Dolby
Imax Tiffen
J.L Fisher VER
Panavision
K 5600 Zeiss Technicolor
Filmmakers’ Forum
Cinematographer Raoul Germain (left, behind camera) follows an all-female singing group as they travel through Ethiopia in Yegna Movie.
I Vision of a Better World

By Raoul Germain
a “new normal” that enables girls and their communities to over-
come the very real barriers they face through deeply entrenched
social norms.
I had been in Ethiopia for three weeks and things were not Each of the five members of the singing group represents a
going well. Our small crew was laid up with a bout of giardiasis, the different economic and social background. The girls play fictional
result of a nasty single-cell parasite that wreaks havoc on the belly. characters that personify the lives of so many young women in the
We had contracted it when our actor and director’s assistant show- country, from Mimi, who has run away from an arranged marriage
ered in well water in the remote village of Hamed Ela, and then we and is living on the street, to Mehlat, who comes from a wealthy
all shared a bottle of water — neither a good idea. Our director was family and is the “princess” of the group. Yegna Movie is a fictional
in the hospital on an IV; his assistant and our actor could not keep narrative that follows these five young women as they venture out
food down. We were all on outrageously strong antibiotics, counting of their village and compete in a national singing competition. Along
the days until our flights back home to the States. That’s when I was the way, they each face challenges that threaten to derail their
invited to meet with a local production company about staying in dream of bringing award money and community pride back to their
Ethiopia and shooting a feature film. Everything was telling me to go school and village. After reading the script and discussing the film’s
home. My body was weak, and my mind exhausted. But I am a film- powerful message with Ethiopian director Aida Ashenafi, I knew I
maker, and my curiosity was simply too strong. I took the meeting. needed to be a part of this multinational project.
The project was Yegna Movie, a feature that stars the all- My relationship with Ethiopia was tenuous at best. The small
female singing group Yegna. The word “yegna” means “ours” in project I had just completed in the country required nothing more
Amharic, and the group travels the country singing about national than a camera and a set of sticks. A feature-length narrative with five
pride and girl power. The multi-platform Yegna brand — which also main actresses and multiple story lines, covering an expanse of both
includes a weekly radio program and a talk show featuring the five the countryside and the capital city of Addis Ababa, was going to
singers — was created by the United Kingdom’s Department for require major logistics, gear and crew. The tight schedule of 18
International Development in cooperation with Girl Effect, an orga- shooting days did not make things any easier.
nization working to challenge the status quo and helping to envision Considering the job that had to be done, I was a bit nervous

From left: Melat, Emuye, Lemlem, Bekele, Sara, Manti and Mimi eye their competition.
at the idea of being the lone foreigner on ter to have a brilliant-white headdress. Once
the production, and so I turned to my long- we brought in a small amount of fill,
time first assistant, Andy Sladek, for help. I though, protecting that highlight while
knew Sladek could be trusted to not only keeping detail in our actor’s dark skin was
run the camera department, but to be a surprisingly not a problem for the camera.
second set of eyes for my aesthetic. The Throughout our shoot, I was continually
expense was going to strain the budget, but pleased with the results the Blackmagic was
Photos by Raoul Germain, Andy Sladek, Tedos Teffera and Wubete Takele, courtesy of Mango Productions, LLC.
having someone in my corner helped my able to deliver.

confidence on a project that was being shot The film industry in Ethiopia is still
so far beyond my comfort zone. emerging and, like the country itself, is find-
Our camera package consisted of ing its legs economically. There are only a
two Blackmagic Design Production Camera few film schools in the country of almost
4Ks with EF mounts; we kept one camera 100 million people. There are a number of
dedicated to sticks and handheld, and the production companies, but the majority of
other was rigged on a Glidecam X-10 stabi- films in the local cinema have very little
lizer. Sladek provided his personal set of production value. Uncontrolled ambient
Contax Zeiss primes for the production, and light rules the set because there is simply no
I monitored the image with a Convergent equipment to work with; Ethiopia has no
Design Odyssey7Q, which came in very motion-picture rental houses. DSLRs are the
handy with its plethora of exposure tools. main cameras being used due to their low
After some testing and a discussion with cost and ready availability. Nevertheless, in
post, we decided to shoot 4K ProRes HQ to recent years, some powerful films have
save space. Quality hard drives are difficult come out of Ethiopia. Ashenafi’s own film
to come by in Ethiopia, and shooting raw Guzo is noted as the country’s first breakout
would have been prohibitively media- docudrama and laid the groundwork for
hungry. other story-rich films such as Miguel Llansó’s
I rated the camera at its native 800 Crumbs and Yared Zeleke’s Lamb. These
ISO. In testing, I saw significant highlight loss films are raising the bar for production value
when the Blackmagic was rated at 400 or and have gained a large audience both in
200 ISO, and protecting the highlights was and out of the country.
a real concern in the hot African sun. We For all that Ethiopia’s film industry
had one character who wore a white head lacks, it is rich in both heart and ingenuity.
scarf, and I was worried we would have Our local crew, the majority of which were
issues keeping it under control. I asked if we daily employees of Ashenafi’s Mango
could tea-stain it or use a different colored Productions, were the real stars of the shoot.
scarf, but it was in keeping with her charac- They worked tirelessly to keep each depart-
87
Top: The girls
have Mimi’s back
as she confronts
an aggressor.
Middle: Germain
(far left)
monitors as the
crew captures a
scene in the
courtyard of
Addis Ababa
University.
Bottom: The
crew positions
lightweight
dolly track for
an exterior
scene at the
singing-
competition
venue.
ment running smoothly. Sladek and I were

flattered that they asked so many questions
and studied our particular way of working.
Daniel Girma is the “jack of everything” at
Mango Pictures. When he wasn’t splicing
power leads for accessories, building frames
for flags and rags, or rigging lights from
grass-roof ceilings, he would strap on the
vest and run the Glidecam. It was his drive
that led this amazing team of young film-
makers throughout the shoot.
My approach to this film was to be
as naturalistic as possible. Much of the
target audience for Yegna is young girls and
boys living in the remote countryside who
may have access to radio, but little to no
access to a TV, let alone a movie theater.
Our storytelling therefore had to be simple,
but still engaging enough to hold an audi-
ence in the more developed cities like Addis
Ababa.
I found myself challenged on so
many levels during the filming of Yegna.
The only generators available are those used
for construction, and because of their noise,
they needed to be placed so far away that
we had significant voltage drops at our light
heads. The power drop was not so much of
a problem for our tungsten heads, as we
could add a bit of blue gel and be fine, but
it was a problem for our HMI ballasts. When
we did have mains power, it was sketchy at
best, with frequent rolling blackouts. Wire-
less video transmitters were adapted from

Ababa, however, there is nowhere to rent
HMIs, 20x20 rags, or even purchase a 1⁄4-20
screw. “We can get you any nail you want,”
Germain lines up local camera assistant Efrem Mekonnen
the Blackmagic
Design said, “but screws are difficult to find.” How
Production could there be a 20' jib with a hot head, but
Camera 4K for nowhere to rent a C-stand?
a shot at
Addis Ababa My questions were answered when
University, while we arrived on set. Someone had hand-built
director Aida a camera crane from scratch. The unit was
Ashenafi (left,
with her made of heavy steel and had the familiar
daughter) and look of a three-legged jib. The articulating
1st AC Andy arm had a post for weights on the operating
Sladek (seated
next to camera) side, and the business end had a simple
watch the action. sheet-metal sled where we could mount the
camera. The hot head was actuated by
power-window motors from the inside of a
car door, one each for horizontal and verti-
cal motion. The same switches that would
home-theater systems and had retrofitted girls arriving at school. I wondered to myself operate those motors in a car were here to
power leads for our D-tap batteries. where this jib was coming from. Our gaffer, operate the jib.
What we lacked in proper equip- Francis O. Wanyandeh — whose talent I Sladek and I were wary. The motors
ment, however, was made up for in passion was incredibly lucky to have on this film — were powered by attaching two leads to the
and creativity. One day the crew informed had brought the majority of our G&E pack- battery of a car parked close by. But we
us we would have a 20' jib with a hot head age from Kenya, where the business of loaded the jib with a camera and monitor,
to get a number of sweeping shots of the filmmaking is well-established. In Addis and — to our surprise — it worked. And by
“worked,” I mean it got the shots we
needed. The motor movement was jerky
and either on or off; there was no feather-
ing to speed. It was far from perfect, but we
got the shots and even decided to use it
From left: Gaffer
several more times that day. Francis O.
The completed film was broadcast Wanyandeh,
on one of Ethiopia’s two state-run television camera PA
Murree Ajeb
stations in its native 1.78:1 format. The Jarso, 2nd 2nd
reception was so great, the station was AC Frezgy
inundated with calls to repeat the broad- Sultan, Germain
and Sladek place
cast. Yegna Movie was also screened for the camera on a
free in remote villages across the country- hand-built jib at
side on large, mobile LED screens set up the entrance to
the university.
where crowds could gather. People came
from tens of miles away on foot to share in
the rare event of watching a movie. It was a
powerful and humbling thing to witness.
Looking back at my experiences in
Ethiopia — and having the opportunity to
share those experiences here in the pages of month” camera. It’s about storytelling. It’s crew welcomed me into their filmmaking
American Cinematographer — has about collaborating with like-minded artists community, allowing all of us to share in the
reminded me why I became a director of to create something that can be meaning- vision of a better world for the young
photography in the first place. For me, the ful, entertaining, educational or even life- women of Ethiopia. For that, I am forever
joy in filmmaking is not found in working changing. Yegna Movie strives to be all of grateful. ●
with the fanciest toys or the “flavor of the that. Ashenafi and her Mango Productions
91
New Products & Services
• SUBMISSION INFORMATION •
Please e-mail New Products/Services releases to
newproducts@ascmag.com and include full contact
information and product images. Photos must be
TIFF or JPEG files of at least 300dpi.
Panavision Announces Large-Format Millennium DXL Digital Sputnik Launches DS1

