American Cinematographer - February 1993 - 79

a film before, but didn't
know what a camera was. It

pher to bring a system to Italy.
When he did convince the industry

been in

to try out the novel gear, he had a
big comer of the market.
Each project he works on
requires individual Steadicam
needs. Pecorini generally gets at¬
tached to a few cinematographers

was

with whom he'll work on a number
of projects, giving him the chance

even

impossible to tell them what to

do." The crowd was so unpredict¬
able that Pecorini recalls feeling fear
in the scenes where Debra Winger's
character comes close to being

lynched. "We worried that she'd be
lynched for real, and for that rea¬
son, we

didn't risk a second take."

accustomed to their styles. He

The story's desert location

has shot four films with Vittorio

meant that Pecorini was forced to

Storaro, ASC, AIC (Ladyhawke,
Ishtar, The Sheltering Sky and a yet-

trudge through the long, hot sand
scenes
wearing his armour. "The
desert crossing was an extensive
part of the movie," he recalls, "and
there was effort involved. But prob¬
lems only occur when you mis¬
handle the system. When you

to get

to-be-titled documentary) for
whom he has the utmost respect,
but he also likes the chance "to

jump around and see the different
techniques, styles, attitudes, and
personalities of other cinematogra¬
phers too."
On Roman Polanski's Bit¬
ter

Moon, "Steadicam

first

camera

was

used

as

because the whole

know how to relate to it, how to
distribute the weight properly like

backpack, then you can do it for a
long time without getting tired. It
a

looks heavier than it is."

thing takes place on a cruise liner,
and there

was a

movement of the

need to show the

ship itself." When

Pecorini worked with Bernardo

Bertolucci on The Last Emperor,
there was only one Steadicam se¬
quence, during the crowning of the
baby emperor. "That scene became
the symbol of the entire movie in
the promos," Pecorini points out
with pride. He found Bertolucci
"challenging and interesting to
work with," particularly on Shelter¬
ing Sky, when he had Pecorini shoot
"entire sequences from A to Z, in¬
cluding close-ups, with Steadicam,
which gave me an opportunity to
meet new creative challenges."

Jeff Mart
Bugsy, Bonfire of the Vanities, The
Doors

"I was overwhelmed by the
thought that this was what I wanted
to do with my life. I didn't know
exactly what I wanted to do or how;
it was just a strong feeling that I'd
found what I was searching for."
Having spent four years in the mili¬
tary, Mart was older than the other

gets ill and continuing through to

gan

the end of the movie. The search for
the doctor and the marketplace
scene at the end of the movie are all
Steadicam." Pecorini describes the

demics," he observes. "I learned on
the street, figuring out how to load
the magazine in two seconds while

shooting TV news. "Some
people get experience through aca¬

"documentary
style, but those scenes were so
heavily staged that you can't really

the President

tell."

only textbook training
changed."

camera moves as

The market

scene was

"Home Alone II", "Only the Lonely",
"Home Alone", "Always Roses",
"Out of the Dark"

A CHALLENGE

"If,

as a

challenge, I had to light a

and could

only bring two

instruments, they would be a 10K
fresnel and

a

dedolight. The small

size of the dedolight
into thinking
"I once

kick

will fool you

it can't do biggerjobs.

got a very nice reflective

on an

AMTRAK train from

a

was

dedolight 2.5 blocks away. It's also
a

wonderful tool for controllable

slashes and

highlights..."

^dedolight

stepping off the

an incredible experi¬
Students who graduate with

plane. It was
ence.

are

short¬

Mart used his cinematic

done in one take because the num¬
ber of local extras made direction
difficult. "The extras were local

expertise to produce his own docu¬
mentaries on a subject that angers

people who not only had

him: the plight of killer whales who

never

Credits:

students and couldn't afford to lin¬

with Steadicam shots, starting
when John Malkovich's character

Sheltering Sky, he notes, is "loaded

Macat

scene

Jeff Mart was a student at the Uni¬
versity of Washington when he
took a night course in photography.

ger in post-grad indecision. He
needed a quick career, and became
a full-time
photography major. A
fellow student helped him get a job
at a local TV station, and Mart be¬

The second half of The

Julio

The 1990 Technical
Achievement Award

for the

dedolight.
®A.M.P.A.S.®
Dedotec USA. INC.
410 Garibaldi Avenue

Lodi, N J 07644
Phone

February 1993

Fax

(201)777-2771
(201) 777-5585

77
American Cinematographer - February 1993

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