American Cinematographer - November 2013 - 32

Top: U.S. government officials Sarah Shaw (Laura Linney) and James Boswell (Stanley Tucci)
attempt to contain the damage after U.S. Army soldier Bradley Manning provides WikiLeaks
with the largest collection of restricted documents ever leaked to the public.
Bottom: Schliessler sheds some light on a setup.

cameras like another film stock. They can
look like film. It's a combination of camera
movement and how you light. I'm quite
comfortable with the look of the Alexa."
Schliessler estimates that 80 percent
of the film was shot handheld, with some
use of Steadicam and a couple of shots
accomplished with Technocranes. Jacques
Jouffret operated the production's A
camera and Steadicam, with Didier Frateur
as his first assistant. The B-camera operator
was Des Whelan and his first assistant was
Franz Xaver-Kringer. Dino Parks served as
second-unit director of photography.
The filmmakers were reframing
32

November 2013

constantly within shots and found a workhorse lens in the lightweight Fujinon
Premier 19-90mm Cabrio. For longer-lens
requirements, they used the Fujinon Premier
75-400mm zoom, which they would place
on a sandbag. The kit also included Angenieux Optimo 15-40mm T2.6, 45-120mm
T2.8 and 24-290mm T2.8 zooms. Additionally, Schliessler carried a set of Arri Master
Primes (ranging from 16mm to 150mm) for
low-light shooting. Given the preponderance of practicals, the crew usually shot in
the T2.8-T4 range, and around T5.6 in exteriors to maintain shallower depth of focus.
Schneider Classic Soft filters provided
American Cinematographer

camera diffusion.
The film's fast-moving, free-floating
camera suggests both the speed of the digital world and the paranoia the WikiLeaks
operators feel with their many enemies just
a step behind. Schliessler tips his hat here to
Jouffret: "He is able to find the moments in
swish pans and handheld movements that
tell the story. He just knows how to hit
dialogue. Bill and Jacques would discuss
where these moments are and where he
would land at certain times. Meanwhile, I
was usually lighting for 270 degrees, so we
could move around and find moments you
would normally not be able to shoot
because you'd be limited by lighting."
For onset look and color management, Leonard used Pomfort's LiveGrade.
"It provides a very efficient way to monitor
and grade live," he says. "Tobias
would create a look, which I would
then send as 3-D LUTs with rushes,
along with any alterations that were
made." Budapest's Colorfront handled
dailies for the European shoot, while New
York's Company 3 worked on the Kenyan
dailies.
The movie was edited by Virginia
Katz on an Avid system at Post Factory NY.
The digital files were assembled and
conformed in Autodesk Smoke at
Company 3 in New York. Schliessler's
frequent collaborator, ASC associate and
colorist Stefan Sonnenfeld of Company 3,
did the final grade on a DaVinci Resolve
system, with Schliessler present throughout
the process.
In his long list of credits - which
also includes Hancock (AC July '08), Battleship and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (AC
July '09) - Schliessler holds a special regard
for The Fifth Estate. "It's a thought-provoking subject," he says. "I was very happy to
do a movie that has a realistic feel. I also was
very excited to work with Bill again. Giving
this movie its scope while keeping the
energy up was a great challenge."

TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
Digital Capture
Arri Alexa Studio, Plus
Fujinon, Angenieux, Arri
●

American Cinematographer - November 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - November 2013