American Cinematographer - February 1995 - 43

morphing or any other special
effects. So when she's being told
these stories about what happened

According to
legend, Liam
Conneelly and

seen

his wife (a
Selkie in human

long ago, the way she pictures
things should reflect that. So the
transformation of the seal

form) rocked

was

their children in

very low-tech. All the effects in
the film are done very simply,
animatronically or mechanically,
the same way you might have done

special
floating cradle
a

made from the
wood of

shipwrecks and

it in 1920.

festooned with

Tied in with that idea is
the fact that from day one, we tried
to

seashells. The
cradle

give everything a certain weight.
things to float

sea

We didn't want

cartoonlike. We wanted

the

Matewan

came

use

too

much filtration, which tends to

things up and and make
a little lighter. Even though
there's the magical realism aspect,
and parts of the film are not literal,
the kids still have to work. So
Haskell was careful not to take the
gauze

things

edge off too much.
What is your

working

method?

Haskell and his guys

be¬

experts at making estimates,
saying, "Yes, I think we can get this
track laid and get two takes in be¬
fore the water is up around our
ankles." And sometimes we were

But Haskell was able to
stay flexible, and never painted
wrong.

himself into a corner. We always
had something to shoot. And we
would know that a particular shot
would be much easier and take

a

Sayles: I break the movie

quarter of the time if we did at the

down into sequences, which look
like a step outline. I give one to

right time of day. And I think that's
just Haskell's experience showing.
So logistical abilities and
experience were the most impor¬
tant factors in your selection of a
cinematographer?
Sayles: To get a consis¬
tent-looking movie - or even a

each department head, with spe¬
cific notes. The music breakdown,
for instance, might include a com¬
ment

like, "I'd like

a

reel here

or a

vocal there." It'll just give them an
idea of where I'd like cues, and the
emotional quality of the cues. And
I'll do the same thing for the pho¬

tographer. The breakdown doesn't
say anything about lenses or
equipment. It'll say, for example,
"Night, tense, fades into a dream
sequence, spooky."
What is your storyboard/

Sometimes it

generations

just the late after¬
coming in through the
door or the window. So you have
three or four very different types of
light quality, and each has to be
matched regardless of conditions.
was

noon sun

We had all kinds of

situations. But each of those
shots was to be plugged into a dif¬
ferent sequence. We were just
ous

struggling to get the seals and a
same frame
doing a cer¬
tain thing, and Scott Sakamoto,
Haskell's operator, would be in his
wetsuit, trying to grab semi-docu¬
mentary stuff. And Haskell would
be watching the sky and juggling
boat in the

seal

scenes

in his head.

It sounds like the

you can concentrate on

really need somebody who's out¬
standing with the planning. Cer¬
tainly Haskell understands the

just kind of

a

sensi¬

emo¬

tional content of the scene is es¬
tablished first, so that on the set

consistent-looking sequence -
when it's been put together from
four different shooting days, you

emotional content and has

se¬

quences that were spread over
weeks. Every Saturday, we would
shoot a half a day with seals in vari¬

Sayles: Every

execution.
once in a

while there's
-

a shot where
you can
see Haskell winging it
where he's getting ideas as he's

doing it. We've already talked
about the feeling of the scene. He'll

tivity. That's the beginning of the

walk around, remember the con¬

scheduling method?
Sayles: I had storyboard-

conversation. But the

versation

second

and talk

ed, but the only ones that were really

done

tight were the animatronic shots. The
seal people have to know exactly
what angle, and how far away. I
had a 3 X 5 card for every shot in

the

important
part is that I get the movie
time and

budget. That's

we

had

some

during the scout,

more;

you can see

him

the

getting the feel of the room
again. There may be some interest¬
ing natural light that he makes use
of, or he may blow the light in. But
that's where it happens.

things like day or night, interior or

fireplace is a scooped-out hollow in
the wall. Later, the fireplace pro¬

We probably do the most
talking in those walk-throughs.

exterior, whether there

vides the

Can

the movie. Each card included
are

was

ev¬

I also included what day it was to
be shot, what time the sun rose and
set on that day, and the tides.

well. We didn't

-

to Fiona.

erybody and everything in the
movie to have physical weight, to
have a solidity and a texture. It's
something we tried to do in
as

and

handed down

away, so to speak. There's a
point at which special effects -
morphing especially - can make
everything a little lighter, a little
more

-

the lure of the

real ani¬

mals in this shot, puppets, cameras
in boats, people in boats, et cetera.

on

on

toughest thing.
For example, the same cot¬
tage appeared in the film in several
different

later

eras.

So in

one scene

only light source, and still

we

have this person go

the kids have fixed it up
and whitewashed the inside.

through some dark, and then back
into light? What's the next scene

February 1995

American

on

Cinematographer

41
American Cinematographer - February 1995

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