American Cinematographer January 2022 Ac0122

January 2022 The International Publication of the American Society of Cinematographers
The Tragedy of Macbeth

Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC
I
The Legacy of Halyna Hutchins Set Safety
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JANUARY 2022 VOL. 103 NO. 1
On Our Cover:
Lady Macbeth (Frances McDormand) burns a
prophetic letter in The Tragedy of Macbeth,
Contents
shot by Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC. (Frame
pull courtesy of Apple.)
Features
32 A Cinematographer’s Legacy
In tribute to honorary ASC member Halyna Hutchins, industry
professionals offer their perspectives on how to ensure safe
working conditions.
46 Palace Intrigue
Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC and director Joel Coen discuss
their collaboration on The Tragedy of Macbeth.
58 Reluctant Allies
32
Markus Förderer, ASC, BVK and director Rawson Marshall
Thurber apply new and vintage tech on the action comedy
Red Notice.
66 Fashion Battles
Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, ASC and costume designer
Janty Yates team on House of Gucci and The Last Duel.
74 Costume and Story

Top costume designers Ruth E. Carter, Sandy Powell and Col-
leen Atwood discuss their craft and their collaborations with
cinematographers.
Departments
8 Letter From the President
10 Shot Craft: Understanding moiré
18 Short Takes: Shoot From the Heart
24 Global Village: The Power of the Dog
90 New Products and Services
93 AC Marketplace/Ad Index
58
94 Clubhouse News
96 Wrap Shot
VISIT ASCMAG.COM
2 / JANUARY 2022
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“IT ALL WORKS BECAUSE OF THE SENSE OF LOVE AND CARE
ANDERSON AND HIS TEAM POUR INTO EVERY FRA M E.”
RAFAEL MOTAMAYOR,
“ROBERT YEOMAN’S CINEMATOGRAPHY IS A CONSTANT DELIGHT.

FLIPPING BET W EEN BLACK AND W HITE AND COLOUR THROUGHOUT,
YEOM A N HANDLES THE JUXTAPOSITION W ITH GREAT SKILL AND
ALLO W S CERTAIN ELEM E NTS IN EACH STORY TO SHINE.”
CHRISTOPHER CON NOR,
FOR YOUR CO NSIDER ATIO N I N ALL CATEGORIES I NCLUDI NG

BEST PICTURE
BEST CIN E M ATOGRAPHY
ROBERT YEOMAN, ASC, Director of Photography
SEARCHLIGHTPICTURES.COM/FYC
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Stephen Pizzello
WEB DIRECTOR and ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

David E. Williams
EDITORIAL
MANAGING EDITOR Andrew Fish
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Samantha Dillard
SHOT CRAFT and TECHNICAL EDITOR Jay Holben
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Rachael K. Bosley
VIRTUAL PRODUCTION EDITOR Noah Kadner
WRITER/RESEARCHER Tara Jenkins
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Benjamin B, John Calhoun, Mark Dillon, Michael Goldman, Jim Hemphill,
David Heuring, Debra Kaufman, Michael Kogge, Iain Marcks, Matt Mulcahey,
Jean Oppenheimer, Phil Rhodes, Patricia Thomson, Peter Tonguette
PODCASTS
Michael Goldman • Jim Hemphill • Iain Marcks
BLOGS
Benjamin B • John Bailey, ASC • David Heuring
CREATIVE DIRECTION and DESIGN

Edwin Alpanian
ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Angie Gollmann
323-936-3769 Fax 323-952-2140 e-mail: [email protected]
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Sanja Pearce
323-952-2114 Fax 323-952-2140 e-mail: [email protected]
SUBSCRIPTIONS, BOOKS and PRODUCTS

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Saul Molina
ASC CEO and PUBLISHER Terry McCarthy

ASC SPONSORSHIP and EVENTS DIRECTOR Patricia Armacost
CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER Alex Lopez
MEMBERSHIP ADMINISTRATOR Salvador Maldonado
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE and ACCOUNTING Thanh Lai
ACCOUNTING June Mabbun
American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 103rd year of publication,
is published monthly in Hollywood by ASC Holding Corp., 1782 N. Orange Dr., Hollywood, CA 90028, U.S.A.,
(800) 448-0145, (323) 969-4333, Fax (323) 876-4973, direct line for subscription inquiries (323) 969-4344.
Subscriptions: U.S. $50; Canada/Mexico $70; all other foreign countries $95 a year
(remit international Money Order or other exchange payable in U.S. $).
Advertising: Rate card upon request from Hollywood office. Copyright 2022 ASC Holding Corp. (All rights reserved.)
Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA.
POSTMASTER: Send address change to American Cinematographer, P.O. Box 2230, Hollywood, CA 90078.
4 / JANUARY 2022
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WINNER Toronto Film Festival • People’s Choice Award
WINNER Dallas Film Festival

WINNERMiddleburg Film Festival
Audience Award Audience Award
WINNERSan Diego Film Festival

WINNER Heartland Film Society
Audience Award Truly Moving Picture Award
WINNERMontclair Film Festival

WINNERTwin Cities Film Festival
Audience Award Best Feature Film Award
WINNER Mill Valley Film Festival

Overall Audience Favorite
“Visually stunning and gloriously

human, ‘Belfast’ bursts with life.”
“Haris Zambarloukos’s black and

white cinematography is stunning.”
F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R AT I O N I N A L L C AT E G O R I E S
BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR

B E S T C I N E M AT OGR APH Y H a ris Za mb a rlo uko s, BSC G SC
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NOVEMBER 2021 / 5

