American Cinematographer - April 2015 - I2

to shoot on 35mm fi lm, with lower-speed emulsions, in the
anamorphic format, was in tune with that aesthetic.
"There's something quite special about 50 ASA, or 200
approach. He generally overexposed by a third of a stop, which is
standard procedure for him.
"Kodak has a way of reproducing colors very authentically," he
ASA, and (PANAVISION) PRIMO anamorphic lenses," says the
cinematographer. "We wanted to echo the feeling of 70mm, and
those lenses, so crisp and clear, have some of that. Also, it makes
the technique harken back to those classic fi lms. We wanted
shots to breathe, to stay back, with very slow takes, master shots
and precise compositions."
Zambarloukos planned to shoot at about T4, which required a
tremendous amount of light. He says his eye became accustomed
to the bright levels, and his imagination learned to translate to
what the fi lm was seeing.
Ramping up to this large-scale, studio cinematography is
done in steps, he says. "One of my heroes is Laird Hamilton, a
champion big-wave surfer. He says that to get to the point where
you can ride a 100-foot wave, you have to do it one foot at a time.
That's a great analogy. I take things one step at a time, and Ken's
trust makes me feel secure."
The fi lm was shot almost entirely on
sets and stages at or near Pinewood
Studios in the U.K. The visual effects
are surprisingly few, mostly around
transformation scenes, such as when
a pumpkin becomes a carriage. All the
interiors were shot on KODAK VISION3
200T Color Negative Film 5213, and
exteriors were shot on KODAK VISION3
50D Color Negative Film 5203, usually
done with just refl ectors and natural light.
The rich colors of the production
design - every costume was handmade
- played an important part in the look
of the fi lm. The three-week test period
helped Zambarloukos dial in on an
relates. "When you start combining certain hues within a frame,
you've got to be careful that they're all replicated and you actually
get that richness. And at the same time, we wanted warmth and
warm light, so we used almost exclusively tungsten. There's no
LED and no HMI on this fi lm at all."
Calling it "an exercise in subtlety," Zambarloukas says he
maintained a delicate balance between warmth and darkness
by carefully wrapping keylight, using touches of warm fi ll, and
factoring in skin tones, candlelight, and color in the production
design. The most important example is a breathtaking scene
where Cinderella enters the ballroom, shot on the 007 Stage at
Pinewood.
"There's no formula for it," he reveals. "It's that process of
imagining, creating and seeing it. We had to be quite subtle in
our lighting and just let the faces and costumes come through,
without being bright or fl at. Ken has
a way of blending the action and the
drama, and that choreography helps the
emotional aspect effortlessly."
Cinderella is in theaters this spring.
"The images in the original, animated
Cinderella have inspired an appreciation
for art in children for decades," notes
Zambarloukos. "We also hoped to
make something inspirational and
worthwhile to show to kids, and I think
we succeeded."
Photos: Previous page: Kenneth Branagh, Haris
Zambarloukos, BSC and Lily James on the set of
Disney's live-action feature inspired by the classic fairy
tale, Cinderella. This page, top: Setting up a scene from
Cinderella. Bottom inset: Zambarloukos and Branagh.
(Photos by Jonathan Olley, ©Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.)
American Cinematographer - April 2015

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