American Cinematographer - February 1993 - 32

This page:
crew

The

sets up a

shot on

a

neighborhood
street in.

Pittsburgh.
Opposite: Poised
behind the

heavy
machinery.
Poster exhibits

the thinking
man's

allegiance.

ASC, and other

back in a fixed position with a long
lens and watch the story from a

Hollywood cinematographers,
Poster moved to Los Angeles dur¬
ing the mid-1970s. He shot his first
feature when he was in his early

voyeuristic point of view," Poster
explains. "That wouldn't pack the
same emotional wallop."
He amplifies: "We had a

unit work in the Midwest for

Vilmos Zsigmond,

erage. Of course, you have no con¬
trol over how the film will be cut.
But by establishing a rhythm in
collaboration with the director, you
an inherent
quality within
pacing of the film which can

create

the

thirties. His credits include such TV
dramas

as

Testament and

Courage

(starring Jane Alexander and
Sophia Loren, respectively), an
eclectic list of features (ranging
from Big Top Pee- Wee to Next of Kin,
The Boy Who Could Fly and Rocky V)
and countless commercials.
On The Cemetery

Club,

this should be

a

sharp angles/ There has to be
reason

-

ting style ahead of substance."

working method very thoroughly.
"Unless you have a plan, there is no
coherent visual design, and you
end up making arbitrary deci¬
sions," Poster says. "It isn't suffi¬
cient to say, 'I think this should be
a dark film with sharp angles.'

helped by the movement of the

-

other¬

wise, you are putting style ahead of
substance."
The

"imaging system" the

duo designed for The Cemetery Club

brings the audience into close and
intimate contact with the charac¬
ters. It's a very

"The

personal approach.
alternative would be to lay

American

Cinematographer

camera.

There were times when we

influence how it
will be cut."
The Cem¬

etery Club was

a

otherwise, you are put¬

certain rhythm in mind, which was

a reason

'I think

dark film with

Poster and Duke coordinated then-

There has to be

30

"It isn't sufficient to say,

photographed
in the Academy
standard 1.85:1

aspect ratio.
"That

was

a

says. "You don't
need - in fact, you don't want -
the wider dimensions of an an-

given," Poster

stopped that flow and allowed the
audience to pause and observe
something happening. It had to do
with continuity and whether we
were
entering or leaving a scene."
What is rhythm in the con¬
text of filmmaking? "It encom¬
passes a lot of considerations: how
you enter a scene, where the cam¬
era goes, its movement and the
tempo of that flow," Poster ex¬
plains. "It also deals with your use

amorphic image to tell this story.

of color, light and shadows, diffu¬
sion and filtration and angle of cov¬

between the

February 1993

You want to make the audience feel

close to the characters, like they are

part of the story, so they can laugh
and cry

along with them."
As practiced by Poster, the
grammar of cinematography be¬
gins with an understanding of the
characters. One of them (Dukakis)
had married for duty, in a scenario
that resembled an arranged mar¬

riage. But

over

One of the

the

years,

the love

couple had grown.
characters (Burstyn)
American Cinematographer - February 1993

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