American Cinematographer - April 2008 - (Page 43)

portive of us and worked very hard to make this shoot so enjoyable.” “From the moment I knew I would do The Ruins, I wanted Darius to photograph it, and we developed such trust working together,” says Smith. “The work was never about amazing shots; it was about how to tell the emotional story of what was going on with the characters.” The Ruins starts with the group of young tourists enjoying an idyllic holiday in Cancún, a coastal city on the tip of the Yucatán Peninsula. Nearing the end of their break, they decide to visit a Mayan temple deep in the inland jungle. Assuming it’s only a day trip, they take no supplies and jump on a bus to Coba. Continuing on, they arrive at a Mayan village whose hostile inhabitants warn them not to go any further. Undaunted, they push on through the increasingly thick jungle. They soon locate the pyramid, which is surrounded by infertile, salty soil and covered in vines. When one of them steps onto the base of the pyramid and becomes entangled in a vine, villagers armed with bows and arrows appear and force the rest of the group onto the pyramid, blocking any possible exit. Faced with no alternative, they climb to the top. As they find bodies entangled amongst the vines, the previously carefree tourists realize something is terribly wrong. Khondji’s propensity for using darkness as a thematic and emotional device has been well documented. The Ruins, however, offered him quite a different visual palette; much of the action takes place in harsh, bright sunlight under clear, blue skies. “I love the idea that the horror element of the vines exists openly in the heat of the aggressive sunlight,” says the cinematographer. “This approach is the antithesis of concealing with darkness and providing glimpses that reside in the audience’s subconscious. When there are no shadows, there is nowhere to hide. “This film is also very much about the psychological and emotional relationships among the characters and their inability to cope with the situation,” he continues. “They are not simply physically confined to the pyramid, but are also trapped by their behavior and self-identity. In their world, there’s nothing to fear — in fact, each of them appears destined for success. Once they realize they cannot get off the temple and that the vines are malevolently sentient, they quickly lose their humanity. There is an almost existential tone throughout The Ruins. It’s not important where the vines come from or why they are there; it’s the psychological interplay between the characters that’s truly disturbing.” Principal photography took place at Warner Bros. Studios in Queensland, Australia, and on location in the Gold Coast Hinterland. Opposite: The ravages of a Mayan temple’s aggressively hostile vines are apparent in the face of a victim (Bar Paly). This page: Tourists Jeff (Jonathan Tucker), Eric (Shawn Ashmore), Stacy (Laura Ramsey), Dimitri (Dimitri Baveas) and Amy (Jena Malone) begin to sense that something is amiss after arriving at the obscure location. Below: Stacy and Amy feel the clammy approach of evil. Photos courtesy of DreamWorks Pictures. American Cinematographer 43

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - April 2008

American Cinematographer - April 2008 Contents Editor's Note Global Village: The Counterfeiters Short Takes: Milia Production Slate: Paranoid Park Production Slate: All the Boys Love Mandy Lane Card Sharks Temple of Doom 3-D Cinematography Sundance 2008: Mining for Movies Post Focus: Digital Film Tree Gets into Peyote Post Focus: FotoKem’s 3-D Workflow Post Focus: Technicolor Digs in at Pinewood Filmmakers’ Forum: Steven Fierberg, ASC on Searchers 2.0 New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up: Rodney Taylor

American Cinematographer - April 2008

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