Panavision has introduced the Millennium DXL camera, Digital Sputnik has expanded its modular lighting platform
which boasts the contributions of three companies: large-format with a single light-module power supply that can be
optics and modular accessories from Panavision, an 8K sensor from powered with batteries or 12-36 volts DC. This
Red Digital Cinema, and new color science and an optimized work- new DS1 unit is designed for
flow from Light Iron. mobile applications where
According to ASC associ- running cables would not be
ate Kim Snyder, president and CEO desirable; among other applica-
of Panavision, the DXL is offered in tions, it is an ideal eye light.
response to heightened interest in The DS1 unit uses the
and demand for large-format solu- same advanced color science and
tions. At the camera’s core is light-grading capabilities as other DS products.
a proprietary image-mapping All DS fixtures offer a very wide calibrated kelvin-
process called Light Iron Color, temperature range from 1,500-10,000K. The
which provides a unique, cine- user can find the exact calibrated white light for
matic look directly out of the a given situation and then mix in any primary or secondary color;
camera. Light Iron Color integrates seamlessly with the DXL’s ultra- once the user has found the desired color, the intensity can be
high-resolution sensor and with Panavision’s large-format lenses. changed without the color being affected. By using only hue and
“Our streamlined workflow includes simultaneous recording saturation values, it is possible to imitate all major gels and color
of 4K proxy files — ProRes or DNx — alongside the 8K raw files,” filters. Dimming is done via analog current control, eliminating the
states ASC associate Michael Cioni, DXL product director and pres- chance for flickering under any circumstances, including odd shutter
ident of Light Iron. “This creates a direct-to-edit workflow with the angles and high frame rates.
NLE of your choice. Using efficient SSD media, the cost of capturing In addition to the DS1, Digital
8K files with DXL is more economical than using third-party Sputnik has launched two new acces-
recorders on lower-resolution cameras. Light Iron Color and our sories for DS3 systems. The Space-
Panavised Outpost Systems provide a workflow for DXL that can be light accessory enables the
easily adopted for shooting large-format photography. owners of DS3 or DS3+
“What is exciting,” Cioni continues, “is that cinematogra- systems to turn the system
phers will notice how 8K acquisition creates images that are into a space light. The
smoother, not sharper. With a full-frame 35-megapixel imager, DXL Spacelight accessory can
provides a super-sampled image, much like large-format still use one or — for addi-
photography, so that its smoothness is retained whether you finish tional output — two DS3 kits.
in 4K, 2K or HD.” The skirt for the Spacelight is made out of a
The camera body was designed with ergonomics and material that enables up to three times more light
temperature management in mind. Its mid-size form factor is extra- output compared to traditional skirts.
lightweight, yet allows for an airflow system that dissipates heat Digital Sputnik’s Beam accessory creates a large, directional
quietly and efficiently. The DXL also has built-in, crew-friendly, 18-light module out of six DS3 systems, which can be mounted on
modular accessories to improve versatility and enable quick a truss. Mounting units next to each other makes it possible to
changeovers during production. create a wall of directional lights, with individual control over each
Snyder concludes, “Panavision’s mission is to provide our light module.
customers with leading-edge tools and technologies that enable For additional information, visit
them to achieve their creative vision, and the Millennium DXL is a www.digitalsputnik.com.
platform that allows us to expand the ways in which we can do just
that.”
The Millennium DXL will be rented exclusively through
Panavision and will be available in early 2017.
For additional information, visit www.panavision.com and
www.lightiron.com.

Band Pro Distributes
Cinetech Dollies
Band Pro is now the North American
distributor for Cinetech Italiana professional
dollies. Designed and built in Rome,
Cinetech units are sold directly to end users
in 35 countries worldwide. Each dolly is
Angenieux Expands hand-assembled from stainless steel and
Anamorphic Zoom Line aluminum alloy, and designed to provide
Complementing the Optimo 56- maximum reliability and flexibility on set.
152mm A2S and the Optimo 30-72mm Dolly models include the Capinera, Super
A2S (both T4), Angenieux has introduced Falcon II, Albatross, Super Hawk II, Sea Gull
the Optimo 44-440mm A2S (T4.5), the and T-Dolly.
latest addition to the company’s line of The Capinera combines safety and
Optimo 2x-squeeze anamorphic zooms. freedom with a small footprint and light-
Angenieux anamorphic zoom lenses weight design — the dolly weighs only 185
add a dimensional character to the image pounds but retains the stability and
with the traditional 2x squeeze, while mini- smoothness of heavier dollies — and a
mizing breathing and distortion by adopt- combined skate/pneumatic-wheel system
ing a modern optical design. The two short provides maximum versatility. The Super
anamorphic zooms are based on the Acad- Falcon II is designed for stability, manuver-
emy Award-winning Optimo lenses, with ability and versatility, with crab, round and
the cylindrical optical elements integrated in conventional steering modes; vertical lift
the rear part of the lens; they inherit the maintains precise camera alignment
quality and agility of the short Optimo through the full arm-motion range.
spherical zooms. Developing a high-magni- Designed with a responsive valve system,
fication anamorphic-zoom companion the Albatross boasts incredibly steady and
marks a major step in completing Ange- smooth movement, and its arm reaches a
nieux’s rear-anamorphic lineup. maximum height of 46". The Super Hawk
The new 10x anamorphic zoom II’s arm supports a robust 175-pound lifting
brings the speed and flexibility of a long- capacity and allows the operator to work in
range zoom to the set. The Optimo 44- very low positions with the 90-degree
440mm A2S features a close focus of 4'1" accessory plate. Weighing 72 pounds, the
and weighs only 16.6 pounds. The lens Sea Gull is built for portability and speedy
creates a unique image that combines a assembly, with a mobile hydraulic arm that
controlled background with a dimensional can be mounted on a stable flat platform.
foreground. Lastly, the T-Dolly provides a stable, light-
Angenieux A2S zoom lenses blend weight platform for the tightest spaces,
perfectly with the anamorphic prime lenses with a flexible design that supports three- or
in the market. The unique mount design four-wheel operation.
allows for quick swapping between PL and Cinetech dollies range in price from
PV mounts. Additionally, the focus-scale $50,000 to $100,000. For additional infor-
ring is easily interchangeable from feet to mation, visit www.bandpro.com and
meters. The 44-440mm Optimo A2S www.cinetech.it. ➣
features built-in encoders,
which provide metadata
(focus, zoom, T-stop) via the
industry standard /i Technol-
ogy interface developed by
Cooke.
For more information,
visit www.angenieux.com.
93
Sim Group’s Hollywood HQ having to hunt through menus while
Goes Live live on air. The customizable function
The Sim Group has opened the buttons can be used for zoom, false
doors of its Hollywood showcase building, color, edge focus detection, loading 3D
where Sim Digital, Bling and Chainsaw now LUTs and more.
offer a “cameras through post” solution. The viewfinder displays frame guides
This West Coast headquarters is located on that can show the location of a lower
the historic Eastman Kodak campus. third, graphic, logo or ticker so opera-
This new space represents a substan- tors can accurately frame shots. In
tial expansion of Sim Digital’s camera-rental addition to viewing the built-in camera
business in Los Angeles. Sim Digital offers HDTV, 4:3, 2.4:1, 2.39:1, 1.85:1 and
an extensive inventory of digital camera thirds frame guides, users can create
systems and related gear, ample internal offers a wide 135-degree viewing angle. up to three black or white custom cursors
space for camera testing and preparation, The extra resolution of the screen lets that can have variable height, width and
and multiple loading docks for streamlined customers view 16:9 sources and see critical position, making it easy to match the loca-
fulfillment. All prep bays have fiber connec- status information without covering the tion for all the graphics that will be added
tivity to the 2nd and 3rd floors, where work- image. The Video Assist 4K features a live or during later broadcast.
flow specialist Bling Digital and postproduc- heads-up display overlay that lets customers For additional information, visit
tion services provider Chainsaw reside. keep their eyes on the shot while viewing www.blackmagicdesign.com.
State-of-the-art resources include dailies the current input frame rate, histogram,
processing, quality control, editorial finish- audio meters, time code and more. Outsight Upgrades
ing, color grading, visual effects, sound For power, the Blackmagic Video Creamsource Range
mixing and deliverables, as well as a pristine Assist 4K features two standard LP-E6 Sydney, Australia-based lighting
new theater that includes a 4K Christie battery slots that allow hot-swapping of company Outsight has launched the
projector. The new complex has a robust batteries while in use, and it can also be Creamsource+ (Plus) fixture range, which
networking and storage infrastructure that powered using the 12-volt DC input. The features a fourth-generation LED light
includes nearly 1,000,000' of fiber and batteries are discharged serially, so only one engine that offers greater than 90 CRI/TLCI.
copper cabling, and it can accommodate is used at a time. When there’s power, the
productions of all sizes and scope, including batteries are charged in parallel, which
those working in 4K, HDR and beyond. saves time when recharging.
For additional information, visit Blackmagic Design has also unveiled
www.simgroup.com. the Blackmagic Ursa Studio Viewfinder, a
high-resolution 7" studio viewfinder with
Blackmagic Enables Video Assist variable tension mounting points, tally,
Blackmagic Design has introduced external controls and more. The all-metal
the Blackmagic Video Assist 4K, a portable, design is durable and features an articu-
all-in-one professional monitor and recorder lated arm so the viewfinder can be raised,
for use with any SDI or HDMI camera. The lowered, and moved forward and back-
Video Assist 4K features a bright, high-reso- ward. The viewfinder features a physical Boasting “panel Par” performance,
lution (1920x1200) 7" monitor for checking dial, knobs and three customizable function the panels provide a spot function that can
focus and framing; two high-speed UHS-II buttons that let operators quickly adjust be softened with traditional techniques
recorders for non-stop HD and Ultra HD brightness, contrast and peaking without such as diffusion, lenses and soft boxes.
recording; two high-quality XLR microphone Creamsource+ is available in two sizes, the
inputs for professional audio recording; a Doppio+ and the Mini+, with a choice of
built-in speaker; and more. daylight, bi-color or tungsten balance.
The Blackmagic Video Assist 4K Building on the proven reliability of
works with the latest high-performance SD the Creamsource range, the Creamsource+
cards. Files are saved as broadcast-quality comes with an extended warranty of three
10-bit 4:2:2 video in either ProRes or years, attractive price reductions and three
DNxHD formats, making them compatible bundled accessory kits: Essential, Pro and
with all popular editing software. Recording Gaffer.
can be triggered to start and stop using In addition, Outsight offers the
LANC, or over HDMI or SDI from the Creamsource Sky. The high-power, full-
camera. spectrum soft source offers sophisticated
The 7" monitor and touchscreen color management and modern ergonom-

