American Cinematographer - July 2009 - 8

Editor’s Note ith HD cameras becoming more prevalent and more sophisticated, the old question “Film or digital?” is taking on a new complexity for cinematographers at every level. On Public Enemies, Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC and director Michael Mann initially discussed shooting on 35mm film, but ultimately chose HD after conducting comparison tests geared toward the specific narrative and stylistic requirements of the period gangster tale. “With digital cameras, there aren’t any steadfast rules, and I believe that gives me a huge amount of freedom,” Spinotti tells Jay Holben (“Big Guns,” page 24). “The medium is romantic, interesting and beautiful, but it also looks real. And there’s so much you can do in post! Film has a certain kind of quality that cannot be matched by digital technology, but at times, the advantages digital has over film are important for the language and the contents of the story you’re telling, and that determines your choice.” For the romantic drama Chéri, Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC adopted a more traditional approach, composing in widescreen anamorphic (which he deems “wonderful for faces, for intimacy”) and manipulating three film stocks to create the picture’s painterly frames. “I didn’t want the image to be too sharp or the light to be obvious,” Khondji notes in his interview with European correspondent Benjamin B (“Impressionistic Cinema,” page 34). “I wanted very, very soft light, as though it’s filtered through time, like a hazy memory. The light was often bounced or going through two layers of diffusion, and it was always wrapping around.” Barry Ackroyd, BSC took an entirely different tack on The Hurt Locker, a tense war story that follows a U.S. Army bomb squad through a series of nerve-wracking missions in Iraq. To immerse viewers in the hard reality of the soldiers’ experiences, Ackroyd and his operators shouldered 16mm cameras and marched straight into the fray: “I said, ‘Let’s make it physical.’ I figured the cameras would be handheld 90 percent of the time, and they were.” Director Kathryn Bigelow further emphasized the film’s firsthand feel by deploying multiple cameras to capture a variety of perspectives. “That’s how we experience reality, by looking at the microcosm and the macrocosm simultaneously,” she explains to New York correspondent Pat Thomson (“Risk and Valor,” page 44). “The eye sees differently than the lens, but with multiple focal lengths and a muscular editorial style, the lens can give you that microcosm/macrocosm perspective, and that contributes to the feeling of total immersion.” Film was also chosen by Tobias Schliessler, ASC on The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, a modern update of a memorable thriller from 1974. “Tony came in not to remake the movie, but to retell the story, and he definitely wanted to put his stamp on it visually,” Schliessler relates in a detailed account penned by Douglas Bankston (“Terror on the Tracks,” page 52). “I love the look Owen Roizman [ASC] gave the original film, but we didn’t necessarily reference it. Tony wanted to show the energy of the city, and gritty or not, it feels on film like New York.” Achieving that authenticity involved quite a feat of logistics, according to gaffer Bill O’Leary, who is based in the city: “New York has its own set of challenges, and knowing the ropes makes it easier. In a way, it’s about compromises and playing the hand the city deals you. This job took that to a new level, though. The thick bureaucracy of the MTA and working in ‘The Hole,’ as they call the subway tunnels, were especially tough.” W Stephen Pizzello Executive Editor 8 Photo by Douglas Kirkland.
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American Cinematographer - July 2009

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