American Cinematographer - June 2008 - (Page 58)

Women’s World it’s a more grown-up story.” The storyline follows the quartet through four seasons and various milestones, including a birth, a wedding and a separation, and it also squeezes in requisite amounts of shopping and bonding. During prep, King convened all three departments heads — Thomas, costume designer Patricia Field and production designer Jeremy Conway — and went through the script in detail, something that was never possible on the series. Thomas recalls, “Michael Patrick talked about all those between-the-lines elements he had in his head, and the nice thing about having us all in the same room is that when he talked about something specific with one of us, that discussion would sometimes help clarify the vision for the others.” Although the 69-day shoot might strike many TV veterans as luxurious, “it felt very much like a TV pace to me,” says Thomas. “We had a 150-page script, and it wasn’t a lot of coffeeshop scenes where they’re sitting around talking for four pages. We challenged ourselves in terms of locations and the way things should look; we definitely strove for things we couldn’t do on the series.” That began on day one, during the scene when the four women first appear together onscreen. “We wanted the beginning to feel slightly theatrical,” says Thomas. “We wanted the rest of the film to feel real, though up a notch. But for this shot, we thought we could get away with more theatrics.” In the MOS scene, Carrie is seen strolling down a crowded Park Avenue sidewalk. After a jump cut, one of her friends appears next to her, and the edits follow suit until the foursome is walking along together. The series’ tight schedule meant day exteriors like this were never lit; light was merely controlled. But this time, Thomas could Above: The film finds Carrie’s love affair with Mr. Big (Chris Noth) still going strong. Below: Miranda, Charlotte and Carrie celebrate a new apartment with champagne. A key element of Thomas’ glamourlighting strategy is to “make sure the faces are never brighter than the background,” he says. “If your face is the brightest thing in the shot, you’re probably in trouble.” The filmmakers abandoned the Canon zooms that were mainstays of the series and used Panavision Primos — “old friends,” says Thomas — and 24mm and 29mm Ultra Speed MKIIs. The production’s A and B cameras were Panaflex Platinums (operated by Joe Collins and Mike O’Shea, respectively), and a Panaflex Millennium XL was always on hand for Steadicam work. “We carried a couple of 11:1 zooms and sometimes put them on outside, but our intent was to shoot prime lenses the whole time,” says Thomas. The cinematographer used Kodak Vision2 500T 5218 and 200T 5217 for all of the New York material but switched to Vision2 Expression 500T 5229 for scenes shot in California, which doubled as Mexico and provided the practical location for Samantha’s Malibu beach house. “5229 is a low-con stock, and I wanted those places to feel a little foreign to New York,” explains Thomas. The film picks up with Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte three years after the last episode. Thomas notes, “This isn’t four women trying to find love anymore; they’ve all found a mate, so 58 June 2008

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

American Cinematographer - June 2008 Contents Editor's Note Short Takes: "100 Days, " Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings Production Slate: Mongol Production Slate: Greensburg Vintage Indy A Prince in Peril Women's World 90 Years of Precision Post Focus: A 3-D Imax Work Flow for Wild Ocean Post Focus: 3cP Incorporates ASC CDL on State of Play Filmmakers' Forum: John Baily, ASC New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index ASC Membership Roster In Memoriam: Gayne Rescher, ASC Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up: Rob McLachlan

American Cinematographer - June 2008

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