American Cinematographer - February 2009 - (Page 54)

Embracing Anamorphic Right: Mary warns Anna about the hazards of dating. Bailey used a prototype of Panavision’s 70200mm Anamorphic Telephoto Zoom to dolly across the aisle and move into a close-up of Barrymore. “That was a very specific shot I would not have been able to do with any other lens,” he says. “Subsequently, a lot of the moves from over-the-shoulder into a single or from a three-shot into a tight over were done with that lens.” Below, top photo: Gigi and Conor share a meal in a restaurant with stylish design elements shown off to full effect. Bottom photo: Neil (Ben Affleck) and Beth have a heart-toheart talk. that’s terrific, but for the films I do, once I establish the environment, I really want to concentrate on the intimacy of the performances. Anamorphic is perfect for that. Tell us how you convinced Panavision to prioritize anamorphic-lens development in recent years. Bailey: It took me 10 years to persuade them to build the first lens. I approached Phil Radin at Panavision in 1993, after I’d finished In the Line of Fire [AC Sept. ’93]. That was the first large-scale, multicamera film I’d done in anamorphic, and I felt very compromised by the number of lenses available and how mismatched they were. I told Phil that Panavision should design a higher-speed, short-range zoom; at the time, the existing [zoom] was an 11:1 48-520mm, which was a T4.5, and it was very soft. You didn’t dare shoot it at anything less than a T6.3, which is absolutely impractical for an interior. I told Phil, ‘I don’t care about having a long-range zoom. I just need something for masters and medium shots to get me from one to the other.’ I don’t like to use a big zoom for anything; I’ve never needed a 10:1 because I just don’t do moves like that. I needed something that would allow me to move from a wide master shot into something tight enough that would be cuttable for the coverage. I also wanted to be able to make a slight size adjustment on the zoom without having to move the dolly and change marks. Phil did what he could, but at that time, Panavision was going through a turnover in ownership. Shortly after that, they made the decision to get in bed with George Lucas and Sony, and all the development money was devoted to Panavising the Sony HDW-F900. One night, I was talking about anamorphic at a SMPTE meeting, and I called Panavision out. I said, ‘Panavision was founded by Bob Gottschalk and Richard Moore [ASC] as an anamorphic-lens system, and if Bob were alive today, he’d kick the ass of every one of you 54 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

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