American Cinematographer - July 1992 - 43

to show the

millionaire crime-

fighter being summoned by the Bat
Beacon, which comes pouring
through a huge round window at
one end of the darkened study in
palatial Wayne Manor. "Bruce is
sitting in a chair, deep in thought,
and all of a sudden he gets hit by
the Bat Beacon coming through the
window. The Bat Symbol itself was
projected onto the wall using a high
powered HMI source slide projec¬
tor, and it was supposed to look like

:

the source for the entire
scene. We decided to put the beam
in later over the projected image of
the Bat Symbol as an optical effect
so it would match the special effects
shots before it. Since we were work¬
it

h

\ 'I

KNEECE

L Camera Operator

ing with the slow film, I had to
all the time with my

measure

STEADICAM OWNER

spotmeter to make sure the Bat
Symbol didn't blow out. I lit the
window

area

from outside

though the light was coming from
the Bat Beacon, and I also used a
few lights on the side. If s very, very
weird. There's almost a fascistic el¬
ement to the imagery."

doesn't know how to react. "I still
don't believe it," he smiles. "When

be close to what other
people feel is a sure thing, it's a little
unreal. I appreciate it when some¬
one like Tim Burton sets it up and
encourages me to do good work
and to be creative and gives me a
lot of responsibility; I just shine.
There's nothing I can do but out¬
perform myself and do a good job.
Working on a film set and the sat¬
isfaction I derive from that really
you get to

doesn't have much to do with the
movie playing to big houses in the¬
aters. I hope for that, but mostly I've
been disappointed. That's only re¬
served for a few movies anyhow;

they can't all be megahits. Whether
people see it or not isn't under your
control, but I hope my work and
everybody else's work came out
well. I guess I'll believe it when
Batman Returns actually turns out to
be a hit. I have a good feeling about
it."

A

/ OPERATOR

WILD AT HEART
DAYS OF THUNDER
BLUE VELVET

as

Czapsky admits that it's
strange to be wrapping his first film
in the spotlight after all the years of
working in the low-budget realm;
now that the
eye of the camera is on
the photographer himself, he

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American Cinematographer - July 1992

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