American Cinematographer - November 2016 - 31

Unit photography by Matt Klitscher, courtesy of Starz Entertainment, LLC.

nce upon a time, in a cabin in the
woods, a group of college students
awoke an ancient evil that continues to run rampant through a now
35-year-old horror franchise. Created by
Sam Raimi, the Evil Dead films - The
Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II and
Army of Darkness - were part scares,
part comedy and all blood-and-guts, and
they made an icon of actor Bruce
Campbell, whose performance as the
chainsaw-wielding antihero Ash
Williams left fans clamoring for more.
That wish was granted when, in 2015,
the television network Starz debuted the
series Ash vs Evil Dead, which began
airing its second season in October.
The series rejoins Ash decades
after his last encounter with demonpossessed Deadites. Having traded his
gore-soaked chainsaw for a set of false
teeth, Ash spends his days as an incompetent clerk at the Value Stop, then
squeezes into a girdle before trying to
impress the female patrons of late-night
bars. In a drug-addled attempt to win
over one of those women, Ash reads
from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, a.k.a.
the Book of the Dead, thereby reawakening the ancient evil and leaving himself
no choice but to charge back into battle
against the hordes of frenzied Deadites
and their demonic masters.
Cinematographers Dave Garbett
and John Cavill shared the 10 episodes
of season one; for season two, Garbett
shot seven episodes with Kevin Riley
serving as director of photography for
three. The series is produced in
Auckland, New Zealand, and principal
photography for the first season
commenced in spring of 2015, with the
cinematographers sharing a camera
package that included two Arri Alexa
XTs and a Sony CineAlta PMW-F55;
all cameras were rated at 800 ISO. "The
different look of the F55 made things a
bit tricky in the timing," Garbett notes,
"but it's a lot of camera in a lightweight
package, making it perfect for Movi
shots and when we wanted to just throw
the camera around."
Season one's first episode - titled
"El Jefe" - was recorded in ArriRaw,
after which the workflow switched over

Opposite: Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) returns to battle the Deadite hordes and their demonic masters
on the Starz series Ash vs Evil Dead. This page, top: Cinematographer John Cavill (right) preps the
lighting inside Ash's bedroom for a season-two episode. Bottom: Cinematographer Dave Garbett (second
from left, holding camera) eyes a close-up of Campbell.

to Apple ProRes 4:4:4:4 XQ,
2048x1152. Season two continued with
ProRes 4:4:4:4 XQ but upped the resolution to 3840x2160. With the exception of "El Jefe," every episode has been
color-graded at Auckland-based
Digipost, where Gerard Ward works
with FilmLight's Baselight Two, "utilizing the latest gen-four software,"
Garbett says. "Gerard Ward was the
colorist for both seasons after episode
one of season one. Gerard must often fly
solo through the final grade, as we're
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usually on other projects when the
episodes are finished. I try to at least have
a conversation with him prior. He has
done a great job using his own judgment
- based on original LUTs - in polishing the series."
"On-set timing from the cameras'
Log C feed was done with Pomfort's
LiveGrade and Fujifilm IS-minis,"
outlines digital-imaging technician
Christian Gower. "The resulting LUTs
were passed all the way down the post
pipeline, so dailies and editorial cuts
November 2016

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American Cinematographer - November 2016

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