CUSTOM COLLECTION
OF STILL PHOTOGRAPHY BY American Society of Cinematographers
MEMBERS OF THE ASC The ASC is not a labor union or a guild,

but an educational, cultural and
professional organization. Membership is
by invitation to those who are actively en-
gaged as directors of photography and have
demonstrated outstanding ability. ASC
membership has become one of the highest
honors that can be bestowed upon a
professional cinematographer — a mark
of prestige and excellence.
OFFICERS 2021/2022
Stephen Lighthill
President
Amelia Vincent
Vice President
Steven Fierberg
Vice President
John Simmons
Vice President
Steven Poster
Treasurer
Gregg Heschong
Secretary
Jim Denault
Sergeant-at-Arms
MEMBERS
OF THE BOARD
Christopher Chomyn
Curtis Clark
Richard Crudo
Frederick Elmes
Steven Fierberg
Edward Lachman
Stephen Lighthill
Steven Poster
Lawrence Sher
IMAGES BY John Simmons
Rodney Taylor
ANTONIO CALVACHE • RUSSELL CARPENTER • JAMES CHRESSANTHIS John Toll
FREDERICK ELMES • STEPHEN GOLDBLATT • EDWARD LACHMAN Amelia Vincent
Mandy Walker
JACEK LASKUS • PHEDON PAPAMICHAEL • JOHN SIMMONS
Robert Yeoman
JOHN TOLL and MORE
ALTERNATES
Curate your personal portfolio of outstanding photos created Michael Goi
by some of the world’s finest cinematographers, Charlie Lieberman
delivered to you complete with a Suki Medencevic
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You’ll find everything in the ASC Gallery at MUSEUM CURATOR

store.ascmag.com/collections/asc-photo-gallery Steve Gainer
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FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
B E ST CINE MATOGRAP HY
DAN LAUSTSEN, ASC, DFF
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
www.searchlightpictures.com/fyc © 2021 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS
NOVEMBER 2021 / 7

Letter From the President
PHOTO BY MICHAEL M. PESSAH, ASC.
WORDS FAILED ME IN THE MOMENT

FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF CINEMATOG-
RAPHER HALYNA HUTCHINS on October 21,
2021. But words are all we have, and in the
days following Halyna’s death, I have heard —
and said — words expressing shock, anger,
sadness, disbelief and frustration.
Shock, because cinematographers are not
killed in the line of duty. Of course, many have
been, but it is still a traumatizing shock.
Anger, because cinematographers are not
killed in the line of duty. It is infuriating be-
cause we have all worked without incident with
8 / JANUARY 2022
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AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER ASCMAG.COM
weapons. For a cinematographer to die this lenses or C-stands on set — or even more dan- “We must honor our
way is completely, totally wrong. gerously, someone driving a motor vehicle on
Sadness, because cinematographers camera that can become a lethal weapon when
responsibility to
should not predecease their parents and leave their judgment is impaired by fatigue. everyone we work with
children motherless. All of this means it is time for a broad con- on set by speaking up
Disbelief and frustration, because all cin- versation by the entire filmmaking community
ematographers working for major employers across the U.S.A. about the addiction we have
about the very serious
must pass safety exams that educate them to long hours for production (and postproduc- issues relating to
about any and all hazards encountered in film- tion). Every filmmaker has a reason why long safety.”
making and how to avoid them. days are necessary. For some it is the need for
On November 14, we announced that the a decent paycheck that comes with overtime
ASC Board of Governors had decided to con- pay and penalties. For some it may be actors’
fer honorary ASC membership on Halyna schedules. For some in the production depart-
Hutchins. It is some small consolation for us ment it may be a bonus for coming in under
to know her name will be on the roster of ASC budget. No matter one’s reasoning about the
members for as long as the Society continues need for long hours, it is abundantly clear that
to exist. As we honor her memory, however, we working impaired can kill, one way or the other.
must also honor our responsibility to everyone An industry-wide conversation should be
we work with on set by speaking up about the frank and it should be open — everyone has
very serious issues relating to safety. a voice when it comes to safety. We probably
The hazards are no secret: physical stunts of have all experienced situations on set when
all kinds that often go in directions unplanned, something being proposed or carried out ap-
vehicle driving stunts, rollovers, crashes, jumps peared unsafe, but crewmembers felt inhib-
that involve enormous kinetic energy and can ited from speaking out because they feared
become very dangerous before the shout of for their next job, or because they felt nobody
“look out” can be uttered or heard. The hazards would listen.
are legion, but harm befalling a crewperson is In a special feature in this issue (page 32),
seldom so catastrophic as what happened on a series of filmmakers with different positions
the set of Rust on October 21. Of all the hazards — and responsibilities — write about their per-
associated with filmmaking, the far less dra- spectives on safety issues. That is a start. The
matic issue of fatigue is routine and the most American Society of Cinematographers will do
common — and yet it can be just as deadly. more. We are using any format we have access
While hazards are the subject of an intense to, whether at Camerimage or the Hollywood
series of lectures given by Contract Services Post Alliance, to make the case that filmmakers
(an arm of the studios to satisfy OSHA that the should work normal hours so we all can have
work force of the 13 Western States is trained a normal family life. The ASC will use our Fu-
to be safe), little is said about working tired. In ture Practices Committee — originally formed
fact, Local 600 — representing camera crews to talk about the challenges of working under
of the IATSE union — has a safety app you Covid-19 — to bring filmmakers together. It is
can download which can be used to alert 600 time to have this conversation about long hours
to hazardous conditions. Whether or not you and a range of other safety issues. We cannot
work in the 13 Western States, you can read be shocked, angry, sad or frustrated at another
the app, which contains all the safety bulletins death during production. In Halyna’s memory,
union camera crews are familiar with. we need to do better on set.
We are certain that in the current post-pan-
demic “take this job and shove it” atmosphere,
a casual attitude about long days will not be
tolerated. There is ample evidence that a 12-
hour workday, plus two hours commuting,
equals an impaired driver on the way home. It Stephen Lighthill
also means someone who’s impaired handling President, ASC
JANUARY 2022 / 9
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Shot Craft By Jay Holben
Moiré and the Fashion of Harry Nyquist
An example of a moiré pattern appearing on fabric.
When a costume designer brings pattern caused by conflicting detail that can be faithfully charts), each of which comprises
a swatch of material or an early spatial frequencies in relation to reproduced is half the number of a row of black lines on a white
wardrobe sample to a cinematog- the photosite count of a particular samples taken. Although Nyquist background, with each succes-
rapher to ask whether it will work digital sensor — but they general- and Shannon were referencing sive grate featuring narrower
for camera, they are inquiring, of ly, instinctively know what will or audio samples, the same concept lines with a decreasing distance
course, about the hue and reflec- will not cause moiré. applies to images sampled by a between them.
tivity of the material — but they This month’s Shot Craft will digital sensor. To produce a digital If we consider the white space
are also asking, though probably investigate the Nyquist-Shannon image of a real-world subject, between each black line to be
not in so many words, “Will this sampling theorem to clarify what every photosite on the digital a line in itself, and we take into
texture exceed the Nyquist limit causes moiré in a particular textile sensor takes a sample of the account the Nyquist-Shannon
of your digital camera system or pattern, and how to avoid it. photons of light reflecting off the theorem — which indicates that
and cause a moiré pattern on the objects being photographed. By the maximum number of lines
screen?” Definitions and Measurements applying the Nyquist-Shannon any digital camera system can
Even as most costume de- Harry Nyquist was a Swedish theorem, we conclude that the reproduce is half the number of
signers are unlikely to use that physicist and electronic engineer maximum image resolution that its sensor’s photosites — then it
specific terminology, they’re who conducted R&D at AT&T from can faithfully be reproduced is can be concluded that a camera
aware that certain materials (and 1917 to 1934. His research into half the number of samples cap- system with 4,096 photosites
certain patterns) will cause moiré, reproducing sound signals, which tured by the photosites. across the imager can give
and that this is a significant issue. was expanded upon by American To determine resolution — that us a maximum of 2,048 lines.
IMAGE BY ANDREW FISH.
Likewise, many cinematographers mathematician and electrical en- is, the system’s ability to resolve (Granted, this is a simplification
don’t have the Nyquist-Shannon gineer Claude Shannon, has come detail — there must be two of the Nyquist-Shannon sampling
sampling theorem on the tip of to be known as the Nyquist-Shan- high-contrast elements in order to theorem, but it aptly illustrates
their tongue, nor would they non sampling theorem. This see the difference between them. this important aspect of the
necessarily conceive of the moiré theorem states that for any given To accomplish this, we use a sensor. We’re also keeping things
phenomenon as an interference sampling system, the maximum series of Ronchi grates (or Ronchi simple by looking only at an
10 /JANUARY 2022
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Shot Craft
A series of Ronchi charts of increasing spatial frequency, from left to right.
example dealing with black and white lines within 1mm of space. If we try to photograph a pattern that
white; reproducible resolution That’s the finest detail the camera exceeds what the camera system can
in color, which typically involves system can reproduce without
subsampling with a Bayer-pattern artifacting. The system is capable
reproduce, this will introduce image
color-filter array, is a subject for of faithfully reproducing any detail artifacting that presents itself as moiré.
another column.) larger (at a lower spatial frequen-
Those 2,048 lines equate to a cy) than 57 lp/mm.
real-world physical measurement, a woven fabric — then, given the costume designers must carefully
defined by line-pairs per milli- Causes of Moiré specific parameters above, any consider the textile patterns that
meter (or lp/mm). If the sensor is So, what happens when we try detail smaller (at a higher spatial will be presented on camera. The
36mm wide, and we can resolve to photograph a pattern that frequency) than 57 lp/mm will end likelihood of moiré is affected by
detail down to 2,048 lines, the exceeds what the system can up introducing image artifacting the number of photosites on the
measurement is 57 lp/mm (2,048 reproduce? In other words, what that presents itself as moiré. sensor, as discussed, and also
divided by 36mm). This measure- if we violate the Nyquist limit of If moiré is recorded by the by the contrast of lighting, the
ment can also be called a spatial the system? If this is a repeating camera, it cannot be easi- resolving power of the individual
frequency, referring here to the pattern of high-spatial-frequency ly removed from the image in lens, the compression algorithm
frequency of respective black and fine detail — like one might find in postproduction. There are no of the recording format, and the
hardware or software tools in post compression algorithm of the
that achieve this, so — barring a postproduction delivery format.
reshoot — the object in question The cinematographer must
Aliasing in the Eye must be replaced by a moiré-free consider all these points in the
The Nyquist limit is not confined to digital sensors. The human CG version of the object. The workflow to ensure that no moiré
eye has a Nyquist limit, too; there is a finite spatial frequency our seriousness of the moiré issue is ever captured on camera.
eyes can resolve before we see aliasing. When you look at the helped lead digital-camera manu- One particular complication is
fine pattern of a window screen, for example, you might notice facturers to incorporate an optical that moiré can appear on a moni-
a wavy variation of contrast that “swims” when you move your low-pass filter (OLPF) into their tor that is downsampling the res-
IMAGE COURTESY OF JAY HOLBEN.
head slightly. That’s moiré happening in your eye because the cameras. This filter allows low olution of the camera even if the
spatial frequency of that pattern violates your Nyquist limit. If spatial frequency to pass through artifact is not actually recorded
you step closer to the screen, the moiré might disappear. That’s the quartz filter while blurring in the image itself. If your camera
because the spatial frequency of the pattern you’re looking high spatial frequency above has 4,096 photosites across the
at has dropped because you have moved closer to it, and the the Nyquist limit for that specific sensor but you’re assessing the
pattern subtends a larger angle on your retina. In essence, by sensor. image on a 1,920-pixel monitor,
moving closer, you have reduced the spatial frequency of the The OLPF does not always the Nyquist limit of the monitor
window screen according to your eye. eliminate moiré, however, which is significantly lower than that of
is why cinematographers and the camera (960 as opposed to
12 /JANUARY 2022

