American Cinematographer - March 2008 - (Page 45)

copter before he is snatched up by the monster, his camera rolling all the while. The camera falls to the ground, followed by Hud. “The Viper is sturdy, and for that shot, we put it in a Pelican Case, packed the case with foam and threw it on the ground,” says Bonvillain. On the fritz after its freefall, the camera’s focus shifts uncontrollably as Hud drops back into frame. “Joe Buscaglia found a lens with a macro mode on it,” says Bonvillain, referring to the Canon 7.5-158mm zoom. “At first, we were going to make the focus go to the distance and then to the foreground and back again, but that looked really boring. With the macro setting, when Joe pushed a knob near the lens port, we could go in and out of macro immediately. It’s exactly what we wanted it to look like.” Once the visual effects joined the footage in the can — or on the hard drive, as it were — Sonnenfeld, Bonvillain and Reeves carried out the DI. Although Sonnenfeld added some noise to the Viper and F23 images to better align them with the HVX200 footage, he discovered that a consumer-grade camcorder was often best emulated by not matching other images to it too closely. “Sometimes, cutting to another camera for a different scene is really terrific for the piece,” says Sonnenfeld. “We had to be careful not to stop on a shot and stylize it too much. Not trying to constantly make it match from camera to camera actually gives the images a more realistic feel.” Despite arriving unscathed, the filmmakers maintain that they remained at the brink of disaster throughout the shoot, even up to the last day of filming. “We were doing something none of us had ever quite done before,” says Reeves. “Afterwards, we realized the crew must have been talking about us!” With a laugh, Bonvillain confirms, “Oh, they were. The grips were talking smack.” I TECHNICAL SPECS 1.85:1 High-Definition Video Thomson Grass Valley Viper; Sony F23 CineAlta; Panasonic AG-HVX200, AG-HSC1U Zeiss DigiPrimes and DigiZooms; Canon HD-EC lenses Digital Intermediate Printed on Kodak Vision 2383 www.panther.tv Twister Dolly Twist closer to the action By the three selectable steering modes FRONT, REAR and ROUND-A-ROUND the Doorway Dolly Twister twists in all directions and navigates exactly around the motive. Combined pneumatic tire and track wheels allow for camera movements on track or on ground without the need for time consuming conversion. See you at: -> NAB, #C8505 PANTHER GmbH Raiffeisenallee 3 | 82041 Oberhaching–Munich | Germany T +49.89.613 900–01 | F +49.89.61 31 00 0 contact@panther.tv | www.panther.tv PANTHER Dollies & Cranes 801 S. Main St. | Burbank, CA 91506 | USA T +1.818.84 13 110 | F +1.818.84 13 220 contact@panther.us | www.panther.us 45 http://www.panther.tv http://www.panther.tv http://www.panther.tv http://www.panther.us

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - March 2008

American Cinematographer - March 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Short Takes: Bill Viola’s Ocean Without a Shore Production Slate: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days Production Slate: Chantal: A Night at the Pyramids Magical Mystery Tour Some Kind of Monster Tantalizing Television Making Sitcoms “Sexy” Post Focus: Mega Playground Helps Set Look for Sibling Post Focus: Visual Effects Society Launches White Paper New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index In Memoriam: John McPherson, ASC ASC Membership Roster Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up: Wayne Kennan

American Cinematographer - March 2008

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