American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 27

anamorphic format, with Hawk C-Series and V-Series lenses, was part of the equation from the beginning. “Jerome Robbins was a perfectionist, to say the least, and he made his only film on 70mm,” says Lipes. “In that spirit, we wanted to shoot on a high-quality format. And when you’re working with big groups of dancers, widescreen is a lot easier to use; people can all stand in a line together, and you can get tighter on them and see their whole bodies. Also, it calls back to an older style of filmmaking.” A similar gesture to the past was the decision to use Ben Shahn’s abstract backdrops from the ballet’s original production as a starting point in determining which locations to use. “We chose places that were run down, places that were once something else and are now ‘old New York,’” explains Lipes. A case in point is Brooklyn’s McCarren Park Pool, a crumbling, Depression-era relic used for the film’s opening number, “Entrance: Group Dance.” After a prologue that shows the dancers making their way to this space from various locations, the members of the ensemble enter the pool and take their positions. “Something we took away from West Side Story was the importance of trying to make the choreography exist in the space,” says the cinematographer. “We didn’t want to just take choreography and plop it down in McCarren Pool; we wanted to integrate the movements into the space.” “Entrance/Group Dance” was shot with a locked-off camera, a time-consuming choice given that the shoot employed only one camera, an Arricam Lite. The movement required more than 100 takes. This sequence became the film’s static-camera movement almost by process of elimination. “It was pretty arbitrary,” says Lipes. “I’m a big fan of making rules for yourself to limit what you can do. Deciding to make that movement totally static, or this movement on a dolly, makes us think about how to capture the dance while emphasizing distinct styles of photography.” It was clear that the third movement, “Improvisations,” which was shot in a gymnasium in Brooklyn, would benefit the most from a freewheeling handheld approach. The last movement, the eightminute “Theme, Variations and Fugue,” was shot onstage in an 80-year-old theater in Jersey City, N.J., and it was determined that a dolly would be needed for optimal coverage of the choreography. The open loft space in Red Hook, Brooklyn, that was used for the second movement, “Statics,” became the Steadicam sequence largely because of its structural properties, which included columns. Dave Ellis was the Steadicam operator for “Statics,” a nighttime sequence that Lipes shot on Kodak Vision3 500T 5219, opening up to T4 and pushing one stop. This kept 1st AC David Jacobson on his toes, as he had to pull focus “with the camera flying around the room at 360 degrees,” says Lipes. The most frequently used lens in this sequence was a 40mm, which was about as wide as Lipes went on the shoot. “All of the Hawks open to a T2.2 or T3, and I shot the first couple of setups at T4. My favorite colorist, Sam Daley at Technicolor, called me at one point, frantic about extreme distortion. He said T8 was Place Your Order Today NEW Panchro by Cooke 18, 25, 32, 50, 75 and 100mm. Covers up to 33.54mm Image Circle. For details on our NEW Panchro, NEW 5/ T1.4 Primes and our S4/ Prime and zoom lenses, go to: cookeoptics.com. To sign up for updates, see “News” CookeOpticsLimited cookeoptics.com T: +44 (0)116 264 0700 Canada, South America, USA: T: +1-973-335-4460
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American Cinematographer - March 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - March 2010

American Cinematographer - March 2010
Contents
Editor’s Note
President’s Desk
Short Takes: La Première
Production Slate: A Prophet • NY Export: Opus Jazz
Mind Games
Home-Screen Hits
A Passion for His Craft
Saluting an Industry Stalwart
Post Focus: EFilm’s Cinemascan System
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
ASC Membership Roster
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Salvatore Totino
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - American Cinematographer - March 2010
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 1
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 2
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Contents
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 4
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 5
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 6
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 7
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Editor’s Note
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 9
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - President’s Desk
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 11
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Short Takes: La Première
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 13
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 14
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 15
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 16
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 17
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Production Slate: A Prophet • NY Export: Opus Jazz
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 19
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 20
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 21
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 22
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 23
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 24
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 25
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 26
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 27
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 28
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 29
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Mind Games
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 31
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 32
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 33
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 34
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 35
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 36
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 37
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 38
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 39
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 40
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 41
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 42
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 43
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 44
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 45
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Home-Screen Hits
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 47
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 48
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 49
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 50
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 51
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 52
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 53
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 54
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 55
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 56
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 57
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 58
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 59
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 60
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 61
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - A Passion for His Craft
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 63
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 64
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 65
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 66
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 67
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 68
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 69
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 70
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 71
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Saluting an Industry Stalwart
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 73
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 74
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 75
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 76
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 77
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Post Focus: EFilm’s Cinemascan System
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 79
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 80
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 81
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - New Products & Services
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 83
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 84
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 85
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 86
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 87
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - International Marketplace
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Classified Ads
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Ad Index
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 91
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - ASC Membership Roster
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 93
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Clubhouse News
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - 95
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - ASC Close-Up: Salvatore Totino
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - March 2010 - Cover4
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