American Cinematographer - February 1988 - 74

what he wants, he edits in his

the 500 extras had to be made to

head," said Dickerson.

look like

During the Death March
scene most of the actors impro¬
vised. "A lot of things came out
that weren't scripted. We'd see
something and say, 'Let's try and
get that,'" said Dickerson, "and

was

we'd return and shoot it later."

the stands and then shot Ossie

Dickerson feels the script
analysis and pre-production phases
are
pivotal to a film's overall look

Davis who

and

outcome.

"Each

individual

script has its own personality, feel¬
ings and textures. A film's style is a
very personal thing which should
come out of that particular script.
Translating that into concrete visu¬
als is

search that the director,

a

cinematographer and production
designer undertake together.
"Our journey with School
Daze began upon reading the
script, but it gained a real momen¬
tum

when

we

attended

an

actual

homecoming celebration at the
school where we were planning to
shoot," he said.

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"Part of our plan was to
photograph the homecoming pa¬
rade and football game as a kind of
pre-production second unit. How¬
ever, we got more out of it than
spectacular footage: we experi¬

enced firsthand the moods and

en¬

ergies we would have to recreate for

or

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"Also, since the real game

being played between mine
and Spike's old schools, and my
school was winning, a new dimen¬
was

sion

was

added to the cameraman/

relationship," he joked.
The football game also in¬

the overall look for the film. "The
stadium became

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a

colorful

mass

of

people of all colors, dancing and
singing in unison as if they were
one entity. It was bright and sunny,
and the

myriad colors reminded me
of the Kodachrome look," he said.
A

similar

same

of them could pay

time, and most

the extras

more

money," he said.
"We shot the crowds from

plays the coach. After
shooting him from the side lines,
his face was so expressive Spike felt
that there was no need to photo¬
graph the game at all so he can¬
celled it," said Dickerson.

the

However, other scenes, like
stage show that culminates in

the

crowning of the homecoming

before¬
theater
space and Spike wanted to take full
advantage of it. Because the dance,
The Sun is Rising, goes through a
series of mood changes, from night
queen, were orchestrated
hand. "We had a very big

with the moon, to a storm and

then

sunrise, I

designed a series of flat
circular portals that iris out like an
eye. The flats begin as a small circle
representing the moon and open
out to represent sunrise," said
Thomas.

Keeping within schedule
budget with so many different
types of sets to create, as well as
handling both the crowd and the
and

more

intimate scenes, indicates the

February 1988

scene

ing but praise for each other and
their

crews.

was an invaluable
really understands
a
cinematographer's needs and re¬
sponds to them. His set designs
always took into account possible
ways for me to light them, and
when I told him I wanted our day
interiors lit by sunlight or daylight
through windows, he took this into
account when scouting locations,"

"Wynn

collaborator. He

said Dickerson.
Lee said about Dickerson:
"Ernie has to be

given credit for a
large part of the visuals. His visual
sense is
highly developed, I'm bet¬
ter with dialogue, but through
Ernie I'm improving."
A

was

The author is

where

in New York.

approach

taken with the football

Service Co.
72 1875 So. Pearl St.

Atlanta at the

the members of the team. Lee,
Dickerson and Thomas had noth¬

was so

fluenced Dickerson's decision about

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"This

in the stands at the football
game that when it became obvious
the home team was losing, people
forgot about the game and started
partying among themselves. Los¬
ing the game wasn't going to stop
their homecoming celebrations.

There

II are
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crowd of 5,000.

could get because sever¬
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level of collaboration between all

screen.

director

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we

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a

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American Cinematographer - February 1988

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