ics. It provides 1,200 watts of LED power
and a typical CRI of 95. It is also water resis-
tant and comes in a rugged casing, making
it ideal for location work as well as studio
production.
For additional information, visit
www.outsight.com.au.
Duclos Goes Wide

Duclos Lenses, a motion-picture lens
specialty shop, has announced its newest
specialty lens, the 8mm f4 Fisheye. This
8mm “Pod Lens” sets itself apart with its
minimalistic, fixed-focus design and robust,
reliable operation. Aperture is controlled
electronically through the camera for seam-
less remote operation. Focus is fixed at
hyperfocal distance for a range of 1.5' to
infinity. The dome front cap protects the

glass and gives the Duclos 8mm a distinc-
tive, “menacing” appearance.
Duclos Lenses has also begun offer-
ing a new PL-mount 2x Tele-Extender.
Featuring an all-new optical design and a
robust mechanical design, the 2x Tele-Exten-
der is an excellent tool for cinematographers
looking to double the focal length of their
lenses. As with other 2x extenders, there is a
2-stop light loss, but the optical design
95
ensures the highest possible image quality OLED screen, high-quality precision optics, Canon Adds Modular Camera,
from the center across the Super 35 field and powerful FPGA dual-core processor as Relocates Technology Center
and beyond. Zacuto’s two other Gratical EVF models. It Canon U.S.A., Inc., has announced
For additional information, visit incorporates Zacuto’s patented anti-fog the latest addition to its line of multi-
www.ducloslenses.com. coated lens and a full range of software purpose modular cameras, the ME200S-SH.
features, including scopes, LUTs and two The 8.2-megapixel Super 35mm compact
Zacuto Offers Power box camera features both high sensitivity
Chicago-based equipment manu- and a cinema look for high-quality image
facturer and vendor Zacuto has introduced capture. Canon’s Dual Pixel CMOS autofo-
the Gripper Series batteries, which are cus technology provides users with a range
designed for use on professional camera of focusing options when using compatible
rigs without the need for additional brack- Canon EF and Cine-Servo lenses.
ets or clamps. The Gripper batteries snap The ME200S-SH camera’s compact,
directly onto 15mm rods, offering a hassle- modular design allows for easy custom
free, lightweight and low-cost power configurations for diverse scenarios. Live HD
option. use is possible with 1920x1080, 60p or 50p
There are two options available, output, and Dual Pixel CMOS AF and
75Wh and 100Wh, covering the various forms of peaking. New to the Gratical Eye Remote (RC-V100) functionality; genlock is
needs of camera operators. Each battery is are two unique features: an external tally standard for multi-purpose camera use.
equipped with two power-tap outputs as light and a proximity screen saver.
standard and can easily be increased by The Gratical Eye eliminates the
plugging in a four-way Gripper adapter to Canon LP-E6 battery found on other EVFs
either output. Gripper batteries feature and replaces it with the widely used 2-pin
high-impact ABS casing fitted with Lemo connector; Zacuto has created a
premium lithium-ion cells, which in turn are custom power video cable combining a
backed up by the latest in protection BNC with a 2-pin Lemo to power tap. HDMI
systems to guarantee long and reliable customers can easily use the Eye with an
performance. HDMI converter. Gripper batteries are also
ideal for use with the Gratical Eye.
www.zacuto.com.
DMG Lumière Opens

Toronto Office Remote manual control of focus, iris, auto
Lighting company DMG Lumière — exposure and ND filters is available with the
which is run by brothers Mathieu, Nils and optional Canon RC-V100 controller.
Jean de Montgrand, along with European Infrared shooting and ISO 204,800 allow
gaffer Nicholas Georg — has opened an for surveillance applications.
The 75Wh and 100Wh batteries office in Toronto, Canada. The company’s The ME200S-SH includes both
plus a single Fast Charger are now available, founding principle is to utilize LEDs as effi- Canon Log and Wide DR Gamma, provid-
with a dual charger and other accessories ciently as possible — in terms of size, ing users with high dynamic range and the
coming soon. Zacuto is partnering with weight, control and light output. ability to choose their postproduction strat-
Hawk-Woods manufacturing, a broadcast With its successful Switch LED light- egy. Additionally, the camera employs
equipment company located in England, to ing range, the company has gained the Canon’s EF Mount, providing shooters with
distribute the Gripper Series. Zacuto offers trust of Europe’s filmmaking community the ability to use a diverse array of compat-
worldwide distribution through its dealer and is now moving into the North American ible lenses; the Cine Lock feature allows
network and the Zacuto store. market. Jean de Montgrand will be running users to easily mount the lens without
Zacuto has also introduced the Grat- the new Toronto office, which is located at having to rotate it into the mount.
ical Eye Micro-OLED SDI EVF. The smallest 545 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario, The ME200S-SH features 3G/HD-SDI
and the lightest EVF in Zacuto’s Micro-OLED M5V 1M. and HDMI output terminals that enable
lineup, the Gratical Eye is targeted at film- For additional information, visit users to output video via a single cable to a
makers working with professional SDI www.dmglumiere.com. variety of peripheral equipment, including
cameras and external power systems. external recorders and monitors. A 12-pin
The 14-ounce Gratical Eye has the lens jack is provided to enable communica-
same bright, brilliant 5.4 million pixel micro- tion with the drive unit of select Cine-Servo

and broadcast lenses. Equipped with a
2.5mm stereo mini-jack and a round eight-
pin jack for RS-422, the multi-purpose
camera is capable of connecting with
Canon’s optional RC-V100 Remote
Controller. Furthermore, a 3.5mm stereo
mini-jack allows the camera to connect to a
microphone or other external audio equip-
ment.
Canon has also announced that the
Canon Hollywood Professional Technology
& Support Center — currently located at
6060 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood — will
be relocating to 3400 West Olive Ave.,
Burbank, Calif. The approximate date for
completion of the move is early 2017.
In this new central location, Canon
will greatly enhance its already award-
winning service and support to further
assist the growing number of professional
filmmakers and broadcast production
clients in Southern California. The Burbank
facility will also serve as a hub for product
training, educational events, expedited
repairs and hands-on technical support for
Canon’s business partners, rental houses
and professional clients.
www.usa.canon.com.
DoPchoice Snaps Open

