American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 60

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Once Upon a Time in theWest
mation as possible, and we tested for three days with the Pace system. The tests were very telling; they looked stunning, but it terrified me how big and cumbersome everything was. We had so many cables we had to dig trenches so the horses wouldn’t trip. “When we showed the tests to DreamWorks and Universal, they were unsure about it,” he continues. “Jon asked me what I thought, and I just had an instinct it wasn’t going to be good. Cinematography is about action and reaction, and I didn’t think [shooting 3-D] in the middle of New Mexico was going to be conducive to any type of momentum.” Once 3-D was off the table, Libatique quickly shifted gears. “Out of 10 weeks of prep, we spent seven prepping for 3-D,” he says. “Those last three weeks were a whirlwind, but we had an amazing team, including [production designer] Scott Chambliss and [costume designer] Mary Zophres. All the elements that didn’t have anything to do with 3-D were in place. But it was hard on the crew — we’d squandered valuable mental energy trying to figure out how 3-D was going to work.” The filmmakers ultimately decided to shoot anamorphic 35mm. “Anamorphic is the language of the classic Western, and it was a creative, aesthetic and technical draw for me,” says Libatique. The production carried Panaflex Millennium and Millennium XL camera bodies from Panavision Hollywood. “I’ve had a long relationship with Panavision Hollywood, and I really wanted to use the G-Series [anamorphic lenses],” says Libatique. “We used them in combination with the C-Series. My first AC, Mark Santoni, literally walked through the lens room and built the package lens by lens.” Within the range of primes, Libatique gravitated toward the 50mm and 75mm. “We would go up to 100mm from time to time, but rarely did we go wider than 50mm. We had a collection of Primo zooms as well, and

Top: Libatique enthuses that working with horses was “the best part of the job,” but maintaining a consistent look in the face of ever-changing weather conditions was “the biggest challenge of my career in terms of matching.” Bottom: To help maintain consistency on the Absolution set, the crew suspended silks from construction cranes.

porary film with patience is a very rare thing. “We wanted to be as honest with the Western as possible, and the challenge was how to mesh that with science fiction. We looked at Alien [AC August ’79], and we were taken by how, structurally, it resembles a thriller. The question became, ‘How do we create the tension within the Western to grad60 August 2011

uate into the science-fiction thriller?’ That was terrifying, but ultimately, as a cinematographer, it’s not my position to worry about the story’s structure. I just have to worry about the visual language of it all.” As preproduction got underway, the possibility of shooting 3-D arose. Libatique recounts, “I did the best I could to absorb as much [3-D] inforAmerican Cinematographer



American Cinematographer - August 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - August 2011

American Cinematographer - August 2011
Contents
Editor’s Note
President’s Desk
Short Takes: The Arrival
Production Slate: Rise of the Planet of the Apes • Femme Fatales
Cosmic Questions
Darkest Arts
An All-American Hero
Once Upon a Time in the West
Post Focus
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Tom Houghton
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - American Cinematographer - August 2011
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 1
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 2
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Contents
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 4
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 5
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 6
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 7
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Editor’s Note
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 9
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - President’s Desk
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 11
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Short Takes: The Arrival
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 13
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 14
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 15
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 16
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 17
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Production Slate: Rise of the Planet of the Apes • Femme Fatales
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 19
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 20
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 21
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 22
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 23
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 24
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 25
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 26
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 27
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Cosmic Questions
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 29
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 30
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 31
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 32
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 33
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 34
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 35
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 36
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 37
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 38
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 39
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Darkest Arts
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 41
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 42
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 43
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 44
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 45
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 46
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 47
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - An All-American Hero
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 49
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 50
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 51
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 52
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 53
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 54
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 55
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 56
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 57
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Once Upon a Time in the West
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 59
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 60
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 61
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 62
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 63
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 64
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 65
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 66
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 67
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 68
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 69
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 70
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 71
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Post Focus
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 73
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 74
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 75
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - New Products & Services
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 77
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 78
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 79
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 80
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 81
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - International Marketplace
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Classified Ads
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Ad Index
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 85
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Clubhouse News
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - 87
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - ASC Close-Up: Tom Houghton
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - August 2011 - Cover4
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