COVER STORY STORARO AND HIS DIRECTORS
F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R A T I O N
“‘DUNE’ IS SPECTACULAR.
GREIG FRASER’S CINEMATOGRAPHY IS A SIGHT TO BE SEEN,
SIMPLY GORGEOUS.”
JAZZ TANGCAY,
BEST PICTURE
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
GRE I G FR ASE R , ASC , ACS
W W W. W B AWA R D S . C OM
JANUARY 2022 / 13

Shot Craft
Left: For a theoretical digital sensor with 4,096 photosites, any detail equal to the Nyquist limit
(half the full sample rate) or lower will be faithfully reproduced by the system. Pattern detail
above the Nyquist limit may have artifacting, such as moiré, introduced into the image. Right: The
interplay between contrast and resolution. Without contrast, you cannot measure resolution.
2,048), which means the image subject or shifting to a tighter problem, you can increase the
will moiré on the monitor long focal length, thus increasing the sampling size (or number of
before it will on the camera. The size of the pattern in the frame photosites on the sensor) by
best way to check is to use a — and removing the resonance switching to a larger-format
monitor with a 1:1 pixel function to between the textile pattern and camera. An 8K sensor with 8,192
magnify the image so that it is in the digital sensor — can help photosites across the imager, for
parity with the camera’s sensor. eliminate moiré. You can also example, will have a Nyquist limit
move the camera slightly farther of 4,096. If we assume the same
Moiré Solutions away from the pattern or shift to a 36mm width of this sensor as
If you end up working with a wider focal length, thus removing submitted above, then the finest
textile that is causing moiré and the ability of the sensor to discern detail the system can reproduce
there is no way to replace it with the fine detail that’s causing the is 114 lp/mm — twice as fine as a
a different material, there are issue. 4K imager.
several things you can try. Moving If you really need the precise
the camera slightly closer to the shot that’s causing the moiré
LED Walls and Moiré

Another situation in which the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theo-
rem rears its head, and one that is becoming more common, is
when digital cameras photograph LED walls. LED walls comprise
IMAGES COURTESY OF JAY HOLBEN.
a finite pattern of pixels — an isotropic grid — and this rigid

geometric pattern of pixels has its own fixed spatial frequency.
Therefore, when the camera focuses on the LED screen, it can
cause significant moiré in the image. The finer the pixel pitch of
the screen and the higher the photosite count of the sensor, the
less chance there is of seeing moiré, and generally speaking, the If moiré is recorded by the camera, it
farther away and the more out of focus the LED screen is, the
less likely you are to encounter it.
cannot be easily removed from the image
in postproduction.
14 /JANUARY 2022 F

“HHHH
GORGEOUSLY CRAFTED.
Delicately photographed in black-and-white with tenderness from cinematographer Edu Grau.”
MIRROR
“HHHH
PROFOUND, SATISFYING FILMMAKING.
Shooting in traditional (and claustrophobic) 4:3 aspect ratio, director of photography Edu Grau
brings such texture that nothing is ever truly black and white.”
EMPIRE
Best Picture
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography (Theatrical Release) Edu Grau, ASC , AEC
A FILM BY REBECCA HALL
FILM.NETFLIXAWARDS.COM

