American Cinematographer - January 2016 - 64e

"Often, things evolved in
ways we never anticipated,
and film is a great friend in
those situations."

The director-cinematographer
team of Jeff Nichols and Adam
Stone has produced four films
over the past nine years - Shotgun
Stories, Mud, Take Shelter and now,
Midnight Special. Over that period,
Nichols has quickly earned a
reputation as a deft and original
filmmaker. Mud, which starred
Matthew McConaughey, earned a
Palme d'Or nomination at Cannes
and took home the Robert Altman
Award at the 2014 Independent
Spirit Awards. Take Shelter also
won three prizes at the 2011
Cannes Film Festival, and was
nominated for five Spirit Awards.
Nichols, who first met Stone at
the North Carolina School for the
Arts, credits the DP as a key part
of his success as a director.
"We have a tight-knit crew
that works on all our films; they
are truly great artisans and most
importantly great friends," says
Stone. "We have a lot of fun
together. Everyone contributes and
we all learn from one another."
Midnight Special has a measure of
writer/director Nichols' trademark
poetic realism, but as his first
foray into the sci-fi thriller realm, it
differs from the previous films in its
darkness, both literal and figurative,
and in its technical complexity -
there are more than 300 visual
effects. It was also Nichols' first
studio production, with a budget

under $20 million. The cast features
Kirsten Dunst, Joel Edgerton, Adam
Driver, Michael Shannon, and Sam
Shepard as the leader of an extreme
religious sect who hunts down a
uniquely gifted child.
The 44-day shoot was based
in New Orleans but stretched
from west Texas to the Florida
panhandle. The weather was often
uncharacteristically wintry, with
sleet and cold temperatures working
against the filmmakers. Much of the
action unfolds at night, in old motel

Series lenses. He says the format
did not slow them down.
"The first film we did together,
Shotgun Stories, was anamorphic,"
explains Stone. "The crew was
me, Jeff, a few friends, and his
parents. Shooting on film is
second nature to us. We feel
comfortable in the medium.
It's beautiful and mysterious. It
contains gorgeous aberrations
and has an intrinsic beauty digital
has yet to replicate. If it were up to
us, we'd shoot on film forever."

"Shooting on film is second
nature to us. We feel comfortable
in the medium. It's beautiful and
mysterious."
rooms or on drab and desolate
stretches of road. In keeping with
the story, the look includes a camera
that is almost constantly on the
move. Steadicam operator Matt
Petrosky played a crucial role.
The filmmaking duo prefers to
shoot film, often in a widescreen
format, as they have on all their
previous collaborations. Midnight
Special was no exception. Stone
shot the majority of the picture
on 35mm anamorphic film, using
Panavision XL2 cameras and G

The vast majority of Midnight
Special was filmed on two stocks
- KODAK VISION3 500T Color
Negative Film 5219 and KODAK
VISION3 250D Color Negative
Film 5207 - with a few scenes
shot on digital cameras for
technical reasons. Stone spent a
week and a half of preproduction
testing various lenses in every
scenario, but settled on the G
Series glass. They tested some
digital formats as well, but, "Film
always wins," Stone adds.

One scene that plays out in a
1970s ranch house bedroom was
filmed partly in a practical house
and partly on a built set. The ceiling
of a dimly lit bedroom separates
through a marriage of practical and
visual effects, and a strong beam of
light, representing the sun, smashes
through the exposed ceiling joists
illuminating the darkness.
"We shot the scene wide open
on 5219," says Stone. "It was a big
practical effect and we had only
a few chances to capture it. The
camera burst into the bedroom, lit
by practicals, and the ceiling rips
away allowing an array of M-90s to
light the room. There was a 5-stop
difference from the beginning of
the scene to the end of the scene.
We never adjusted the iris. The end
result is amazing. The look could
never be replicated by a digital
sensor. The areas that are blown
out fall off gracefully. Film is very
similar to how the human eye sees
the world - realistic and elegant."
Photos: Left page: Jaeden Lieberher as Alton in
director Jeff Nichols' sci-fi thriller Midnight Special.
Photo by Ben Rothstein).
This page: Sitting (l-r) Stephen McBride (A cam
2nd AC), Darius Shahmir (2nd unit director),
Kenneth Neil Moore (2nd unit DP). Standing
(l-r) David Regan (A Cam 1st AC), Matt
Gaumer (B Cam 2nd AC), John David Devirgiliis
(loader), Steve Early (B Cam 1st AC), Alex
Nystrom (camera utility), Dylan Conrad (2nd
unit 1st AC), Matt Petrosky (A Cam operator/
Steadicam), and Adam Stone (DP). (Midnight
Special is a presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures
in association with Faliro House Productions,
released by Warner Bros. Pictures.)

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American Cinematographer - January 2016

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