American Cinematographer - November 2012 - 53

Clockwise from far left: U.S. Embassy workers (from left) Cora Lijek (Clea DuVall), Bob Anders (Tate Donovan), Kathy Stafford (Kerry Bishé, back to camera), Joe Stafford (Scoot McNairy), Mark Lijek (Christopher Denham) and Lee Schatz (Rory Cochrane) confer about the volatile situation outside the embassy; CIA agent Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck, left) meets with John Chambers (John Goodman) in Hollywood; Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC and Affleck discuss a setup as A-camera dolly grip Chuck Crivier looks on; Mendez and his boss, Jack O’Donnell (Bryan Cranston), head to a briefing at CIA headquarters.

How these events might have unfolded in Tehran, Washington and Hollywood is dramatized in Argo, shot by Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC and directed by Ben Affleck, who also portrays Mendez. Prieto had worked with Affleck once before, when the actor starred in Kevin Macdonald’s State of Play (AC April ’09), and in their new relationship as cinematographer and director, he found Affleck to be “a consummate director and a very active collaborator. Throughout our seven weeks of prep, Ben had very clear visual concepts and was very open to exploring the ideas and proposals I made in terms of different textures and filming styles for the story. He is also very interested in learning new techniques, and he assimilates information and techniques immediately. I would show him something once

in prep, and weeks later, he would remember the details of how it was achieved.” When they commenced prep, their first concern was finding a look that would unify the Iran scenes, which were to be shot in a mix of locations in Los Angeles and Istanbul. By contrast, the Hollywood scenes and most of the Washington scenes were to be shot in L.A., the former on location and the latter in sets built in the basement of the Los Angeles Times building. All formats were on the table at the outset; the only certainty was that the final aspect ratio would be 2.40:1. For Iran, Affleck wanted a documentary feel, with handheld camerawork, to convey the tension and instability of the Americans’ circumstances. “I suggested shooting Super 16mm for that,” says Prieto, “but when we compared those tests to the looks we were exploring for the other parts of the story, it didn’t quite hold up in terms of sharpness, even when we tested giving it a little extra sharpness in the DI. The next thing I tested, and what we ended up doing, was shooting 2-perf Super
www.theasc.com

35mm with Kodak [Vision2 500T] 5260 pushed 1 stop. The grain texture was very similar to Super 16, partly due to blowing up the image to achieve a 2.40:1 aspect ratio, but it was a sharper image. The push processing also added grain, in addition to enhancing contrast and saturation. Compared to Super 16, the 2-perf grain was harder, rougher. It was a strong look, and we liked it.” He and Affleck decided to further delineate the Iran material by capturing it with spherical lenses and using anamorphic lenses for Hollywood and Washington. “I used mostly Zeiss Super Speed primes for Iran, but because they don’t include some intermediate focal lengths, such as 40mm, one of my favorites, we used some [Zeiss] Ultra Primes as well.” For Hollywood, where Mendez enlists Chambers and a movie producer, Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin), to help him create a cover, Affleck wanted to situate the camera style squarely in the period by referencing films of the 1970s, especially John Cassavetes’ The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976). “That movie inspired our use of zooms combined
November 2012 53

Unit photography by Claire Folger and Keith Bernstein. Photos and frame grabs courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

http://www.theasc.com

American Cinematographer - November 2012

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