American Cinematographer - June 2020 - 26

pp Cinematographer Emmett Sutherland (at the camera) and director Zak Marx (behind the
cinematographer) capture Tomaselli under a soft box. p In his "dream space," Sunshine carries his injured
competition, "Jammin'" Jackie Hudson (Eddie Fritts Tomaselli).

but never quite the bride," then goes on
to enthuse about the No. 1 racer,
Jammin' Jackie Hudson (Tomaselli),
whom we then see in a montage of
magazine covers and trophy ceremonies, striking Steve McQueen-esque
macho-sexy poses on the back of a
motorcycle. The picture fades to
Sunshine (Braden Overwater) riding in
what we assume to be the Baja 1000, an
off-road, long-distance race on the Baja
California Peninsula. These shots alternate with Sunshine in his dream space,
which Jammin' Jackie suddenly enters.
The latter starts to dance in a form of
taunt. Watching, Sunshine is tormented
by another montage trumpeting his
rival's success. Back in the Baja desert,
Sunshine spies a crash ahead. He finds
Jackie's motorcycle in flames and its
rider lying bloodied on the ground.
Sunshine contemplates leaving him
June 2020

there and imagines hoisting a trophy in
triumph as fireworks blaze. But he ultimately carries Jackie to safety before a
setting sun. Cut back to the broadcast,
and Sunshine is once again the loser
when Jackie hobbles out on crutches as
the show's celebrated special guest.
"Adventure" is a true exemplar of
DIY filmmaking. "On these creative
projects, we come up with everything
together and produce it ourselves from
top to bottom," Marx says. "It's about as
collaborative a process as you can imagine." In addition to their main roles,
Marx and Sutherland did all the assistant-director work, production design,
costumes and more. The cinematographer even did the custom paint job on
the two decrepit motorcycles they
acquired for the shoot; in addition, fireworks were set off from his driveway;
the dream space and talk-show set were

American Cinematographer - 100 Years

built in the painting studio of his girlfriend's mother, and family and friends
were recruited to dress the dream space
with yards and yards of flowers stuck
into oasis foam. And with no telltale
elements to hide or redesign, the desert
- in particular, the Coyote Dry Lake in
the Mojave Desert - was the perfect
place to shoot 1970s-era racing scenes
with a limited budget.
Framing in 1.85:1, Sutherland shot
with an Arri 16SR3 - "a workhorse, and
I've grown to really like its reliability and
simplicity," he says - and Optar Illumina
Super 16 (T1.3) prime lenses. "They're a
less expensive version of the Super
Speeds," Sutherland notes. "They have
the same crisp and clean characteristics,
and they also share the same T stop,
which gave us the dramatic wide-open
falloff we wanted.
"Zak and I took turns operating,
and our AC was Alec Cotugno," he
continues. "Nick Hargous, our producer,
was essential to the project and did
every job Zak and I couldn't do, including
cooking for the crew and hauling gear.
His girlfriend, Cecil B. Moxie, did all the
custom embroidery. I also have to
mention our gaffer, Conor Soules; our
grip, Zack Bartlett, and our electrician,
Zach Trout. And Kelsey Robinson, Zak's
fiancée, was responsible for all the flowers."
Sutherland shot Kodak Vision3
500T 7219 for interiors and 250D 7207
for exteriors. The short's black-andwhite snippets were converted in post at
The Mill in Los Angeles, which was also
where colorist Matt Osborne performed
the final grade on a FilmLight Baselight
system. To prepare the film negative for
the grade, the staffers at Origins Archival
were "our liaisons through the processing and [4K] scanning," the cinematographer says.
Seeking an authentic 1970s
broadcast look for The Jimmy Lancaster
Show, Sutherland and Marx scoured
eBay and bought several vintage Sony
Handycams to try out, but the cameras
did not provide the filmmakers with the
look they were after. Finally, they landed
upon BroadcastStore.com, whose
owners, Sandy and Lou Claude, find and

http://www.BroadcastStore.com

American Cinematographer - June 2020

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