American Cinematographer - May 2008 - (Page 38)

Heavy-Metal Hero Right: The crew prepares to shoot the climactic battle on the rooftop of the Tokomak reactor. Below: Shooting at Downey Studios, the crew outfitted this rig with LumaPanels to create an ambientmoonlight source and smaller Lightning Strikes fixtures for flashing effects during Iron Man and Iron Monger’s rock ’em, sock ’em fight to the finish. Charley Gilleran and rigging gaffer Charlie McIntyre were on hand to tackle the complex lighting, and once they arrived, their hands were somewhat tied by the facility, which prohibits productions from modifying the overarching structure. This means crews must rig their own trusses. To mitigate this limitation, “we used what we called ‘pig stickers,’ which were long spikes with baby pins on the end,” says Dubbe. “We jammed those into the walls for all sorts of lighting and cable support.” Bauman notes conditions on the set became even more challenging as shooting began: “For the first three days, the set was chilled to 35 or 40 degrees because they wanted to see breath. It was cold and wet, and everybody got sick. But it looked cool!” When it was time to film the Steadicam move, Libatique and Bauman tapped the expertise of first-unit dimmer-board operators Joshua Thatcher and Scott Barnes. “As Robert walked around the space, we had 13 or 14 different cues in the shot,” says Bauman. “We had a lot of little practicals all over the place, small bulbs hidden behind things, bounces in the ceiling that turned on and off, and it all had to flow. With Matty, the guy on the board isn’t just setting the fader to 70 percent; he’s doing a lot of programming and fades.” Libatique kept the camera active, frequently exploiting Anderson’s Steadicam abilities and often moving the camera with the dolly on dance floor. “I planned more handheld coverage, but we made some technical decisions based on the restrictions of the [Iron Man] suit,” he reveals. “Stan Winston built amazing suits, but because Stark is a man of iron, he can’t necessarily move like a superhero wants to. We decided to shoot Super 35mm to hide some of the imperfections, and that, in turn, showed some things in handheld mode that Jon 38 May 2008 Bottom photo courtesy of Michael Bauman.

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

American Cinematographer - May 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Global Village: The Fall Short Takes: ASC Laszlo Kovacs Short Takes: Heritage Award Winners Production Slate: Anamorph Production Slate: Fugitive Pieces Heavy-Metal Hero A Need for Speed Kink and the City Beautiful Minds A Hollywood Homecoming Post Focus: Paramount Restores The Godfather Filmmakers’ Forum: Levie Isaacks, ASC Teaches Marines to Shoot Movies New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up: Antonio Calvache

American Cinematographer - May 2008

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