American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 18

Above: Darker
tones and an
emphasis on
severe shadows
distinguish
interiors aboard
the bus from the
short's brighter
exteriors. Right:
Caniglia (left) and
writer-director Eva
Contis confer on
location..

with steady and smooth motion for the
brighter exterior shots. The crew assisted
outside with dolly shots, often used to
emphasize the unity among the passengers
as they line up and are bullied by the
extremists. Inside, the camera was almost
always on Caniglia's shoulder; Steadicam
was eschewed entirely. Since she's a petite
woman, the cinematographer was able to
fit into the cramped seats and aisles in ways
that a larger person could not.
To re-create the African landscape -
as well as for dramatic effect - Caniglia
embraced working with dust. While shooting Super 16mm for the feature Pomegranates and Myrrh in Palestine, the cinematographer became fascinated with the way
images changed as the dust blew in and
around buildings; in The Stand, the dust
almost becomes a character unto itself.
Journeying through the rutted dirt roads,
the bus becomes stuck in the dry earth. As
the passengers - hot, bored and tired -
wait for it to move, they see a cloud of dust
18

March 2017

moving on the horizon, and quickly recognize that it represents terrorists in an ATV
zeroing in on them. Kamau acts instantly,
kissing Aluna suddenly to hide the fact that
he is tearing a gold cross from her neck.
Pulling headscarves from luggage, he tells
the passengers, "If we stand together we
will all be safe."
Caniglia emphasizes the interaction
between sets and characters with carefully
chosen lenses. Especially fond of anamorphic, she strongly urged the director to use
the format for The Stand. The cinematographer enthuses that Panavision's "John
Schrimpf made me feel very welcomed,
and James Finn was incredible and showed
me all the anamorphic lenses he had inhouse. I had so much support from them.
James let me look through all the lenses; he
gave me the 100mm Cineovision and said,
'Check this.' The edges were blurred and
the center of the lens was sharp. It was the
right look for the story." Caniglia also credits producers Ashley Clark, Jacky Lee
American Cinematographer

Morgan and Matt Yerby for their support
throughout prep and production.
A tense sequence, crosscut between
exterior long shots of the villains and tight
close-ups of the group inside, is an apt
example of Caniglia's intent to give the
production the feel of a classic Western.
Although the antagonists consist of only
two men masked by scarves, the scene has
the feel of a band of Native American
warriors sweeping in on a lone stagecoach.
For this sequence, Caniglia increased the
emphasis on faces, moving in tightly on
actors' eyes, using a +3 diopter. Precise
focus pulling by 1st AC Bryan DeLorenzo
was critical when Caniglia was shooting
handheld with anamorphic lenses wide
open.
Caniglia aims to realize as much of
her visual plan as possible in-camera, a preference that jibed well with the single day
allotted for the color grade, performed by
Bradley Greer at Kyotocolor in New Orleans.
"There was not much time in color correction," Caniglia confirms. "I asked Bradley to
give me some screen grabs in TIFF format,
which I corrected in Photoshop. Then he
replicated the two looks - outside earthy
and raw, inside a bit colder - using the stills
as reference."
Contis' background in picture editing was an additional and valuable asset to
the process. In collaboration, these two
women created a compelling testament to
the idea that evil can be stopped when
people stand together. As Caniglia states,
"For me, nothing is impossible."
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - March 2017