American Cinematographer - December 2007 - (Page 20)

Hank, his father (Albert Finney), and Andy’s wife (Marisa Tomei) wait for news. ing, because it fit the mood of what was happening.” For the final shot, which shows Finney walking down a hospital corridor into the sunlight, “I had four or five Nine-light Maxi-Brutes behind a frosted window, and they were cranked up on a dimmer as Albert walked down the hall. As they started to come up, I opened the iris up remotely. The doors on the side [of the shot] needed some help, so in post we created a power window and kept the middle of the frame the same, but brought up the sides even more.” Interiors were mostly shot in a studio, including the jewelry-store set, which was matched to a real location in Bayside, Queens. “I assumed that would be a location because of the inand-out quality of the scene, but Sidney loves to shoot in the studio,” says Fortunato. “I’m actually glad we did, because last summer it was 100 degrees out there.” He adds that Devil is the only film he has shot that does not include a single night exterior. “Night exteriors are definitely a different ballgame in HD; I use Par cans on a Condor instead of big lights — a tip I got from Dean Semler [ASC, ACS],” he notes. One interior location was an East Side high-rise apartment where a drug dealer administers fixes to Andy. The apartment’s floor-to-ceiling windows made this a difficult location for Fortunato. “When Andy walks in, it’s almost a 360-degree pan,” he says. “He walks in the door, we bring him into the kitchen, he walks into the living room — which is all windows — then the office, and down the hall. I was able to do that with a remote iris control, and I lit each area the way I could, but I didn’t have to balance it so the whole shot worked in one f-stop. I believe it went from an f2 at the door to an f8 in the living room and back to about an f4 when he went down the hall. People say, ‘Can’t you do that with film?’ You can, but you’re going to sweat until you see it in dailies.” Shooting in a studio facilitates the legendarily fast director’s favored cross-shooting method. “Sidney likes to shoot both sides of a conversation at the same time, which is very uncomfortable for a cinematographer,” says Fortunato. “There are times when it works and I’m totally happy with it — usually when people are far enough away from each other — and there times when it doesn’t. For scenes set in Andy’s office, we shot with two cameras a lot. It was in the studio, I had control, and I was able to keep the moodiness and style of lighting I wanted in two directions at once. Outside, on sunny days, it was hard.” Lumet’s reliance on Fortunato’s efficiency means the cinematographer has to think hard before discarding an approach and starting over. The opening scene in Devil provided just such an occasion. It finds Andy and his wife, Gina (Marisa Tomei), naked and coupling in a hotel room. “Photographically it was a challenge, because you had to see everything that was going on, but you couldn’t see too much,” says the cinematographer. “I lit it logically in the reverse, from her side. It was a very sourcey type of light, like a window off camera, but it just didn’t look good. It was the only time I said, ‘Sidney, this isn’t working, I have to relight this.’ I said the hell with logic and lit from the other direction.” Fortunato marvels at Lumet’s ability to work to such a high level and keep shooting days to 10 hours or less. He also admires the director’s willingness to overcome preconceived notions about new technology and equipment, even if it takes some struggle. In one scene, a complicated move was planned across a table into a very tight close-up on Finney. “Sidney wanted us to do that by putting an operator on a blanket and pulling him across the table. The grip and I said suggested a Technocrane, but I think Sidney had once had a bad experience with a remote crane, and he just didn’t want to use it. We explained it to him, and I could see he was horrified at the prospect. But we basically showed up with it on the day, and he fell in love with it, because when we went in for the coverage we just swung it across the table and the camera was in place. I could see his eyes light up. After that, we used it every other day, sometimes twice a day!” Fortunato recently used the Genesis to shoot the pilot for the series Gossip Girl. “At this point, I almost prefer shooting HD over film,” he notes. “I love the immediacy of it, the interaction between me and the monitor. It’s different than looking through the viewfinder; it’s right there in front of you. All the talent and knowledge you have can go right into it at that moment. It’s painting with light on the monitor, and the canvas is alive.” ¢ 20 December 2007

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

American Cinematgrapher - December 2007 Contents Editor's Note DVD Playback Production Slate Irretrievable Deeds Blood on the Streets Fantastic Voyage Promise Fulfilled Short Takes Post Focus Tomorrow's Technology New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index 2007 AC Index ASC Membership Roster Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up

American Cinematographer - December 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.