American Cinematographer - January 2014 - 28

AMC_0114_p022_p034_00 prod slate 11/23/13 4:45 PM Page 28

Gaffer Janosch
Voss provides
fill with a
China ball
during a walkand-talk.

entire family in jeopardy. Brian had this
beautiful idea that rather than pushing in
on Hans or playing the shot in close-up, we
should pull out very gently from Hans and
Rosa, who is trying to comfort him. We see
the two of them framed in their little world
and can sense how trapped they are.
How did you approach the
Kristallnacht sequence?
Ballhaus: That sequence is another
instance where we went handheld for
emotional impact. Fortunately, [A-camera
operator] Florian Emmerich is particularly
gifted in that capacity, and we could shoot
most of this difficult sequence in a very
dynamic way. The exception is the last
image, a high-angle shot we did with a 30foot Technocrane to [suggest] Death's
point-of-view. Initially we thought of playing the whole scene from a high angle, but
Brian thought that might make it almost
pretty and graceful, which was the last
thing we wanted to do. We wanted to put
you in the belly of the Nazi beast. We used
a lot of blue, yellow and cyan - motivated
by neon signage on the storefronts - to
create a sense of urban danger. We put a
20-by-30-foot soft box on a huge scissor lift
to create a backlight wash on the Kristallnacht set [constructed at Babelsberg
Studios]; we placed the soft box just beyond
the façade of the buildings and put
Condors on either end of the street. We
had to return the scissor lift long before we
wanted to because Airbus couldn't finish
building their planes without it!
What was your approach to the
28

January 2014

Nazi rally and book burning in Liesl's
village?
Ballhaus: That's one of the pivotal
moments in the story because she suddenly
realizes that what she thought were joyful,
patriotic activities, like singing Nazi songs,
are not so innocent. When the school bully
orders her to throw a book into the bonfire,
she has to decide who she is as a person.
For the shot of Himmel Street residents
arriving at the rally, we again chose a high
angle with the Technocrane. It's nighttime,
and people are carrying torches. The bonfire
was our main source, and we tried to light
as much as possible with real flames and
then augmented with flame bars. German
child-labor laws don't let kids work past 10
p.m., and it didn't get dark until 8 p.m., so
we got an enormous tent, blacked it out
inside, and did all the closer shots in there
with flame bars.
Tell us about the library that Ilsa
[Barbara Auer], the mayor's wife, opens
to Liesl.
Ballhaus: That house, both exterior
and interior, was a practical location, and
we dressed one of the rooms to look like a
library. When Liesl first enters the house,
there had to be an element of danger and
fear because she has no way of knowing if
Ilsa will be a friend or foe. I'm a huge fan of
Hitchcock's Notorious, and it inspired our
approach to the scene where Liesl first steps
into the foyer. The surprise is that the library
is warm and inviting, filled with the colors
and textures of the books, as well as warm
practicals. We had 18Ks outside the library's
American Cinematographer

back window and a 6K out the side
window, all bounced into 12-by-12s of
UltraBounce. Inside, China balls and Rifa
lights gave Liesl a beautiful rimlight. Later,
when she starts breaking into the house, we
turned off all interior practicals to eliminate
any sense of warmth.
An earlier scene of Liesl and Rudy
[Nico Liersch] racing down a street has a
feeling of innocence and exhilaration.
Ballhaus: The running was an
important element because it is the only
expression of their childhood joy and freedom. We had a stabilized remote head on a
camera car, so they could really run all out.
For their regular walk-and-talks, to and from
school, the camera was handheld on a rickshaw.
For the final sequence of the film, we
effectively depart from the intimate perspective and adopt a high-angle, detached view,
again with the Technocrane. This vantage
point makes it clear we are firmly in Death's
point-of-view. The air is thick with dust and
fog. We used Condors with 20-by white
solids to block out the sun and bounced the
remaining available light into UltraBounces.
How did you approach the DI at
Technicolor London, and were the
filmout and DCP 2K or 4K?
Ballhaus: They were 2K. [Colorist]
Paul Ensby really understood the look Brian
and I wanted, and with the [Autodesk]
Lustre he applied a print emulation that
gave the palette a very filmic tone. There is a
tendency in digital for the blacks to become
red, and by adding cyan to the blacks, Paul
achieved a very film-like look.
I had so many great collaborators on
this show. In addition to Paul, Dan, Janosch
and Florian, whom I've already mentioned,
my 1st AC, Peter Byrne, and key grip, Florian
Prinz, were brilliant. Our visual-effects supervisor, Florian Gellinger, also did an amazing
job. My first name is very unique in the
United States, but on this film, there were
four Florians!

TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
Digital Capture
Arri Alexa, Alexa XT
Leica Summilux-C and Angenieux Optimo

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American Cinematographer - January 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2014