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JANUARY 2022 / 17

Short Takes By Tara Jenkins
Behind the Legend

When Joan Churchill, ASC and by Wexler, including Bus Rider’s
Alan Barker set out to make a film Union, Who Needs Sleep? and
about renowned Society member From Wharf Rats to Lords of the
Haskell Wexler, their goal was first Docks, and on documentaries
and foremost to create a portrait directed by others — Bastards
of the man — a look beyond the of the Party and Benny Carter:
Oscar and ASC Award winner’s Symphony in Riffs.
prolific and storied work behind “Haskell has been in my life
the camera. “I don’t think we since I shot Punishment Park,
wanted to make a film about Has- which was my first film out of
kell because he was a filmmaker,” school,” she says. “It was a fiction
Churchill says of the 25-minute film shot as a documentary. He
short Shoot From the Heart, a called me up out of the blue and
title that Rita Taggart, Wexler’s offered to help,” having likely
widow, came up with. “We were heard about the project through
making a film about a man who word of mouth. “It was a small
was a passionate activist, who world, and pretty exceptional that
never gave up hope for the world, a woman was going to shoot such
and who was a mentor. He was an a film.” Wexler’s generosity is part
incredibly generous person.” of what drew Churchill to turn the
Churchill — the first ASC camera on Wexler himself — a
member whose invitation into role reversal that came with its
the Society was based solely on own challenges.
documentary work — and Barker, From the beginning of the proj-
a prolific sound recordist and ect, Wexler — who was awarded
mixer, served as co-directors as the ASC Lifetime Achievement
they documented Wexler over Award in 1993 — was self-con-
the last 10 years of his life. As scious about being in front of the
Churchill notes, they captured camera. “Alan Barker and I wanted
Wexler “working on sets, mento- to make a film about Haskell, but
ring aspiring cinematographers, he did not want us to make a
fighting his own union to uphold film at all,” says Churchill, whose
their promise to fight against cinematography credits include
Haskell Wexler, ASC at work on Judy Chicago’s performance piece
brutally long hours and for safety Shut Up & Sing, Last Days in
“Sublime Environment,” created for the Pacific Standard Time
on the set” — and debating at Vietnam and Medicating Normal.
Performance and Public Art Festival.
dinners with such lauded creative “He was like, ‘No, no — nobody
artists as documentarian D.A. wants to see a film about some
Pennebaker. old farts. My passion right now
Churchill knew Wexler as a is to make an anti-war film.’ This
mentor, colleague and friend, was during the Iraq War, so we
PHOTO BY ALAN BARKER.
having worked with him on many worked our way around to helping
documentaries, “starting with him make that film — if he would
No Nukes, a film Haskell Wexler let us make a film about him at
and Barbara Kopple co-directed,” the same time. That’s how we slid
she says. Later, she worked on into this project. We introduced
“several documentaries directed Haskell to Jonathan Kaplan, a
18 /JANUARY 2022
p.18-23 Short Takes_v3.indd 18 12/3/21 7:39 AM

“The scope of it, the way it’s framed, the woody-rusted
iron feel of the visuals - great to look at.”
W O R R A D I O
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
POLLY MORGAN, ASC

Short Takes
“We were making a film about a man

Top: Wexler at the ASC Clubhouse. Bottom: Joan Churchill, ASC
and Alan Barker capture Wexler as he interviews a subject at an
who was a passionate activist, who
Occupy L.A. protest. never gave up hope for the world.”
trauma surgeon I had met in Iraq, talking to a room full of mentees

who has spent his life setting up or sitting at a table with friends.
dressing stations on the front Presenting Wexler in these types
TOP IMAGE BY ALAN BARKER. BOTTOM IMAGE BY RITA TAGGART.

lines of hot spots around the of situations was due in part to
world. We shot the conversation his aversion to being interviewed.
as he vividly described what war “I tried one sit-down interview
is really like. Haskell ended up with Haskell,” Churchill says with
in despair, with his head in his a smile, “and he ended up talking
hands.” about my mother instead of
Churchill notes that they also himself, and it was just pointless.
introduced Wexler to filmmaker I just gave up trying to interview
Suree Towfighnia — who went on him — he was uncomfortable
to work with him on such projects with formal situations involving
as Four Days in Chicago, and who a camera. It was only if he was
appears in one of the Shoot From engaged in something that it
the Heart interviews as well. was okay, and he could forget
The short leans into vérité film- about the camera. So, we started
making, being present with Wex- having these dinners with our
ler in the moment, whether he is documentarian friends. He loved
20 /JANUARY 2022

“RELENTLESS IN ITS TERROR, FEAR, AND ANXIETY,

BUT SIMULTANEOUSLY YOU CAN’T TAKE YOUR EYES
OFF THE SCREEN BECAUSE YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO
KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT.”
GIZMODO
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
MICHAEL GIOULAKIS
universalpicturesawards.com © 2021 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
JANUARY 2022 / 21

Short Takes
Churchill and Wexler in California wine country.
the footage she shot of Wexler

through the years. She plans on
structuring other shorts around
conversations that Wexler had
with other artists and activists,
such as filmmaker Hubert Sauper;
author and filmmaker Saul Lan-
dau; journalist and author Kevin
McKiernan; photojournalist Susan
Meiselas; and cinematographer
Jack Couffer, ASC, who authored
The Concrete Wilderness, the
novel upon which Wexler’s
acclaimed documentary/fiction
hybrid Medium Cool was based.
Wexler’s hope and passion
for a better world serve as the
production’s overarching theme
— whether he is shooting Occupy
Los Angeles activists or speaking
with Latinx students about a
career in filmmaking. The oldest
footage in the documentary is
from 2007 and follows Wexler as
he and actor Jane Fonda attend a
screening of the 1978 film Coming
Home, which Wexler shot. After
the screening, he and Fonda take
the stage to speak emotionally
that, and — of course — people filmed very informally, as if from light, but the cameras could take about their antiwar activism, from
loved to come. Since we were the perspective of one of the din- it.” Vietnam to the modern day.
all filmmakers, and shooters, we ner guests — runs the gamut from One difficulty for Churchill was In one of the production’s most
would use small camcorders, very pop-culture references to “debat- cutting down the massive amount poignant scenes, Churchill follows
non-threatening, and kind of pass ing about issues such as cinemat- of footage she had accumulated Wexler to a warehouse, where
the camera around from person ic reality and what it means to be over the years. The documentary he is shooting a music video for
to person. That worked. He was an artist.” This debate ultimately took on many different iterations, Lisbeth Scott’s “Hope Is a Thing.”
okay with that.” serves as a through-line for the including a five-and-a-half-hour “After suggesting to the director,
The centerpiece of the film is “nonlinear patchwork” of scenes cut. “We shot the last 10 years of Joseph Greco, that he let Lisbeth
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOAN CHURCHILL, ASC.
one such dinner discussion with from Wexler’s life that comprise Haskell’s life, and he’s been gone Scott sing her song in one full
Pennebaker. “I knew the conver- Shoot From the Heart. for five years,” Churchill says. “I take,” Churchill says, Wexler be-
sation [between Pennebaker and “We used an array of Sony and didn’t start editing until after he comes very moved by the music
Wexler] was just gold,” Chur- Panasonic cameras,” Churchill was gone, and I couldn’t start — to the point of tears by the end
chill says. “[Husband-and-wife says, “starting with the Sony right away after that. It was hard, of the song. “The song was about
documentarians] Pennebaker PD150 for the first thing we shot emotionally. Once we decided hope, which was what Haskell
and Chris Hegedus, and [fellow with Haskell — visiting Arlington that it was okay for the doc to be was all about — never giving up
documentarian] Nick Doob, had West [memorial, which features] a short, that simplified things.” hope.”
come to town to shoot something, crosses representing each soldier Churchill considers Shoot From
and they were staying with [Alan killed in the Iraq War. We shot in the Heart to be the first chapter
and me].” The conversation — all natural light, sometimes very low in a possible series drawn from
22 /JANUARY 2022

