American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48B

“I think as viewers, we almost
feel the equipment that it was
shot on, at that time with that
kind of light... You can sense the
person capturing the image, and
you only get that through the
use of fi lm.”
“I love manipulating fi lm’s photochemical and mechanical aspects
to create evocative images,” he says.
Schmidt enthusiastically threw himself into the DOS EQUIS
endeavor. “Eric started showing me test images and saying, ‘Here’s
what it might look like if the character was somewhere in the Gulf
of Mexico around 1962,’” notes Miller. “He combined old lenses,
different fi lm stocks and different pieces of equipment to create very
authentic, very genuine tonalities. I think
as viewers, we almost feel the equipment
that it was shot on, at that time with that
kind of light. That was huge for me, and it
goes back to the physicality of the concept
and the images. You can sense the person
capturing the image, and you only get that
through the use of fi lm.”
Since then Miller and Schmidt have
collaborated on all of the “The Most
Interesting Man” spots with the exception
of a handful shot by Bryan Newman.
“Like most cinematographers, I’ve collected tools over my lifetime,”
says Schmidt. “For example, I have some bizarre fi lters I found at the
Rose Bowl fl ea market. My guess is that they went on a GRAFLEX
SUPER D Still Camera. Here was a chance to tape those on and see
what the results looked like. It’s not often you get the chance to be this
inventive on a national campaign. I love making images that are rough
around the edges and grainy. We chose the KODAK Emulsion based
on the effect we were trying to get.”
Another prize Schmidt scored at the Rose Bowl fl ea market and
used on the DOS EQUIS campaign was a Braun Nizo 8mm camera
with a “sweet” SCHNEIDER Lens. He has also used a Lomography
hand-cranked Super 35 camera purchased for $40 at Urban
Outfi tters, a 1930s hand-cranked, turret-mount MITCHELL Camera
that purportedly belonged to Charlie Chaplin, and the same wind-up
BOLEX and MACRO SWITAR Lens that he used as a cinema student
at the University of Iowa. He always has B camera operator John
Bush, who has been alongside Schmidt for a decade and has become
extremely skilled with the unusual camera equipment.
“We pull the cover off the BOLEX Lens and get fi lm streaks,”
Schmidt explains. “Sometimes there are little scratches, and
sometimes the registration is off. When I was in fi lm school, and when
I was starting out as a gaffer and electrician in New York, everyone
had a BOLEX. They are tricky. You have to compensate for the shutter
and for the EKTACHROME [Film]. You need jeweler’s fi ngers to adjust
the lens. You make mistakes, but then you learn — and you realize that
you can create arty effects by loading the fi lm wrong or rotating the
turret during the shot. We used those effects in music videos, and now
they are legitimate storytelling techniques.”
Other key members of the team behind the DOS EQUIS campaign
include 1st ACs Lila Byall, John Pingry and D.J. Harder, gaffer Ira Boyd,
key grip Billy Witherington, and last but not least production designer
Brock Houghton. “Brock, Steve and I are really on the same level
with our pop art history,” remarks the cinematographer. “Early in the
campaign, we’d look at reference material. Brock and Steve gathered
a lot of imagery that they felt applied to the character’s history. But
now our collaboration has reached the point where we know what the
other person is thinking. We’ve become close friends. Every cinematographer
knows that a good working relationship with the production
designer is important. And the location manager can put you in the
right place, which sometimes is half the battle.”
One recent DOS EQUIS commercial was
fi lmed in a Turkish tea room that had been
transported in its entirety to a Victorian
mansion in Pasadena from its original home
as an exhibit at the 1893 World’s Columbian
Exhibition in Chicago.
“Often we are trying to re-create or
bring to life a time period — or more
accurately, refer to the viewer’s memory of
a certain time period,” Schmidt adds. “Any
connectivity the viewer has is almost always
unconscious, and these images resonate.
At fi rst, the agency people on the set would
ask if they could see the images back. ‘Maybe tomorrow,’ I’d say with a
shrug. By now they are adamant that we shoot on 16mm.”
The tagline scenes — in which the “The Most Interesting Man”
turns to the camera and states that when he does drink beer, it’s DOS
EQUIS, adding the line that has become an Internet meme, “Stay
thirsty, my friends” — are fi lmed in 35mm with KODAK VISION3
500T Color Negative Film 5219. “That part is the glossiest, sweetest
and richest 35mm we can make,” reveals Schmidt. “The images there
aren’t memories — we want them to be indelible.”
The DOS EQUIS campaign has garnered many awards, most
recently a 2012 Cannes Lions Silver. Schmidt, whose credits also
include spots for Fiat, Cadillac and Miller Genuine Draft, and the
features The Mechanic, I Melt with You, Henry Poole is Here and My
Sassy Girl, says that the “The Most Interesting Man” spots have given
his career a boost, and Miller was nominated for a Director’s Guild of
America Award this year based in part on his work on the DOS EQUIS
campaign.
Photos:
Previous page, Left: Goldsmith as
The Most Interesting Man in the World
(courtesy of Euro RSCG Worldwide).
Center: Schmidt with his Bolex (Photo: Lila Byall)
This page: Goldsmith as The Most Interesting Man in
the World (Courtesy of Euro RSCG Worldwide)
American Cinematographer - September 2012

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