American Cinematographer - November 1988 - 74

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care

ten minutes

before the show, it was

Jordan. The opening act had al¬

ready

and gone, the crowd
was roaring and
singing All You
Need Is Love along with the Beatles
on the PA
system, and the guys are
still hanging over the top of the
stadium placing the lights. Jordan
looked over and again told me not
to worry. He was right. He nailed it
on

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of it.' I looked him
and knew if there was
person on earth I could trust

I'll take

in the eye

and

camera

Joanou and Cronenweth

approached the live shows with one
criterion
to design spontaneous
lighting cues that looked as if they
-

had weeks of refinement behind
them. "The truth

was

that

had

only two shots at it," Joanou re¬
marked, "not just two takes, but
two takes at something that was in
the middle of

two and

half hour

concert that wasn't

going to stop for
you under any circumstances."
"Jordan and I were going
for a very specific mood and tone
which was quite different from
what Robert and I were going for,"
says Joanou. "With Robert I wanted
to find a beauty in the film's
gritti¬
ness. With Jordan, I wanted an
epic
quality that created a sort of surreal
beauty. I wanted the color to be rich
and saturated. The lighting and
camerawork were my only tools to
get across some of the emotion that
you lose when you translate some¬
thing from a live environment to a

we knew pretty much in
advance which camera was going
to

get the best shot."
In order to maximize their

Cronenweth switched the
key light to the opposite side for the
second show. "By flopping the key
light you balance out the light so
that in editing it never looks more
right heavy or left heavy," Joanou
explains. "We were using the key
light in such a way that there wasn't

coverage,

lot of fill. The other side

pret¬
ty black. I always try to work from
the fill side of the stage. This way I

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wanted the

than their faces. We felt that

have seen enough of the band
leading up to the concert footage
and that you don't always need to
see their faces
anymore. The inti¬
macy is already created. I want the
you

audience to have
where

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Joanou and Cronenweth
went

through the show on video¬
tape with each operator. Joanou de¬

scribed the movement he wanted

from each

camera

for every song.

told them to go

"I
for transitions,"

Joanou remarks. "I wanted to

fluidly from

one

move

member of the

band to the next. I wanted to create

long takes
locked into
a

so that I wouldn't be
cutting from a single to

single."

were

also interested in

creating dy¬
compositions with two or

namic

gifted

shot. "It

who under¬
exactly how much light is
cameraman

three of the band members in the

the

than

Louma

actly which camera they were light¬
ing for. Where most concert films
are lit
very broad and flat so that
every camera has a good clear shot,
Cronenweth and Joanou chose to
use as little light as
possible.

was

kind of difficult be¬

the band

spread out more on
long stage. I found out that the

cause

needed to create the mood. Rather

crane was

fantastic at get¬

me these three-shots."
the other cameras had to be

ting

While
placed
off the stage with longer lenses, the
Louma, with its wide angle camera
could hold

one

member of the band

in the

"We had cameras literally
shooting the concert in all 360 de¬

foreground and still see what
was
happening in the background.
"The Louma is the only way to get
that depth of field on the stage. I

grees." Cronenweth explained.

loved it when

"What this

gles of three performers all in focus

is that your

key
light for one camera is the fill for the
other. It's also a backlight for a third

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chance to feel

Joanou and Cronenweth
one

lighting for all twelve cameras,
Cronenweth and Joanou knew ex¬

AATON
ANGENIEUX
REPAIRS

they are."

of the few concert films which
takes risks. Cronenweth is the rare
stands

was

key as a backlight. We
lighting to define the
body language of the performers
can use

two-dimensional screen."
*

sidelight for a fourth.
hope for the best in

editing,

come

the head!"

Rather than

November 1988

means

different

had these trian¬

depths."

Joanou and Cronenweth

American Cinematographer - November 1988

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