American Cinematographer - February 1988 - 68

slower

so

that the

camera

would

capture a feeling of speed in the

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background. Additionally, Sonnenfeld used longer lenses to get the
background to appear to move fas¬
ter. Rather than using a 21mm, he
chose to

use a

40 while

on

the train.

The 21 seemed to take the "shake"
out

of each shot. Sonnenfeld claims

that he drove his operator,

Todd
by holding on to the
handle and shaking the camera as
they shot the sequences hand-held.
The energy with the camera was
needed to give the scene more of a
sense of
danger caused by the
speed of the train. Often Sonnen¬
feld would tell the grips to loosen a
bolt or an arm on the dolly in order
to get more shake in the lens. The
problem was that grips are too used
to tying things down.

Henry,

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that

crazy

one

Sonnenfeld likes to stress
of his goals as a cinematog¬

rapher is to make the camera be¬
come an emotional
player in the
scene. He cites a scene in
Stagecoach
as the best
example of this. "There's
a
great shot at the end of the movie
where you think that John Wayne is
dead. The
in

on

the

camera
woman

does

a

slow track

who is

Wayne's

love interest. You think that the
is moving in because she's
crying about Wayne being dead.
camera

But

as

the

camera moves

closer, her

expression changes. Suddenly John
Wayne enters what turns out to be
his point of view. It's a magnificent
shot that I love to steal from. I like
to convince directors that the cam¬

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can
say as much as a line of
dialogue. The scene from Stage¬
coach is an example that proves it."
Sonnenfeld has developed
a
style that takes risks with the
era

camera.

He is not afraid to create

unmotivated

camera moves. While
he may be criticized for being too
self-conscious with the camera, it is

style that is unique and always
interesting. "Many people are
going to see Throw Momma... and
quickly say that this or that is a
a

'Sonnenfeld shot.' But I think that
much as it is a 'Sonnenfeld shot'

as

it is

Danny's directing. Danny

derstood that the
source

camera can

un¬
be a

of humor. I feel

a cameraman

director."

is

strongly that
only as good as his
A
American Cinematographer - February 1988

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