American Cinematographer - May 2017 - 77

degrees, we elected to finish all the driving
work on a greenscreen stage. My son Robin
then came in to work on the stabilized 360degree plates.
Andrew Day was into Lowel's Rifa
soft lights with tungsten bulbs, and I was
grateful for their pure color temperature. I
had been using first-generation LEDs for
some time, and it was reassuring on Going
in Style to find the skin tones perfectly
rendered.
Bobby and I tested a whole bunch of
diffusion and effects filters and finally settled
on a Tiffen Soft/FX ½ behind the lens,
taking advantage of the Alexa's internal
filter module. I shot the whole movie with
that filter in place; it rounded and delicately
bloomed the highlights. Occasionally I put
an additional ½ on the front of the lens.
Zach and I shared a memorable eight
hours, spanning day and night, doing helicopter work over Manhattan, Brooklyn and
Queens. Al Cerullo piloted the N355AG
TwinStar helicopter, and we shot with an
Arri M - with the recorder in the cockpit so
we could change cards - on a Shotover F1
six-axis gyro-stabilized platform and fitted
with an Angenieux Optimo Style 25250mm (T3.5) zoom.
We shot ArriRaw, and Myron
Kerstein edited on an Avid using DNx 175
files. It was satisfying to be able to project
DNx 175 at the test screenings and during
the final mix; they looked amazing on the
40' screen. But how much better they
looked in the raw file!
My three weeks of color timing at
FotoKem ended up being four weeks due to
footage traveling back and forth between
final color and the visual-effects house,
Shade VFX, which performed complex
work. This extra time was a luxury that TV
rarely affords. Colorist Kostas Theodosiou
and I spent quality time exploring the challenge of having Michael Caine and Morgan
Freeman sharing the same frame. Kostas
worked in Blackmagic Design DaVinci
Resolve and used power windows to track
faces whenever necessary.
Back in prep, when I had attended
the read-through and met the cast, I could
hardly contain my excitement. Just to be in
the room with Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin and Ann-Margret, and to
know that in a week I would be helping

Charters takes in the atmosphere while preparing to shoot in the
Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower in Brooklyn.

them find their best light - it doesn't get
any better. It was at that first meeting with
the cast that Ann-Margret came to me and
said, "So, you're the cinematographer."
She took my finger and pressed it just
beneath her left eye. "I had a fall," she said,
"and I've never felt that the bones
completely settled here underneath my eye.
Please help me with this."
"Of course," I answered. "I will do
everything I can to make it disappear."
As I looked around the room I was
reminded of how vulnerable all actors are in
different ways, and how much trust they
place in all the heads of department -
including wardrobe, makeup, hair, and the
cinematographer - to take good care of
them. So finally, when all the technology is
taken care of, my main concern is how to
foster and maintain a sense of tranquility
and camaraderie on the set so that, guided
by the director, they are free to create great
performances.
During production, we were shooting in a supermarket, and I needed to close
the gap between Michael and Morgan at a
checkout counter. I asked Zach if I could ask
Morgan to adjust his position a few inches,
and then I asked Morgan, "Mr. Freeman,
sir, could you land a few inches closer to Mr.
Caine?" Looking down at me with his dark,
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soulful eyes, he demanded, "What's in it for
me?" I froze, my mind frantic. But then,
remembering his generous greetings each
morning, I ventured, "How about a hug?"
A huge smile broke his stern countenance,
and we hugged warmly - and, of course,
he moved closer on the next take.
It went on like that for 40 days.
Everyone agrees we made a great movie.
Ann-Margret left me a voicemail that made
me blush. Michael Caine said in his departure speech that it was the nicest working
experience he had ever had, which made
the crew very happy. Indeed, Going in Style
stands out as one of the high points of my
career. It was both an extraordinary creative
experience as a cinematographer and one
of the loveliest summers of my life. Time
and cost can certainly be our adversaries in
this business, but this production proved the
adage that time stays long enough for the
one who will use it.
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May 2017

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