American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 64

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Unholy Alliance

Bulger spends time with his mother (Mary Klug) and brother Billy.

restricted, and that this shouldn't be a
handheld movie," the cinematographer
explains. "Camera placement should be
quiet. When we follow a character, that's
done on Steadicam so it doesn't have a
bouncy feeling. What happens is so
violent, we didn't need [excessive camera
movement] on top of it. Sometimes just
holding the frame is good."
Takayanagi operated the A
camera throughout the production. "I
like operating because it's so close to the
performance," he explains. "It's the best
place to see it." With a laugh, he adds, "I
64

October 2015

can cheat, too: 'Oh, I see my light, I can
just tilt down.'" Two cameras almost
always rolled simultaneously, and Bcamera/Steadicam operator Henry Tirl
was frequently tasked with getting
close-ups while the A camera stayed
wider.
The movie introduces Bulger at
his Triple O's Lounge hangout, which
production designer Cella re-created at
Cambridge's Polish American Club.
The interior was lit mostly with added
practicals, including 80 75-watt tungsten bulbs in a big strip soft box built
American Cinematographer

into the set above the bar, neon signs in
the background, and a lamp fitted with
cool-white fluorescent tubes that hung
over a pool table. Small tungsten units
were also positioned for close-ups.
Boston has switched its streetlights to LEDs, so for a period-accurate
night-exterior look outside the lounge,
the art department asked the city to
replace the lamps with 400-watt
sodium-vapor bulbs. These were the
main sources outside Triple O's, with
accents provided by additional metalhalide bulbs and mercury-vapor and
cool-white industrial sources.
"Sodium-vapor light is gritty,"
says Mo Flam, the production's
Massachusetts-based gaffer. "It can
render people in a harsh way, with green
or olive skin. But we used that to our
advantage, because it makes characters
look hard and urban. If you want to be
realistic, use the real sources rather than
re-create them with movie lights."
Flam's custom-made ballasts also
enabled the crew to run sodium-vapor
lights inside China balls in order to
supplement the streetlights for closeups.
As they had on Out of the Furnace,
Cooper and Takayanagi again elected to
shoot in the anamorphic format, giving
them a wide tableau they found particularly effective for two-shots. The cinematographer opted primarily for
Panavision G Series anamorphic



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - October 2015

Contents
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - Intro
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 1
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 2
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - Contents
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 4
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 5
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 6
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 7
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 8
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 9
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 10
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 11
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 12
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 13
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 14
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 15
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 16
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 17
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 18
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 19
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 20
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 21
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 22
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 23
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 24
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 25
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 26
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 27
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 28
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 29
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 30
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 31
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 32
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 33
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 34
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 35
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 36
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 37
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 38
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 39
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 40
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 41
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 42
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 43
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 44
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 45
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 46
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 47
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 48
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 49
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 50
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 50a
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 50b
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 51
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 52
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 53
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 54
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 55
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 56
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 57
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 58
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 59
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 60
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 61
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 62
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 63
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 64
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 65
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 66
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 67
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 68
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 69
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 70
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 71
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 72
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 73
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 74
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 75
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 76
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 77
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 78
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 79
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 80
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 81
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 82
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 83
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 84
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 85
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 86
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 87
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 88
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 89
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 90
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 91
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 92
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 93
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 94
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 95
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 96
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - October 2015 - Cover4
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