American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 43
calls “native lighting.” He explains, “I wanted to evoke the way light floods Southern California, particularly around the San Gabriel Mountains. That meant being fairly chromatic and having an extended mid-range, pushing the gamma a bit. There’s a lushness and beauty to that light. We could do this only because many of our characters are kind of [Charles] Bukowski degenerate gamblers. The surface of the people is very rough, their language is very rough, and that enabled us to be more lyrical with the visuals.” During his first day on the job, Dryburgh went to the track in Santa Anita for a pre-dawn scout with his Canon EOS 5D. “Early in the morning, the air is cold, and the horses’ breath is steaming as they come off the track. There’s a whole society there — all the trainers and handicappers are hanging around a café with good Mexican food and bad coffee. As the sun comes up, there’s golden backlight. And the jockeys are wearing great colors. I came away from that first morning knowing that all I needed to do was to keep it looking as good as it did in reality, and we’d have a beautiful picture.” Dryburgh reports that in the final weeks of prep, Mann started having second thoughts about shooting film, and the team paused to conduct a sideby-side comparison of 35mm and Sony’s F35. “Both looked great when we were inside, and both looked great in early-morning trackside light,” says the cinematographer, “but when we set up high in the grandstands in the middle of the day and had a big wide shot with people in shadow in front of us, horses racing on the track and mountains and sky in the background, we couldn’t get the detail and range out of digital that we could with film. That sealed the deal.” Dryburgh subsequently chose three Kodak stocks for the pilot, Vision2 50D 5201 and Vision3 250D 5207 and 500T 5219. However, Mann did decide to capture most of the racing footage digitally, mainly with Canon DSLR
ww.theasc.com w
Unit photography by Gusmano Cesaretti, courtesy of HBO. Bottom photo on page 50 by Lukas Strebel.
Opposite page: Camera operator Roberto De Angelis captures race action with a handheld DSLR camera. This page, top to bottom: Four gambling “degenerates” (Ian Hart, Richie Coster, Kevin Dunn and Jason Gedrick) cheer on their horse; crime kingpin Chester “Ace” Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman, right) and his trusted associate, Gus Demitriou (Dennis Farina), use their wiles to gain inside position at the track; director Michael Mann scopes out an angle with one of the show’s cinematographers, ASC member Stuart Dryburgh (in white cap).
February 2012
43
http://ww.theasc.com
American Cinematographer - February 2012
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - February 2012
American Cinematographer - February 2012
Contents
Editor’s Note
President’s Desk
Short Takes: NASA time-lapse footage of Earth
Production Slate: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close • Act of Valor
Saving the Whales
High Stakes
A Very Bad Cop
Cinema, Italian Style
Filmmakers’ Forum: Hiro Narita, ASC
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Roberto Schaefer
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - American Cinematographer - February 2012
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 1
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 2
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - Contents
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 4
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 5
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 6
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 7
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - Editor’s Note
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 9
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - President’s Desk
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 11
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - Short Takes: NASA time-lapse footage of Earth
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 13
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 14
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 15
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 16
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 17
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - Production Slate: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close • Act of Valor
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 19
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 20
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 21
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 22
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 23
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 24
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 25
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 26
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 27
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 28
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 29
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - Saving the Whales
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 31
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 32
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 33
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 34
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 35
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 36
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 37
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 38
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 39
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 40
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 41
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - High Stakes
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 43
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 44
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 45
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 46
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 47
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 48
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 49
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 50
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 51
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 52
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 53
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - A Very Bad Cop
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 55
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 56
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 57
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 58
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 59
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 60
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 61
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - Cinema, Italian Style
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 63
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 64
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 65
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 66
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 67
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 68
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 69
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 70
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 71
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - Filmmakers’ Forum: Hiro Narita, ASC
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 73
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 74
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 75
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - New Products & Services
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 77
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 78
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 79
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 80
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 81
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - International Marketplace
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - Classified Ads
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - Ad Index
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 85
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - Clubhouse News
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - 87
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - ASC Close-Up: Roberto Schaefer
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - February 2012 - Cover4
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