American Cinematographer - May 1990 - 68

Platoon, Wall Street, Talk Radio and

Eight Men Out. He was nominated
for

WHERE'S THE

BLACKWRAP?

an

Oscar for Platoon.
For Richardson, the three

parades depicted in the film pro¬
vide a visual metaphor for the
stages of Kovic's life. The parade
that opens the film symbolizes his
innocence. "We chose

a

dream-like

interpretation of LIFE magazine
photography. There was a golden
ambience that symbolized the era
and his innocence," explains
Richardson.

You'll need it to:

ASC and

Academy Nominee
Mikael

Salomon has

scarcely had a day off since he was
17 years old. ". .and I love it," he
says. Salomon has some 50 feature
film credits, including one which
earned the equivalent of an Oscar
for cinematography in his native
.

Denmark.
The ASC nominated Salo¬
mon for an
outstanding achieve¬
ment award for his work on The
rescue

TO ELIMINATE GLARE

"Shooting movies is a
emotional and instinctual ex¬
perience for me. I trust my in¬

Abyss,

very

*

MASK LIGHT LEAKS

stincts." Richardson says.

*

CONCEAL CABLE

Philippe Rousselot

*

MAKE BARN DOORS TO

ways and Arachniphobia, both for
Amblin Productions.
About 30 percent of the
live-action footage was filmed
underwater in two huge tanks in

*

COVER SHINY SURFACES

The Bear
ASC Nominee

CONTROL SPILL
*

MAKE A SNOOT TO SHAPE

ABEAM OF LIGHT
*

COVER EQUIPMENT FOR
WEATHER PROTECTION

Philippe Rousselot be¬

BLACKWRAP, flexible matte
black aluminum, works because
it's form-holding, heat resistant
and tough. Cut or tear it in any
shape you need. Double it for

strength. Bent or con¬
toured, lightweight Blackwrap
will stay where you put it...
And it's easy to remove (no
messy adhesive).
extra

BLACKWRAP IS FAST
AND CLEAN.

director of photography in
1981 with the French film Diva. His

uncompleted nuclear power
plant in Gaffney, South Carolina.
One tank held 7.5 million gallons

early training came from the
Vaugirard Film School in Paris,

water, and the other one 2.5 mil¬
lion. Salomon was actually shoot¬

and

as

an

assistant to Nestor

for Eric Rohmer. He was nomi¬
nated for an Academy Award for
his work for John Boorman on

Hope and Glory, and last year Dan¬
gerous Liaisons captured an ASC
nomination.

He has won two Cesars,
for Diva and the other for Alain
Cavalier's Therese. He was director
of photography for We're No An¬
one

gels, completed last

year

in Can¬

ada.
Rousselot began working
with Jean-Jacques Annaud, direc¬
tor of The Bear, at the end of 1986.

Together they studied the works
of the romantic landscape painters

Available from The Great

Fredrick Edwin Church and Albert

American Market

Bierstadt,

your fine
professional dealer in three
or

convenient sizes:
12"

x

50' roll

24"

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25' roll

36"

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25' roll

ONCE YOU GO BLACK

YOU'LL NEVER GO BACK.

so

that Rousselot might

polystyrene chips while Salomon
was
shooting, so much of the time
he was working with a total ab¬
sence of ambient
light.
He lit scenes underwater
with as many as 40 specially
housed HMI and PAR lights, gen¬

erally working with two or three
Arriflex BL3 cameras for coverage.
The Abyss was shot in super 35 for¬
mat, which gave Salomon a full
frame for composition. It had the
1:2.35 aspect ratio without being
anamorphic. "We couldn't have
shot this in anamorphic format,"

he said. "Even with a flat format,
our lenses were wide
open when

Gayne Rescher, ASC
Single Women, Married Men

an

are

mainly filmed from afar with tele¬
photo lenses, the "spark" shining
in their

pupils is not captured,

in this movie.

MARKET
826 N.COLE AVENUE

feet under the sea, the surfaces of
the tanks were covered with black

Generators were carried
altitude of 10,000 feet in the
Italian Dolomite mountains. To
to

documentaries, since animals

^AMERICAN

ing at depths of 40 to 50 feet. To
simulate the reality of being 2,000

we were

used short focal lenses set only a
few inches from their eyes. In

THE

an

develop a similar imagery. The
principle of the direction was to
clearly show that it was a fictional
story, the opposite of documentary
cinematography. The bears were
actors, and Rousselot's job was to
light them with the same care
given to any film star.

capture the bears' look, Rousselot

GREAT

a thriller about a desperate
effort 2,000 feet underwater.
He has since finished shooting Al¬

came a

Almendros, ASC, on three pictures

HOLLYWOOD CA 90038
* TWX 910 494 1233

TELEPHONE 213/461-0200
66

Mikael Salomon
The Abyss

May 1990

as

shooting underwater.
Shooting underwater is like shoot¬
ing in smoke. The light fell off very
quickly."
ASC Nominees for Movies
of the Week or Pilots

ASC Award Winner

For three years in a
Gayne Rescher's work has

nered him

an

row
gar¬

ASC nomination.

Rescher, who attended Massachu¬
setts Institute of

Technology,

was

fighter pilot in the European
theater during World War II. He
a

has two

Emmy awards

-

one

for
American Cinematographer - May 1990

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