American Cinematographer - June 2012 - 64i

“I love working with film because you don’t have
to do much to it to make it look beautiful.”
The fi lmmakers tried for locations that lent themselves to a
post-apocalyptic landscape. “For instance,” cites the director,
“along the southwest coast of France we shot where there were
World War II bunkers jutting out from the sand, using those in the
foreground to look like ruins backed by these incredible waves.”
The third integral member of this tight crew is water
cinematographer Rick Jakovich, who’s out in the waves with a
MILIKEN DBM 55 Super 16mm camera in a waterproof housing.
“Some of the most stunning shots in the fi lm are done by Rick,”
Guglielmino says. Jakovich was usually on a 10mm lens to capture
intense shots when the wave barrels, and also used a spring-wound
Bolex with a longer lens to focus in on surfi ng intricacies.
Citing a ratio of one cloudy day for every three sunny days, Soens
shoots clean at a stop of T16 without any special processing, though
a roll here or there may be pushed when needed. A 72-degree
shutter helps with clarity on high-speed shots. While the SR-2
cameras go up to 150 fps, the MILIKEN is twice as fast.
A familiarity with the surfers helps them know what to expect.
“We know what the surfers are like, what their body positions are
and can pick the best angles for each surfer,” says Soens. “That’s
important to make a trick look much better.”
Soens usually counts on spending four to six hours a day shooting.
The surfers perform in rotating groups so they are able to take breaks.
The cameramen don’t have that luxury. “I defi nitely have pulled
nine-hour days on the beach — just by myself,” Soens says with
a laugh. “Everyone on board knows that this is a production, and
needs to be out there performing as best as they can. The riders are
athletes, and they really put their time in out there.”
After each location shoot, Rushes in Hollywood did 1080p
transfers supervised by telecine colorist Gino Panero. Guglielmino
and another core member of the team, editor George Manzanilla,
would then make their shot selects. Working in ProRes 422 HQ at
full resolution in Final Cut Pro, Manzanilla would edit the fi lm, create
the looks and composite, built upon a score of songs from retro
rock band Black Mountain. Final output was in ProRes 422 HQ to a
BLU-RAY disc master.
“I love working with fi lm because you don’t have to do much to it
to make it look beautiful,” Manzanilla says. “The scene would dictate
if we should add a layer of Super 16. Sometimes a beautiful bright
sunset shot would look awesome on top of a shot of a girl putting
her hands up to the sky. Most of the compositing was pretty simple
transfer modes. We’re just overlaying visual elements on top of other
visual elements, using three or four layers in a shot at most.”
Though fi lm has the grain aesthetic the fi lmmakers like, some
footage was grunged up further with overlays of fi lm grains, dust and
inverted white fi lm leader.
Apocalyptic cut scenes throughout the fi lm tie the surfi ng
locations together. Shot in the deserts of Southern California, these
feature people cavorting around decaying castoffs, bonfi res and
Mad Max-like muscle cars. Most was shot with a ZEISS 11-110mm
zoom, but the fi lmmakers went longer on the car scenes. “The cars
racing through the desert were shot long lens — at 24 frames per
second at 600mm you get a little camera shake that adds intensity
to the driving scenes,” notes Guglielmino.
Even Manzanilla got into the act by shooting cut-scene footage
on Super 8mm with a BEAULIEU 4008 converted to a 16:9 aspect
ratio by Pro8mm in Burbank. He shot the same 50D and 250D
Films cut down for Super 8, and Pro8mm processed and transferred
the footage.
“I grew up shooting Super 8 fi lm and stealing my dad’s cameras
to do it,” he points out. “It’s fun to be able to use it professionally,
and it was easy to integrate into this grainy, grungy, post-apocalyptic
scenario.”
After 18 months of shooting and postproduction, the fi lmmakers
created a visually and sonically mesmerizing fi lm.
“So many people watch the fi lm and keep saying how beautiful
it is or how amazing the shots look and they can’t quite fi gure out
why they love it so much. I tell them what they are responding so
strongly to is the magic of fi lm. And we shot it all on cameras that
are way older than we are!”
Year Zero won Surfer Magazine’s Movie of the Year Award, and is
now available on iTunes, BLU-RAY disc and DVD.
Photos: Shot on location around the world Year Zero delivers a unique concept with
stunning visuals that capture the essence of surfing in a novel setting. (Credit: Courtesy
of Globe International)

American Cinematographer - June 2012

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