Light Control
DoPchoice has redesigned the classic
soft box with the quick-deploying Snapbag,
a lightweight solution for LED lights.
Soft boxes are popular for softening
the light emitted from LED fixtures and
giving cinematographers and gaffers more
control. But traditional soft boxes make for
a project each time they have to be set up
and put away. By contrast, setting up a
Snapbag is fast and easy. It snaps to atten-
tion when it comes out of its flat storage,
without having to insert rods into a speed
ring, and it
can be fit in
place over a
lighting
fixture within
30 seconds.
Te a r- d o w n
takes just 10
seconds, as
the Snapbag intu-
itively folds into its protective
97
carrier. Custom designed for each fixture The 20-120mm Cabrio XK covers an
type, in most cases the Snapbag attaches to S35-sized sensor (Super 35 format) on a
the light via built-in elastic loops; the Snap- digital cinema-style camera. The 20-
bag’s self-stretching design guarantees that 120mm Cabrio is fitted with a nine-blade
it holds its shape. iris and comes equipped with all the lens-
With a highly reflective fabric inte- data outputs that are required by today’s
rior, Snapbags maximize illumination, and cine-style shooters. The zoom’s barrel mark-
the smart-fit solution is designed to elimi- ings are luminous for visibility in dark shoot-
nate spill so users can direct the light just ing situations. Additionally, the lens can be
where they want it. Rectangular models fit controlled using industry-standard wireless
most popular LED soft lights; octagonal controllers as well as existing Fujinon wired
models, 5' and 3' in diameter, fit most 1'x1' units.
panel soft lights; and the Flyball, also known For additional information, visit
as a China ball or Pancake, provides evenly www.fujifilmusa.com.
spread soft lighting.
DoPchoice also offers Snapgrids and Sachtler Updates Video 18 Head
Butterfly grids. Like Snapbags, Snapgrids Sachtler, a Vitec Videocom brand,
utilize DoPchoice’s proprietary Snap Tech- has upgraded its best-sell-
Telecine & nology and Snapframes for an all-in-one ing fluid head with the
Color Grading solution. The grids are offered in 30-, 40- or Video 18 S2. Operators
50-degree light dispersion. Available in both can now take advantage
“Jod is a true artist with rectangular and octagonal models, they fit of a greater load-bearing
a great passion for his craft.” popular soft lights and soft boxes, quickly capacity of up to 20kg —
– John W. Simmons, ASC set up and fold down, and stow away in 4kg more than the Video 18
their storage bags in seconds. S1. The Video 18 S2 can
Contact Jod @ 310-713-8388 Butterfly grids are designed in six operate at -40° to +60° C
Jod@apt-4.com sizes for industry-standard rectangular without any impact on
frames, with custom sizes also available. its smooth operation.
Elastic corners aid quick deployment and While the Video
guarantee that the grid remains taut across 18 S2 has been thoroughly optimized, the
the frame. Double-sewn and constructed of tripod system maintains classic Sachtler
rugged materials, Butterfly grids are resis- features including temperature resistance,
tant to tearing and heat from lighting touch-and-go plate, parking position for
equipment. spare camera screws, illuminated spirit level,
For additional information, visit and the SpeedLevel clamp, which replaces
www.dopchoice.com. the traditional tie-down on a tripod with a
simple push-and-release mechanism. With
an excellent drag mechanism and Speed-
balance technology for quick weight
compensation, the Video 18 S2 is comfort-
able to use and highly reliable.
www.sachtler.com.
Panasonic Adds Entry-Level,

Pro Camcorders
Fujinon Unveils 6:1 Zoom Panasonic has introduced the entry-
The Optical Devices Division of Fuji- level AG-AC30, a handheld camcorder with
film North America has introduced the Fuji- top professional features, including a
non Premier PL 20-120mm Cabrio XK 29.5mm (f1.8) lens with a powerful 20x
(T3.5) zoom lens (XK6x20). Weighing just optical/40x digital super-high resolution
2.9kg, the lens is equipped with a detach- zoom.
able servo drive unit, making it suitable for The effective area of the AC30’s
use in ENG-style or standard PL cine appli- 1⁄3.1" Back Side Illumination (BSI) sensor has
cations. been increased to achieve the high-image
98
with an HDMI interface.
Panasonic has also announced the
UX series of professional 4K camcorders,
which succeed the company’s AVCCam
series of professional AVCHD camcorders.
Two models are currently under develop-
ment and scheduled for release this fall: the
UX Premium Model AG-UX180, with a 1"
(effective size) MOS sensor, optical 20x
zoom and UHD 60p recording capability;
and the UX Standard Model AG-UX90,
featuring a 1" (effective size) MOS sensor,
optical 15x zoom and UHD 30p recording.
quality of 6.03 million effective pixels, The UX series will support recording
producing bright shots even in dark places. up to 4K (4096x2160, 24p only) and UHD
The sensor’s processing speed is advanced to (3840x2160), and will use SD Memory
approximately 1.5 times conventional speed, Cards as recording media. In addition to 4K
and a new Noise Reduction function reduces and UHD, the UX Premium Model AG-
noise for crisp Full HD (1080p) images. The UX180 supports dual codec recording
built-in LED Light — featuring color conver- (UHD/FHD), IR recording in low light, and
sion and diffusion filters, and an average illu- 3G SDI/HDMI 2.0 output. The UX
mination of 300 lux at 3.3' — is ideal for camcorders’ 1" MOS sensor ensures sensi-
shooting nighttime events. tivity equivalent to that of conventional
With dual SD card slots and the capa- handheld cameras. Variable frame-rate
bility to record on both cards simultaneously, recording functionality (2-60 fps) is planned
the AC30’s Relay Auto Switch functionality in FHD mode.
provides dependable backup recording or These new UX models will bring the
the ability to switch from company’s lineup of
one card to the other for
extended recording
times. The AC30 records in AVCHD to
28Mbps and MP4/MOV to 50Mbps.
The AC30 weighs just over 3
pounds. The camcorder incorporates
Intelligent AF (Auto Focus) with
improvements in speed, tracking and
stability. Focus-assist functions include
Focus Expand, Focus Peaking and Area professional 4K cameras to six,
Mode. Professional-assist functions include a including the flagship VariCam 35 and Vari-
histogram display, color bar monitor and Cam LT cinema cameras for HDR produc-
zebra pattern. Other key features include 5- tion in 4K resolution, the AG-DVX200 4K
Axis Hybrid Optical Image Stabilization and a 4 ⁄ 3 " large-sensor camcorder, and the AK-
multi-purpose lens ring that provides fine UC3000 4K camera system.

