American Cinematographer - June 2014 - 10

In monster-movie terms, Godzilla represents a big step up for
director Gareth Edwards, who impressed fans of the genre
with his ingeniously crafted, low-budget 2010 hit Monsters -
a project on which he served as writer, director, cinematographer and visual-effects supervisor. After signing on to re-radiate the iconic city-stomping saurian, Edwards was grateful to
spread some of the workload around to savvy veteran collaborators assembled by Legendary Pictures producer Thomas
Tull. Says Edwards, "My entire Godzilla crew was made up of
some of the most talented and creative people in their fields,
and when Seamus McGarvey [ASC, BSC] signed on, I knew
Legendary was doing their best to protect me and the picture.
I remember watching Anna Karenina and having the biggest
smile on my face, thinking, 'My God, this is so beautiful, and this guy is shooting my movie!' I
felt incredibly lucky."
McGarvey says he was intrigued to meet Edwards after watching and admiring
Monsters, which was shot primarily in a documentary style with handheld camera techniques.
In discussing the project with David E. Williams ("King of the Monsters," page 34), McGarvey
notes that the duo combined elements of that approach with the kinds of precise and controlled
camerawork typically seen in bigger-budget productions: "These kinds of visual-effects films can
sometimes become a scattergun of imagery simply created for its own sake, without real context
or meaning in connection with the characters or the drama. Our goal was to avoid that and
create something terrestrial witnessed from the points of view of the people on the ground. So,
these beasts would be shown elliptically, immersed in atmosphere and glimpsed in flashes of
lightning, rather than perfectly lit and presented."
Dan Mindel, ASC, BSC is also no stranger to the demands of summer blockbusters. While
prepping with director J.J. Abrams on his next film, a sci-fi epic set "a long time ago in a galaxy
far, far away," Mindel took time to talk with Douglas Bankston about his work on The Amazing
Spider-Man 2 ("Spinning a Wider Web," page 54). For the 3-D sequel, he and director Marc
Webb shot mostly in New York, opting for a stereoscopic conversion of images captured on film
in the anamorphic format. "I think it opened up the film," says Mindel, "in the sense that you
get a widescreen feel of one of the most photogenic cities in the world from the second you
look through the camera. I thought the best way to play it was to use the character of New York
City as our guide and just use the kind of framing and angles you'd find in a comic book."
New York also plays a starring role in the 1920s drama The Immigrant, shot by Darius
Khondji, ASC, AFC. Director James Gray credits Khondji with bringing important visual contributions to the production, a value he seeks in every cinematographer. "I look for someone
whose tastes are similar to mine and who can expand my ideas," Gray tells Iain Stasukevich
("Liberty's Injustice," page 72). "I don't want exactly what I'm asking for; getting only that would
be profoundly disappointing. I'm looking for something more."
On the television series Hannibal, that "something more" is provided by cinematographer James Hawkinson, who lends eerie elegance to the grisly saga of serial-killer psychiatrist
Hannibal Lecter. "He's basically Satan hiding in plain sight," Hawkinson observes in a piece by
John Calhoun ("Refined Savagery," page 86). "We determined that he should always be
shrouded in a certain amount of darkness."

Stephen Pizzello
Executive Editor

Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.

Editor's Note

American Cinematographer - June 2014

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