American Cinematographer - January 1993 - 18

The eye¬

explores the influ¬

to save the many tens

catching and

ence

of commer¬
cialization on the

that

title sequence
from Spike Lee's

purist's dream of
climbing. "By Fair

Company, 7205 Sycamore Trail, Los Ange¬

Malcolm X

Means," the first

controversial

"burning flag"

biopic was

program

directed and

photographed by

the earliest

the film's

special effects
supervisor,

neers

se¬

pio¬

and recreates

the first ascent of

Randall

the Grepon by
British climber
Alfred Memmery in
1881. "In the Long
Shadow of the
Mountains" goes to

Balsmeyer.

muskets

firing and recoiling, flares and
smoke, and bayonet charges and retreats.
The resulting footage has the feel of news¬
reel film from the Revolutionary War.
Made for the PBS series The
American Experience, the program focuses

only upon Washington's duties as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and President,
but also upon his life as a young man.
Sutherland contacted dozens of museums,
libraries and private collections to gather an
extensive collection of paintings, etchings
and prints of his subject in his youth, many
not

previously unseen on television. He supple¬
mented these with his newsreel-style foot¬
age, which he chose in an attempt to avoid
having the dramatic recreations look
"heavy-handed or Monty Pythonesque."
For information: Aerial Image
Videoservices, 137 W. 19th St., New York,
NY 10011, Phone (212) 229-1930, Fax (212)
229-1929; David Sutherland Productions,
141 Plymouth Road, Newton,
Phone (617)244-5684.

MA 02161,

Rock

Climbing
eight documenta¬
ries on rock climbing have been produced
this year, one showcasing the world's best
climbers, one featuring the various types of
geography available to climb, and six in a
series following the history of the sport.
Moving Over Stone II features
No fewer than

the world's best climbers at the most chal¬

lenging U.S. climbing locales, and Painted
Spider features desert and sea cliff climb¬
ing, sport climbing competitions, and free
soloing at Yosemite.
Presented by British mountain¬

16

in the

ries, goes back to

Nanga Parbat, one
of the world's highest mountains, with Ger¬
man mountaineer Sigi Hupfauer, who de¬
scribes how the Nazi era tainted Himalayan
climbing. "Another Golden Age of Climbing"
focuses on the record-setting climbing era
immediately after World War II.
Of the remaining episodes in the
six-part series, "Portrait of a Snow Lion"
documents the ground-breaking climbs of
this century's most important mountaineer
and his latest challenge of ice walking; "The
Games Climbers Play" provides a thought¬
ful overview of the sport; and "Old Games
-

New Rules" examines the radical

revo¬

lution of climbing

and the effects that com¬
petitions and media hype have had on the
soul of the sport.
For information: The Banff Cen¬
tre, Box 1020, Banff, Alberta, Canada T0L

0C0, Phone (403) 762-6100, Fax (403) 7626444.

Ancient Forests
The Nature Film Company is pro¬
ducing The Heart of the Wood, a documen¬
tary on the country's ancient forests that
argues that responsible forestry, including
greatly expanded protection to endangered
species and ecosystems, can be compatible
with the environment. The film shows the

biological disintegration of the forest, with
footage of rare and endangered animals
and fish such

as

murrelets, Pacific salmon,

and the often-mentioned but rarely seen
northern spotted owls. A particular highlight
is the birth of a pair of spotted owl chicks.
The program explores the rela¬

tionship between the timber industry, de¬
forestation and the collapse of the Pacific

eering veteran Chris Bonington, The Climbersseries is filmed against the background
of some of the world's highest places, and

fishing industry, and shows the desperate
measures taken by conservationists to pre¬

American

January 1993

Cinematographer

vent the extinction of the Pacific salmon and

of thousands of jobs

depend

on them.
For information: The Nature Film

les, CA 90068, Phone (213) 874-5473.
Malcolm ATitle

Sequence
Balsmeyer & Everett, Inc., was
asked by director Spike Lee to produce the
opening sequence to his movie MalcolmX.
Lee's idea for the title sequence was to
have images of Rodney King's beating by

the LAPD intercut with

an American flag
burning into the shape of an X. The visuals
run over a speech by Malcolm X in which

he talks about the white man's treatment

of the black man, and about the black man's
chances of

ever

achieving the American

dream.
The project involved solving the
problems of getting an American flag to
burn into the shape of an X, showing the
King video in a way not seen before, and in¬
tegrating the title graphics over diverse
background images. The burning flag se¬
quence was directed and photographed by
Randall Balsmeyer (who also served as vi¬
sual effects supervisor on the movie), work¬
ing with pyrotechnician Drew Jiritano and
prop man Werner Bargsten. Prior to the fi¬
nal photography, Jiritano and Bargsten
tested a number of flammable and flame
retardant materials which could be applied
to the flag to persuade it to burn into the
desired shape. The flag was stretched on a
frame with the center supported on a rod
behind the flag, which was set afire on all
four edges. The flame moved toward the
center, stopping when all that remained of
the flag was the X, which appeared to float
in a black void.
In their efforts to present the
King video in a unique way, the team trans¬
ferred the VHS tape to D-1 video, then
showed Lee several options for step/skip
printing the footage and enhancing the
shadow detail. Lee chose a formula in
which every third frame is repeated for
three frames, resulting in footage which
appears to be running at the rate of eight
frozen frames per second, but which in fact
is still running at real time speed. The digi¬

tal

videotape

was

step-printed using the

Quantel Harry at Editel/NY, then transferred
to film via the Gemini process, a new highresolution tape-to-film system operated by
The Post Group and Pacific Title in Holly¬
wood.
Forthe title graphics, Balsmeyer
designed a black-on-black lettering style, in
American Cinematographer - January 1993

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 1993
