American Cinematographer - October 2008 - (Page 18)

Top to bottom: Michael with Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies) in Season 2; Bellick and other inmates in Season 3; Lechero (Robert Wisdom) and a visitor in Season 3; Michael and Alexander (Bill Fichtner) in Season 4. Top right: The Panama prison set. zoom. We also make clever use of objects in the foreground — nothing is flat. I even try to make the background a diagonal! I believe the creative use of diagonals works to enhance tension in the story.” Prison Break shoots a lot of twocamera setups, necessitating careful choreography for operators Randy Nolan and Rick Anderson. As one camera dollies, the other shoots handheld; the lenses are usually 100mm or longer. “Our characters are on the run, and the long lens creates the feeling they are being watched and followed,” says Arguelles. “We had one lens specially made for that purpose, a 300mm Nikkor still lens adapted for the Panaflex [Millennium XL]. It’s a lightweight long lens for handheld work.” With a laugh, he adds, “The assistants who have to hit focus, Willie Estrada, Mathew King and Scott Binkant, hate that lens, and they hate the diagonal dolly for the same reason!” The production’s main lenses are Primo primes and zooms. “I maintain a stop of T4 or T5.6 to get the depth of field we want,” he says. “We use the XL because it’s very versatile — we can quickly change from studio mode to Steadicam mode to handheld,” adds Arguelles. “Plus, it has a very good viewfinder system, and it helps with handheld work to see the subtleties of light.” It’s another shoot day on another episode. We’re on Stage 5 at 20th Century Fox in Los Angeles. The set, a large warehouse, is bathed in amber light, with deep shadows and dark corners. The principal actors are all onstage, and the new shot is set. It’s a shifting handheld move framed against the converging corners of the warehouse. Foreground bodies wipe the frame. The filmmakers will shoot with two cameras, each at a different focal length. “That’s our style,” says Arguelles. “We’re like a big family,” he continues. “There’s a lot of joking on the set, and the lead actors in particular have a wicked sense of humor. We spend a lot of time insulting each other, which helps to keep the spirits up and the atmosphere friendly.” Overall, says Arguelles, he prefers “the minimal use of light. One light is better than two, and two are better than three. Again, that gets back to the influence of Coutard and the French New Wave. You can apply that philosophy, to great effect, to shooting a television show, where you’re running against time from the moment you step on the set. “I’m a risk-taker — we go with deep shadows and dark corners — but there should be a degree of control that comes with the risk. In other words, there must be an artistic concept behind it. We’re fortunate that the producers of Prison Break have given us room to be creative. We try to push the envelope, and you can see the results on the screen.” ¢ 18 October 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - October 2008

American Cinematographer - October 2008 Contents Editor's Note Short Takes: DirecTV's "Fourth Wall" Campaign Production Slate: Prison Break Production Slate: Need for Speed: Undercover Middle East Intrigue Kingdom of Light Memoirs of a Spook Landmark Gains Post Focus: An Overview of the ASC CDL Filmmakers' Forum: Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up: Ross Berryman

American Cinematographer - October 2008

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