American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 104

graphic plate, because when visible
ENERGY and its COLORS strike our body,
they modify our metabolism and blood
pressure according to their intensity and
chromatic frequency, creating unconscious
emotions. Woody immediately saw the
visual potential of the story told according
to this specific vision, and - NO LONGER
AFRAID OF RED, GREEN AND BLUE - he
helped, indeed spurred me, to formulate a
figurative structure, a cinematography
concept that divided the two worlds:
fantasy and reality, one with suffused lights,
the other with contrasting lights. Ginny's
world, experienced through the warm
tonalities of an ORANGE SUNSET, and
Carolina's world, experienced through the
cold tonalities of a BLUE DUSK.
This is how we created a palette of
LIGHTS and COLORS that accentuated the
variations in the dialogue by reflecting the
characters' emotions.
When I shared my theories with
production designer Santo Loquasto and
costume designer Suzy Benzinger, in full
agreement we started to create a specific
vision of the film together. This is what
should always happen: each film should
have a special vision, in keeping with a
particular story.

Ginny's marriage to Humpty (Jim Belushi) belies the amusement park's surface charms.

outward appearances with what was really
happening inside. Then we began the
scouts - "we" being myself, Woody,
production designer Santo Loquasto and
co-producer Helen Robin - and when I
discovered Coney Island, I understood its
visual potentialities right away.
We had an amusement park located
on a beach overlooking the Atlantic Ocean,
with the protagonist family living right in
the middle of the park. The characters in the
story - Ginny (Kate Winslet), Mickey (Justin
Timberlake), Carolina (Juno Temple) and
Humpty (Jim Belushi) - made up a great
cast and truly completed the whole picture.
They lived with the fantastic world of the
amusement park outside their windows,
104

December 2017

and with their family conflicts inside the
apartment. My specific vision for the cinematography was inspired by various
painters of the period, especially Reginald
Marsh, one of the many who depicted the
fantasy of Coney Island.
Then I had an even more important
idea for visualizing the story while waking
up one morning at dawn - something that
often happens to me at that preconscious
moment. Ginny's world and that of
Carolina, in conflict because they were both
in love with Mickey, made me think of
applying the "PHYSIOLOGY OF COLOR"
theory. Human beings not only receive
LIGHT through their eyes, but all over their
body. In fact, we are like a sensitive photoAmerican Cinematographer

RED has represented our existential
dawn since human life began. When we
awake it is the first Color that impinges on
our Consciousness. Symbol of vital energy, it
is Male, and increases blood flow, muscular
tension, and pulse rate. It signals the Positive, and is the flame of the human spirit. It
is the Color of the PAST.
So with the help of different scenographic and costume elements; with various
filters in front of the Cooke S4 lenses on the
two Sony F65 4K 16-bit color digital
cameras that had been prepared for image
composition with an aspect ratio of 2:1 at
Panavision by Chris Konash and Steve Wills;
with assistants Bobby Mancuso and Beka
Venezia; with Rosco gels on the projectors
provided by Cinelease and Iride controlled
by the lighting console; with the collaboration of gaffer Steve Ramsey and key grip Bill
Weberg; and especially through using the
natural light of the afternoon/sunset and
dusk/evening, and dividing the spectrum

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2017