American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 69

Images courtesy of Eric Gautier and IFC Films. Bottom photo on this page by Guido Cacialli.

Opposite: Students run from the police after
a demonstration turns violent in Something
in the Air. This page, top left and right:
Cinematographer Eric Gautier, AFC (in tan
jacket) films the action from an open-top
vehicle. Bottom: Director Olivier Assayas
works with his cast.

my camera of choice, the Aaton
Penelope. Most of the film is shot
handheld to convey a sense of freedom.
I used two Fujifilm Eterna Vivid negatives: 250D for day exteriors, and 500
otherwise. I usually work with higherspeed stocks because I find 50-ASA
negatives too defined. Higher-speed
stocks naturally diffuse a little more, and
they feel more alive. I used an old set of
Zeiss T2.1 [Standard Prime] lenses that
are very beautiful with faces. They have
some flare, and I let the flares come even
if the light source was off screen; I never
tried to avoid windows or protect the
lens. Flares evoke the period, and they
give a realistic feel of something that is
caught in the moment. They also
helped to desaturate the colors. I think
the newest lenses are too sharp; they feel
surgical. You can count the spots on the
actor’s nose. That doesn’t interest me,
although I’ve used them on some films.
What other steps did you take to
give the imagery its unique texture?
Gautier: I overexposed everything between 3 and 4 stops, and I also

push processed 1 stop. I really tortured
the film stocks and then compensated
for it in the DI. Naturally, when we tried
to get back toward a normal-looking
image, we lost a lot; the colors were
completely washed out. Also, we timed
the entire film with a light cyan tint,
which kills the red byproducts that
came out from our process. Of course,
all of this also increased the grain, even
though I wasn’t really looking for grain.
My overexposure approach would not
have worked with photochemical color
timing because it goes too far, but I
knew we could rework it in an interesting way in the DI. Isabelle Julien was
our colorist. We did the DI at her
www.theasc.com

company, Ike No Koi, in a week and a
half. Once we found the right settings, it
went very quickly. It’s rare for me to
spend a lot of time in the DI. We
worked in 2K, which was more than
sufficient. Because the exposure washed
things out a lot, the temptation in the
DI was to bring back too much contrast,
which would have given us something
very graphic, with no finesse, but still
very beautiful. But I wanted to keep the
thread of what I was seeking: an image
that’s a little milky, a little gray and typical of the Seventies. The image is not
realistic, but it’s believable.
Why did you push-process the
negative in addition to overexposing?
June 2013

69



http://www.theasc.com

American Cinematographer - June 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - June 2013

American Cinematographer - June 2013
Contents
Editor’s Note
President’s Desk
Short Takes: “The Volt Plasma Challenge”
Production Slate: Frances Ha • Spring Breakers
Boldly Captured
Living Large
A Killer with 2 Faces
Utopian Dreams
Filmmakers’ Forum: Edgar Burcksen, ACE
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
ASC Membership Roster
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Shelly Johnson
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - American Cinematographer - June 2013
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Contents
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 2
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 3
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 4
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 5
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 6
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 7
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 8
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 9
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Editor’s Note
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 11
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - President’s Desk
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 13
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Short Takes: “The Volt Plasma Challenge”
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 15
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 16
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 17
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 18
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 19
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Production Slate: Frances Ha • Spring Breakers
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 21
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 22
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 23
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 24
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 25
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 26
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 27
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 28
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 29
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 30
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 31
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 32
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 33
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Boldly Captured
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 35
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 36
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 37
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 38
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 39
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 40
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 41
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 42
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 43
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 44
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 45
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 46
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 47
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Living Large
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 49
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 50
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 51
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 52
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 53
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 54
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 55
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 56
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 57
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 58
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 59
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - A Killer with 2 Faces
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 61
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 62
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 63
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 64
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - I1
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - I2
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - I3
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - I4
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - I5
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - I6
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - I7
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - I8
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - I9
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - I10
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - I11
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - I12
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 65
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 66
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 67
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Utopian Dreams
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 69
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 70
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 71
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 72
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 73
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 74
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 75
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 76
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 77
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 78
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 79
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 80
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 81
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Filmmakers’ Forum: Edgar Burcksen, ACE
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 83
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 84
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 85
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - New Products & Services
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 87
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 88
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 89
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 90
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 91
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 92
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 93
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 94
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 95
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 96
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 97
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 98
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 99
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - International Marketplace
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Classified Ads
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Ad Index
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 103
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - ASC Membership Roster
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 105
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Clubhouse News
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 107
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - ASC Close-Up: Shelly Johnson
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - June 2013 - Cover4
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