American Cinematographer - September 2007 - 45

about him he mentioned Clean, Shaven, which had really stuck with me for awhile after I saw it,” says Jeffcoat, who is based in Seattle. “It was exciting to know he’d done something that left an impression on me, and in looking at his other films I was impressed at how well he adapted his style to very different projects, like Tao of Steve and Claire Dolan. But as important as the quality of his work was, we were also looking for someone with the right personality who would be able to function in some difficult situations in a very different culture. When I first spoke to Teo on the phone, the rapport was pretty instant.” Maniaci, whose parents emigrated from Sicily to the States in 1955, has long cultivated an interest in other cultures, a curiosity that led him to shoot projects in Senegal, Japan and China. However, he had never been to India, so prior to the Outsourced shoot he spent almost three weeks traveling from one end of India to the other on his own on a very low budget. “I wanted to get a sense of the country’s rhythms and logic,” he says. “India really is its own universe. It’s a beehive, a whirling maelstrom of activity. It’s all experiences all at once all the time. By the time production came around I was able to stay incredibly calm in the midst of huge crises; all the intricacies and sound and fury of production seemed mellow in comparison to what I’d been through on my travels!” Jeffcoat had familiarized himself with India by directing and shooting a documentary about its film industry; that project, Bollywood & Me, is still in progress. “You’re always angling for a way to make your first film, and I think getting funding for Bollywood & Me was my way of scouting out the potential of shooting a feature there,” he says. “India seemed like a really good place to do an indie because of the lower costs, and the

research I did for my documentary definitely helped inform the ideas for Outsourced.” Maniaci notes that production dollars did stretch further in India than they would have elsewhere — “We were able to pull off some very big locations, like Mumbai’s Victoria Station and Chattrapathi Shivaji International Airport, and we were also able to afford an excellent local crew” — but he emphasizes that Gorai and executive producer David Skinner were instrumental in making it all work. “David and Tom were dream producers,” says Maniaci. “They’re smart, supportive and creative, and their chief concern was putting the

money where it was most important, where it would do the film the most good. Tom, who was with us the whole time, was really great at solving problems, and the shoot was fraught with complexity.” He cites the producers’ decision to take him, Jeffcoat, and line producer Gwen Bialic to Mumbai for a week of “pre-prep” as one that benefited the team considerably. “About a month before the official prep, we went over and spent a week sizing up all the parameters,” he says. They were able to do a preliminary location scout and liaise with a local production company, Highlight Films, that assisted them in a number of ways. “Highlight is essentially

Opposite: Todd (Josh Hamilton) goes for a swim after being ambushed on Holi, India’s festival of colors. This page, above: Cinematographer Teodoro Maniaci (riding the crane) and his crew prep the shot. Below: At Film City, Maniaci (at camera) preps another crane shot with (from left) 1st AC Amy Silverman, best boy grip Bhurji and camera assistant Tanaji S. Kshirsagar.

Photos courtesy of Shadowcatcher Entertainment.

American Cinematographer 45

American Cinematographer - September 2007

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