American Cinematographer - November 1990 - 100

The

Operator: Four Eyes Instead of Two

"Film is an international language." It's a
comfortable and well-worn cliche. But the

language of film, like all languages, has
regional dialects. One of these
linguistic variations involves the use of a

different

"For the thirty years I have been
director of photography, I have operated
for myself. Operating was always part of
the job and almost the number one part.
Whatever I did in my work, I did through
a

In many

of the Eu¬
countries,
such as Italy and
Germany, the di¬
rector of photogra¬
phy acts as his or
ropean

her
In

operator. Often, the cameraman relies on

operator

the recommendation of other cameramen
when he is looking for an operator. Said
Vacano wryly, "Of course, when you start

works closely with
the director when
decisions on fram¬

working with

while the director of

the

States,

judged the lighting
through the camera, through the

photography's main
job is the lighting. The two positions are
parallel in responsibility. In the United
normal union camera crew in¬
cludes an operator who works directly
a

under the cinematographer.

Each of these

lens. When I
camera,

For many cinematographers
who received the majority of their train¬

ing in Europe, the idea of using an opera¬
getting used to. In a recent
interview on the super summer hit Total
Recall, cinematographer Jost Vacano,
talked candidly about the pros and cons
of working with an operator and how he
has adapted his own particular style.
tor takes some

someone were to

ask me,

'What is different about your work
in America, compared to what you

here
have
that the big

done before?' I would say
difference is the need to work with an

operator," reported Vacano. "It is a need
I tried to

deny for

a

while, because only

in my professional life in Europe did
I ever work with an operator and that was

once

Neverending Story.

American

Cinematographer

I

was no

it was

a very

Vacanoand

Haeiimigk on set
longer behind the
hard experience.

the need to adapt to the system here in
the United States. I like working here and
it really isn't a question of whether I
would like to operate or not, it is a ques¬
tion of whether I am taking someone
else's job, and I understand that. When
it became clear that I would have to

change, it was a complicated experience
to be beside the camera and try and judge
what I would see through the camera. It's
not so hard in retrospect, but at first you
me

"Also in the past, one

nicest

of the
experiences for me was when the

camera was

running and it was an actual

take. On that first take, I would try to

forget that I

was operating. I would for¬
get about everything and try and look

November 1990

someone

perfect team. But what about the first two

,ro„s;rfe

feel insecure and somehow lost. 'Let
have look through the camera

that

films?

"On the other hand, I have felt

systems has its advocates.

"If

camera.

an operator

has recommended, you have the feeling
that it might work - after we do three
films together. By then we might be a

ing and composi¬
tion are required,

96

picture was doing, how the
doing. It was like seeing
dailies before everyone else. This was the
thing I missed so much when I started
working with an operator."

England the

camera

on

about how the

It is clear that for Vacano, the
role of operator is vitally important. There
must be mutual trust and respect be¬
tween the director of photography and the

operator.

own

would like to look. Those moments influ¬
enced me a lot. I got a very good feeling
actors were

operator.

camera

through the camera as an audience and
point the camera where I, as an audience,

"It was good, then, that Anette
Haeiimigk was able to move up to opera¬
tor when we started Total Recall. She has

been

working with

me as an assistant
eight years and she
was a person I could rely on completely.
We already had wonderful communica¬
camerawoman

for

tion." The communication made Vacano's
transition much easier.
"The good thing that I learned
about having an operator." he concluded,
"is that you have a second person-four
eyes instead
that two eyes

of two eyes. No - make
instead of one-since one
eye is mostly closed when you are oper¬
ating. You can get good input from your
operator, maybe ideas that you didn't
have before. It is an advantage." And it
reminds one of yet another very comfort¬
able

filmmaking cliche

laborative art."

-

NL

-

"It is

a

col¬
American Cinematographer - November 1990

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