American Cinematographer - July 2018 - 54

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Life of the Mind

Top: Syd's mother, Joan (Lily Rabe), visits her in an institution. Bottom: Kerry Loudermilk (Amber
Midthunder) looks on as David and Syd link minds.

bending head-trip was intensified by
flashing pixel-ribbon practicals inside
the tank, while the camera dipped and
dove around Stevens on a Technocrane
and Libra head. A Squishy Lens with its
special flexible element was used to add
an even more distorted vibe to the
action.
The majority of Legion's camera
movement has been accomplished with
remote heads, such as an Arri or
Lambda head with Hot Gears, a Libra
head, or a Power Pod on a Fisher 21 jib
arm or a GF-8 crane. Key grip Manny
Duran of Killer Grip Co. and his team
54

July 2018

equipped the cinematographers with
Technocranes, a Freefly Movi, DJI's
Ronin 1 and 2, and FlyLine cable-cams.
"The days are daunting in that way,
because not only do you have these huge
technical challenges, but when you're
moving the camera the way we do, your
move has to land with the performance," Gonzales says, citing the results
as "a testament to the amazing operating
skills of Mitch Dubin, SOC and John
Connor, SOC."
Duran notes, "Time and budget
[were] a factor in determining what we
could achieve. With the full support of
American Cinematographer

our producers and cinematographers,
we as a department had the capabilities
to pull off some extraordinary work. I
am so proud and amazed at the
outcome of our team effort."
By all appearances, the Legion
filmmakers mindfully adhere to a core
imperative of narrative cinematography:
The camera is an element of the story.
"When you move the camera or choose
a lens, it has to mean something,"
Gonzales observes. The cinematographers have thus approached Legion's
emotionally charged dramatic scenes "in
a more meaningful way," as Kuras
describes, so that the audience can
better understand the characters' relationships and challenges.
The Season 2 episode "Chapter
12," directed by Kuras, is an example of
this approach, as David jumps back and
forth in time through Syd's early life,
searching for a critical moment in her
past that may hold the key to saving her
in the future. Morgan relied on a variety
of different diffusions, colored filters,
and lenses to tell "the emotional story of
a woman and the choices that made her
who she is." She used Super Baltar
primes with Black Pro-Mist and
Tobacco filters to create a feeling of
nostalgia and texture for Syd's birth and
toddlerhood, and then switched to a
Tiffen Antique Suede and vintage
Canon K-35 primes for Syd's tween and
teenage years. "The shots emote and
enhance this young woman's journey,
and also help the viewer know where
they are in time," says Morgan - who
also wanted to distinguish Syd's narrative from the simultaneous one taking
place within Division III, which was
clean, sharp and shot with Master
Primes.
For Season 1, Gonzales worked
with production designer Michael
Wylie, art directors John Alvarez and
Michael Corrado, and gaffer Jeff
Pentecost to light the sets almost
entirely with LEDs, which offered the
cinematographer a high degree of quality and control. This strategy remained
in place when Jeff Webster was brought
➣
on as gaffer for Season 2.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - July 2018