American Cinematographer - December 2008 - (Page 29)

L ess than a week into production on the feature Milk, Harris Savides, ASC, and director Gus Van Sant decided the vérité style they had adopted wasn’t working and they would have to switch gears. The documentary approach certainly had made sense. Set in the 1970s, Milk charts the last eight years in the life of Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), a seminal figure in the gayrights movement, and rather than re-creating key moments from Milk’s story, Van Sant planned to insert archival footage of the actual events. The stock footage came in a variety of formats, including 16mm film, 35mm and video, and instead of manipulating them to look more alike, Van Sant wanted to build on the differences and, in a sense, make that the film’s style. “We got in touch with some really wonderful documentary cameramen who had worked during the ’60s and ’70s and were known for their vérité style, and our original idea was to [hire several] and rotate them throughout the shoot,” recalls Savides. “We told them to shoot as if they were capturing a political rally back in the day.” After watching a few days of dailies, however, Van Sant and Savides decided Milk’s story would be better served by a different approach. “It looked like we were trying too hard — it was form over content,” says Savides. On Van Sant and Savides’ previous collaborations, Last Days (AC Aug. ’05), Gerry (AC April ’02), Elephant (AC Oct. ’03) and Finding Forrester, improvisation was a key component of the style, but the filmmakers always had aesthetic mandates in mind before production began. Hence the static camera, long takes and wide masters of Last Days, and the traveling shots and fluid camerawork in Elephant — “little rules that become a kind of thread [through] the film,” says Savides. After abandoning their documentary mandate on Milk, the Photos courtesy of Focus Features. Lighting diagram courtesy of Steve Condiotti. Opposite: Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) enjoys a supportive crowd in a scene from Milk. This page, top: Castro Camera, the shop Milk opens in San Francisco, is a key location in the story, and the filmmakers were able to secure the actual location for these scenes. Middle: Milk chats with longtime partner Scott Smith (James Franco). Bottom: Director Gus Van Sant (left) and Harris Savides, ASC on location. American Cinematographer 29

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2008

American Cinematographer - December 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Short Takes: True Blood Titles Tomorrow’s Technology Production Slate: Closer to Truth A High Price for Progress Rags to Riches 1-Man Riot Squad The State of the Art: An Update Post Focus: Deluxe New York New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index 2008 AC Index ASC Membership Roster Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up: Donald McAlpine

American Cinematographer - December 2008

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