American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 26

Hedge-fund manager Robert Miller (Richard Gere) meets with his daughter (Brit Marling) as his troubles deepen in the drama Arbitrage.

I

Changing Fortunes By Jean Oppenheimer

Part thriller, part cautionary tale, Arbitrage presents a man, Robert Miller (Richard Gere), who seems to have the perfect life. Handsome, charming and respected, he runs a successful hedge-fund company, donates millions to charity and has a loving family. Behind the scenes, however, he faces financial ruin and possible prosecution. A risky investment proved a disaster, forcing him to borrow to cover his losses and then cook the company books to conceal the mistake. If he can sell his trading empire to an interested banker in time, nobody will be the wiser, but the banker is stalling, and Robert’s creditors are losing patience. The financial mess is only one of Robert’s looming troubles. He is also carrying on an affair, and one night, he falls asleep at the wheel, crashing the car and killing his mistress. He flees the scene and tries to cover his tracks. The film’s early scenes, such as Robert’s birthday dinner at home and his conversations with his daughter (Brit Marling), are bathed in warm light. “It suggests a feeling of emotional intimacy and closeness, and yellow is also associated with wealth and power,” says French director of photography Yorick Le Saux, who teamed with director Nicholas Jarecki for his U.S. feature debut.
26 October 2012

Yellow remains a signature color throughout the film, especially in terms of lighting. Working with gaffer Shawn Greene, Le Saux developed a plan that relied mainly on tungsten lights, most of which were gelled with ¼ CTS. “We tended toward 1Ks for edgelight and backlight and China balls for keylight, and we used a lot of natural muslin on everything,” Greene recalls. Although the car accident marks a particularly dark point in the story, it, too, is bathed in yellow light, courtesy of sodiumvapor streetlamps that the filmmakers had rigged with their own bulbs. For this sequence, Le Saux shot Kodak Vision2 Expression 500T 5229. (He shot some other night scenes on Vision3 500T 5219.) Greene’s crew retrofitted the streetlamp casings to accept 1K, 400-watt and 100-watt sodium bulbs. “My crew also built a few custom China balls using muslin and a variety of sodium bulbs,” adds the gaffer. “The lights are small and really powerful — they pull 10 amps — and you can place two on a putt-putt and position them way down the road or in the woods nearby. You don’t need a big generator, and you don’t have to run all that cable.” A few Par cans gelled with ¼ CTO and ¼ Magenta were used “to create hot points of light in the trees that played out-of-focus behind the actors,” says Le Saux. Greene laughs as he recounts the
American Cinematographer

producers’ reaction when they noticed how few lights were set for the crash scene. “They didn’t think it was sufficient and asked me to put up a Condor. When Yorick saw the Condor, he said, ‘What’s that for?’ I said, ‘Nothing.’ We never needed it.” To capture the action, a process trailer holding two Arricam Lites (one on a 75mm prime, the other on a 135mm prime) preceded the car, and Le Saux, who served as the A-camera operator, stood in the trees on the passenger side, handholding another Lite and using the long end of a zoom lens. Two Eyemos were buried in the dirt close to him, and another Eyemo was rigged inside the car. (Because the car didn’t move as planned, the buried Eyemos got nothing; meanwhile, the Eyemo inside the car jammed.) After the car came to rest, Le Saux moved around it, continuing to shoot. Smoke was pumped in, and additional sodium lights were lined up along the road, hidden behind bushes and edging trees to help create depth. “The idea was more to light the trees and the road, not necessarily the actors or the car,” explains Le Saux. After fleeing the scene, Robert reaches a gas station and phones Jimmy (Nate Parker), a young man with whom he has a mysterious connection. Jimmy picks him up and drives him home, unaware of the trouble Miller has gotten himself into. Le Saux continued to use 5229 for this scene,

Arbitrage photos by Myles Aronowitz, courtesy of Roadside Attractions.



American Cinematographer - October 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - October 2012

American Cinematographer - October 2012
Contents
Editor’s Note
President’s Desk
Short Takes: ASC Andrew Laszlo Heritage Awards
Production Slate: Chasing IceArbitrage
Dead Man’s Hand
A Very Tough Beat
Payback Time
Hitchcock Blonde
Post Focus: Blinding
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Robert Primes
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - American Cinematographer - October 2012
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 1
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 2
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Contents
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 4
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 5
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 6
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 7
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Editor’s Note
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 9
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - President’s Desk
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 11
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Short Takes: ASC Andrew Laszlo Heritage Awards
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 13
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 14
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 15
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 16
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 17
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 18
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 19
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Production Slate: Chasing IceArbitrage
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 21
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 22
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 23
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 24
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 25
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 26
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 27
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 28
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 29
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 30
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 31
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 32
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 33
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Dead Man’s Hand
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 35
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 36
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 37
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 38
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 39
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 40
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 41
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 42
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 43
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 44
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 45
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 46
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 47
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 48
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 49
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - A Very Tough Beat
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 51
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 52
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 53
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 54
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 55
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 56
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 57
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 58
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 59
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 60
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 61
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 62
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 63
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Payback Time
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 65
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 66
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 67
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 68
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 69
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 70
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 71
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 72
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 73
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 74
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 75
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Hitchcock Blonde
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 77
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 78
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 79
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 80
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 81
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 82
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 83
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 84
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 85
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Post Focus: Blinding
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 87
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 88
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 89
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - New Products & Services
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 91
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 92
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 93
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - International Marketplace
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Classified Ads
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Ad Index
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 97
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Clubhouse News
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - 99
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - ASC Close-Up: Robert Primes
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - October 2012 - Cover4
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