American Cinematographer - February 2007 - 60

Full Circle
photography was Christian Matras.
He didn't speak a word of German
and the gaffer didn't speak a word of
French, but they could still commu¬
nicate with each

great

other, and it

or

watching them work. They

10K. I

fascinated

was

how all of the

to

know

machinery worked
tracking shots."

with all of the

Indeed, Ballhaus feels that his upclose observation of Ophuls'

gliding
have influenced his
own
style. "When the movie came
out, I saw it many times, and I just
loved the way he moved the camera.
camera

may

I also loved what he did with color."

After

studying photography
and becoming "an offi¬
cially certified 35mm photogra¬
pher," Ballhaus moved with his wife,
Helga, to Baden-Baden, where she
had landed a job at a nearby theater.
"I started looking for a job, and I
eventually got an offer to be an assis¬
tant on a
documentary about
Greece," he recalls. "I kept telling the
for two years

Above: The

cinematographer's
parents, stage
actors Lena Hutter

and Oskar

Ballhaus, actively

headquartered in an old castle near
Coburg. I was going to school, but in
my free time I did everything I could
to help out at the theater. It was a lot
of fun."

encouraged their

Ballhaus' love of cinema took

son's artistic

pursuits. Below:
Ballhaus' late

wife, Helga, was
also

an

actor.

Here, she appears
as

Viola in

a

production of
Shakespeare's
Twelfth Night, in a
photo taken by her
husband.

in his teen years.

After develop¬
interest in still photography,
he had an opportunity to visit a fam¬
ily friend, renowned director Max
Ophuls, on the set of Lola Montes. "I
was there when
they shot the big cir¬
cus scenes, and it was
amazing to see
root

ing

an

300 extras and all of these cameras,
cranes

and

lights. The director of

director

to move

the camera, but he

old-fashioned guy, and I
don't think he appreciated my sug¬

was

for these big electronic
and I worked in
TV for almost nine years in BadenBaden and Munich." After gaining
experience shooting TV movies on
cameras.

was

would hold up five fingers or 10 to
indicate whether they would need a
5K

ed operators

an

gestions very much!"
Ballhaus hoped to find work
on feature films but
initially had no
luck. "Then this TV station opened
up in Baden-Baden, and they need¬

I got a job,

film, he shot his first theatrical fea¬
ture, Der
was

Klassenaufsatz, when he
just 25. "I learned that making a

movie

involves

director and I

teamwork.

The

well

prepared. I
good operator, thanks to my
work with those big TV cameras, but
I needed help with the lighting. I
were

was a

knew what I wanted, but I didn't
know

exactly how to achieve it. The
gaffer helped me, but if
they did something I didn't like, I
assistant and
told them

so.

I couldn't tell them

exactly how to use a 5K or 10K, but I
doing it."
After mastering the basics of
his craft, Ballhaus began honing his
learned while

skills. Fate intervened while he

was

producing, directing and shooting a
documentary in Ireland. He received
a phone call from a friend, Ulli
Lommel, who was in Almeria, Spain,
preparing to produce and act in a
Western titled Whity (1970). "Ulli
asked me, 'Do you like Fassbinder?' I
said, 'Yes, why?' And he replied, 'Do
you want to shoot a movie with
him?' I answered, 'Sure, when does it
start?' He said, 'You should be here in
two

days!' Two days later, I arrived in

Almeria

to meet Mr.

Fassbinder."

Now ranked among the great¬
est German directors, Fassbinder
was

much less

Ballhaus

at

well

on

was

utation
a

as a

experienced than

the time. However, he
the way to earning a rep¬
brilliant filmmaker with

mercurial and often abusive per¬

sonality. Working at an almost
superhuman pace, Fassbinder would
ultimately direct 43 films before
dying of an apparent drug overdose
in 1982, at age 37. He took a jaded
view of human nature and could be

downright sadistic with colleagues
nearly every picture,
he worked with the same group of
people, over whom he exerted a
Svengali-like influence and control.
and friends. On

60

February 2007



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