American Cinematographer - August 2012 - 12

Short Takes
For New York Story, director Donna Lawrence and cinematographer Buddy Squires embraced the 4.71:1 aspect ratio to take advantage
of the 73'-wide screen in the New York Historical Society and Library’s recently refurbished theater.
I
Capturing a City of Icons
By Iain Stasukevich
Directed by Donna Lawrence and shot by Buddy Squires, New
York Story is a special-format theatrical experience conceived for the
newly refurbished theater at the New York Historical Society and
Library in Manhattan. The project incorporates computer animation,
historical photos and documents, archival material, and new liveaction
footage.
Squires knows a few things about capturing New York on
camera. He shot the Oscar-nominated films Brooklyn Bridge and The
Statue of Liberty for documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, and he also
worked with Ric Burns (Ken’s brother) on the PBS miniseries New
York: A Documentary Film.
Lawrence’s previous work includes installation pieces for the
National Constitution Center, the Kentucky Derby Museum and the
Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center. All of her films are tailored for
unique venues, and the N.Y. Historical Society theater’s 73'-wide
screen (a 4.71:1 aspect ratio) promised that New York Story would
offer another spectacular proscenium.
The filmmakers needed to originate on a medium that
offered the greatest amount of picture resolution for the projection
surface the images would occupy. Prior to Squires’ involvement,
Lawrence and technical consultant Todd Freese of Chicago’s Filmworkers
Club shot tests comparing the Red One Mysterium-X at 4K
and Super 35mm scanned to 4K files. After viewing the tests on a
13'-wide screen in the Filmworkers DI suite, everyone agreed film
was the best choice. At that scale, says Squires, “there was no doubt
Super 35 did a much better job of handling light and shadow.”
But the real test came after the images were enlarged to the
width of the Historical Society’s 73' screen, upon which three
1920x1080 digital projectors would each simultaneously display
one-third of the 5760x1080 panorama. “We looked at one of the
three slices, which was maybe 23 feet high by 25 feet wide, and, to
12
August 2012
my shock and dismay, the Super 35 image kind of fell apart,” says
Squires.
The determining factor, says Freese, was where the viewer
was seated. “The first row of seats is very close to the screen, about
15 feet,” he explains. “At that distance, the noise and the grain in
the film image were extremely exaggerated. If we sat in the back of
the theater, about 38 feet from the screen, we couldn’t see any
grain, but most of the audience would be closer than that.”
Capturing in 4K with the Red MX emerged as the best
choice at that point, but Squires continued to search for other
options. He recalls, “I was working on another project at AbelCine
in New York, and I mentioned to [AbelCine applications specialist]
Mitch Gross that I was a little frustrated with the Red. He suggested
the Phantom 65 Gold.”
Squires supervised another set of camera tests comparing
the Red to the Phantom, using Hawk anamorphic lenses provided
by Fletcher Camera & Lenses. Though the Red offered an established
on-set workflow, the Phantom’s 4096x2440-pixel 65mm
sensor provided all the horizontal resolution New York Story
required. AbelCine subsequently supplied Squires with a Phantom
and Arri/Zeiss Maxi-PL Prime lenses ranging from 30mm to 350mm.
“I have to give Donna a lot of credit for continuing the testing
process,” says Squires. “You can’t just assume that what looks good
on a 13-foot screen will look good on a 73-foot screen. There was
a lot at stake, and we had to do our homework.”
He notes that the Phantom 65’s large-format sensor called
for carefully designed compositions. “You have to make sure everything
in that frame is something you want to see. On a 73-foot
screen, the Phantom 65’s startling clarity demands that the cinematographer
take responsibility for every square inch of the frame.
There is simply nowhere to hide one’s mistakes.”
Assisted by 1st AC John Romeo and Phantom technicians
Jamie Alac and Jesse Rosen, Squires placed the camera in mostly
public locations such as sidewalks, rooftops and Central Park. The
American Cinematographer
Photos by Sam Downing, Josh Miller, John Romeo and Rob Travalino. All images courtesy of Donna Lawrence Productions.

American Cinematographer - August 2012

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