American Cinematographer - August 1990 - 70

A
would have missed. It was per¬
fect for giving a sense of the size
of the cave, while placing it
within the context of the sur¬

_r
MINOLTA

rounding landscape."
Setting exposure was
especially challenging, because
light values in the same scene
typically ranged from T2 to Til,

-Auto Meter III
-Auto Meter III-F

-Spot Meter F
-[liuminance Meter

and it was critical to hold detail
both in the shadows of the cave
and the brilliant daylight exteri¬

-Color Meter li

SPECTRA

Generally De La Roche chose
shadow
into the
cave, and favoring daylight when
looking out at the battlefield
through a silhouette of the cave's
mouth. "The credit really goes to
Kodak," says De La Roche. "Ini¬
tially we considered Fuji, for the
pastels of the Arizona desert and
for capturing Indian skin tones.
But after extensive testing, we

ors.

-Spectra Pro

his exposures favoring
detail when shooting

-Candela

SEKONIC
-Studio Deluxe
Minolta

-Digital

Auto-Meter ill

Custom leather

pouches for

Minolta and Spectra Meters

had

also

to

carry two liters
of water. As
,,

the

'

A

April tem¬

Litwin, Fredericks

and De La Roche
document the plight
of the Yavapai.

peratures soared to 95 degrees,
this

was

barely enough. Says

director Fredricks, "In the desert,
water is life. I grew up hiking in

Arizona, and people die here
from dehydration every year.
With too little water, you will lose

judgment and

your

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FACILITIES

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*16, 35, NTSC, PAL
NTSC: SONY, IKEGAME U-Matic, Betacam,
*

Betacam SP
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Lights, generators, cranes, dollies, etc..
Cars, trucks, helicopters, etc..
Cameracar Mercedes 500 SEL Conversion, extremely

smooth

shooting, platforms with FGV Panther Col¬

technique, intercom system, lens level low:
high: 250cm.
Trailer for the filming work at the travelling car while
in motion visual impression like street level.
Container truck for travelling car transport.
Case to case German government authorization to
stop public traffic for shooting purposes with own
mobile traffic lights and sign systems.
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30cm

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You

ance.

with

a

full load, and that was

about right. But I didn't count on
the extra time needed to rope the

packs

We spent at least two
equipment
up crevices where I had been able
to carry a daypack."
After reaching Skeleton
Cave, filming began with a CPup.

hours just babying the

16,

a

Canon

7-56

and

an

Angenieux 12-120. "From
Kathy's accounts of the cave,"
explained De La Roche, "I knew
would need a lens that could
handle extremely tight spaces.
The Canon was a blessing be¬
cause it allowed coverage at the
wide end which other zooms
we

D-8000

68

your endur¬
live for several

days without food, but just one
day of dehydration can kill you."
Scouting for expedition
filmmaking can be tricky. Kathy
had scouted the cave in January,
carrying only a ten pound
daypack. "I figured the hike with
the crew would take twice as long

FIRNEISEN & SCHALLER
31, Corneliusstrasse
Munich 5
*
West Germany
Tel:(89) 2013395 * Fax:(89) 2015844

can

August 1990

chose to shoot our outdoor scenes
with Kodak 7248. Ideally, we
would have chosen 7245, but

working

on a limited budget we
needed a stock that could also be
used for interior interviews, and
that would intercut flawlessly.
Kodak gave us the latitude we
needed."
Prior to shooting, there
had been much discussion about

creating a look for the film. Says
Fredricks, "I

come

from

a

ranch¬

ing family, and I spent my child¬
hood in the mountains, where
Arizona history is written in
abandoned mine-shafts and bro¬

ken arrowheads. I scheduled the
hike to Skeleton Cave for the
second day of the shoot, because
I wanted the crew to immerse

themselves in the country that the
Yavapai died to protect. Skeleton
Cave helped us find a visual look
for the film."

"Something happens to
you high up in the mountains,"
De La Roche reports. "Preconcep¬
tions of how you planned to

shoot

simply vanish, and
responding to the mood of the
moment, you start framing a kind
of visual poem, going hand-held
when you expected to use a tri¬
a scene

pod, booming

over a cactus to
American Cinematographer - August 1990

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