American Cinematographer - September 1990 - 50

Above: Giant (Spike

Lee, at center) gets

roughed up in the
shadow-haunted

alley scene. Right:
Dickerson made

good use of Kodak
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this night
Washington
on the Brooklyn
Bridge.

crane on

shot of

constructed at
the Empire Sta¬
ges

in Long Is¬

land, illustrates how Dickerson
works with the

theatrical/stage lighting: colors,
light changes, etc.

for each film he shoots. "I moti¬

"On the musical number
called the 'Mo' Better Blues,' I
used Lee midnite blue gels on the

production de¬
signer to realize the lighting style
vate my

lighting from practical

sources," Dickerson says, "So I

footlights. This

always work with the production
designer to give me these sources.
"The Underdog set prac¬
tically lit itself, because Wynn
worked with me to design light¬
ing into the set. Because of this, it
looks like real life. I imagine a lot
of jazz fans will be asking around
town where the Underdog is,"

cians

Dickerson smiles.
The "Underdog"

scenes

made extensive use of Louma
crane moves and proved to be
what Dickerson calls "a focus

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gave

intense blue bottom

"the blues."
Dickerson is also aware
of how dependent his work as a
cameraman is on the actor.
He
describes his shooting style: "We
shot using an improvisational

approach. The dressing
in the movie

room

good
point." The scenes have a
comedic riffing to them, as well as
case

are a

in

tension that sits depth-charge¬
like beneath the surface. "They
a

puller's nightmare. Our moves
were not pre-planned. Like jazz

began with what was written in
the script; then, as we'd do a take,

musicians themselves, we impro¬
vised on the set, letting the music

the actors would embellish

influence the feeling of the moves.
The music also influenced the

Service Co.
800 So. Jason St.

set

as

the musi¬
light
they played," Dickerson says,
an

September 1990

as

it

we learned to be
loose and not restrict ourselves,"

went

along. So

Dickerson says.
American Cinematographer - September 1990

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