American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 75

ASC Master Class photo by David Darby, ASC.

getting bigger and bigger until they got
to be like 30-by-60 feet - and we'd use
two of them.
"We were changing the way cars
look in commercials," he notes with
satisfaction. The results were recognized
by agencies and clients alike. In constant
demand, Bennett never felt any burning
desire to embark on a feature or episodic
TV project that could interfere with his
commercial work.
Bennett shot for a huge number of
top directors in the 1990s. One of the
most rewarding collaborations was with
Brent Thomas of now-shuttered
Coppos Films, who later went on to
found Green Dot Films. The former
Chiat/Day art director, who had worked
on such groundbreaking commercials as
Ridley Scott's 1984-themed Macintosh
spot, was "brilliant visually," says
Bennett. "He'd conceive of these beautiful visuals and then say, 'Let's come up
with how to do this.'
"We did some great spots
together," the cinematographer continues. "He had an idea about skateboarders
and quad runners inside this big arena
[for a Worlds of Wonder Lazer Tag
spot], which ended up being the empty
shark tank at the former Marineland in
Palos Verdes. For Honda, we made a
mockup of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber
and released the commercial before the
[real B-2] had been publicly [unveiled].
We shot the whole commercial about
the bomber and the evolution of design
and compared that to the Honda car we
were selling. It was tremendous fun to
shoot."
This was some of the work that
first put Bennett's name out beyond the
group of people that hired him regularly.
He attributes some of this attention to
cinematography journalist - and ASC
honorary member - Bob Fisher, who
covered some of these spots in various
publications at a time when commercial
directors of photography received very
little press.
In the early 2000s, Robert Primes,
ASC was organizing monthly presentations about topics and work that were of
interest to ASC members. Primes had

Top: Kees van
Oostrum, ASC (left)
shooting with an
Arri Alexa
prototype for the
first time in the
U.S., and Bennett,
shooting with an
Arriflex 435 ES,
on a Honda
commercial on April
28, 2010. Middle:
Rodney Charters,
ASC, CSC and
Bennett on the set
of the television
series 24. Bottom:
Bennett lecturing at
a recent ASC
Master Class.

www.theasc.com

March 2016

75



http://www.theasc.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - March 2016

Table of Contents
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - Intro
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 1
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 2
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - Table of Contents
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 4
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 5
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 6
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 7
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 8
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 9
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 10
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 11
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 12
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 13
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 14
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 15
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 16
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 17
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 18
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 19
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 20
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 21
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 22
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 23
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 24
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 25
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 26
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 27
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 28
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 29
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 30
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 31
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 32
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 33
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 34
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 35
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 36
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 37
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 38
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 39
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 40
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 41
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 42
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 43
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 44
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 45
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 46
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 47
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 48
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 49
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 50
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 51
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 52
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 53
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 54
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 55
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 56
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 57
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 58
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 59
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 60
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 61
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 62
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 63
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 64
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 65
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 66
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 67
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 68
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 69
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 70
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 71
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 72
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 73
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 74
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 75
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 76
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 77
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 78
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 79
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 80
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 81
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 82
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 83
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 84
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 85
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 86
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 87
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 88
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - March 2016 - Cover4
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