American Cinematographer - October 2011 - 12

shot it like we would a movie,” says Trost. Zombie says the style he and Trost have worked out is predicated on speed and variety. “When we’re doing coverage of a scene, unless there’s a problem, I don’t like to do multiple takes with the same lenses because then you get into editing, and you have the same setup and the same lens over and over,” says Zombie. The duo managed about 75 setups a day on Halloween II. “Brandon gets the way I like to shoot,” says Zombie. “And we usually don’t have the time to do it any other way.” One way to achieve that kind of quantity and still craft a high-quality image is to shoot with two cameras and minimal lighting. “On ‘Torture,’” Trost explains, “we shot all the spooky stuff in broad daylight. I didn’t use anything except for some A burly sadist puts clothing through its paces in “Torture,” a Woolite commercial shot by negative fill.” Brandon Trost and directed by Rob Zombie. The “fade” sequence in the commercial On-the-Rack Fashion employs some practical tungsten fixtures provided by the art departBy Iain Stasukevich ment, and Trost punched them up with a couple of 1K Par cans. “Rob and I tend to use practicals or nothing at all,” he says. Rob Zombie might seem an unlikely choice to direct a Woolite “Torture” was not only Zombie’s first commercial, but also his commercial, but ad agency Euro RSCG Worldwide actually tailored a first experience with a digital-cinema camera; Trost convinced him to spot to him. It’s called “Torture.” experiment with a Red One (upgraded with the Mysterium-X “The concept is that there’s a mysterious figure out in the sensor). “Rob and I both like the texture of film because we can woods called The Torturer, and he’s torturing clothes,” says Zombie. degrade it,” notes Trost. “But you can do that with digital, too, and At first Zombie had to turn the project down because of tour- I wanted to show him those possibilities.” ing commitments, but the agency kept changing the dates and locaBased on some tests he’d done with the Red for the feature tions to fit his schedule. When they finally locked a date in VancouGhost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance , Trost decided to shoot all scenes ver, Zombie called in cinematographer Brandon Trost. involving The Torturer at 3,200 ASA — even though they’re all day The Woolite gig marks the third collaboration between Trost exteriors. “It brings out noise in the image, so it starts to feel like and Zombie, after Halloween II (2009) and music videos for the grain and starts to look a little more analog,” he says. “When you Zombie tracks “Sick Bubblegum” and “Mars Needs Women.” add a little contrast, the digital grain starts to stand out. When Rob “I really like working with Rob, and we work really well saw that, he got really interested.” together,” says Trost. “The key is that we both know what we want, “Cinematography matters to me, but I don’t share this new but we’re not so committed [to those ideas] that it’s at the expense obsession with higher resolution,” notes Zombie. “I think things are of doing what’s best for the project.” becoming so high resolution that they look like shit. People look “Brandon is open-minded,” Zombie remarks. “I’m never at a weird. You can see the makeup in the actors’ pores. I’ve always shied loss for what I want on set, but I’m always hoping that he’ll have an away from that.” In fact, he tends to lean in the opposite direction: idea of how to take things a step further. Sometimes he’ll make for Halloween II, he and Trost chose to originate on Super 16mm, suggestions and I’ll stick to the original plan, but that’s okay because and they pushed the stock so hard that shots sometimes came out there’s no ego between us.” too dark or out of focus. Filming took place over two days in and around Vancouver, Being able to see the image immediately on set is what finally with the first day set on a derelict farmland just south of the city. The convinced Zombie to take the digital plunge. “That’s something that Torturer does his worst — stretching out a cardigan on a medieval I like about it as well,” says Trost. “It makes us a little more comfortrack, shrinking a pretty top before using it to strangle a mannequin, able and allows us to work a little more quickly. It’s especially good and fading a pair of jeans under the brutal heat of electric lamps. for focus, because we do a lot of handheld work with no marks. If The agency only produced six panels of storyboards, but “we we can see right away that we’re sharp, it makes a big difference in

Short Takes

October 2011

American Cinematographer

American Cinematographer - October 2011

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