American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 8

Editor’s Note
Few of the movies we’ve covered this year have generated as many queries as In Time, which marks the first time Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC has shot a feature with digital cameras. With nine Academy Award nominations, an ASC Lifetime Achievement Award and many other honors decorating his résumé, Deakins has become the E.F. Hutton of cinematography circles: when he talks, people listen. He certainly doesn’t mince words in Jay Holben’s coverage of the sci-fi thriller (“Time Bandit,” page 32), weighing in on Arri’s Alexa and where he stands in the deathless “film vs. digital” debate. Declaring the Alexa “a game-changer,” he observes, “This moment has been coming for a long time, really, but with the Alexa I believe digital has finally surpassed film in terms of quality.” He adds, “Sometimes I really get annoyed with the garbage I hear about film vs. digital. Most of it is simply nostalgia and silly thinking…. In my opinion, there are now more advantages than disadvantages to digital cinematography.” If digital formats have become a prevailing trend, so, too, has 3-D cinematography. Continuing our ongoing coverage of this topic, we sought out Glen MacPherson, ASC, CSC, who used 3-D to amp up the action in director Paul W.S. Anderson’s energetic remake of The Three Musketeers. MacPherson expresses his enthusiasm for the format emphatically, telling New York correspondent Iain Stasukevich (“All for One,” page 46) that he greatly prefers the 3-D version of Musketeers to the 2-D version that will also be released: “I spent several weeks grading the movie in 3-D, then I took a quick run up to the 2-D theater, and it was a huge disappointment. It’s amazing how you sort of lose the scope of all those great locations.” For those of you planning to shoot 3-D with more modest resources, Paris correspondent Benjamin B serves up a piece packed with tips and techniques he absorbed during a week-long workshop supervised by cinematographer Geoff Boyle, FBKS (“3-D on a Budget,” page 60). To learn how movies were shot when film was an unrivaled format, look no further than Jon Silberg’s piece on Blow Out (1981), a thriller that teamed Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC with one of his favorite directors, Brian De Palma (“Caught on Tape,” page 68). Zsigmond reveals how he compensated for film’s limitations with some radical strategies. “Brian is a stylist, and he’s very experimental,” the cinematographer observes. “He sticks his neck out on movies that sometimes get bad reviews because the [critics] say he’s concentratingtoo much on the visuals.” But, he adds, “Brian always wants to do the kinds of things cinematographers love to do!” This issue also offers a salute to this year’s Emmy-nominated cinematographers (“Sharp Shooting,” page 78), whose ranks include 10 ASC members.
Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.

Stephen Pizzello Executive Editor

American Cinematographer - November 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - November 2011