American Cinematographer - November 2008 - (Page 26)

Near right: The local newscast trumpets the discovery of surveillancecamera footage of Megan’s abduction. Far right: Goi (on ladder) checks the frame as (from left) sound recordist Seth Eubanks, camera assistant Senda Bonnet and cocinematographer Keith Eisberg prepare to film the scene. “We put the camera on a tripod and a monopod to get it high enough to approximate the surveillancecam perspective,” recalls Goi. Below: Goi (foreground) and camera assistant Rohan Chitraker check a shot of Perkins. This was one of the few times a practical fixture was repositioned offcamera to help focus the light. glow sticks in my car, and we tossed those in for a little color.” The party sequence was shot during the day, with garbage bags placed over the windows to keep out the light. Working handheld, Eisberg took one side of the room and Harrison took the other. “I wanted the camerawork to feel like the person had walked into that situation and had no idea what would happen, but the scene has a couple of long mobile takes, and certain action had to happen in certain areas at certain times,” says Goi. “We had to work out all those details, and making it look spontaneous was tough, but I think we captured the feel. We got it all done so fast we actually had to wait two hours for night to fall to shoot the last scene, which shows the girls coming to the door.” If the party was the biggest lighting setup, the final 22 minutes of the movie represent the smallest. After kidnapping Amy while she’s working on her video diary, the predator (Dean Waite) takes up the girl’s camera and records her fate, which unfolds partly in his subterranean lair and partly in a forest; the flashlight he carries is the only source for these scenes, and Waite handled the source himself for most of the shots. “The kind of person who commits these crimes is most interested in the amount of distress he’s inflicting on another human being, and given the opportunity, he would naturally shoot these things,” notes Goi. Although Goi had directed other projects, Megan posed a bit of a learning curve because it combined the frank depiction of a grim subject with a young cast that had no film experience; Quinn and Perkins had just turned 18 when the shoot began, and the other kids ranged from 12 to 16. “I wanted to be sure I was talking to them in the right way, and I found it best to treat them like professionals rather than baby them or try to coax a performance out of them,” says Goi. “I said, ‘This is what I need, so this is what you need to get to.’ I had to corral them in a specific direction because many scenes play several minutes with no cuts, so the pacing would depend on the performance. I was very happy with their work. “For scenes of explicit violence, I always made sure the girls understood what would happen, how it would happen and why it was happening, and I made it clear to them and their parents that they should tell me if they were uncomfortable with something. I didn’t want the kids’ enthusiasm or desire to please me to take precedence over their own morals.” Megan was shot and mastered in 16x9, and it was transferred in 16x9 within the 1.85:1 frame because Goi felt “that subtle difference looked more like home-video and news aspect ratios than 1.85.” Throughout the post process, which included a hi-def master at LaserPacific, an HDCam-to-35mm transfer at EFilm, and a 35mm print at Deluxe Laboratories, he was asked to confirm that he did indeed want the image quality to remain as raw as it was. “Very diligent lab people brought up certain scenes and asked if I wanted to ‘fix’ the color, but I chose not to do any color correction in order to preserve the real feel,” he says. That air of authenticity, he notes, helps foster a connection to Megan and Amy that is critical. “If you don’t feel like these girls could be your daughters or your sisters or even girls you once knew, the movie won’t work.” Coupled with that familiarity, the unblinking eye the film turns toward terrible deeds feels especially pitiless. That, says Goi, is the point: “We’ve all seen the way violence is depicted in movies, and most cinematographers, including me, have shot those kinds of images. I didn’t want to avoid [the girls’ suffering] or have it obscured or blurred; I wanted the camera to stare at what it’s like to go through that. Evil perseveres in the world if you allow it to, and to combat evil, you have to know what evil is — you have to stare it in the face.” I 26 November 2008

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American Cinematographer - November 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Letters Short Takes Production Slate Forging a Bond The Making of a President Thunder Down Under Habitat for Inhumanity Saluting Television’s Top Talents Post Focus New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up

American Cinematographer - November 2008

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