American Cinematographer - January 2008 - (Page 22) Right: In healthier times, Bauby cares for his aging father (Max von Sydow). Below: Céline (Emmanuelle Seigner), Bauby’s former lover and the mother of his children, brings him to the beach in an effort to lift his spirits. “Their focus capability was great,” says Kaminski. “They’re not terribly sophisticated in terms of the glass, but I didn’t want perfect. After all, the character was operating with one eye!” Schnabel appreciated the specialized lenses for their organic quality and ability to suggest Bauby’s perspective. “You feel like it’s the actor breathing, like it’s real vision you’re seeing,” says the director. “When you don’t have that, [the image] seems more clinical.” But Kaminski wanted more extreme visuals for the film’s opening sequences, when Bauby is most disoriented. “I told my French camera assistant, Olivier Fortin, that I wanted to find a lens that was squishy but sharp, and he went on the Internet and found the Lensbaby 2.0.” The Lensbaby is a selective-focus lens designed for SLRs; it was adapted for the PL mount by Arrimedia in London. “It’s basically a 40mm lens with only one stop, T2.8 with an ND,” continues Kaminski. “There is no iris, no focus stop. You can’t really follow focus. You literally hold the lens in your hand, look into the viewfinder and move the lens up and down, left and right, to get it sharp. Let it go and the lens goes back to its original position, like an elastic band, and is out of focus. The whole opening of the movie was shot with that lens.” To further emphasize Bauby’s groggy state, Kaminski also varied the shutter angle while using the lens. “The camera operator, Bertó, was looking through the lens, manipulating the rubber and trying to keep a portion of the shot in focus, while I was changing the shutter from 180º to 90º,” he says. “By doing that, I was also throwing the shutter out of phase and creating a streak across the frame. It’s as if someone pulled Vaseline across the lens.” This effect is clearly evident in the cartoons on the hospital room’s TV. “The cartoons jump out at you like a line of bright light,” says Kaminski. “That’s 22 January 2008
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