American Cinematographer - March 2022 - 49

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER ASCMAG.COM
Top, from left: Operator Nick Müller (at camera), Dynan, 1st AC
Timothée Arene and Schrader prep a choreographed dolly sequence
depicting Tell's final confrontation. Middle and bottom: The filmmakers
prepare for an intense scene with Isaac and actor Tye Sheridan.
hopeful contrast to Tell's awful nightmares. The scene ends with the
camera floating over a rainbow of light in a computer-generated, God'seye
view of the garden's spacious, flowing topography.
" I just took the colors from the practical LED Christmas lights and
put them on the S60s, " Dynan says. " Then, I had the S60 fade between
the different colors, so that when [the actors] exited the tunnel, the color
of the tunnel extended beyond, onto the path they continue walking on.
VFX then took this shot and built the fantastical world that is created in
the 'wonderland' sequence.
Grim Confrontation
Moments before the Vegas tournament is set to begin, Tell finds out that
Cirk is going after Gordo. Tell abandons his seat at the poker table to stop
Cirk, but as he drives through the night - his eyes flashing brightly with
the light of oncoming cars - he knows he's already too late.
" It's a process trailer at night, " Dynan says of the driving scene. " We
used a series of Astera Titan tubes on a chase to add additional motivated
light into Tell's eyes, and combined it with what was naturally
occurring. "
Gordo enters his house to find Tell seated in a high-backed chair in
the living room, gun in hand, waiting among furniture meticulously covered
in off-white sheets.
The rest of the scene plays out in a single, long take: Tell stands, a bag
of torture devices in hand, his gun leveled at Gordo. Gordo, resigned,
crosses frame right to a hallway off the living room, toward another part
of the house. Tell follows. The camera pans with them but doesn't leave
the room. Sounds of pain and suffering are soon heard offscreen. Beat.
Then, in the same shot, the camera pans slightly left, then slowly dollies
back toward the foyer. The light cross-fades in-camera from night
to day. The camera rolls to a stop, and Tell re-enters the living room -
bloody, battered, drenched in sweat.
" When you don't move the camera to see something horrific, it compels
the viewer to generate the horror themselves, and that's more effective
than anything we could show, " says Dynan. The dolly move was
performed by dolly grip Balz Biellmann, who timed it with a steady click
track fed from the sound cart to his headset.
The lighting transition was accomplished with the assistance of gaffer
T.J. Alston, key grip Bill Hilferty and their teams. The scene was shot
at night, with the cameras color-balanced to 3,200K. All the lamps were
controlled through Alston's tablet.
An exterior Arri SkyPanel S360 dialed to 5,000K was bounced off
an 8'x8' UltraBounce, providing soft, cool moonlight through the living-room
windows. Two interior SkyPanel S60s, also set at 5,000K,
were affixed with Chimeras with Light Grid and 40-degree egg crates,
and set up as a cross-key for the seated positions. An additional S60 was
bounced into the ceiling for base room-tone. During the time shift, the
LED lamps' color temperatures were shifted to 3,200K to turn the cool
moonlight into neutral white.
After the shift, three Arri Fresnels - two T12s and a T5, all located
outside - were used to simulate direct morning sunlight coming into
the house, while the background outside the house was lit by three additional
T5s. Inside, a skip-bounced ETC Source Four ellipsoidal spot provided
additional slashes of light across the room.
Full Circle
Tell finds himself back in prison, where the film started, and where
the reintroduction of routine and strict regimentation has once again
seemed to stall the passage of time. He's summoned to see an unexpected
visitor - La Linda. They see each other, smile, and reach out toward
each other, fingertips meeting, but separated by a barrier of tempered
security glass in what Schrader called an " expression of love by an unfeeling
man within an unfeeling environment " - when writing about a
scene that appears in Bresson's 1959 film Pickpocket, which this scene in
The Card Counter was designed to echo.
Schrader maintains that there is no universal formula for how the
transcendent is conveyed in the film medium. " It depends on your material,
and how much you feel you need to withdraw from the audience.
You have to find your own mechanism to get the viewer to lean forward,
but it's a delicate dance. You don't want them to get up and walk out. "
MARCH 2022 / 49
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American Cinematographer - March 2022

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