American Cinematographer - October 2009 - 8

Editor’s Note t’s not often that we devote two AC covers to the same TV show, but Mad Men has earned the extra attention. Our first article on the acclaimed series detailed the work of cinematographer Phil Abraham, who is now among the show’s directors. As this issue went to press, Christopher Manley, ASC, the director of photography on Mad Men’s second and third seasons, was in the running for an Emmy Award for his work on the second season. In late June, when the production was midway through filming its new season, AC was granted access to the super-secretive set, where plot points were being guarded like bars of gold in Fort Knox. Nevertheless, senior editor Rachael K. Bosley’s interview with Manley (“Pitch Perfect,” page 30) presents an impressive overview of both his general strategies and his approach to specific sets and shots, and Manley’s crew provided us with a detailed lighting diagram of one of the show’s main sets, Don Draper’s home. Manley notes that Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner is open to visual approaches that veer from established patterns: “It was a relief to know that the rules, so to speak, of the visual language of the show are not completely hard and fast. Matt’s very intuitive, and he’s open to breaking those rules if it works and it’s interesting.” No rule was sacred on Bronson, a ferociously offbeat indie that impressed attendees at this year’s Sundance Film Festival (“Hard Time,” page 44). The film creates an unconventional portrait of England’s most notorious prison inmate, Michael Peterson (a.k.a. “Charles Bronson”), whose violent transgressions have kept him behind bars for 34 years. Shot primarily in Super 16mm, the production reunited director Nicolas Winding Refn with cinematographer Larry Smith, BSC, whose bold lighting and lens choices lend the picture its “guerrilla grandeur.” Both filmmakers acknowledge that they set out to raise a ruckus. As Smith notes, “I wasn’t sure what kind of film it would be, but we were definitely trying to make it stand out.” Kinder, gentler themes grace Jane Campion’s period drama Bright Star, which chronicles the romance between the great Romantic poet John Keats and the “girl next door,” Fanny Brawne. Cinematographer Greig Fraser, who recently moved to Los Angeles from his native Australia, is responsible for the film’s ravishing images, but he says Campion’s first priority is always character. “Jane has a very strong visual style, but she always wants the visual to support what’s going on with the characters,” he tells Bosley (“A Lyrical Love,” page 58). “The actors’ comfort with the camera is her top priority, and that influences everything, even the choice of crew.” This issue’s special emphasis on lighting — and risk-taking — continues in our coverage of the sci-fi thriller Surrogates, in which humans carry out their lives through robot proxies (“Vicarious Thrills,” page 66). Cinematographer Oliver Wood fashioned a futuristic, high-gloss look for director Jonathan Mostow, who sang the cinematographer’s praises in his interview with New York correspondent Iain Stasukevich: “Good filmmaking doesn’t call for a rigid thought process. One reason I love working with Oliver is that he has tremendous instincts; he gets what’s going on in the moment and works from gut instinct, and that’s how I like to work. I go into every scene with a plan, but I’m always ready to see something unexpected.” I Stephen Pizzello Executive Editor Photo by Douglas Kirkland.
American Cinematographer - October 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - October 2009
