American Cinematographer - February 2008 - (Page 22) Right: During their journey to become human, the robots make their way down a black hallway to an all-white operating room, where they undergo a surgical transformation. Cinematographer Thomas Bangalter says, “Our goal with the White Room was to create a kind of Rorschachinkblot effect that would induce the viewer to be in touch with the symbolic nature of the scene.” Below: Reflections were a challenge throughout the shoot. Most of the time, Bangalter and key grip Josh Linkey were able to solve the problem by positioning the camera in “dead spots” in the robots’ helmets and using a black or white sheet for camouflage; when hiding the camera was impossible, visual-effects artists at Method Studios painted it out. American Cinematographer at an auction and scoured them for useful techniques. Meanwhile, Homem-Christo found he felt more comfortable in the background, where he could pay more attention to the framing and acting: “We worked very much in the same way we do when we’re working on our music. Thomas is always in front of the speakers, tweaking the notes, and I’m always in the studio, trying to get a more complete view of what we’re hearing. It was the same on the movie; Thomas was always very close to the camera and the subject, and I was always behind him. It was the same close experience we’ve had all these years making music. The only real difference was that we had a lot of other people [with us] on the set, whereas in the studio, it’s just the two of us.” Electroma was shot in 11 days over a two-month period. Bangalter and Homem-Christo were taken with what they call “the crazy California landscapes” and scouted for exteriors in Barstow, Independence and Mexicali. All interior scenes were shot onstage at Hollywood Center Studios. Carrying their music-video crew over to Electroma was an essential move. “There were people working with us who had an understanding of both my determination and lack of experience,” says Bangalter. “I think it’s good to be practiced and educated, but if you’re still learning the rules, you tend to break them more.” After carefully testing every film stock available at the time (2005), Bangalter decided to shoot the entire picture on Kodak Vision 250D 5246. Although he found this strategy a bit limiting at the time, he says it also provided him with consistent color and grain structure across day, night, interior and exterior scenes. When the time came to start filming, he outfitted an Arri 435 primarily with zoom lenses (a Canon 17-35mm, a Minolta 28-70mm and an Angenieux 25-250mm) to facilitate faster shooting. A set of Zeiss primes was kept on standby, and these were used for several shots. (The camera package was supplied by Otto Nemenz.) The first scene of the movie — and the first that was shot — reflects one of Bangalter’s key influences. The robot heroes are driving along an empty California highway as the camera tracks with them, zooming in and out, panning across the desert landscape, tilting up to the sky and down to the road. The sequence calls to mind the memorable highway scenes Kovacs crafted for Easy Rider. “I admire a lot of cinematographers who worked in the ’70s,” Bangalter notes, adding ASC members Vilmos Zsigmond and Gordon Willis to his list of influences. “A lot of films that came out between 1968 and 1984 are filled with great images and bold styles. Electroma is an homage to how cinematography has touched us in all the films we’ve ever seen.” In discussing their approach to Electroma, Bangalter and HomemChristo speak frequently of experimentation and risk-taking. Their tactics involved adapting the camera to the environment at all times and doing all of the effects — and as much of the image manipulation as possible — in-camera. The first example of this strategy is a sequence they refer to as “The White Room,” shot in a set comprising a 30'-long black corridor terminating in an operating room surrounded by a threesided white cyclorama. In the scene, the robots transform into human beings. Gaffer Simon Thirlaway lit everything from above using a single large chickencoop rig behind thick, white diffusion. According to Bangalter, this created a flat, even look that didn’t require any relighting during the full day of shooting on the set. Bangalter also deliberately overexposed every shot in the sequence to eliminate depth and detail. By creating an extremely contrasty, almost monochromatic image, the filmmakers were able to 22 February 2008
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.