adjustments and precise control of focus, For additional information, visit
zoom and iris. An illuminating LED ring www.panasonic.com/broadcast.
allows recording verification and serves as a
tally light. Litepanels Illuminates Astra Soft
The AC30 offers a new 0.24", 1.55- Litepanels, a Vitec Group brand, has
million-dot EVF, which can be tilted for introduced the Astra Soft Bi-Color LED
added convenience. The versatile 3", slide- panel. With a new diffused lens, the 1-
retractable LCD can serve as an HD monitor square-foot Astra Soft Bi-Color provides a
and menu-setting touch panel. The two- soft-light alternative to the original Astra
channel XLR audio inputs enable the use of 1x1 Bi-Color LED panel and mimics the
high-performance microphones and audio effect of a soft box in a compact, portable
equipment. The camcorder is also equipped design. ➣
99
The Astra Soft Bi- The 135mm maintains the Xeen
Color has an impressive system’s important characteristics, including
output that rates among 6K-ready optics, unified 40-degree iris rota-
the highest of soft LED tion and 200-degree focus throw, unified
panels. This higher inten- focus and aperture gear positions, a
sity illuminates a wider uniform length and 114mm non-rotating
area, allowing the panel front diameter for the easy use of matte
to compete with strong boxes, right- and left-side distance and T-
exterior light sources or
illuminate a large area effec-
tively with just a single fixture. can be mixed with Dolby Atmos.
Following the functionality of the After capturing omnidirectional
Astra 1x1 Bi-Color, the Astra Soft Bi- video with the Jaunt One, production teams
Color panel features a high CRI that can stitch and render their footage in the
yields exceptional color reproduction cloud using JCS, which transforms footage
and precise color temperature. The Astra into high-quality stereoscopic VR. JCS inte-
Soft Bi-Color can conveniently adjust grates seamlessly with most off-the-shelf
between daylight and tungsten to accom- postproduction tools for compositing, edit-
modate any lighting situation, and the ing and color correction. Once the experi-
fixture offers smooth transitional dimming ence is finalized, creators have immediate
with no noticeable color shift and a flicker- access to all of the assets necessary to
free performance at any frame rate or shut- stop scales, full-frame coverage, a light- publish to any platform that supports 360-
ter angle. weight all-metal design, and an 11-blade degree video, including the Jaunt VR app.
Like all Astra panels, the design of diaphragm for pleasing bokeh. The lens The Jaunt VR platform utilizes “deep-links,”
the Astra Soft Bi-Color boasts custom- mount can be changed to fit PL, Canon, which allow content creators to publish
designed optics with quality surface-mount Nikon, Sony E and MFT. All Xeen lenses directly to their audiences; these unique,
LEDs, offering a light output that is four utilize the company’s X-Coating Technology content-specific “deep-links” give global
times higher than the original 1x1 fixtures. to ensure high-quality footage with clear audiences immediate access to the experi-
Additionally, the internal microprocessor of contrast, impressive colors and a cinematic ence without having to search for it, regard-
the Astra Soft Bi-Color includes dual cooling look. less of the device or platform.
modes — active and passive — to manage Xeen by Rokinon lens mechanics For more information about the
the temperature of the panel and assure and optics are manufactured and precision- Jaunt One camera and Jaunt Cloud
long panel life. assembled in Korea utilizing cutting-edge Services, visit www.jauntvr.com and
The Astra Soft Bi-Color uses the techniques. All lenses feature a three-year www.radiantimages.com.
same technology as the rest of the Astra limited warranty.
family so all the accessories can be used For additional information, visit BBS Lighting
interchangeably. The new Astra Soft Bi- www.xeenusa.com. BBS Lighting has introduced a Studio
Color panel is also compatible with Litepan- model of its Area 48 Soft remote-phosphor
els’ DMX and Bluetooth communications Radiant Images Rents Jaunt One lighting fixture. The Area 48 Studio provides
modules, the latter of which work with Jaunt Inc., a leader in virtual reality, ultra-precise dimming throughout the
Apple devices through the Litepanels has announced that the Jaunt One camera entire dimming range, even in the last 5
SmartLite app, which allows users to control will be made available for public use percent. The 48-volt fixture operates silently
multiple lights at once, with distinct controls through a pilot program with Los Angeles- due to the system’s fanless cooling.
for intensity, color temperature, fan and based rental house Radiant Images. Jaunt The fixture retains the form factor
more. Cloud Services (JCS), Jaunt’s cloud-based and features of BBS’ compact Area 48
More information can be found at stitching and rendering pipeline, will also be
www.litepanels.com. available, providing creators with a scalable,
end-to-end hardware and software solution
Xeen Cine Lens Family Expands for shooting, producing and distributing
Elite Brands Inc. has released the immersive VR experiences.
Xeen by Rokinon 135mm (T2.2) Profes- The Jaunt One 24G model features
sional Cine Lens. The 135mm prime rounds 24 global shutter sensors, ideal for low-light
out the Xeen six-lens set, which also shooting and fast-moving objects. The
includes 14mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and setup can be coupled with 360-degree
85mm primes. ambisonic audio recording, which in post

