American Cinematographer - June 2014 - S5

and everyone on the project
was excited about getting
it right... Fortunately, Ryan
spoke to the heart of any
cinematographer, relaying
that he really wanted to
shoot 35mm and make it
look like a Sidney Lumet fi lm.
Ryan has such an arresting
sense of style and he coupled
that with his passion for
this historically signifi cant
story. Ryan hired a great
production designer, Shane
Valentino, and they created
the guidebook of colors and
imagery that informed so
much of the style."
To bring their vision to life,
Moder chose a two-pronged
film stock approach with
KODAK VISION3 500T
Color Negative Film 5219
and VISION3 250D Color
Negative Film 5207. "The
5219 has such incredible
range and tight grain; it
was reliable to keep a clean
image, but also handle
digging into shadows and
maintaining highlights if
we wanted to push it one
way or the other," Moder
explains. "The 250D is great
for the variances outside, in
the shadows of New York's
gritty '80s look or the bright
saturated sunshine where
we started the movie."
To further ingrain this
sense of history, Moder
outfitted his ARRICAM with
ZEISS Super Speed lenses,
and old-school Baltars.
"Shooting film, coupled
with these older lenses,
helps with transporting the
audience back to this era."
It was up to Moder and
his team to communicate
this sense of disconcertion.
"There was a clear arc where
the movie started in bright
saturated colors, and as the
disease and the struggle sets
in, darkness and desaturation
take over." This progression
is established in the opening
sequence, which was shot
on Fire Island and is "bright
and somewhat front lit,"
according to Moder. "By the
end we were reaching into
the deepest shadows. The
actors were all on board and
allowed themselves to be
seen in less-than-perfect
light."
In order to pronounce
the grain of the film, Moder
pushed the camera "a stop
or two on occasion." But it
was the DI that "allowed
us to create the color arc of
the story." Moder enlisted
the help of colorist Tony
Dustin at Technicolor Los
Angeles, with whom he has
collaborated on three other
projects. "He understands
a good image and finds the
range in the negative. We
are both very happy with the
results."
For Moder, The Normal
Heart reinforced an
ideology he had set forth
in the earliest days of his
career. "My meter case
has the word 'Trust' on it,"
"There really is something tangible about
fi lm - the chemical process, the way the
colors combine. A fi lm set in the early '80s
really calls for it, and everyone on the project
was excited about getting it right... "
he explains. "I put it there
long ago as a reminder
to take chances because
filmmaking is an art and the
boundaries need pushing.
Shooting on film places a
reliance back on the DP,
because not everyone can
trust the monitor like you
do with digital. There was
a classic and respectful
system in making this film
where all producers and
crewmembers cared deeply
about the story."
As for what he hopes
viewers will take away when
the film premieres on HBO,
Moder concludes, "It's
worth fighting for the ones
you love. And that the fight
against AIDS is not over."
Photos: Top left: Mark Ruffalo and Taylor
Kitsch in The Normal Heart. Top right: Matt
Bomer and Ruffalo (Photo credits Jojo
Whilden/HBO). Left inset: Danny Moder
(Photo credit Jojo Whilden/HBO). Bottom
right: Alfred Molina and Danny Moder
(Photo credit Claire Folger/HBO).
American Cinematographer - June 2014

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