American Cinematographer - March 2009 - (Page 42) Cutting-Edge Camerawork Right: Det. Delahoy (Adam Goldberg) reveals the grisly contents of a makeshift “evidence locker.” Below: Peter Levy, ASC, ACS (wearing gray T-shirt) helps block the scene while shooting the pilot. Panavision New York. He worked with a Panaflex Platinum and a Millennium XL2 and used Primo primes and an Angenieux Lightweight Optimo (15-40mm) zoom. “Because of the show’s lighthearted nature, we tended to shoot a bit wider, putting more air around the actors, so the audience would have time to read the body language. We were giving the actors a kind of tableau to work with; human comedy plays best in one shot.” When ABC ordered 12 episodes of the show, production decided to switch to high-definition video, and Roy H. Wagner, ASC took over as director of photography, reuniting with producer Peter O’Fallon. Their previous collaborations include Party of Five and Pasadena. Wagner arrived in New York in December and had no prep time; he came straight from Chicago, where he was shooting The Beast, a noirish Showtime series — the polar opposite of The Unusuals. “I’m the last choice you’d make for a comedy,” jokes Wagner. “I generally do dark shows, like CSI [AC May ’01]. I think I’ve done only two or three comedies my whole career, but I like doing different kinds of things.” With eight days per episode, The Unusuals started out shooting five days on location and three in Steiner Studios. The practical locations are typical of New York: fivefloor walkups, narrow storefronts and even narrower railroad apartments. A small, lightweight camera was needed to navigate such spaces. “Where’s the EX3?” asks Wagner, striding through a Brooklyn storefront on a snowy afternoon. He was hoping to show AC one of the two EX3s that are on set at all times. “They’re so small, you can’t even find them!” he notes. Finally, in an aisle marked “Body Disposal,” he spots one. “I can get them into places where you can’t even get a Super 16 camera,” says the cinematographer. 42 March 2009
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