American Cinematographer - July 2008 - (Page 14)

Short Takes On a Tuesday Exploits Panoramic Format by Iain Stasukevich 14 July 2008 Photos by Victoria Smith, Marcy Maloy and Svetlana Cvetko, courtesy of David Scott Smith. For the short film On a Tuesday, director David Scott Smith and cinematographer Svetlana Cvetko framed the action in the 3.18:1 aspect ratio inspired by the panoramic setting on their Kodak Advanced Photo System (APS) still camera. The production gained access to San Francisco’s City Hall to tell the story of a couple (Peter Holden and Sally Nacker) getting married in the middle of a busy afternoon. t’s a story about a couple getting married,” says first-time director David Scott Smith of his short film On a Tuesday. After a pause, he adds, “Actually, it’s more about a beautiful moment hidden within a busy life.” For the most part, that describes how Smith and cinematographer Svetlana Cvetko approached the film: start with a broad concept and then dial into its deeper meaning. Smith’s background is in motionpicture editing, which is how he and Cvetko met. An expatriate of the former Yugoslavia, Cvetko came to America in the late 1980s as a still photographer who was interested in making a transition into cinematography. She settled in “I the San Francisco Bay Area and took film classes through the University of California-Berkeley extension program. One of her first film projects was a documentary about the conflict in Bosnia, No War, which she shot and directed. After five trips to the Balkan Peninsula, she had accumulated a mountain of footage, and a friend introduced her to Smith, who agreed to cut the film for her. They have worked together in varying capacities ever since. On a Tuesday takes place over the course of an afternoon in and around San Francisco’s City Hall. The filmmakers scouted the location using their Kodak Advanced Photo System (APS) camera; the short-lived 24mm APS film format is distinctive for its native 1.77:1 aspect ratio, which Cvetko knew would represent the standard 1.85:1 frame. “It just wasn’t feeling strong,” she recalls. “It looked very ordinary, and we knew we didn’t want this movie to be ordinary.” Many professional APS cameras come equipped with three different frame settings: the native 16:9 “H” frame, the 4:3 “C” frame, and the 3:1 “P” frame. Setting her camera to the P setting, Cvetko took a second look. “It was breathtaking. The space was just asking to be seen that way.” She handed the camera to Smith, who agreed they’d stumbled upon something unusual and exciting. “The story is a very simple one; what we needed was

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

American Cinematographer - July 2008 Contents Editor's Note Global Village: Torn from the Flag Short Takes: On a Tuesday Production Slate: Before the Rains WALL-E Batman Looms Larger A Not-So-Super Hero Spy vs. Spy Laugh Factory Post Focus: CineSynce Streamlines Dark Knight Effects New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index In Memoriam: Burton "Bud" Stone, Honorary ASC Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up: Bill Taylor

American Cinematographer - July 2008

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