American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48I

Hauer, for the most part, shot on KODAK VISION3 250D Color
Negative Film 5207. “We tested some different stocks, but the
5207 [Film] had the best rendering of grain, and I knew that I
could utilize it for most every time of day — from early morning to
early evening.” KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219
was used to capture just a few night interior and exterior shots lit
by kerosene lamps.
The 5207 Film also captured the warmth of image seen
throughout almost the entire fi lm. “In the area of New Mexico
where we shot, the landscapes are pretty epic, and the color of
that environment is naturally quite warm,” Hauer explains. “All
those warm tones are inherently on our emulsion. We embraced
that warmth.” The cinematographer worked closely with gaffer
Phillip Matarrese and key grip Juergen Heinemann, utilizing 6K
HMI Par light sources bounced off unbleached muslin, adding
any fi nal tweaks in the DI with Dowdell. “We also sometimes just
used that muslin to refl ect in the natural ambience the sun itself
was giving us, to carry the feel of the desert fl oor,” a tip Hauer had
gotten from Robert Elswit, ASC at a recent Sundance lab. “If you
want the look of sunlight, nothing beats the real thing!”
The fi lm was shot in and around Abiquiu, New Mexico, home
image that lacked any texture.” The two shot test footage to
push through a DI, eventually fi nding John Dowdell at New York’s
Goldcrest Post to bring out what they were looking for. “Goldcrest
gave us a great scan and captured the grain and the details, the
organic nature of fi lm, which is what we wanted.”
The fi lm was shot on a single PANAVISION PLATINUM 2-perf
camera with a PANAFLEX G2 as a backup. Hauer acted as the sole
operator, supported by a local crew out of New Mexico, headed
by 1st AC Chris Flurry. “The crew did a great job — especially at
being able to keep the gate clean, which was no small feat in the
environment we were working — and they worked so fast. They
were amazing.”
The PLATINUM was outfi tted with a set of PANAVISION
UltraSpeed MKII Lenses, as well as a “Panavised” COOKE
24-250mm T4.0 zoom lens. “The 40mm UltraSpeed had a
warmth we really liked,” Hauer says, “and the COOKE zoom,
besides using it as a long telephoto, had a warmth, a ‘creaminess’
which worked well for us.”
to famed painter Georgia O’Keeffe. “It really makes the job
of a cinematographer much easier when the locations are so
appropriate and stunning,” says Hauer.
Most of the fi lming was centered around a stark cabin which
portrays the McCurry homestead, one found at the end of a rough
two-mile dirt road with no electricity and little cell phone access.
“When it rained, the road would turn to thick clay,” recalls Moshé.
“It was a rough existence there during our 18-day shoot. Making
the fi lm there was really like living in a western.”
Photos:
Top left page: A scene with Clare Bowen and Barlow Jacobs (Photo: Rob Hauer).
Left page, center: DP Rob Hauer (Photo: Philip DeJong).
Top right page: Martha McCurry before the funeral (Photo: Rob Hauer).
Right page, center: Hauer tails Jacobs in the film’s final shootout, the only
sequence shot handheld (Photo: Philip DeJong).
American Cinematographer - September 2012

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