American Cinematographer - May 1992 - 52

because of the

vagaries of the

weather. "There's only so much
one can do when the sun goes

away," Laszlo said. "If the shot is
small, one can light it fairly effec¬
tively. But when the shots are as
large as some we dealt with, then
weather can become a major con¬
sideration. "The musical number,
The World Will Know, which in¬

volved 19 newsies, 20 dancers and
60 extras, was filmed over the
course of six different afternoons
because of cloudy conditions."

Night lighting was em¬
ployed in many of the street scenes,
some

of which

are

vast in scope.

Even

allowing for today's fastest
films, the lighting of the tumultu¬
ous

street action made extraordi¬

demands.

nary

"In the

alleys we tried to
a low light level,"
Laszlo noted. "But with the use of

photograph at

anamorphic photography and the
speed of anamorphic lenses, plus
the filter factors that I imposed on
it, we had to photograph at no
lower than

a

15-20 footcandle

keylight. Even then it's hard to
hang onto the gas lamps that were
the sparse lighting of the period.
"Four nights ago we
staged a police raid on the theater,
with something like 25 horses and
mounted police in period uniforms
encircling the entrance. It provided
very interesting and exciting op¬
portunities for me. We had one
camera high on a crane, another
down low. A double row of
mounted policemen entered the
shot on both sides of the frame. We
had the long shadows of the horses'
camera

legs as they were going through the
frame, and the camera was slowly
tilting up to the theater marquee.
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Meanwhile the two

of horses

forming a circle around
Irving Hall, where the newsies are
holding a big rally. Pulitzer, putting
the screws to the mayor and the
police commissioner, had decided
to arrest them all.

"We

were on

the roofs

shooting another scene that's going
to be altered with a matte painting,"
Laszlo recalls. "It's a morning se¬
quence. We had a heck of a time up
there

and

SEATTLE

rows

fan out,

yesterday trying to silk it in
an early morning

light it for

PORTLAND

May 1992

scene

in the middle of the

day and

late afternoon with the sun coming

from the wrong
did manage."

direction, but

we

Photographing dance
numbers is never easy and Laszlo
found each one to have its own

challenges. Working closely with
the director/choreographer made
it simpler to deal with the intrica¬
cies of putting dance action on film.
"Kenny is one of the great chore¬
ographers," according to Laszlo.
"He had the dance numbers laid
out

precisely. One could

even

the

say

that

camera moves were

cho¬

reographed. It was really wonder¬
ful to work with
could do this."

someone

who

Although he studies the
daily rushes, Laszlo feels that see¬
ing the finished work is to be
avoided. "I'm trying very hard not
to look at anything that's as¬
sembled and cut," he averred.
"About three weeks ago we did the
thousandth setup. I want to remove

myself from that for
When I

come

a

few weeks.

back, I'll be

more

objective than I would be now, on
the heels of shooting - knowing
what was, what should have been,
and what could have been. I will
see what is and then I will be able
look at it from

a more

objective

point of view."
Laszlo is adamant in his
belief that the cinematographer
must allow each picture to dictate
its own photographic style.
us

He told

why:

scious

"You may have a con¬
unconscious style photo¬

or

graphically. You do not indis¬
criminately impose that style on a
picture; you serve the picture. This
business of a personal visual look
brings it down into the category of
painting by the numbers. Each
picture demands a specific sense of
'look' and a specific sense of art¬
istry, some of which may not even
be consciously applied to the pic¬
ture. You instinctively do things
because that's how it feels right." A
The November issue

of AC

will feature a story on Newsies pro¬
duction designer Bill Sandell.
American Cinematographer - May 1992

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