5,600K. For additional control, a foil-lined
soft box and light grids are custom-
designed for the Pipeline 4-Banks. The
Banks are stackable for greater combined
output.
For more information on BBS lights
remote-phosphor technology. The system in the Americas, visit www.bbslighting.com,
boasts color-rendering accuracy beyond 98 and in Europe, visit www.brothers-sons.dk.
TLCI, with HD-friendly light output compa-
rable to a 1K traditional soft light. The phos- Camera Goat Slides Into Action
phor panels themselves are interchange- Camera Goat LLC has introduced
able, allowing users to quickly change the the Camera Goat slider system, which can
fixture from daylight to tungsten, chroma- operate flat on the ground to 10' in the air
green, chroma-blue, 10,000K and more — with ease.
in seconds and without tools. The Area 48 Rather than tripods, combo stands
Studio weighs only 7.9 pounds and draws or apple boxes — which can be cumber-
just 122 watts at maximum output. The 48- some in certain terrain — the Camera Goat
volt power supply comes mounted directly utilizes independent legs, resulting in a
on the yoke. stable platform that is fully adjustable. The
The unit includes the standard BBS modular system allows users to make the
four-channel control of 8-bit, 16-bit, strobe, rails and legs whatever length they desire.
and manual dimming, as well as on/off. The system uses the same 1¼" aluminum
Every Area 48 is equipped with integrated tubing for the rails and the legs, so users
barn doors. BBS also offers optional can change from one size to another in a
DoPchoice light-shaping tools, including matter of seconds; this is also the same size
grids and soft boxes, for even more control. as speed rail, making the Camera Goat
BBS has also introduced 3' and 4' even more adaptable.
Pipeline 4-Bank remote-phosphor
lights, marking a new form factor for
the company’s remote-phosphor LED
technology. By incorporating remote-
phosphor technology, the 4-Banks
deliver a 95+ TLCI and are rated at
50,000 hours.
Pipeline cylindrical Pipes each
have a rugged aluminum flat channel
with a 1⁄10"-thick remote-phosphor
covering to handle rough treatment
without breakage. Pipeline 4-Banks house The company offers two different
BBS’ rugged, 3' or 4' long, 1"-diameter LED models in three different kits, or parts can
Pipes, which provide light emission of more be purchased separately. The regular
than 1,000 lumens per foot (12,000 lumens Camera Goat can support any camera from
from the 3' Pipes and 16,000 lumens from a GoPro to an Imax system, while the Mini
the 4'). Cool running, they power off of a Goat was designed for travel and smaller
48-volt power supply to provide smooth cameras. Carry-On Kits come with every-
dimming all the way down to zero. thing except tubing, for users who already
Utilizing the built-in four-channel have their own. Designed for easy travel,
control, Pipeline Banks are fully dimmable Adventure Kits include tubing and a few
(100 percent to zero) without color shift or extra ball-head adapters. Expedition Kits
flicker. The control offers 8- or 16-bit DMX include tubing and an extra bar bridge for a
and manual dimming plus strobe capability. center support; this kit is for someone who
Pipeline 4-Banks come in 3,200K, wants to execute runs longer than 10'. All
4,300K or 5,600K color temperatures. A Bi- Camera Goat units can go up to 10' before
Color model allows the user to dial in any the user needs to add a center support.
color temperature between 3,200K and Further streamlining travel, Camera
101
Goat offers an “Add-A-Rail” system of 5' transfer rates up to 480MB/s in RAID 0, suit-
tubes that screw together with a specially able for multi-stream HD, 2K and
designed joint connector. compressed 4K video workflows.
For additional information, visit Able to handle demanding 4K video
www.cameragoat.com. workflows both on location and in the
studio, the G-Speed Shuttle XL with Thun-
derbolt offers a hardware RAID 8-Bay trans-
portable Thunderbolt 2 solution with capac-
ity up to 80TB; the G-Speed Shuttle XL has
an integrated handle to easily move and fit
inside a standard protective case that sits
neatly into an overhead airline compart-
Drone Volt Flies Janus 360 ment. Similar to the G-Speed Shuttle XL
Drone Volt has introduced the Janus with Thunderbolt, the G-Speed Shuttle XL
360 drone for 360-degree virtual-reality with Thunderbolt with ev Series Bay
content production. Adapters improves workflow options and
Drone Volt’s R&D division has inte- productivity by enabling cross-functionality
grated the company’s best technologies to with all ev Series drives. It also comes with
develop the Janus 360, which can capture up to six 10TB enterprise-class hard drives.
aerial images for VR playback systems. The For content creators who need
quadcopter is equipped with 10 4K exceptionally large capacity coupled with
cameras spread over two heads, and is
capable of 15 minutes of flight time.
Headquartered in France, Drone Volt
also has a presence in Canada, Denmark,
Switzerland and the United States.
www.dronevolt.com/en/.
G-Technology Enhances
Storage Solutions
Western Digital Corp. has
announced that its G-Technology product
lines are getting more capacity and high performance, the G-Speed Studio XL
increased performance to keep up with the provides a hardware RAID 8-Bay enterprise-
growing needs of creative professionals. class storage solution that can support
Professional videographers capturing 4K- multi-stream, compressed 4K workflows
resolution video at 60 fps create 400MB per with large volumes of data at transfer rates
second, or 1.4TB per hour of raw footage, of up to 1,350MB/s. Additionally, G-Tech-
and are often required to back-up their nology offers the G-Speed Studio XL with
footage in multiple places for safekeeping. two ev Series Bay Adapters. Six of the eight
This storage capacity does not even take bays are enterprise-class hard drives up to
into account postproduction or transferring 10TB, providing storage for critical video
content to clients. and photography-based workflows.
G-Drive with Thunderbolt is a high- All of G-Technology’s storage solu-
performance storage solution that features tions come with a three-year limited
ultra-fast Thunderbolt with up to 245MB/s warranty. G-Technology’s storage solutions
transfer rates, with the option to utilize USB come pre-formatted for Mac and are easily
3.0 connectivity. A USB 3.0-only version is reformatted for PC using the G-Technology
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high-performance, removable dual-hard For additional information, visit
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Advertiser’s Index
Abel Cine Tech 25 Deck of Aces 105 NAB 107
A.C. Entertainment Digital Sputnik Lighting NBC/Universal 47
Technologies Ltd. 101 Systems 29 Nila, Inc. 97
Adorama 7, 45 DMG Technologies/DMG Offhollywood/Vitec
AJA 33 Lumiere 8 Creative Solutions 71
Alan Gordon Enterprises 104 Duclos Lenses 63
American Film Market/ P+S Technik Feinmechanik
Eastman Kodak C4 Gmbh 105
AFM 89
Arri 5, 15 Film Gear 95 Pille Filmgeraeteverleih
ASC Film Manual 98 Filmotechnic 99 Gmbh 104
ASC Master Class 90 F.J. Westcott 93 Powermills 104
Fluotec 21 Pro8mm 104
B&H Photo-Video-Pro Audio
31 Glidecam 23 Red Digital Cinema 34-35
Backstage Equipment, Inc. Grip Factory Munich/GFM 63 RTS 17
87 Group TVA/Mels Studio and Samy’s DV & Edit 13, 59
Blackmagic Design 9 Post 61 Scheimpflug Rentals 49
Carl Zeiss, SBE, LLC 43 Hexolux/Visionsmith 105 Schneider Optics 2, 50
Cavision Enterprises 104 IBC 103 Selected Tables 106
Chapman/Leonard Shape WLB, Inc. 64
Studio Equip. 73 J.L. Fisher 91 Super16, Inc. 105
Chrosziel Gmbh 75 Jod Soraci 98
Teradek, LLC C2-1
Cinebags, Inc. 105 K5600 19 Thelight Luminary for
Cinematography Kino Flo 65 Cine and TV, S.L. 51
Electronics 75 Koerner Camera Systems 97
Cinekinetic 104 Ushio America, Inc. 95
Lee Filters 77
Convergent Design 27 Willy’s Widgets 104
Lights! Action! Co. 104
Cooke Optics 11 www.theasc.com 105
CW Sonderoptic Gmbh C3 Mac Tech LED 47
Matthews Studio Equipment/
MSE 97
Mole-Richardson/Studio
Depot 76, 104
Movie Tech AG 104
106
American Society of Cinematographers Roster
OFFICERS – 2016-’17 ACTIVE MEMBERS Jack Cooperman David Greene Walt Lloyd
Kees van Oostrum Thomas Ackerman Jack Couffer Xavier Grobet Bruce Logan
President Lance Acord Vincent G. Cox Alexander Gruszynski Gordon Lonsdale
Marshall Adams Jeff Cronenweth Rick Gunter Emmanuel Lubezki
Bill Bennett Javier Aguirresarobe Richard Crudo Rob Hahn Julio G. Macat
1st Vice President Lloyd Ahern II Dean R. Cundey Gerald Hirschfeld Glen MacPherson
Lowell Peterson Russ Alsobrook Stefan Czapsky Henner Hofmann Paul Maibaum
2nd Vice President Howard A. Anderson III David Darby Adam Holender Constantine Makris
James Anderson Allen Daviau Ernie Holzman Denis Maloney
Dean Cundey Peter Anderson Roger Deakins John C. Hora Isidore Mankofsky
3rd Vice President Tony Askins Jan de Bont Tom Houghton Christopher Manley
Levie Isaacks Christopher Baffa Thomas Del Ruth Gil Hubbs Michael D. Margulies
Treasurer James Bagdonas Bruno Delbonnel Paul Hughen Barry Markowitz
King Baggot Peter Deming Shane Hurlbut Steve Mason
Frederic Goodich
John Bailey Jim Denault Tom Hurwitz Clark Mathis
Secretary
Florian Ballhaus Caleb Deschanel Judy Irola Don McAlpine
Roberto Schaefer Michael Ballhaus Ron Dexter Mark Irwin Don McCuaig
Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Barrett Craig DiBona Levie Isaacks Michael McDonough
Andrzej Bartkowiak George Spiro Dibie Peter James Seamus McGarvey
MEMBERS John Bartley Ernest Dickerson Johnny E. Jensen Robert McLachlan
OF THE BOARD Bojan Bazelli Billy Dickson Matthew Jensen Geary McLeod
John Bailey Affonso Beato Bill Dill Jon Joffin Greg McMurry
Bill Bennett Mat Beck Anthony Dod Mantle Frank Johnson Steve McNutt
Dion Beebe Mark Doering-Powell Shelly Johnson Terry K. Meade
Curtis Clark
Bill Bennett Stuart Dryburgh Jeffrey Jur Suki Medencevic
Richard Crudo Bert Dunk Adam Kane Chris Menges
Andres Berenguer
Fred Elmes Carl Berger Lex duPont Stephen M. Katz Rexford Metz
Michael Goi Gabriel Beristain John Dykstra Ken Kelsch Anastas Michos
Victor J. Kemper Steven Bernstein Richard Edlund Victor J. Kemper David Miller
Stephen Lighthill Ross Berryman Eagle Egilsson Wayne Kennan Douglas Milsome
Daryn Okada Josh Bleibtreu Frederick Elmes Francis Kenny Dan Mindel
Woody Omens Oliver Bokelberg Robert Elswit Glenn Kershaw Charles Minsky
Michael Bonvillain Scott Farrar Darius Khondji Claudio Miranda
Robert Primes
Richard Bowen Jon Fauer Gary Kibbe George Mooradian
Cynthia Pusheck David Boyd Don E. FauntLeRoy Jan Kiesser Reed Morano
Owen Roizman Russell Boyd Gerald Feil Jeffrey L. Kimball Donald A. Morgan
John Simmons Uta Briesewitz Cort Fey Adam Kimmel Donald M. Morgan
Kees van Oostrum Jonathan Brown Steven Fierberg Alar Kivilo Kramer Morgenthau
Don Burgess Mauro Fiore David Klein Peter Moss
ALTERNATES Stephen H. Burum John C. Flinn III Richard Kline David Moxness
Bill Butler Anna Foerster George Koblasa M. David Mullen
Roberto Schaefer
Frank B. Byers Larry Fong Fred J. Koenekamp Dennis Muren
Mandy Walker Bobby Byrne Ron Fortunato Lajos Koltai Fred Murphy
Karl Walter Lindenlaub Patrick Cady Greig Fraser Pete Kozachik Hiro Narita
Oliver Bokelberg Sharon Calahan Jonathan Freeman Neil Krepela Guillermo Navarro
Dean Cundey Antonio Calvache Tak Fujimoto Willy Kurant Michael B. Negrin
Paul Cameron Alex Funke Ellen M. Kuras Sol Negrin
Gary Capo Steve Gainer Christian La Fountaine James Neihouse
Russell P. Carpenter Robert Gantz George La Fountaine Bill Neil
James L. Carter Ron Garcia Edward Lachman Alex Nepomniaschy
Lula Carvalho David Geddes Jacek Laskus John Newby
Alan Caso Dejan Georgevich Rob Legato Yuri Neyman
Vanja Černjul Michael Goi Denis Lenoir Sam Nicholson
Michael Chapman Stephen Goldblatt John R. Leonetti Crescenzo Notarile
Rodney Charters Paul Goldsmith Matthew Leonetti David B. Nowell
Enrique Chediak Dana Gonzales Peter Levy Rene Ohashi
Christopher Chomyn Frederic Goodich Matthew Libatique Daryn Okada
James A. Chressanthis Nathaniel Goodman Charlie Lieberman Thomas Olgeirsson
T.C. Christensen Victor Goss Stephen Lighthill Woody Omens
Joan Churchill Jack Green Karl Walter Lindenlaub Michael D. O’Shea
Curtis Clark Adam Greenberg John Lindley Vince Pace
Peter L. Collister Robbie Greenberg Robert F. Liu Anthony Palmieri

