American Cinematographer - March 1989 - 63

A

r
mixed the two color

temperatures

and

we

way

because film tends to exagge¬
things. If it is warm to begin

rate

with,
So

did, too, but

on

we

did it half¬

film it looks much warmer.

lights were a little bluer just to give a feeling of warm light
mixed with cool light. It doesn't
shock. It still looks pleasant to the
eye. We also mixed in fluorescent
lights that we had in the room."
our

Almendros
5295

also

used

stock, for other aesthetic
"It's

rea¬

interesting city of New
York to show through the windows
at night. Now the problem is, that if
you light the interiors with enough
light so that it registers, then what
is outside the windows goes pitch
black. That was true especially in
the old days when film wasn't so
sons.

very

Scorsese wanted the

that is what Scorsese had in mind.
You

are not to see the
person in his
entirety. You see the person recon¬
structed through pieces of that per¬

So sometimes in the frame

son.

have

just

hand

a

or an eye or

Clairmont Camera
is hiring two

we

perfectionist Lens

the

Technicians

nose.

new

"This film is not

anything

for Scorsese. Even in

our com¬

mercial for Armani there
taste

of what

was

We need two people (one senior,
slightly less senior) to repair
our professional
motion-picture zoom and prime

one

a

and maintain

did in Nezv York

we

Stories.

rental lenses. Excellent pay,
based on experience. Profit-

Perhaps it's even more Scor¬
sese than
anything else he's done.
There's more pieces, more chop¬
ping things up, like a cubist painter
who shows the profile and the front
of the subject at the same time,"
muses

sharing, medical benefits.
use a Zeiss MTF machine,
Richter collimators, a Zimmer¬
man T Stop bench and a Century
Precision projector (in its own

We

Almendros.

It was this stylistic chal¬
lenge that intrigued Almendros. He
was

darkroom) to keep our lenses like
new or

better than

new.

often reminded of the German

fast. So what we did in this movie is

expressionists and he explained
why. "It was the Germans who in¬

We're perfectionists here, so you
have to enj oy working to that high

take

vented the

standard. Please mail a resume
and salary history to Clairmont

advantage of the 5295 film

which has

an

ASA of 400. We used

little light

very

scene

on

followed in
reminds
a

shooting at
FI.8 or F2
maybe a little less than
F2. So what you see through the
window still reads because the light
in both instances in within the

range. Of course, for the focus
puller it was a nightmare because
you have very little depth of field
and we were using a wide angle
same

credible

job

-

an

in¬

nothing was ever out

me

-

we,

like Welles, used

our film."
Scorsese and Almendros

lights. They don't do that in movies.
Very often they will do a fade-out of
a whole scene, but
fading in or fad¬
ing out one person and not the oth¬
er is
strictly theatrical. Scorsese
used that technique in some scenes.
It's the easiest kind of effect you can

Though most of the film
takes place in the loft, there are
scenes in a
freight elevator, an art
gallery and, "like in every Scorsese

do, and it looks terrific."
Scorsese, who reportedly
"has a Betamax in his head," is an
old movie fanatic, as is Almendros.

film, there

"He knows old movies

the usual shots

on

so

well!"

the streets of New York." The ele¬

reports Almendros. "Sometimes I

vator shaft fascinated Almendros.

would look at

"The film

ting

actually begins in the
shaft. It's ghostlike with the elevator
coming up through the shaft. Scor¬
sese wanted that
expressionistic
look
the high contrast of light
streams
anytime we could get
it," Almendros explains.
-

-

in the

a

shot

we were

set¬

up and say, 'Uh huh, this
comes from that movie!' He would

say,

'Yes,

you are right.' "
So perhaps it wasn't sur¬

prising when he asked Almendros
to revive a technique of the silent
era. Almendros
explains:

"From what Scorsese told

"Scorsese wanted to

use

beginning, he wanted
this film to be like a puzzle. There is
a
painter named David Hockney

the camera, like they used
in the silent cinema. I knew very
well what he wanted. I used an iris

who does Polaroid

on

me

collages. I think

J

gleefully borrowed techniques
from every kind of art. "We used
theatrical lighting - in the sense
that in theater very often they dim

of focus."

are

Vineland, Studio City, California
91604. No phone calls, please.

Expressionists. He
their footsteps and that

split diopter in

were

-

Camera, Personnel Dept., 4040

the Ameri¬

was

heir of the

can

see

you
the twin towers of the World

camera

angles and extraordinary depth of

ing, and through the windows

lens. Bruce McCallum did

of extreme

field. Orson Welles

the people.

"For instance, there is a
of Nolte and Arquette fight¬

Trade Center. We

use

an

iris

on

Truffaut's

L'Enfant

sauvage

in

By invitation...
The American

Society

of

Cinematographers
has members available to

conduct seminars

on

the

phases of
cinematography.

many

"Our
is

expertise in this field
amalgamation of
experience and artistry,"
says Harry Wolf,

an

President, A.S.C.

Call and let us help you
teach others.

Ask for Leslie Larson

(213) 876-5080
March 1989
American Cinematographer - March 1989

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