American Cinematographer - May 2008 - (Page 40)

Heavy-Metal Hero Above: Christine (Leslie Bibb) enjoys the view from Stark’s living room. Right: Soaking up the rays provided by LumaPanels, Favreau prepares Gwyneth Paltrow for her next scene as Stark’s secretary, Virginia “Pepper” Potts. didn’t like — with the horizontal frame, he became very conscious of things entering and exiting the shot from the bottom and top.” Happy with the dolly and Steadicam work, the filmmakers regularly incorporated such moves to change axes within the shot. Libatique notes, “In every scene, I would try to devise a way to do a master that was moving from a medium shot to a close-up to a wide shot so I could get most of the scene in one take. That approach makes the performances flow, and it gives more importance to every master.” After escaping his captors and returning home, Stark sets up shop in the garage beneath his oceanfront manse. Constructed onstage at Playa Vista, that set featured a wall of angled windows overlooking the ocean — a painted backdrop that was frontlit with 1Ks during day scenes. (LumaPanels were aimed for ambience, and 20Ks provided sun effects through the windows.) Stark’s extravagant collection of automobiles lines the wall, and across from them sits a bank of repair bays. One end of the garage opens to a ramp that leads up to the road outside; occupying the other end is Stark’s high-tech workstation, which is flanked by monitors that display the blueprints for his newer, streamlined armor. Bauman explains, “We shot in there for about three weeks, so we tried to build as much [lighting] into the set as possible. There were a lot of opportunities for slamming lights in places you could justify because of the high-tech equipment. We also used a lot of [Kino Flo] Image 80s in the ceiling to create an overall ambience and provide some reflectance off the stainless steel in the shop.” Libatique adds, “Our fluorescents would be one color temperature, and then we dimmed incandescents to create a warmer color temperature through holes in the ceiling that were seemingly practical. I find it very flat to go with a single color temperature, and I was trying to create contrast with these different hues.” Several other sets also incorporated large windows, including the main floor of Stark’s home and the lobby of Stark Industries. To achieve a level of ambient daylight, Bauman used LumaPanels outside of the windows. “They’re roughly 4-by-7 feet and have about 28 T8 [fluorescent] tubes; they’re compact and super bright. We would stagger the bulbs, mixing daylight and tungsten, so we were around 4400°K or 4500°K with our color temperature. We’d hang about 30 of those outside a window, and that would give us a huge, soft, ambient source that was so broad it looked completely natural.” Once he decides to get out of the weapons business, Stark plans to announce his intention during a gala at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. His less noble business partner, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), isn’t so ready to walk away from the millions of dollars they stand to make, and he voices his concerns on the hall’s outdoor steps. “That scene was just massive,” says Libatique. “My first thought was to use a Technocrane, but when you have actors like Jeff and Robert, it’s important to see how they’re connecting. It was far more effective to stay with them and get the camera and operator in close to walk them up the stairs.” Libatique’s crew had its hands full lighting the Frank Gehrydesigned structure, whose exterior features a series of curved stainlesssteel panels. “What saved us was this quarter-inch lip on each level of cladding along the side of the façade,” says Bauman. “We lined up a bunch of Pars along the base and raked them up the side of the building, which gave us really cool highlights along every level. We also had two or three Condors, and we had 40 May 2008

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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