American Cinematographer - February 1993 - 62

suggesting which cinematog¬
raphers to include. The committee
was co-chaired
by John Bailey and
Allen Daviau and rounded out by
Stephen Burum, Linwood Dunn,
John Hora, Philip Lathrop, Richard
L. Rawlings, Sr., and Roy Wagner.
"The project really reflects
the tremendous support, information and knowledge that the
ASC shared with us," says Lawler.
ASC members John Bailey and

Charles

Allen Daviau, whose interviews
served as inter¬

scribing the

and

locking threads
thoughout the
film, became de
facto narrators
who were, says

..

all the

There

was no
scarcity of
the production of Vi¬
sions; in fact, the project was inun¬
dated with them. The problem was
deciding which to use and how to
address them. Included among the
chestnuts were Society President

James Wong Howe; Robert Wise's

Toland's work

Citizen Kane; Laszlo Kovacs' de¬

scription of shooting Easy Rider
America; Vittorio Storaro's

reflections upon his passion for
color and his use of light in Apoca¬

lypse Nozv and The Last Emperor;
Gordon Willis' lighting secrets
from the Godfather films; Conrad
Hall's explanation of how he
made "mistakes" acceptable to stu¬
dio heads; Vilmos Zsigmond's use
of "flashing" in McCabe and Mrs.
Miller; Frederick Elmes' insights

moment when Conrad Hall is de¬

from In Cold

are

ing for him.' The idea that film im¬
ages can be that expressive, and
how they can carry power and
meaning in a nonverbal way, is
crystal clear to anyone watching the
film."
An

writer/creative consult¬

Hollywood Mavericks, admits
that while there were plenty of
quotable contemporary cinematog¬
raphers, there was "precious little
on

visual documentation of the older
directors of photography."

McCarthy constructed

a general
outline of what he felt should be

covered, "a chronological approach
that followed international influ¬
ences and took into account the
advent of sound film, color film,
wide screen, the 'New Wave,' and
how the whole industry opened up
in the 1960s and '70s." He worked
around the dearth of "old master"

quotes by finding knowledgeable
sources among the
surviving veter¬
"We all agreed, though," says
McCarthy, "that cinematographers
ans.

are

the most articulate of all the

people in all the disciplines of film.
They have to keep up with what
everyone else is doing, they take a
passionate interest in the artistic
and technical development of the
technology, and they are also con¬

rectors, a triangle composed of producer Stuart Samuels, editor
Arnold Glassman and writer Todd

happened - they won't get the
good jobs." Despite the complexi¬
ties that the job demands,
McCarthy found cinematogra¬
phers, in regard to their work, to be
"among the happiest people I've

McCarthy. How do three directors
work together? "We sat down and
talked a lot," says Samuels. "To¬
gether, we decided how we'd struc¬
ture the piece and who to include."
The idea was to span the history of
cinematography through the eyes
of as many living practitioners as
possible.
"We really should have
made this film 10 or 20 years ago,"
McCarthy admits, "when all the
great oldsters (many of whom
passed away during the last de¬
cade)

were

still alive." In lieu of the

late

greats, the directorial team
sought out modern experts who

were

Cinematographer

ant

as

versant in the work of the old-tim¬

Lynch; an examination of the re¬
lationship between Michael
Chapman and Martin Scorsese;
Alonzo, Michael Ballhaus, Stephen
Burum, Bill Butler, Caleb Deschanel, Ernest Dickerson and

extraordinary amount

served

of information had to be squeezed
into the documentary's 90 minutes.
The task fell to the film's three di¬

could

American

scene

Blood where the shadow of the rain
is crawling down Robert Blake's
face. He says, 'The visuals were cry¬

into his collaboration with David

and more recollections and bits of
wisdom from ASC members John

60

photography is. Perhaps more im¬
portantly, the film accentuates and
reveals the personalities of the cin¬
ematographers - we learn not
only about the job but the actual
people who do the job. It's a sterling

on

William Fraker's anecdotes about
the shooting of Rosemary's Baby;
Haskell Wexler's fond tribute to

across

there has never been a document
that explains what a director of

the
people in
disciplines of film ..

stage.

on

exciting about the
project to me," says Omens, "is that

cinematographers

of offering us a lot of insight."
Bailey and Omens, who served as
producer for the ASC on Visions of
Light, devoted many hours to cri¬
tiquing early cuts of the film, and
were deeply involved at every

memories of Gregg

McCarthy, who had

"What's

most articulate of all the

Lawler, "very supportive in terms

insights

Lang.

the bases

historically.
Forty directors of photography
cover

interviewed and 70 hours of

tape were refined. Glassman's ed¬
iting came from the structure that
the directors established, based on

ers. If
they don't stay abreast of
what's happening-and of what's

ever

met."

Nancy Schreiber, who
shot most of the interview

se¬

quences in high definition, is herself
one of the
happy people. An ama¬
teur still photographer, she learned

moviemaking while working her
way through the ranks as a film
electrician, gaffer and director. Her
repertoire has always been diverse.
When she launched her profes¬
sional

career

time when it

in New

was

York, "at

hard for

a

women

to get work as a director of photog¬
raphy," she couldn't afford to be
pigeonholed. Schreiber shot music

videos, documentaries,

commer¬

cials and

compelling visuals and noteworthy

low-budget features.
Today, the industry
stigma attached to women has less¬
ened slightly. Schreiber, who lives

explanations of how those images

in

were

achieved.

February 1993

as

film-friendly Los Angeles as well
New York, has photographed
American Cinematographer - February 1993

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