Global Village By Patricia Thomson
Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) has an encounter
Western Tension with Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) in

The Power of the Dog.
The Power of the Dog is a West- this new arrangement and starts one and only commercial. Years the language of the film that we
ern in all its trappings. However, a passive-aggressive campaign later, the cinematographer got a wanted to use photographically.
as cinematographer Ari Wegner, against the newcomers. Christmas Eve surprise. “I was in We talked a lot about the char-
ACS points out, it deviates from “When I think of Westerns,” the supermarket, my phone rang, acters. Ari is a DoP who works
the genre in a fundamental way: says the Australian cinematog- and it was Jane Campion calling.” from a deep interest in character
“It’s not two people dueling with rapher, known for Lady Macbeth The director was looking for a and in story, which is lovely. To
guns; it’s two people dueling with (AC July ’17), Zola and Stray, cinematographer who could do me, when the visuals are really
a look.” In other words, it’s the “whatever the narrative, it’s al- a year-long preproduction and embedded inside the mechanics
sort of psychologically loaded most inevitable there will be a cli- participate in location scouting, and themes of the story, that’s
film that one would expect from mactic show of physical violence. designing sets and storyboarding. so much more meaningful than
UNIT PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIRSTY GRIFFIN. ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF NETFLIX.

director Jane Campion. But what interested Jane and “I can’t think of a more dream just looking beautiful.” Wegn-
me a lot more was psychological phone call to have,” Wegner says. er’s impressive cinematography
Planning Perspectives violence — that someone walking “To say we started scouting ultimately earned her the Variety
Adapted by Campion from upstairs, closing a door or whis- a year before we shot is very Artisan Award at the Toronto
Thomas Savage’s 1967 epon- tling could be more terrifying than emblematic of the way Jane International Film Festival.
ymous novel, the film is set in someone pulling a gun — and, for likes to work: a warm, inclusive
1925 Montana on a cattle ranch Rose, it is completely debilitating. environment that involves a lot New Zealand for Montana
owned by the fictional Burbank “Jane has such an amazing his- of wonderful dinners, walking, Montana was too developed
brothers. The dynamic between tory of telling stories with women swimming — things that help you to serve as a location, so the
the siblings shifts when quiet, at the center,” she adds. “This is get to know someone well enough filmmakers decided to shoot in a
stolid George Burbank (Jesse the first film she’s made with a so that when you’re in the thick of remote, mountainous corner of
Plemons) weds the widow Rose male protagonist. Phil certainly it, and you only have 20 minutes New Zealand’s South Island, with
(Kirsten Dunst) and brings her presents on the extreme end to shoot something you’d need interiors created on Auckland
home along with her sensitive of masculinity — but of course, an hour for, you’ve got someone soundstages. Wegner describes
son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). a character who was that, and there who’s really a friend and their visual style as classical and
Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumber- that alone, would not be of much won’t crack or crumble.” unadorned: “We both have an
batch), who has lorded over the interest to a filmmaker like Jane.” During a New York Film allergy to photography that’s too
ranch as an alpha male with a Wegner had worked with Cam- Festival Q&A, Campion recalled, showy, or has anything added just
toxic streak, isn’t happy about pion once before, on the director’s “We spent a long time discussing to be pretty — when a shot has,
24 /JANUARY 2022
p.24-31 Global Village Power of Dog V3.indd 24 12/3/21 3:11 PM

“A MAGICAL EVOCATION OF A TIME AND PLACE”
THE WRAP
BEST PICTURE
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
MICHAEL BAUMAN
PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON
For information on in-person and virtual events and screenings go to WWW.UARELEASINGGUILDS.COM

Global Village
Top: Rose (Kirsten Dunst) feels alone during a family gathering with her
in-laws. Bottom: Cinematographer Ari Wegner, ACS checks her monitor
while framing a scene with director Jane Campion.
as Jane might describe, ‘too much this furious tantrum, this complete
icing.’ We trusted this film would loss of self-control, we needed
work with restraint and discipline.” that adrenalin in the camera, too.
That approach was occasional- To feel his unsteadiness, and be
ly interrupted by looser interludes able to whip-pan with him — to
when Phil Burbank is in his private be a little afraid, even.”
world with his guard down, as Visual references included
when he bathes in a pond hidden “contemporaneous photos of
by willows — what the filmmakers Montana by photojournalist Eve-
called “the sacred place.” Here, lyn Cameron, postcards, and jour-
the camera is handheld and “be- nals from the time,” Wegner adds.
comes curious and responsive to Transported by these sources to
whatever Benedict is doing,” We- 1920s Montana, the collaborators
gner says. This strategy also ap- wanted their production to have
plied to Phil’s emotional outburst the same level of specificity. “Jane
when he learns that Rose has and I both love obsessing about
sold his cow hides. “He goes from details, so we could have a con-
being passive-aggressive to out- versation about cutlery or this rug
right infuriated. For most of the versus that rug, or whether the
film, everyone is trying their best loaf of bread was made in a tin or
to swallow their strong emotions, was a round loaf. I can geek out
and the camera is quite a calm about that kind of stuff for hours.”
witness — so when Phil finally has
26 /JANUARY 2022

