American Cinematographer - July 2010 - 49

gelled Half CTB to those gelled Primary Red was performed. “It wasn’t anything complicated, and the result looked great,” says Fortune. “The only constant color sources were some tungsten spacelights and the underwater Pars.” Just as it begins to look as though the Northern Water Tribe will share the fate of the Air Nomad Nation, the Moon Spirit is reincarnated by the selfsacrifice of Northern Water Tribe’s Princess Yue (Seychelle Gabriel). Spiritual balance is restored, and the Waterbenders reacquire their powers. Lesnie’s goal for this sequence was “to create a light so strong that the image would start burning out,” he says. “It was harder than it sounds. Every single lighting unit out of the truck was blasting down that lens. I even had the camera assistants firing their flashlights down the barrel. It was a staggering amount of light. Looking through the viewfinder was pretty difficult, but these

days the capacity of film technology to withstand this kind of abuse frequently exceeds my expectations.” Throughout the shoot, colorist Steve Bodner Jr. timed HD dailies at Deluxe in New York. “Steve’s work was excellent,” says Lesnie. “He’s very focused. I sent him graded stills accompanied by comprehensive notes each day. The notes and stills also went to [colorists] Joe Gawler and Yvan Lucas at EFilm in Hollywood, where we did the final grade. I knew they’d have to field a large number of plates from ILM prior to the final timing, so I spent some time with Yvan at the end of principal photography, creating a color bible and locking in the look of the whole picture.” A year after the production wrapped, Paramount decided to convert The Last Airbender to 3-D, and at press time, Lesnie was preparing to return to Los Angeles to approve some of those reels. “Stereo D is doing the

post conversion,” says Lesnie. “Given the timing of the decision and my limited opportunity to be involved, I’m getting a crash course in how to avoid ‘cardboarding’ and ‘miniaturization,’ determining proper interaxial distances, and finishing with ‘fluid studio grading.’” ●

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American Cinematographer - July 2010

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