American Cinematographer - May 2015 - 95

In Memoriam: Roy Isaia
ASC associate member Roy Isaia,
the founder of Matthews Studio Equipment,
lost his battle with leukemia on February 16.
Isaia started in the industry in the
1960s as a grip and head of the sewing
room at Paramount, working on iconic
movies like The Odd Couple, Rosemary's
Baby, Barefoot in the Park and True Grit. Fed
up with the equipment available at the time,
he quit his job at Paramount, found work as
a grip on commercials for Sandler Studios
and Filmfair, and began creating equipment
on the side. Isaia's Dots and Fingers, used for
selective light blocking, were noticed by
people like Bill White Sr., and the tools
began to sell in Canada to what eventually
became the William F. White Company.

But it was their hunger to grow in knowledge that was so impressive. With the
wonderful success Mexican cinematographers have been having during the past few
awards seasons, it's apparent they must be
doing something right."
Van Oostrum Tests Arri Amira
Kees van Oostrum, ASC recently
tested the Arri Amira and presented his
findings during an open-house event at
Arri's Burbank facility. Accompanied by ASC
associate Stephan Ukas-Bradley, director
of strategic business development and
technical marketing at Arri, Inc., van Oostrum presented his test footage of the Amira
4K UHD camera during two back-to-back,
standing-room-only screening sessions. Van
Oostrum discussed his desire to put the
camera through its paces and see how it
behaves with highlights, the dark side of
faces, shooting with diffusion, lighting a set
with practicals, and shooting six to seven
stops overexposed. Van Oostrum screened
examples of shooting in 3.2K, HD and UHD
as well as with the use of a ½ Black Satin
filter and a 3.2K up-res to UHD. After the
screenings, van Oostrum and Ukas-Bradley
answered questions from the audience.

By 1970, Isaia had given up his day
job and formed Matthews Studio Equipment, named after his son. He began outfitting Cinemobile Systems trucks, with
construction supervised by a young man
named Ed Phillips (now an ASC associate).
Phillips left Cinemobile to work for Isaia, and
the two were soon consulting for cinematographers like John A. Alonzo, ASC for
the production of Chinatown.
"One of the reasons Matthews
became so well-known was Roy's enthusiasm," says Phillips, who purchased the
company in 1976. "He didn't wait for
customers to come to him; he went to the
far corners - literally - to introduce his
products."

Everybody Hates Chris and participated in
the ASC/PGA Camera Assessment Series in
2009. His recent television credits include 10
Things I Hate About You, Glory Daze,
Workaholics, Jane by Design and Super Fun
Night. He is currently shooting the one-hour
drama Hindsight.

Society Welcomes
Doering-Powell
Raised in Germany and the U.S.,
new active member Mark DoeringPowell grew up immersed in art, drawing
and painting. Doering-Powell interned with
American artist Beverly Nevers before
attending the Pratt Institute in New York
City. He began his career behind the camera
in New York, starting as a camera assistant.
Doering-Powell now resides in California, where he has filmed nine pilots, 12
feature films and more than 300 hours of
episodic television. He received two Primetime Emmy nominations for his work on
www.theasc.com

Camerimage Winners Show
Camerimage - in partnership with
the ASC and the American Film Institute
Conservatory's cinematography discipline,
and with the support of Panavision and the
International Cinematographers Guild -
recently held its fifth annual winners show
at the AFI campus in Los Angeles. The show
brings selected winning films from the
Camerimage Film Festival to Los Angeles
with special screenings of four features, four
documentaries, three student etudes, two
music videos and two additional special
screenings over the course of three days.G

May 2015

http://www.theasc.com

American Cinematographer - May 2015

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