American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 30

Top: Cinematographer Antonio Riestra, ASC, ACK, AMC lines up an Arri Alexa XT camera.
Bottom: Director Robert Legato, ASC and Riestra on set.

Fenixlight Ltd. The actors, Riestra explains,
"[lit] themselves. We strategically placed
bounces in specific areas and colorcorrected the flashlights [directly with] 1⁄8
Minus Green."
The actors, he notes, "liked the fact
that they were involved in their own lighting. Chace was incredibly precise. I would
put a bounce, and he would nail it down to
[exactly] where I needed him to angle the
flashlight." Riestra also used something he
calls "the 'turbo bounce' - a one-by-one
square bounce that had a LiteGear LiteStix
[housing for LED LiteRibbon]. It was a
powered bounce that had a dimmer, so we
could be further or closer." Gaffer Spike
Simms also helped build "the Sofia light,"
Riestra says. "We put LiteStix inside a box
30

March 2017

we made with 1000H tracing paper. I
named it after my daughter."
For a scene that takes place in a
gradually flooding room, the production
reproduced the appropriate portion of the
set "in a 30-by-30 tank" in the parking lot
of the Masonic Temple, Riestra notes. The
Alexa XT was fitted in a Hydroflex
RemoteAquaCam Mk5 housing; Riestra
adds, "We brought in a Hydrascope [telescopic crane] and a full scuba-diving crew
for that work. I was operating with the
wheels outside of the water; I didn't get
wet!"
Eloise was edited on Avid, using
MXF files containing Log C images derived
from the camera's original raw material.
This approach allowed for a straightforward
American Cinematographer

color-correction workflow. "You don't even
have to render the new color correction,"
Legato notes. "You could change it tomorrow and issue a new ALE with the CDL
information and it will instantly correct all
your dailies to that." Legato used a Hewlett
Packard DreamColor monitor for this first
color pass.
Grading, Riestra says, was a group
effort. "Rob did a first [temporary pass]," he
recalls. "We agreed on the look from the
very beginning, and we had a couple of
sessions in Santa Monica at Local Hero. We
basically finalized based on the first look we
had." While Legato's duties on The Jungle
Book precluded in-depth involvement with
the grade, colorist Lee Hultman had access
to the director's color choices via a ProRes
4:4:4 reference, without the P3 LUT baked
in, that Legato created. Hultman, in collaboration with DI supervisor Leandro Marini,
used Assimilate Scratch running on Silverdraft Demon hardware to finish the film,
with the Dolby PRM-4200 monitor and
Barco DP2K-P projector as reference
displays.
Reflecting on the Eloise shoot, Riestra concludes, "There was very good
communication and mutual respect. Rob
pretty much let me do whatever I wanted.
The idea was, 'I trust you, I trust your taste,
and we're going to make the same movie.'
When you're making the same movie, it's
simple - there's no going back and forth. I
don't remember any arguments with him
whatsoever. It was classic filmmaking."

TECHNICAL SPECS
2.39:1
Digital Capture
Alexa XT, M; FLIR PM 640;
Vision Research Phantom Flex
Cooke S4, Angenieux Optimo,
Clairmont Swing/Shift

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American Cinematographer - March 2017

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