American Cinematographer - November 2007 - (Page 40)

Deconstructing Bob Dylan A rogue’s gallery of portrait shots showcases the different faces of Dylan. Top row, from left: Woody (Marcus Carl Franklin), an 11-year-old musical prodigy; Jude (Blanchett), a rock ’n’ roll provocateur; and Jack (Christian Bale), a folk singerturned-preacher. Bottom row, from left: Robby (Heath Ledger), a movie star whose family life begins to disintegrate; Billy the Kid (Richard Gere), a recluse drawn out of hiding; and Arthur Rimbaud (Ben Whishaw), a poet with transgressive appeal. Neorealism to pursue a more subjective approach to moviemaking that revealed the interior world of his characters (epitomized by 8½, which became a specific reference for I’m Not There). On the American side, they looked to experimental films from the 1970s, such as Richard Lester’s Petulia (photographed by Nicolas Roeg) and counterculture Westerns like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (shot by Conrad Hall, ASC), McCabe and Mrs. Miller (photographed by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC) and Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (shot by John Coquillon). Lachman and Haynes believed that the more the various looks could be built into the negative, the more authentic the picture would feel. They eventually opted to finish I’m Not There with the digital-intermediate (DI) process, in great part because the mixture of formats could have posed considerable difficulty in the photochemical world on a compressed post schedule. However, they committed to delineating the film’s worlds by using different emulsions, formats, lighting, filtration, camera movement and framing techniques, rather than building the looks digitally after the fact. For Dylan aficionados, the most familiar-looking portions of I’m Not There will be those concerning Jude (Blanchett), who looks like the Dylan who was the subject of D.A. Pennebaker’s 1967 documentary Dont Look Back. According to Lachman, this section was chiefly inspired by Fellini’s surreal, autobiographical 8½ (shot by Gianni di Venanzo), in which Marcello Mastroianni portrays an internationally renowned movie director who must look inward as fans, journalists and associates make increasingly stressful demands on him. “We specifically referenced the opening sequence of 8½, when Marcello begins to feel claustrophobic and suffocated as he’s caught in a traffic jam,” the cinematographer says. “In our portrayal, we show Jude trapped in a similar situation.” 40 November 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - November 2007

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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