American Cinematographer - April 2012 - 18

Production Slate
In the Israeli film Footnote, a father and son compete for recognition in the world of academia. This scene shows a fellow scholar (Micah Lewesohn) working intently in his study.

Generation Gap By Jean Oppenheimer

A comedy that slowly devolves into tragedy, the Israeli film Footnote is set in the world of academia, where ambition, jealousy and political infighting qualify as intramural sports. The film concerns a father (Shlomo Bar-Aba) and son (Lior Ashkenazi), both professors of Talmudic Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “They are in the same field, but they occupy very different worlds,” says director of photography Yaron Scharf. “The heart of the film is a kind of battlefield between these two worlds. “The father, Eliezer, represents the old world, the analog world, and he sees the world through details,” Scharf continues, speaking to AC from his home in Tel Aviv. “His son, Uriel, is more connected to the contemporary world, the digital world. He is more concerned with the big picture.” Their different outlooks are reflected in the way they are presented onscreen. Obsessed with subtleties and nuances, Eliezer is repeatedly shown in close-up, followed by tight shots of the minutia that catches his eye: a pen in somebody’s hand, a button on a tape recorder. Uriel is typically shot from a distance, frequently framed through doorways or other structures. When the plot takes a dramatic turn late in the film, he starts appearing in close-up. Each world is also color specific. Eliezer’s home and office are
18 April 2012

filled with warm light (dimmed-down tungsten practicals), suggesting both his link to “tradition” and the intense jealousy he feels towards his son, who has become the darling of the establishment. Shunned by the academic elites, Eliezer has become a bitter, hateful man. Uriel, along with anything connected to the establishment, is bathed in cool light (Kino Flos and other fluorescent fixtures). Eliezer and Uriel first appear together in the film in a sixminute medium shot of the two sitting side-by-side. Eliezer is scowling, and Uriel looks slightly uncomfortable. Several rows of people are seated behind them, slightly out of focus. “It was crucial to be really close to both men but still have a two-shot,” says Scharf. “Before deciding on an aspect ratio, [director] Joseph Cedar and I took the actors into a studio and conducted extensive tests on this one shot. We tried various aspect ratios and light levels, experimented with the length of the shot, and checked how out-of-focus the people in the background would be at different f-stops.” They settled on 4-perf Super 35mm and an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. “Our main argument for shooting in [widescreen] was that shot,” acknowledges Cedar. The shot continues as Uriel stands and exits the frame to receive an award. The camera, mounted with a 32mm Ultra Prime, doesn’t move. When the audience stands and applauds, Eliezer reluctantly follows suit, and the frame remains at chair level, so torsos and clapping hands fill the screen. The camera slowly dollies into Eliezer’s face when he and everyone else sit down,

American Cinematographer

Footnote photos by Ren Mendelson, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

American Cinematographer - April 2012

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