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6
Phedon Papamichael Peter Sova Alan Albert Richard Hart Iain A. Neil Marc Weigert
Daniel Pearl Dante Spinotti Richard Aschman Robert Harvey Otto Nemenz Steve Weiss
Brian Pearson Buddy Squires Kay Baker Michael Hatzer Ernst Nettmann Alex Wengert
Edward J. Pei Terry Stacey Joseph J. Ball Josh Haynie Tony Ngai Evans Wetmore
James Pergola Eric Steelberg Amnon Band Fritz Heinzle Jeff Okun Franz Wieser
Dave Perkal Ueli Steiger Carly M. Barber Charles Herzfeld Marty Oppenheimer Beverly Wood
Lowell Peterson Peter Stein Craig Barron Larry Hezzelwood Walt Ordway Jan Yarbrough
Wally Pfister Tom Stern Thomas M. Barron Frieder Hochheim Ahmad Ouri Hoyt Yeatman
Sean MacLeod Phillips Robert M. Stevens Larry Barton Bob Hoffman Michael Parker Irwin M. Young
Bill Pope David Stockton Wolfgang Baumler Vinny Hogan Dhanendra Patel Michael Zacharia
Steven Poster Rogier Stoffers Bob Beitcher Cliff Hsui Elliot Peck Bob Zahn
Tom Priestley Jr. Vittorio Storaro Mark Bender Robert C. Hummel Kristin Petrovich Nazir Zaidi
Rodrigo Prieto Harry Stradling Jr. Bruce Berke Zoë Iltsopoulos-Borys Ed Phillips Michael Zakula
Robert Primes David Stump Steven A. Blakely Jim Jannard Nick Phillips Joachim Zell
Frank Prinzi Tim Suhrstedt Joseph Bogacz George Joblove Tyler Phillips Les Zellan
Cynthia Pusheck Peter Suschitzky Jill Bogdanowicz Joel Johnson Joshua Pines
Richard Quinlan Attila Szalay Mitchell Bogdanowicz Eric Johnston Carl Porcello HONORARY MEMBERS
Declan Quinn Masanobu Takayanagi Jens Bogehegn John Johnston Sherri Potter Col. Edwin E. Aldrin Jr.
Earl Rath Jonathan Taylor Michael Bravin Mike Kanfer Howard Preston Col. Michael Collins
Richard Rawlings Jr. Rodney Taylor Simon Broad Andreas Kaufmann Sarah Priestnall Bob Fisher
Frank Raymond William Taylor Michael Brodersen Marker Karahadian David Pringle David MacDonald
Tami Reiker Romeo Tirone William Brodersen Frank Kay Doug Pruss Cpt. Bruce McCandless II
Robert Richardson John Toll Garrett Brown Debbie Kennard David Reisner Larry Mole Parker
Anthony B. Richmond Mario Tosi Terry Brown Glenn Kennel Christopher Reyna D. Brian Spruill
Tom Richmond Salvatore Totino Reid Burns Robert Keslow Colin Ritchie Marek Zydowicz
Bill Roe Luciano Tovoli Vincent Carabello Lori Killam Eric G. Rodli
Owen Roizman Jost Vacano Jim Carter Douglas Kirkland Domenic Rom
Pete Romano Stijn van der Veken Martin Cayzer Mark Kirkland Andy Romanoff
Giuseppe Rotunno Theo van de Sande Leonard Chapman Scott Klein Frederic Rose
Philippe Rousselot Eric van Haren Noman Mark Chiolis Timothy J. Knapp Daniel Rosen
Juan Ruiz-Anchia Hoyte van Hoytema Michael Cioni Franz Kraus Dana Ross
Marvin Rush Kees van Oostrum Denny Clairmont Karl Kresser Bill Russell
Paul Ryan Checco Varese Adam Clark Jarred Land Chris Russo
Eric Saarinen Ron Vargas Cary Clayton Chuck Lee Kish Sadhvani
Alik Sakharov Mark Vargo Dave Cole Doug Leighton Dan Sasaki
Mikael Salomon Amelia Vincent Michael Condon Lou Levinson Steve Schklair
Paul Sarossy William Wages Grover Crisp Suzanne Lezotte Peter K. Schnitzler
Roberto Schaefer Roy H. Wagner Peter Crithary Grant Loucks Walter Schonfeld
Tobias Schliessler Mandy Walker Daniel Curry Howard Lukk Wayne Schulman
Aaron Schneider Michael Watkins Marc Dando Andy Maltz Alexander Schwarz
Nancy Schreiber Michael Weaver Ross Danielson Gary Mandle Steven Scott
Fred Schuler William “Billy” Webb Carlos D. DeMattos Steven E. Manios Jr. Alec Shapiro
John Schwartzman Mark Weingartner Gary Demos Steven E. Manios Sr. Don Shapiro
John Seale Jonathan West Mato Der Avanessian Chris Mankofsky Milton R. Shefter
Christian Sebaldt Jack Whitman Kevin Dillon Michael Mansouri Ryan Sheridan
Joaquin Sedillo Lisa Wiegand David Dodson Frank Marsico Marc Shipman-Mueller
Dean Semler Jo Willems Judith Doherty Peter Martin Leon Silverman
Ben Seresin Stephen F. Windon Peter Doyle Robert Mastronardi Rob Sim
Eduardo Serra Dariusz Wolski Cyril Drabinsky Joe Matza Garrett Smith
Steven Shaw Ralph Woolsey Jesse Dylan Albert Mayer Jr. Timothy E. Smith
Lawrence Sher Peter Wunstorf Jonathan Erland Bill McDonald Kimberly Snyder
Richard Shore Steve Yedlin Ray Feeney Dennis McDonald Stefan Sonnenfeld
Newton Thomas Sigel Robert Yeoman William Feightner Karen McHugh John L. Sprung
Steven V. Silver Bradford Young Chris Fetner Andy McIntyre Joseph N. Tawil
John Simmons Richard Yuricich Jimmy Fisher Stan Miller Ira Tiffen
Sandi Sissel Peter Zeitlinger Thomas Fletcher Walter H. Mills Steve Tiffen
Santosh Sivan Jerzy Zielinski Claude Gagnon George Milton Arthur Tostado
Michael Slovis Kenneth Zunder Salvatore Giarratano Mike Mimaki Jeffrey Treanor
Dennis L. Smith John A. Gresch Michael Morelli Bill Turner
Roland “Ozzie” Smith ASSOCIATE MEMBERS Jim Hannafin Dash Morrison Stephan Ukas-Bradley
Reed Smoot Pete Abel Bill Hansard Jr. Nolan Murdock Mark van Horne
Bing Sokolsky Rich Abel Lisa Harp Dan Muscarella Dedo Weigert

Clubhouse News
it was his work on a small independent
feature, Century Hotel, that caught the eye
of an American television movie producer.
Greene has since been nominated for three
ASC Awards, one each for his work on the
12 Monkeys episode “Mentally Divergent,”
the Beauty and the Beast episode “Tough
Love” and the telefilm The Trip to Bountiful.
Greene’s credits also include the
features Defendor, The Entitled and Empire
of Dirt. He has also recently directed several
episodes of Lost Girl and 12 Monkeys.
Mark Weingartner, ASC was born
in New York City. While growing up, he
lived on both coasts and in the Midwest, as
well as Europe. He received extensive expo-
sure to fine arts and practical experience in
still photography, and when he returned to
New York for college, he worked as a
theatrical lighting designer, a path that led
him to motion picture and television light-
ing and eventually cinematography. In 1994
Weingartner designed a system for lighting
and controlling 12,000 square feet of
greenscreens for Richard Yuricich, ASC on
Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. Weingartner
first stepped up to shoot effects in another
Photo of Clubhouse by Isidore Mankofsky, ASC; lighting by Donald M. Morgan, ASC.

