American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 30

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Monster Out of the Box

This page and opposite: Reference diagrams shows the crew’s approach to a cave set built on stages in Playa Vista. The instrument key for both diagrams is on the facing page.

a dolly shot, and a light would come into the frame behind the actors’ heads and flare out the lens. [The light] is clearly not the moon, and there are no streetlights or any other sources in the scene. It’s obviously a ‘movie’ light.” “I know it sounds crazy, but a lens flare reminds me that anamorphic lenses are amazing, gorgeously designed pieces of glass that interact with light in a beautiful way,” explains Abrams. “Flares can be purposeful and additive, and at the right time they remind me, in a good way, that I’m watching a movie. It doesn’t take me out of it. I think it draws me in deeper.” Joe immerses himself in helping his friend Charles (Riley Griffiths) finish The Case as a way of coping with the recent loss of his mother, but after
30 July 2011

the kids capture a spectacular train crash that unleashes a very large passenger into the Ohio countryside, they quickly find themselves playing parts in a real military cover-up. The train crash was filmed at Firestone Ranch in Agua Dulce, Calif. In the sequence, the kids are filming one of the pivotal scenes for The Case when they see a train approaching in the distance and decide to incorporate it into the film. They roll the camera, and as the train approaches, Joe notices a pickup truck parked on the tracks. The train collides with the truck and derails, smashing through the depot. Fong says the establishing shot of the depot is the biggest night exterior he has ever photographed. The depot platform was only about 40' long, but
American Cinematographer

Abrams wanted the tracks to extend miles into the horizon, and the location was actually boxed in by mountains and hills a few hundred yards away. To suggest the view Abrams wanted, Fong had his crew place red lights of decreasing size on poles of decreasing height along the tracks’ suggested trajectory, and dot the nearby mountains and hills with lightbulbs to suggest homes and other buildings in the distance. Keeping the LRX and Bebee lights out of frame while lighting to a high-enough stop for some of the lenses was a challenge. “Anamorphics can be tricky to work with at night,” says Fong. “For this scene and other night exteriors, I usually pushed 5219 by one stop because the longer lenses were so much slower. I always tried to light to a



American Cinematographer - July 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - July 2011

American Cinematographer - July 2011
Contents
Editor’s Note
President’s Desk
Letters
Production Slate: Larry Crowne • Mortal Kombat
Monster Out of the Box
Ring of Power
Shot Down in Flames
A Cultural Cataclysm
Ascending Cinematography’s Summit
Post Focus: Prime Focus New York
Filmmakers’ Forum: Jim Matlosz
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
In Memoriam: Gerald Perry Finnerman, ASC
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Bruno Delbonnel
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - American Cinematographer - July 2011
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 1
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 2
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Contents
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 4
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 5
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 6
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 7
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Editor’s Note
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 9
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - President’s Desk
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 11
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Letters
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 13
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Production Slate: Larry Crowne • Mortal Kombat
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 15
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 16
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 17
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 18
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 19
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 20
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 21
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 22
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 23
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Monster Out of the Box
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 25
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 26
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 27
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 28
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 29
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 30
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 31
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 32
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 33
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 34
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 35
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Ring of Power
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 37
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 38
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 39
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 40
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 41
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 42
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 43
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 44
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 45
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Shot Down in Flames
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 47
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 48
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 49
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 50
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 51
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 52
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 53
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - A Cultural Cataclysm
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 55
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 56
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 57
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 58
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 59
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 60
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 61
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Ascending Cinematography’s Summit
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 63
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 64
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 65
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 66
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 67
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 68
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 69
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Post Focus: Prime Focus New York
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 71
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Filmmakers’ Forum: Jim Matlosz
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 73
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 74
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 75
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - New Products & Services
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 77
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 78
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 79
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - International Marketplace
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Classified Ads
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Ad Index
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 83
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - In Memoriam: Gerald Perry Finnerman, ASC
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 85
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Clubhouse News
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - 87
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - ASC Close-Up: Bruno Delbonnel
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - July 2011 - Cover4
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