American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 81

Key grip Bruce Henderson's team
placed a 12'x20' Ultrabounce above the
greenscreen and the sidewalk where
extras walked. Arri M18s were placed at
both ends and aimed at the bounce to
provide a soft overhead light and illuminate the greenscreen. A 4' 2-bank Kino
Flo, fitted with daylight tubes, was
rigged outside over the window to
provide deeper lighting into the restaurant and backlight for the actresses.
Another 4' 2-bank southeast of the
table provided a rear three-quarter key
on Hoffmann, while a Kino Celeb 200
through a 4'x4' frame of Opal diffusion
did the same for Witherspoon on
medium shots and close-ups.
While they used artificial light in
the city, the filmmakers worked almost
entirely with natural light in the wild -
except at night - without even the
controlling tools of blacks and bounces.
"Jean-Marc wanted the camera very
close to Reese," Bélanger recalls. "She
has wonderful pale blue eyes, and if I
put a bounce there, I would see a white
square in her eyes. Instead I wanted to
see the landscape."
Many of the PCT locations were
difficult to access by vehicle, and the
crew often hiked in with horses and
donkeys carrying the equipment. Lights
had to be mobile and easy to set up, and
small Honda generators provided power
for work lights and a charging station.
"Jean-Marc wanted the option to shoot
any angle at a moment's notice, so
equipment had to be hidden behind
bushes, and support vehicles were miles
away," Walters recalls.
A scene at a campsite where
Cheryl befriends a trio of friendly male
hikers necessitated the largest-scale bit
of exterior lighting. She wakes in the
night, sick from alcohol, and walks in
the rain (provided by a rain machine) to
a stable, where the sight of a horse
precipitates a traumatic flashback. The
tent area was lit by a 6K space light
gelled with Half Blue on an 85' lift,
which also supported a 2K Mighty
Mole with Half Blue that served as a
backlight for the rain and to cover her
walk to the stable. Diagonally opposite,

Top: Strayed befriends some fellow hikers. Bottom: A flashlight is used as a
light source inside Strayed's tent.

another 2K through 4'x4' Opal provided
edgelight on Strayed. Her tent was
given a glow from a Litepanels
MicroPro LED with Full Orange
pointing skyward. Several Baby 1Ks
rigged up on Mombo Combo stands
hidden behind trees were tilted down
with offset arms to create pools of light
as she walked.
Strayed completes her journey at
the Bridge of the Gods, which connects
Oregon and Washington. The filmmakers reserved this climactic scene for
their only Steadicam shot, which was
executed by Los Angeles-based operator Stephen Campanelli. Strayed walks
on the bridge and looks in the distance
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as we hear her epiphanic narration. "All
of the film [up to that point] is handheld, shaky, dirty and raw," Vallée notes.
"And then it's floating, and it's the only
time we see Reese in slow motion on
the trail, so [we] get this feeling of
'cinema.'"
Bélanger, who did not work with
a digital-imaging technician, monitored
the Alexa image in Rec 709 throughout
the shoot. Vallée had his own monitor
to evaluate images, and when he wanted
to be beside his cameraman, he would
reference the 5" onboard monitor. 1st
AC Paul Santoni handled focus pulling
remotely, working from another monitor.
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January 2015

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American Cinematographer - January 2015

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