JANUARY 2022 / 27

Global Village
Top: Phil fiddles with a flower arrangement during a dinner prepared by Rose.
Bottom: Peter’s sensitivity and artistic inclinations make him a target of cowhands’ scorn.
Framing and Optics anamorphic is a very gentle

Though one might expect any anamorphic. It feels anamorphic
Western with an ensemble cast without being anamorphic, in ‘all
to have a widescreen format, the caps.’”
duo decided upon a 2.39:1 aspect Faces were important to Cam-
ratio only after much debate. pion, providing windows into her
“Like all the choices, we ‘angsted’ characters’ complex psychology.
and went down every rabbit “Jane is a real long-lens fan,”
hole you could,” Wegner recalls. Wegner says. “She described her
“Jane has a romantic side and cinematography preferences as
a practical side. The latter said ‘set the scene and see every-
that chances are, over the film’s thing, then go in with a long-
lifetime, most people will view enough lens that all your focus is
it on [its streaming distributor] [on] the actors.’ You don’t need
Netflix.” So, after considering and to keep proving where you are.
then rejecting a squarish ratio, Once you know, you can look at
they pondered 1.78:1 — but after the faces.”
“For some scenes you only need an actor, taking hundreds of photos on
a director and a camera.” location, Wegner says, “we could Light and Silhouette
see that the mountain range was As Westerns go, this one is fairly
calling out for [2.39].” dark, with gray clouds hanging
Thus, they utilized the full over the mountains and low-key
width of the Arri Alexa LF’s interior lighting. Wegner notes,
sensor, pairing the larger-format “The book describes the Bur-
camera with Panavision Ultra banks’ ranch as the first house
Panatar lenses. “We loved those in the valley to get electricity, so
lenses,” Wegner says. “They’re we reserved electric lights for
beautiful on faces and 1.25x the ranch, and everything else
28 /JANUARY 2022

© 2021 DANJAQ AND MGM. NO TIME TO DIE, AND RELATED JAMES BOND INDICIA © 1962-2021 DANJAQ AND MGM.
NO TIME TO DIE, AND RELATED JAMES BOND TRADEMARKS ARE TRADEMARKS OF DANJAQ. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Global Village
The filmmakers’ visual strategies lend the film a Western

ambience fraught with emotional and psychological tension.
distractions for the actors.”

The filmmakers and actors
hunkered down in the barn for
a full day to shoot the nighttime
scene. Wegner notes, “We went
to great lengths to black out the
barn, because the walls had been
designed with hundreds of holes
and gaps to let sun in during
the day. Over one weekend, the
whole grip and electric team
worked together to wrap the
entire barn in a double layer of
black material to create complete
darkness inside. From the outside
it looked like a crazy, wild, con-
temporary art installation.”
Lighting was based on the
main source of the time: a sin-
had to be candles or lamps. To provide Wegner with “a ‘Disney- moment, shown in close-ups. gle-source oil lamp. “That sets a
supplement the practical sources, land’ of angles and surfaces,” she Wegner says, “The scene needed nice atmosphere for the actors,”
we generally used Jem Balls or attests. “This was the most time to have that charged atmosphere Wegner says. “It was genuinely
small rows of incandescent bulbs. I’ve spent in studio, ever, and I of two animals sniffing each other dark. Again, we used a Jem Ball
I also really love bouncing Dedos didn’t expect to love it as much out — a real electricity. It’s a love on the floor to augment the oil
or Source Fours into unbleached as I did. Shooting there day after scene, but it’s also a ‘murder’ lamp, and some Dedolights rigged
muslin on the floor for an uplight, day, you really start to understand scene. We wanted it to feel up out of frame for edge light
which is both menacing and the room and all of its surfaces, intimate, private, dangerous and when needed.” For this scene, the
beautiful. Eyelight is also very im- and how each responds best to tense. The first time I watched it, camera was rated at 1,600 ISO
portant to me when lighting low- which lighting approach.” I got goosebumps. I don’t think with a stop of T2.8.
key, and we sometimes added that happens too often with a
Astera tubes for that.” Make-or-Break Scene scene you shot yourself.” Back to Basics
The Burbank house took The house exterior, cattle yards Regarding the filmmakers’ The cinematographer’s most
inspiration from Theodore Roos- and rough-milled log barn were process for this scene, she says, satisfying days were spent in
evelt’s Sagamore Hill mansion on all built from the ground up on an “The coverage was planned in Phil’s sacred place, where it was
Long Island, with its wild-animal existing sheep farm. The barn is Jane’s favorite way: an intro- just Campion, Cumberbatch
trophies, elegant décor and large a refuge for Phil, where he keeps duction shot that develops into and Wegner communing with a
windows. “A lot plays in silhouette a saddle shrine to his mentor, a wide, then close shots on the handheld camera. “To preserve
because the windows are big, Bronco Henry. It’s also where a faces, as well as macro shots the atmosphere of the moment,
and that’s what happens before key scene takes place toward the that had to feel sensual and support crew stayed apart,”
bright domestic lighting was a film’s denouement, when Phil and charged. You don’t see Peter and Wegner says. “It really felt like the
thing,” Wegner says. “[Silhou- Peter meet up one night. “That Phil touch in the scene, but the kind of filmmaking that I think a
ettes] became a real theme, was a make-or-break scene for macro cutaways make it seem as lot of filmmakers yearn for: the
and when you have characters the film,” Wegner says. Peter if they are. You’ve got hands ca- film-school days when you had
like Phil, who cuts an amazing recognizes something in Phil, and ressing objects — leather, ropes just a battery in one pocket and
silhouette with his hat, his profile that knowledge gives him power. and cigarettes. Every shot had to a card in another, and you’re just
and those wooly chaps, it’s pretty As Phil braids a cowhide rope, have tension, but we wanted to there doing it, somehow. You
irresistible.” Peter lights a cigarette, takes a cover the scene in that uncom- realize that for some scenes, you
Production designer Grant puff, puts it between Phil’s lips, plicated way, where the act of only need an actor, a director and
Major designed sets that would then his own. It’s a breathless shooting it didn’t require technical a camera.”
30 /JANUARY 2022

