American Cinematographer - March 2009 - (Page 37) “bad guys” and ambiguous characters, he eliminated any reflections in their eyes, ensuring they had a dulleyed look. He even went as far as blocking out windows and masking set items to eliminate any reflective sparkle in the characters’ eyes. When shooting a pilot, “you’re responsible for creating something that’s repeatable,” Varese notes. “So even though you always have extra time on a pilot, you can’t get too extravagant or too exotic. If the show is picked up, what you’re doing has to translate into the flow of a regular production. You have to make sure your choices are flexible enough to last.” After True Blood was picked up for a full season, Varese began working in rotation with cinematographer Matthew Jensen, but after the first few episodes, the writers’ strike brought production to a halt. Varese took a job on a feature, and when the strike was resolved, he was unavailable to return to True Blood, so Jensen took over as the show’s primary cinematographer. (John B. Aronson and Amy Vincent, ASC also shot episodes in the first season. For the second season, which will begin airing in June, Romeo Tirone will alternate episodes with Jensen.) “Matt and I collaborated in a very organic way,” Varese recalls. “I never sat down with him and said, ‘This is how you have to do it,’ because every cinematographer has his own style.” Jensen adds, “Checco and I talked a little bit about a few aesthetic ideas, but the beginning of the season was so crazy that we didn’t have much time to talk. I watched the pilot many times, and we discussed the improvements Checco wanted to make.” Jensen helped refine the show’s visual language through lens selection and camera positioning. “I wanted to avoid shooting on long lenses because that has become standard TV grammar, and also, I feel Suzuki’s phenomenal sets really lend themselves to shooting with wider lenses,” says Jensen. “Most of them have actual hardwood floors and hard ceilings, so you want to see the whole set. I also wanted to experiment with moving the camera closer to the actor for a close-up instead of shooting it with a 75mm lens; I’d rather use a 40mm and move closer because that puts the audience in the middle of the action. We were usually shooting with a 25mm, 27mm or 40mm Cooke S4, and occasionally even an 18mm. For day exteriors, I’d usually pull out the Optimo zoom, but onstage we were mostly shooting with primes.” Jensen typically lights the sets to a T2.8 and works at T5.6/8 for day exteriors. “With the wider lenses at a T2.8, there’s a nice feeling to the falloff. I love to get the camera close 37 http://www.filmmakersdestination.com http://www.filmmakersdestination.com
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.