collaboration with Yuricich, Event Horizon.
Weingartner’s credits include plate
Clockwise from top left: New ASC members Dana Gonzales, David Greene, Peter Zeitlinger and photography, visual-effects photography
Mark Weingartner. and additional photography on features
including G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and
Society Welcomes Gonzales, Longmire and Fargo. Retaliation; Moneyball; The Twilight Saga:
Greene, Weingartner, Zeitlinger Gonazales’ other recent credits Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and Part 2; The
New active member Dana Gonza- include the pilots for Legion and Brooklyn Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Mockingjay
les, ASC was born in Los Angeles. He Animal Control, and the features Empire – Part 1 and Mockingjay – Part 2; Inception;
worked his way up through the ranks and State, Criminal and Incarnate. Interstellar; and the upcoming Dunkirk. Golf photos by Alex Lopez and Reynaldo Aquino.
notched credits as 2nd-unit cinematogra- David Greene, ASC, CSC was born Peter Zeitlinger, ASC, BVK was
pher on features that include Crash (2004), in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. At age 15, born on an island on the Vltava River in
The Tempest (AC Jan. ’11) and The Fighter Greene volunteered at the local community- Prague. During the Russian invasion in
(AC Jan. ’11). Gonzales’ early credits as access television station, manning cameras 1968, Zeitlinger and his mother fled to
main-unit cinematographer include the at sporting events and producing shows Austria. Zeitlinger studied cinematography
feature Man in the Chair. Soon thereafter, with friends. By 17 he was studying elec- and editing at the film academy in Vienna,
he began collaborating with director Ric tronics at a college in Toronto, but he soon where he won several student awards. In
Roman Waugh, beginning with Felon transferred into the film program at York 1985, during a summer academy program
(2008), followed by Snitch (2013) and the University, where he went on to win several in L’Aquila, Italy, Zeitlinger met and was
upcoming Shot Caller. Gonzales also enjoys Canadian Society of Cinematography inspired by ASC members Vittorio Storaro,
a thriving television career, having worked student awards. After graduating, Greene Sven Nykvist and Vilmos Zsigmond. After
on the series Pretty Little Liars, Southland, worked on short films and music videos, but shooting several features and documen-

33rd Annual ASC Golf Classic
taries that were lauded at festivals around the
globe, Zeitlinger was discovered by Werner
Herzog. The two have since collaborated on
13 films, including Grizzly Man, Bad Lieu-
tenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Cave of
Forgotten Dreams and Queen of the Desert.
Zeitlinger has received five cinematog-
raphy accolades, including two Romy Gala
awards and one German Camera award.
Zeitlinger is currently working with Herzog on 2.
the documentary Into the Inferno. 1.
In Memoriam:
Frank Beascoechea, ASC,
1934-2016
Longtime ASC member Frank
Palmer Beascoechea passed away recently
at the age of 81.
3.
Beascoechea was born on Oct. 15,
1934 in San Francisco, Calif. He entered the 4.
motion-picture industry in 1959 and was
elevated to cinematographer in 1975, while
working at Universal Studios. Harry Wolf,
ASC was instrumental in helping Beas-
coechea become a director of photography
after the latter had worked as his camera
operator. Wolf and fellow Society member
Richard Kelley proposed Beascoechea for
membership in the ASC, and Beascoechea
was officially invited to join following the
Board of Governors meeting on Jan. 11, 5. 6.
1982.
Beascoechea’s credits as a cine-
matographer include the features Buck
Rogers in the 25th Century and No Holds
Barred; the telefilms Night Drive, A Double
Life, Angel Dusted and Pigs vs. Freaks; and
episodes of the series Switch, Sword of
Justice, B.J. and the Bear, The Twilight Zone
(1985) and The New Mike Hammer. ●
7. 8
The ASC recently hosted its annual Golf Classic
at the Brookside Golf Course in Pasadena, Calif.
1. James Bagdonas, ASC. 2. (From left) John
Knowles; Gil Hubbs, ASC; Randy Johnson;
Steven Shaw, ASC. 3. Brett Grauman (left) and
Tim Knapp. 4. (From left) Tim Roe; Bob Forshe;
Bill Roe, ASC; Howard Grigsby. 5. Seth Emmons.
6. Isidore Mankofsky, ASC. 7. (From left) Havard
Aschim, Patty Armacost, Kelly Ordos, Danny
Armacost. 8. Forshe with Bill and Tim Roe.
9. (From left) Michael Watkins, ASC; Bagdonas;
Knapp; Grauman. 10: Alex Lopez (left) and
Luis Garcia. 9. 10.
Close-up Vanja Černjul, ASC, HFS
When you were a child, what film made the strongest What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?
impression on you? The most satisfying part of the journey is seeing the film for the first
Blade Runner. I was only 14 years old, and it time with an audience, the crew and the director
was the first time I understood how visuals are at the premiere.
an integral part of a cinematic story.
Have you made any memorable blunders?
Which cinematographers, past or present, At the 2012 ASC Awards, the first year I was nomi-
do you most admire? nated, I had multiple alerts for the day’s events set
Néstor Almendros [ASC], for his relationship to up on my iPhone, which I thought would go off
natural light. Emmanuel Lubezki [ASC, AMC], silently. Harrison Ford was receiving his Lifetime
for taking that approach to new heights. Like Achievement Award when my alarm went off.
Almendros, Roger Deakins [ASC, BSC] always Everybody looked at me and rolled their eyes. A
seems invisible within his work, yet so confi- few minutes later, while Mr. Ford was still deliver-
dent and in control. ing his speech, my alarm went off again. I wanted
to die.
What sparked your interest in
photography? What is the best professional advice you’ve ever received?
I was 11 years old the first time I took out a two-eyed 6-by-6 Yashica Tomislav Pinter once told me, ‘A great cinematographer doesn’t have
on my own. I felt that the world I was seeing through the viewfinder a style.’
was inviting me to explore it.
What recent books, films or artworks have inspired you?
Where did you train and/or study? These past few years I have been more inspired by amazing people I
I discovered cinematography at the Academy of Dramatic Art at the have been blessed to work with. On Marco Polo I got to collaborate
University of Zagreb. When I was about to finish film school, my coun- closely with French cinematographer Romain Lacourbas [AFC], and on
try descended into a brutal war and I ended up as a war correspon- the TV series I am currently on, I was working with actor-director James
dent for international news agencies. When things quieted down I Franco, whose creative energy deeply impressed me.
enrolled in the Graduate Film Program at New York University’s Tisch
School of the Arts. Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like to
try?
Who were your early teachers or mentors? I would love to be involved in making films of all possible genres at
The first cinematographer I ever met was Tomislav Pinter. Taking a least once.
class with the great Haskell Wexler, ASC in 1991 in Budapest was
probably the most influential part of my formal education. At Tisch I If you weren’t a cinematographer, what might you be doing
was awarded an internship with one of my idols, Sven Nykvist [ASC], instead?
who made me aware of how the most elegant and functional solu- I would try to combine my passion for photography with a study of
tions are usually the most simple and intuitive ones. visual sociology, and come up with projects that would involve a lot of
research and travel.
What are some of your key artistic influences?
The work of Russian avant-garde painter Kazimir Malevich was a great Which ASC cinematographers recommended you for member-
inspiration when I became interested in the use of color. Another big ship?
influence is Italian graphic novelist Hugo Pratt; I look at his books Sol Negrin, Anastas Michos and Ron Fortunato. Sol was my cine-
before I start any new project. matography teacher at NYU, and I worked in Anastas’ camera depart-
ment as an intern. A film I’ve referenced on countless occasions is
How did you get your first break in the business? Ron’s Nil by Mouth. It was a great honor knowing I had their support.
At Tisch, I had the opportunity to work with the most talented people
Photo by Tai Lamb.
of my generation, and some of them offered me the chance to shoot How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?
their first features. For better or worse I’ve never held a position other With all the technical advances and major changes in the industry, it is
than cinematographer, which is why I have tremendous respect for more important than ever to have a platform from which our point of
my crew and sometimes ask them crazy questions. view can be communicated. I am excited to be a part of the most influ-
ential cinematography organization in the world. ●

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SEPTEMBER 2016

An International Publication of the ASC

An International Publication of the ASC

The career trajectory of every cinematographer is a unique story — with inspirations,

THE FILM BOOK

JOHN’S BAILIWICK Get all this and much

Visit us online at www.theasc.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF and PUBLISHER

Kees van Oostrum

12 September 2016 American Cinematographer

14 September 2016 American Cinematographer

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Tanna photos by Philippe Penel, courtesy of Lightyear Entertainment.

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www.theasc.com September 2016 37

director David Lowery, known for his

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delicate. I wanted to find someone who

www.theasc.com September 2016 39

learned he was an up-and-coming

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anything I do. I want my images to

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to adjust to weather changes. Luckily, we

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Right: Natalie and

shutter,” he emphasizes — shooting

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interiors in the cave, the cinematographer

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From the outset, Knight knew he

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camera] would be required to move

www.theasc.com September 2016 55

doing this. We’ve come a long way since

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Toward the end of the movie

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moonlight color was achieved with No

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mounted to a motion-control rig with

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ArriRaw took place on set. In prepara-

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move between the stories without an

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the sun. “We wanted to constantly

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and wide angles. “At the time, [the

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