American Cinematographer - June 2010 - 33

number of practical reasons, according to Mathieson. “Everyone thinks Ridley is a purist in his photography, and he is, but he loves a zoom lens,” says the cinematographer. “If you’re doing a tracking shot, you can strengthen the composition throughout without it feeling like a zoom. It’s just more convenient to zoom in a bit and go again than to spend time changing the lens while everyone’s waiting. And if you’ve got to climb a hill, you’d rather take one zoom than a whole box of lenses. “Another consideration was that anamorphic zooms start at around a T5.6 and only look good at T11, and in the woods, you want to be at T2.8 or less,” he continues. “Also, ’Scope lenses aren’t that long, and you want long lenses when you’re shooting horses and landscapes. We were up to a 1,000mm and longer. We had an [Optica] Elite [T2.8] 120-520mm with a doubler on it. We also used a [Panavision] Primo 3:1 135-420mm, often with a doubler. It’s a good device if you’ve got a big stunt and a lot of horses; it gives you a nice, thick shot of the melee of battle, creating a documentary look that makes you feel like you’re right in it. We also had the new 19-90mm Panavision Compact Zoom, which was very good,

Top: Isabella of Angoulême (Léa Seydoux) informs John of Godfrey’s duplicity when he is still a prince with aspirations to the throne. Fireplaces and candles had to justify the light in some fairly cavernous sets built at Shepperton Studios, so the crew employed single-wick, double-wick and triple-wick candles on chandeliers and candelabras to create a strong impression of source lighting. However, as Mathieson notes, “You also have to put some ambience in the room. For that, we’d often use space lights very low down or simple batten strips with household bulbs hanging overhead.” Bottom: Isabella and John share a more intimate moment.

and some [Angenieux] Optimos — the 15-40mm and 28-76mm both have a very useful range. Every time we could use a zoom lens, we did. You need a good range of lenses and a lot of telephoto when you’re shooting with so many cameras, because you’ve got to stay out of each other’s way.” The production often had up to a dozen Arri cameras — Arricam Studios and Lites and Arri 235s — running at once. The principal camera operators were Peter Taylor, Martin Hume and Paul Edwards. “Chris Plevin did a lot of
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operating as well, and Paul and I both did some Steadicam work,” adds Mathieson. “We only limited ourselves to two cameras when we were onstage at Shepperton. The rest of the time, we seemed to have hundreds of them. I think every camera technician I know turned up at some point during the shoot!” The second unit, led by director/cinematographer Alexander Witt, was also extremely large. “Sometimes it was bigger than we were,” notes Mathieson. “I’ve done three or four films with Alex, and he knows what
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American Cinematographer - June 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - June 2010