American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 24

Top left: As two cousins (Michael Ontkean, left, and Beau Bridges) look on, Matt prepares to decide the future of the family estate. Top right, clockwise from left: B-camera 1st AC Richard Brock, A-camera operator Scott Sakamoto, director Alexander Payne and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, ASC line up a shot. Bottom: Papamichael checks the exposure.

natural-looking. I like to make sure the audience is never really aware of the source. I don’t want the image to look stylized or ‘lit.’ I use all the window sources, and the motivation is always correct — you’ll never see me do two people opposite each other, both backlit. We were dealing with a lot of contrast on this movie, especially in the interiors that opened out to views of the sea. There was a huge range of exposure. We used the full 16 stops of the 5213! Our goal was to try to bring the levels up inside without it looking lit, and to try to control the exteriors with big guns — 18Ks that were either bounced or pushed through big 12-bys. We used Half Grid, Full Grid and, if we bounced, bleached muslin or Ultrabounce. We also made extensive use of Daylight Blue bounces. I started using them on 3:10 to
24 January 2012

Yuma [AC Oct. ’07] and found that they look very natural. It’s a little closer to the look of blue skies, and it feels like a natural bounce off the water. For closeups outside, we often handheld 4-by-8s or 4-by-4s and had people walking with white or Daylight Blue bounce. What kind of set does Payne maintain? Papamichael: Alexander creates an intimate atmosphere. It’s very important to him that everyone feels the filmmaking process is not a machine, and that we are not making a product. He literally knows the name of every driver and every security guard on the first day. We didn’t have hordes of hair-andmakeup people, and last touches were forbidden. We were just making this small film in a very genuine way. There was no video village and no video assist.
American Cinematographer

On the set, we had the operator, the assistant, the boom operator, the actors and Alexander. His style is very economical. There was usually a brief conversation about how we were going to cover the scene, and then we usually did three to seven takes. Everyone was open to reacting to what the actors did and taking advantage of the moment. We crafted it piece by piece. It’s the kind of filmmaking I really like to do. You’ve got another intimate drama in theaters now, too, Clooney’s Ides of March. Papamichael: On big-budget studio projects, you can get some satisfaction from pulling off this gigantic enterprise, but on a movie like The Descendants, you feel like you’ve told a piece of the story every day. I like being able to bounce back and forth between large and small projects, but movies like The Descendants and Ides of March are a little closer to my heart.

TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1 3-perf Super 35mm Panaflex Platinum Panavision Primo Kodak Vision3 500T 5219, 200T 5213 Digital Intermediate

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American Cinematographer - January 2012

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

American Cinematographer - January 2012
Contents
Editor’s Note
President’s Desk
Short Takes: String Theory
Production Slate: The Descendants • ASC Awards Preview • HPA Awards
Cold Case
Animal Instincts
Lord of War
Go with the Flow
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Rodrigo Prieto
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - American Cinematographer - January 2012
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 1
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 2
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Contents
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 4
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 5
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 6
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 7
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Editor’s Note
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 9
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - President’s Desk
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 11
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Short Takes: String Theory
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 13
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 14
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 15
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 16
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 17
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 18
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 19
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Production Slate: The Descendants • ASC Awards Preview • HPA Awards
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 21
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 22
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 23
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 24
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 25
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 26
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 27
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 28
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 29
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 30
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 31
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Cold Case
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 33
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 34
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 35
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 36
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 37
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American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 43
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 44
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 45
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 46
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 47
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Animal Instincts
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 49
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 50
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 51
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American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 58
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 59
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 60
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 61
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Lord of War
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 63
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 64
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 65
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 66
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 67
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 68
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 69
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 70
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 71
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 72
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 73
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Go with the Flow
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 75
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 76
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 77
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 78
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 79
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 80
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American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 84
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 85
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 86
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 87
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - New Products & Services
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 89
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 90
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 91
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 92
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 93
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 94
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 95
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 96
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 97
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - International Marketplace
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Classified Ads
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Ad Index
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 101
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Clubhouse News
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - 103
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - ASC Close-Up: Rodrigo Prieto
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - January 2012 - Cover4
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