American Cinematographer - November 2007 - (Page 26)

Harlee (Amanda Peet) shows an interest in the single dad and his unique son. by a helicopter Dennis believes is a Martian spacecraft. These two scenes were the only ones that required greenscreen work, and only one other set was built, the basement level of Gordon’s home, where Dennis’ room is located. Otherwise, the production took advantage of practical locations around Vancouver (standing in for an unnamed Northern California town), and Yeoman credits production designer Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski with bringing out the best in each locale. “We put a lot of energy into looking at locations, and whenever Hugo would design a set, Menno and I were closely involved. We also tried to give Hugo as much information as possible about how we planned to shoot each scene. It was a very close collaboration among the three of us.” Building his crew locally, Yeoman made one of his first hires by selecting gaffer Chris Meakes, with whom he had previously worked on a number of commercials. “Chris brought a lot to the film and was often one step ahead of me,” says the cinematographer. “He has a great eye for lighting and it was a real pleasure to collaborate with him.” To head the grip department, Yeoman called on Mike Kirilenko, who “came recommended by production. Mike and his crew were great; they worked really hard and always had a good attitude.” Another recommenda- tion from production was A-camera 1st AC Patrick Stepien, who was “an excellent focus puller and an overall positive force on the set. He’s a character with a great sense of humor and the crew had a lot of fun with him.” Approaching the film as primarily a single-camera show, Yeoman often operated himself, but operator Jim Van Dijk was on hand for the occasional two-camera setup and to operate the Steadicam. Assisted by focus puller Ian Seabrook, Van Dijk was also sent out regularly to pick up second-unit shots. Renting from Panavision Vancouver, the filmmakers’ camera package comprised a Panaflex Platinum, a set of Primo primes, and a 17.5-75mm T2.3 Primo zoom. “The primes were our lenses of choice,” says Yeoman. “We used the 40mm a lot, and for close-ups we often used the 75mm.” Except for an occasional Polarizer, Yeoman eschewed filtration on the lens. Describing the camera movement throughout the film, Yeoman recalls, “We didn’t do a lot of handheld. There was a fair amount of dolly work, and the grips had designed a lightweight jib arm called the telejib that came in handy. Jim Van Dijk was an excellent Steadicam operator, and I knew that he could be relied upon to find a great shot.” Yeoman and Meyjes storyboarded most of the film during prep, but on set they often let Cusack do what he felt was most natural and the blocking often changed. “We shot several of John’s scenes on the Steadicam for flexibility and didn’t worry about marks,” says Yeoman. The production also used a Technocrane to achieve a handful of shots, an opportunity Yeoman cherished. “I love the Technocrane — it opens up all kinds of possibilities for camera movement,” he enthuses. For one shot that follows Liz through Gordon’s house, “the camera was on the Technocrane outside the house, looking through the window of the kitchen on the second floor where Liz starts. Then, as she goes down the steps to Dennis’ room in the basement, we followed her through the windows, tracking over and telescoping in to be closer to her.” Gordon’s house presented its fair share of challenges. Yeoman recalls, “It had bright white walls, which are always difficult. I like to use soft lighting sources, so we needed large cutters to keep the light off the walls as much as possible. Another restriction was that we were not allowed to hang anything for fear of damage, so all of our equipment had to work from the floor.” Further complicating matters, the house was situated atop a steep hill surrounded by trees, making it nearly impossible to set up fixtures outside the windows, and a swimming pool claimed the space outside of the kitchen and dining-room windows. “I often tried to schedule shots in those two rooms for morning, when I knew the light would be coming through the windows,” says Yeoman. On the rare occasion when the crew could place lights outside, Yeoman favored 6K Pars, which the electrical department also kept stationed on the building’s flat roof. “We originally put those Pars on the roof to pound through the skylights, but it often gets so dark during the day in Vancouver that we ended up using them to light the dense forest for shots inside the house looking out,” notes Yeoman. “Even during the day we sometimes had almost no light out there!” Throughout the shoot, the cine- 26 November 2007

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American Cinematographer - November 2007 Contents Editor’s Note Global Village DVD Playback Production Slate Deconstructing Bob Dylan Honoring a Lost Friend Night Terrors Losing Control TV’s Top-Rated Short Takes Post Focus New Products & Services Points East International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up

American Cinematographer - November 2007

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