American Cinematographer - July 2010 - 23

Director Michael Winterbottom (left) and cinematographer Marcel Zyskind set up a car scene on location outside Santa Fe, New Mexico.

several delays because of the global financial crisis. “The toughest challenge on this film was just getting started!” recalls Zyskind. “We were sitting at home from January through the middle of April, always thinking we were getting ready to leave.” Shooting finally commenced in the spring, which meant better natural light. “That worked out well because in terms of lighting, Michael and I try to be as naturalistic as possible,” the cinematographer notes. “Lou’s house, for example, was a practical house that was quite dark, and we kept it that way. We had the walls painted to lighten it up a little, but the main light in there was coming from outside.” Key grip Jon Shryock adds, “We used 18K, 12K and 6K HMIs outside, and when we were inside, we used a few Ultra Bounces to let a little sunlight in. We wanted to make it look like it was all natural light; everything was shot at the bottom of the curve. We almost could have done this movie without a generator!” As an example of the filmmakers’ low-light aesthetic, Zyskind cites a night scene that shows Ford meeting with union tough guy Joe Rothman (Elias Koteas) in an office. “That scene is lit by a 100-watt bulb hanging from the ceiling and the practical desk lamp, which had a 40-watt bulb, in the corner,” he says. “That makes it sort of murky and slightly dingy. It creates a nice tension.” The film’s most controversial scene,

in which Ford beats Joyce (Alba) to death, incorporates numerous cuts and relies heavily on the prosthetic makeup created by Richard Redlefsen, who made the necessary modifications to depict Alba’s continually degrading face. For this scene, Winterbottom had Zyskind stay very close to the actors and mingle Steadicam and handheld work. “The dialogue before the violence was covered with a static shot from across the room, then we did Steadicam over-the-shoulders on both actors, and once Lou threw the first punch, we moved into handheld,” says the cinematographer. “Then we went back to Steadicam for the aftermath. “I’ve used Steadicam and handheld this way a lot with Michael, and he knows I know how to do it,” he adds. “It’s very effective for certain kinds of scenes. Unfortunately, our schedule was too tight to fly a Steadicam operator in, so I did all the Steadicam work myself.” “Handheld shots were usually 2 or 3 feet from the actor, and focus at that distance with a wide-open aperture becomes very critical,” notes Rendon. “There were no rehearsals, and no shot was ever repeated; we moved too quickly and were too close to refer to a cine tape, and checking [focus] with the onboard monitor was impossible in the dimly lit scenes. I’d ride alongside Marcel and whisper, ‘Does it look okay?’ After a while, we developed a nonverbal communication system. It was all a dance, and after a few

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American Cinematographer - July 2010

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