American Cinematographer - October 2008 - (Page 63)

Throughout the shoot, th e film makers were given hi-def dailies. Lubezki lam ent s, " In hi-def you cannot see the strength of your negative - you cannot tell how you're exposing, and you cannot judge focus. It was horrible for me. I told [the Coens] to tell me if it was okay, and once a week, I went to the lab to watch on e or two takes on film," During the digital interm ediate (DI) at EFilm, color ist Steven J. Scott finessed a look-up table to simulate "a little bit of silver retentio n, making the blacks blacker and the colors - like all tho se horrible red shirts - slightly desaturated," says Lubezki. "We also wanted to make the skin tones a little harsher." Also assisting in the process were Deluxe color tim er Jim Passon, who served as a consultant, and Beverly Wood, Deluxe and EFilm's executive vice president of technical services and client relation s. Given his minimalist approach to th e lightin g and th e veritable absence of visual effects in the film, Lubezki confesses he is "always going to wonder if it would have been better not to do a OJ. But you have to know that from the beginning. It's not that I get lazy, but I do thin gs in a simp ler way during the shoo t - I don't cut the light on a certain wall, and I don't make a sea of flags to try and cut a soft source. "I'm glad I'm at an age where I can feel secure looking for simplicity from the start;' he mu ses. "Still, I would sometimes th ink, 'I hope I don't destroy the dreams of these two guys I respect so much.' I couldn't resist meeting the Coens and working with them , and I love them to death ' Like mo st of the Coens' films, notes O'leary, Bum After Reading "is about characters we should think could actually exist, although they're on the edge of what we know or can believe. Th e lighting and the cinematography shouldn't reach past th em and create an unrealistic world." In oth er words, it's just a man chopping carrots in a kitchen even if the sunlight is from six HMIs and the man is George Cloon ey. Even if it's not so sim ple after all.• TECHNICAL SPECS 1.85:1 35mm Arricam Lite Arri and Angenieux lenses Kodak Vision2 Expression SOOT 5229 Digital Intermediate Printed on Kodak Vision Premier 2393 -============================== 63 http://www.bron-kobold-usa.com http://www.bron-kobold-usa.com

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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