American Cinematographer - January 2008 - (Page 44) Blood for Oil with Paul, there’s no digital world,” continues Elswit, adding that Deluxe Laboratories prepared the dailies. “No DVD dailies are made, and there’s no digital intermediate [DI]; everything is photochemical. We’ve never done anything digitally except some visual effects. There are a few digital effects in this film, mostly involving the [creation of multiple] oil wells or the removal of modern elements from the landscape. If you know you’re doing a DI, you can cheat a bit [on set], but you can’t do that when you’re shooting for Paul.” “I’m either old-fashioned or quite stubborn, or maybe both,” Anderson admits. “But at the moment I don’t really like DIs, and I’m not sure what the advantage to the process is if you’re shooting anamorphic. I have a hard enough time making up my mind about things without going into a DI suite; I don’t think I’d ever get out of there. The process creates too many options, and at any rate, I don’t like the way it looks.” The authentic look and feel of Blood are a credit to the camera, production-design and costume departments, but the project also benefited from exhaustive research and carefully considered influences. Anderson based his screenplay on Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel Oil!, Top: As Plainview’s wells “blow gold everywhere,” Sunday expands his church. Middle: For a scene that takes place in the church prior to the expansion, the crew initially sought to create a base level of light by positioning 6K Pars in the rafters and bouncing them into muslins, but this plan was abandoned to give Elswit greater freedom. Bottom: For a key scene in the refurbished church, Arrimax Pars were mounted on a scissor lift to pound light down through the main room’s muslin ceiling. Additional “daylight” spilled through the cross cut into the wooden wall. 44 January 2008
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