American Cinematographer - March 2015 - 50

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Outside the Box

Noah attacks Scotty (Colin Donnell) as Alison's husband, Cole (Joshua Jackson), pulls a gun.

Fierberg and Mylod did decide never to
shoot the scenes from the detective's
point of view with a handheld camera.
"It was always on a tripod or a dolly, and
the lenses were more extreme - very
wide-angle lenses that we'd never use
with the other two stories."
Fierberg shot The Affair with an
Arri Alexa recording 2K ProRes 4:4:4:4
files that were later scaled down to HD
for broadcast. The crew carried two
camera bodies, but primarily shot
"single-camera style," the cinematographer says.
"Film never came up [as an
option], to be honest," Fierberg adds.
Only months before, he and director
Kevin Connolly did have the filmversus-digital conversation in regard to
the feature Dear Eleanor; opting for the
Alexa, Fierberg set about testing lenses,
and Panavision executive Bob Harvey,
an ASC associate member, suggested
that he look at the company's PVintage
Series, which are based on Panavision's
Ultra Speed primes. Fierberg had used
50

March 2015

Ultra Speeds years earlier and was
happy to be reintroduced to them; he
opted to use the PVintage lenses on
both Dear Eleanor and The Affair. "Even
though we're shooting with a digital
camera, I wanted [The Affair] to have a
feeling and humanity that is more easily
achieved with film," the cinematographer says. "The PVintage lenses made
The Affair look less digital than it might
have. The image is very soft - even, to
some extent, desaturated - and I think
that's an essential part of the look."
Further fueling their conversation, Mylod and Fierberg also referenced the latter's work on Entourage and
Secretary (AC April '02). "I thought a lot
about Secretary," says Fierberg. "A huge
portion of that movie was shot with a
32mm lens, and I wanted even a slightly
wider angle for The Affair." The director
and cinematographer talked about the
impact of shooting close-ups in close
proximity to the actors with a wider
lens, as opposed to shooting from
farther away with a longer focal length.
American Cinematographer

"There's a very different feel when
you're shooting close-ups with the
32mm lens," Fierberg notes. "Although
some people find the look of the longerlens close-up to be more intimate, I
believe that subconsciously, the audience is aware [when the camera is]
closer to the actor. It creates a different
impact."
On The Affair, Fierberg primarily
used the 29mm, 40mm and 50mm
lenses, relying on the latter two for
close-ups. "Both of those lenses are so
creamy and lush," he enthuses. "It's just
ridiculous how great they make the
faces look." On rare occasions, he used
the 75mm to save time. "Shooting with
prime lenses takes longer than shooting
with zooms," he says. "But if you really
want that creamy look, the only way to
do it is to put on those old prime lenses.
They slow you down, but they give you
something you won't get any other way."
Typical for a television production, time was always of the essence, as
each episode was shot in just eight days.

American Cinematographer - March 2015

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