American Cinematographer - September 2007 - (Page 26)

Right: Smith (Clive Owen) fires at an enemy from a fast-moving conveyor belt in a scene from the actionpacked Shoot ‘Em Up. Below: A standoff between Smith and the villainous Mr. Hertz (Paul Giamatti). A Blue-Collar Bond by Jean Oppenheimer It’s an image straight out of John Woo’s Hard Boiled, only this time it’s Clive Owen cradling a newborn infant in one arm and a shotgun in the other. Sprinting across rooftops, rappelling down stairwells, dodging all obstacles, he fends off a seemingly endless supply of bad guys who have one thing on their collective mind: getting their hands on that baby. “When we first spoke, [director] Michael [Davis] told me he wanted to make a fast-paced action film with a contemporary tone and a blue-collar James Bond hero,” recalls director of photography Peter Pau, HKSC, whose credits include The Promise (see AC June ’06); Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (AC Jan. ’01); The Bride With White Hair, and The Killer. Davis readily 26 September 2007 Shoot ’Em Up photos by James Dittiger, courtesy of New Line Cinema. admits that he envisaged Shoot ‘Em Up as “an American John Woo picture.” Citing Hard Boiled as his specific inspiration, he adds, “I needed Peter to steer me in that sort of Hong Kong action-film direction.” That “direction” ended up encompassing 11 action setpieces, all of them elaborate. Given the tight budget and 55-day shooting schedule (plus 20 days of second-unit work), Pau wanted to pre-light as much as possible. Davis, a former storyboard artist, boarded every shot and even animated a couple of the action sequences. He turned this material over to Pau four weeks into their 10week prep, which gave rigging gaffer Stephen Spurrell enough time to prelight the majority of the interiors (built inside an abandoned factory) and sets. Shoot ‘Em Up was shot in Super 35mm, and the lighting design was premised on the notion that two cameras would be used on almost every scene. Pau favored big sources for night exteriors — mostly Dinos with mediumspot lights — and Kino Flos for interiors and stage work. “My gaffer, Chris Howard, always gives me dimmer-board control over his remote so that I can access individual bulbs almost immediately. It’s really handy and speedy between setups that way.” Shoot ‘Em Up was shot entirely in Toronto, and the locations were all within a 5-mile radius. During prep, Pau, Davis and production designer Gary Frutkoff worked out the color palette scene by scene. “I wanted to avoid blue moonlight for the urban look,” recounts Pau, who corresponded with AC via email from China, where he was shooting another picture. “Instead, we wanted a sodium-vapor feeling for night exteriors, and a dirty green/yellow look for interiors. Pretty much everything happens at night, and the sodium-vapor lights became our main source. To obtain a cold green look, I didn’t use an 85 filter on day scenes. In fact, with the exception of NDs, I didn’t use any filters on the lens. I mixed different color temperatures on the set in order to support the ‘dirty’ look we wanted.” Red is used sparingly but to great effect throughout the film. The first occasion is a skirmish on the roof of the abandoned factory that Smith (Owen’s character) calls home. Enormous neon letters spell out the name of the factory and even play a role in the ensuing gun battle. All of the scenes in the whorehouse, where a love interest played by Monica Bellucci lives, are bathed in red. Smith is on the run almost from the moment the film opens. “To make the action sequences work, Michael needed a lot of cuts,” observes Pau. “[I designed shots of] lengthy and continuous motion that could be cut into several separate elements.” To create a sense of urgency, the main cameras, an Arricam Studio and Arricam Lite, were handheld 80 percent of the time. “Michael wanted to give the film an unsteady look, but not make the audience dizzy,” quips Pau. Occasionally three cameras were pressed into service. ¢

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - September 2007

Contents Editor’s Note Global Village DVD Playback Production Slate Bourne Again Cultural Immersion Baroque Visions Once Upon a Time in Bucharest Short Takes Post Focus Filmmakers’ Forum New Products & Services Points East International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index ASC Membership Roster Clubhouse News Wrap Shot

American Cinematographer - September 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.