American Cinematographer - October 2008 - (Page 34)

Middle East Intrigue Right: Small fixtures illuminate DiCaprio as he taps on a keyboard. Below: Aerial footage ostensibly captured by unmanned Predator drones was shot by John Marzano with gear provided by Flying Pictures Ltd.: a gyrostabilized Wescam 35, which was mounted on the nose of a helicopter, and Cineflex’s highdefinition V14 surveillance system, which hung from the helicopter’s side. existing ambience.” To achieve the “rugged, dirty look” Scott wanted in Morocco, Witt and Max worked together to incorporate “lots of practicals, lots of bare bulbs — very primitive fixtures,” says Max. A case in point is Ferris’ torture at the hands of Al Qaeda, which occurs in a windowless room deep inside an ancient prison near Rabat. “We used two very strong flashlights to light the whole scene,” recalls Witt. The terrorists carry in the flashlights and then set them down on the floor during the interrogation. “We didn’t try to hide them,” continues Witt. “It was a small room, and we were running three cameras, so depending on where we were shooting, we just changed the angle a little. The only additional thing we did was use bounce cards to give some of the actors a little front light.” The filmmakers pumped in smoke to augment the location’s dusty atmosphere. “We used a lot of smoke throughout the shoot, but less than Ridley’s done before, especially on interiors, because he wanted to avoid a commercial-style look,” says the cinematographer. However, one of the drawbacks of smoke is that it diminishes contrast; Witt notes, “Ridley likes contrast that’s so strong it’s almost black-andwhite. If you have a lot of backlight and create shafts of light, smoke looks good, but on exteriors, it makes everything flatter, so you have to be very careful.” Another torture scene, Ferris’ flashback to a brutal interrogation he witnessed in Yemen, relies on the greenish cast of uncorrected fluorescent light. “We lit that scene mainly with one fluorescent hanging in the middle of the room,” says Witt, “and we had a small fluorescent practical off to the side lighting Leonardo. We left things on the green side to make it uglier.” The filmmakers seldom took the time to correct existing fixtures. For nighttime street scenes, they used practical streetlamps as they found them. Witt recalls, “Ridley would say, ‘Well, they’re yellow lights. It’s normal! Why would we make them blue or use moonlight instead?’ He really didn’t want this movie to look like a movie.” When the production built sets inside locations, Witt worked closely with Max in determining the color and reflectance of wall surfaces. “We worked very hand-inglove,” says Max. “Although we were in real locations, we redecorated them to suit our needs. For instance, 34 October 2008 Helicopter photo courtesy of Flying Pictures Ltd.

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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