American Cinematographer - February 2009 - (Page 22)

Top: Laforet used his own Canon 24mm and 45mm lenses to capture shots of a couple’s embrace with the Brooklyn Bridge serving as a romantic background. Middle: This shot of a female model on a cobblestone street was illuminated by just two sources: frontal light from a bare bulb and reflector positioned high on a stand, and backlight from the headlights of Laforet’s Jeep. Architectural accent lights provided additional ambience. Bottom: The models kiss against a dreamlike background of defocused lights. camera grip gear and some safety cables. He rigged a Ken-Lab KS-8 gyro on a monopod for the running shot and helicopter scenes. Laforet used his own Canon prime and zoom still lenses. “In terms of what’s in the final film, it’s a 15mm fisheye f2.8, a 16-35mm f2.8 zoom lens, a 50mm f1.2, an 85mm f1.2, a 200mm f2, a 24mm f3.5 and a 45mm f3.5,” he says. The latter two lenses were used for shots of a man and woman in Brooklyn with Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge behind them. “In my opinion, there are three revolutionary things about this camera,” says Laforet. “One, you can use the prime lenses you already own. Two, the camera is very small and very light; one of the aerial shots was done with me holding a monopod beneath the skids of the helicopter, shooting straight down over the Empire State Building. Three, the camera’s ability to capture detail in low light is incredible; we were shooting at 1/30th of a second at f2 at 1,600 ASA. It’s that stuff you can just see with your naked eye but usually can’t capture on video or stills. With this camera, you can pretty much go anywhere and shoot what you see, adding a very minimal amount of lighting.” Laforet’s two assistants worked on the shoot along with an assistant director, a makeup artist and the two models. The tiny footprint of the crew and gear also allowed them to shoot with no lighting pre-scout, no film permits and no FAA oversight of the aerial shoot. Laforet says the camera’s lowlight capability was especially important for the driving shots that travel through Times Square. “The shot of the rearview mirror and the wide shots of the car were done with the LED light sitting where the speedometer is, lighting the driver’s face — everything else is natural [light].” The camera’s light sensitivity enabled Laforet to rely on some unusual sources, as in a beautiful shot of a female model on a cobblestone street. “There’s only one light, the modeling light on a stand that was very high. It was a bare bulb with the reflector, no 22 February 2009

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - February 2009

American Cinematographer - February 2009 Contents Editor's Note Short Takes: Circus Production Slate: The International Reverte 2 Worlds in 3 Dimensions Dead Reckoning Embracing Anamorphic Citizen of the World Post Focus: Restoring Manhatta New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up: Peter Suschitzky

American Cinematographer - February 2009

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.