American Cinematographer - April 2013 - K8

Kees Van Oostrum, ASC got an interesting call recently
from producer Richard Middleton, whose credits include The
Artist and Hitchcock. “Richard and I go way back, and he often
calls me when he has something unusual or challenging,” says
Van Oostrum. The EMMY®-nominated cinematographer has
compiled more than 70 narrative credits, including Gods and
Generals, Return to Lonesome Dove, and the forthcoming Civil
War-set feature Copperhead.
Middleton told Van Oostrum about an interview project for
Serious Jibber-Jabber with Conan O’Brien, a non-comedic chat
show on O’Brien’s website. The interview subject was to be the
GRAMMY-winning musician/producer Jack White.
White, who is well known as a connoisseur and collector of
things analog, makes his music recordings using tape and tube
technologies, insisting that the resulting sound is warmer, less
harsh, and fuller. White had agreed to the interview on one
condition: that it be done on ﬁlm.
Normally the Jibber-Jabber interviews are done on a stage
with electronic cameras. The Jibber-Jabber format emphasizes
lengthy interviews with minimal interruptions.
Van Oostrum originally recommended shooting 35mm,
3-perf. “When we thought about it some more, we realized
we only need the center extraction, which actually made
2-perf an even better option. We found a system designed by
PANAVISION that used 2,000-foot mags. We thought that if
we could combine the 2,000-foot mags and the 2-perf format,
we would have 32 minutes of run time.”
PANAVISION got onboard and set up some PANAFLEX
bodies with 2-perf movements. The cameras were equipped
with 11:1 zooms. The ﬁlm stock was KODAK VISION3 500T
Color Negative Film 5219.
“The next thing we knew, we were shooting 2-perf with
three cameras on the stage as Conan interviewed Jack
White,” says Van Oostrum. “The interview went 110 minutes,
which we shot with two magazine changes. It worked
brilliantly. They ran quietly, which was important because it
was a pretty small room.”

Van Oostrum and Bennett
joked with O’Brien that in
100 years, this could be
the only trace left of his
television legacy.
Bill Bennett, ASC operated one of the other cameras. The
third camera was handled by one of the shows regular camera
operators. The cameras were mounted on ﬁlm-style dollies
as opposed to pedestal-style dollies that are standard for
talk show production. The interview plays out against a black
background a la Charlie Rose.
Van Oostrum and Bennett joked with O’Brien that in 100
years, this could be the only trace left of his television legacy.
It was a reference, of course, to ﬁlm’s archival stability, and
digital’s short shelf life, both in terms of storage instability and
format obsolescence.
FotoKem did a simple color correction under Van Oostrum’s
eye, and extracted the 16x9 image from the 2.4:1 2-perf frame.
“We emulated their normal look in terms of the black,” says
Van Oostrum. “It looked identical, except it was ﬁlm, so it was
much gentler and not so sharp and harsh as video.”
The wide-ranging interview covers White’s early musical
endeavors, and the effects of a Catholic upbringing and a
background in upholstery on his work.
O’Brien was reportedly enthusiastic. “At ﬁrst, it looked
daunting, and we needed to work out the issues in terms of
mag length and run time,” says Van Oostrum. “But in the end,
it was absolutely smooth, and everyone was excited about the
results.”
See the entire interview at http://teamcoco.com/video/
serious-jibber-jabber-04-jack-white.
Photo: Jack White and Conan O’Brien. Photo credit: Will Becton/Team Coco
http://www.teamcoco.com/video/serious-jibber-jabber-04-jack-white http://www.teamcoco.com/video/serious-jibber-jabber-04-jack-white
American Cinematographer - April 2013

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