American Cinematographer - February 1988 - 64

I

always like to place the actors so
lighting source is very
strong from one side."
Early on in the shooting

that my

Sonnenfeld

was

faced with

a

week

of

filming in the classroom where
Larry teaches. The right side of the
all windows. "I wanted

room was

to

put the camera in such a place

that the windows

lighting up Billy
Crystal are lighting the shorter, less
seen,

side of his face," Sonnenfeld

explains. "Not only did I want to
put the camera near the windows
but I wanted to have the actor look¬

camera right so that the side of
his face that the light from the win¬

ing

dows is hitting is the side we see
less of. This leaves the broad side of
the face darker and creates

more

contrast. If

you light the side of the
face you see more of, the lighting
looks flat."
Sonnenfeld

Because

The storyboards
really funny so I had Danny
autograph them."
An important part of the
stunt sequence.

Top: Sonnenfeld and
crew shoot night
scene

Beach

were

at Leo Carrillo
on

the Cali¬

fornia coast. Below:

collaboration between DeVito and
Sonnenfeld was in designing shots
that would make subliminal con¬

Sonnenfeld and
DeVito discuss their
next move.

Sonnenfeld likes to charac¬
terize his

Larry.

would have the short side of the

exactly which editorial cuts would

face lit up. This sometimes forced
us to make certain
dolly moves so

be made to link the two characters

together. With this in mind, Son¬
nenfeld was able to put both char¬
acters in the same predicament by
his placement of the camera. For
example, in one sequence we see
from a high angle Larry staring at
the typewriter, unable to compose
sentence. A direct cut is made to

style of shooting with
terms like "wacky," "nutty" and
"crazy." "Danny and I worked out
each scene together beforehand,"
Sonnenfeld maintains. "Slowly
over the day we would come up

with ideas and add elements to

phy and praises him for creating an

a

high angle shot of Owen typing
away furiously page after page.
Sonnenfeld lauds DeVito
as

a

director who

stands and

room?'

'Was this the class¬
Danny would say-'Well, it

must be.' The

following week

would realize that it

was

we
the tunnel

tographer is able to do his best
work. "Sometimes I

am

somewhat

selfish in that I want to

put the

where it

might be best just
lighting," Sonnenfeld admits.
"I always prefer a dark that has a lot
of contrast. Danny immediately

camera

knew what I meant and

we

worked

together to achieve it. For example,
62

American

Cinematographer

February 1988

of the shots in Throw Momma...
were done with the new 21mm Primo

lens

Vito's

by Panavision. All of De¬
close-ups were shot with the

21mm. "We shot lots of tests and

Danny liked what the 21mm did to
his face." Sonnenfeld explains.

anywhere near a 21mm. But
Danny liked how it elongated his
face and gave him a little bit of an
edge. For Billy, we used it only a
couple of times for comic effect.

for

was to

not

use

angles. He says about one half

"Most actors wouldn't want to be

at them and say,

goal

were

Sonnenfeld likes to
wide

clearly under¬

environment in which the cinema¬

Our

that

that Billy wouldn't cross the line
when he walked towards the door."

respects cinematogra¬

throw out
visually inter¬
esting. We would do our sto¬
ryboards while lying on the
ground. Days later we would look
scenes

which side of the line the actors

DeVito discussed with Sonnenfeld

a

scenes.

on

would look, Danny agreed to have
the actors look at the side that

nections between Owen and

spend more time moving ceiling
pieces than I do in actual lighting,"
Sonnenfeld proclaims with a
laugh. "The joke was that I would
always call for a 21mm about a foot
off the ground. It's a nutty way of
shooting."

pumped all of his light through the
windows it was important that De¬
Vito stage the scene to accommo¬
date the lighting. "I was really ap¬
preciative that Danny understood
and was willing to make some
changes. When we had the choice

seen

Most often
40mm for

we

used

a

35mm

or

Billy, and a 75mm for the

female lead, Kim Greist. I found
out

on
Raising Arizona that wide
angle lenses are funnier. It's a subtle
thing. Also lower is funnier than
higher. Lower angles make people
American Cinematographer - February 1988

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