American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 69
picks up the sound of a gunshot an instant before the car of a promising senator drives off a bridge, sending the politician and a call girl, Sally (Nancy Allen), plunging into the river below. Jack manages to save Sally, but when he tries to inform the police and media about the crucial gunshot sound, he draws the attention of a murderous conspirator, Burke (John Lithgow), who targets him and the girl. “Brian is really a stylist, and he’s very experimental,” Zsigmond says. “He sticks his neck out on movies that sometimes get bad reviews because the people who write the reviews say he’s concentrating too much on the visuals. But that’s what I like so much about him: he knows about images. There are so many films that just consist of talking heads, and they feel more like what you think of as ‘TV coverage.’ Brian always wants to do something that has style.” Blow Out’s opening scene sets the tone for the rest of the film with an extended Steadicam POV shot, placing the audience in the shoes of a murderer stalking a group of sorority girls. Operated by Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown, the long take is eventually revealed to be a scene from Coed Crazy, the film-within-the-film. In this sequence and others, De Palma reminds viewers that they are watching a movie and are subject to the medium’s manipulative techniques. Jack’s job as a sound recordist also reveals another facet of filmmaking’s artifice, illustrating how most of a movie’s soundtrack is pieced together from disparate sounds long after the actual shooting is over. We first meet Jack on a dubbing stage, where he’s looping the footage from Coed Crazy and working with the film’s manic director to replace the scream of the onscreen actress with the voice of a better screamer. Later that evening, tasked with finding night ambience for the track, Jack takes his Nagra tape recorder and shotgun mic to a spot near Philadelphia’s Wissahickon River, located by the park and bridge of the same name. Zsigmond’s camera
ww.theasc.com w
Photos by Louis Goldman, from the collections of the Margaret Herrick Library. Frame grabs © MGM Home Entertainment.
Opposite page: Sound recordist Jack Terry (John Travolta) listens intently to an audiotape that may contain evidence of a politician’s murder. This page, top: A dangerous conspirator, Burke (John Lithgow), seeks to bury the evidence by eliminating Sally (Nancy Allen), a call girl who survived the assassination. Bottom, clockwise from left: Lithgow, 1st AD Joe Napolitano, director Brian De Palma and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC block out a shot in Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station.
November 2011
69
http://www.theasc.com
American Cinematographer - November 2011
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - November 2011
American Cinematographer - November 2011
Contents
Editor’s Note
President’s Desk
Short Takes: “The Candidate”
Production Slate: Martha Marcy May Marlene • America in Primetime
Time Bandit
All for One
3-D on a Budget
Caught on Tape
Sharp Shooting
Filmmakers’ Forum: Juan-Ruiz Anchia, ASC
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Dan Mindel
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - American Cinematographer - November 2011
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 1
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 2
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Contents
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 4
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 5
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 6
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 7
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Editor’s Note
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 9
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - President’s Desk
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 11
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Short Takes: “The Candidate”
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 13
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 14
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 15
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 16
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 17
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Production Slate: Martha Marcy May Marlene • America in Primetime
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 19
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 20
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 21
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 22
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 23
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 24
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 25
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 26
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 27
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 28
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 29
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 30
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 31
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Time Bandit
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 33
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 34
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 35
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 36
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 37
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 38
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 39
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 40
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 41
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 42
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 43
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 44
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 45
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - All for One
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 47
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 48
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 49
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 50
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 51
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 52
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 53
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 54
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 55
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 56
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 57
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 58
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 59
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 3-D on a Budget
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 61
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 62
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 63
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 64
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 65
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 66
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 67
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Caught on Tape
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 69
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 70
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 71
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 72
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 73
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 74
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 75
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 76
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 77
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Sharp Shooting
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 79
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Filmmakers’ Forum: Juan-Ruiz Anchia, ASC
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 81
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 82
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 83
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 84
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 85
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - New Products & Services
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 87
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 88
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 89
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - International Marketplace
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Classified Ads
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Ad Index
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 93
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Clubhouse News
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - 95
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - ASC Close-Up: Dan Mindel
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - November 2011 - Cover4
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