JANUARY 2022 / 31

A Cinematographer’s
Legacy
L
earning that she had been chosen as one of American remote locations, and I saw how the cinematographer worked.”
Cinematographer’s Rising Stars of 2019 and that she Hutchins was hooked, but her interest veered towards narrative film-
would be interviewed for a piece in the magazine, Halyna making. She moved to New York and got jobs as a PA and then grip elec-
Hutchins — now an honorary ASC member — tried to tric on music projects and other indie productions; she even dabbled
assemble her thoughts. “I really hoped I could prepare for in fashion photography. “That led me into lighting and taking it to the
this interview,” the director of photography said during next level,” she said. “The aesthetics of lighting was something that real-
a conversation in November 2018, “but I just didn’t be- ly fascinated me — how you create the mood, the feeling. But I still was
cause I was constantly distracted by all the things I had to handle.” Those always driven by characters and storytelling.”
distractions included a feature she was then shooting and a couple of Encouraged by Robert Primes, ASC, whom she met while working on
future projects to consider. “Hopefully you can write it up nicely, because a shoot as a grip, Hutchins applied and was accepted to the American
English is my second language,” she said. “That’s my excuse.” Film Institute. “[Bob] was a big inspiration for me,” she said, “and when I
No excuses were needed. She spoke articulately and with palpable studied at AFI, Stephen Lighthill, ASC really inspired and challenged me
enthusiasm about her vocation, about the storytelling power of cinema- as well.” She described her time at AFI as “absolutely amazing, because
tography, and especially about the joys of collaboration with a simpati- it forced me to discover how to collaborate with creative people and how
co director and crew. At the time, Hutchins had shot a number of short to find something that takes you to the next level. As a cinematographer,
films and a couple of features. Her American Film Institute thesis film, you need to develop your own vision, but the key to a successful film is
Hidden, had screened at the AFI Fest and Camerimage, and she had been communication with your director and your team.”
named to the inaugural class of the 21st Century Fox DP Lab. But she Heeding the example of the director-cinematographer relationship
also clearly regarded herself as a professional work in progress. “I feel between Kalatozov and Urusevsky, as well as those of Wong Kar-wai and
like I’m still training every single time I’m working,” Hutchins said. “It’s Christopher Doyle and Darren Aronofsky and Matthew Libatique, ASC,
a step-by-step process, it’s all connected, and one collaboration leads Hutchins was on the lookout for “a collaborative effort between two peo-
to a new one.” While discussing the course of her career, she repeatedly ple who elevated each other’s work.” She found it with director Olia Opa-
used the phrase “taking it to the next level.” And she indulged in a bit rina on several intense shorts, including I Am Normal (shot on 35mm)
of self-mocking humor while describing the winding personal path that and on her first feature, Snowbound. Other highlights included the short
had brought her to her current place: “I have a lot of life stories.” The Providers with Denise Harkavy, the feature Darlin’ with Pollyanna
Raised on a Russian Arctic military base, Hutchins found respite from McIntosh, and the web series A Luv Tale.
the cold in the mostly Soviet-era movies offered there. “Half of them At the time of the interview, the director of photography was mull-
were propaganda movies and the other half were World War II movies — ing over a new horror feature, a genre that Hutchins handled with great
big, epic movies with personal stories. I loved all of them.” Her favorite flair. She went on to shoot the offbeat superhero film Archenemy, the
film was and remained The Cranes Are Flying, the 1957 wartime love story crime drama Blindfire, and the horror movie The Mad Hatter, building
directed by Mikhail Kalatozov and shot by Sergey Urusevsky. her reputation and relationships all along the way. “It’s past the point of
Hutchins came to cinematography circuitously, at first to document just practicing the craft only,” Hutchins said of her career in 2018. “But
her athletic endeavors. “I started using a camera because I was doing if I really love the project and the director, and we can create something
extreme sports, parachute jumping and cave exploring,” she recalled. “It interesting together that I can be proud of in terms of content, I will
was more of a hobby.” After embarking on her first career as a journal- take it. So hopefully, I’ll get more of those projects.” She added with a
ist, she eventually found herself drawn to the storytelling possibilities self-deprecating laugh, “Sounds easy, right?”
of film, initially in the documentary realm. “Working as a journalist on
British film productions in eastern Europe, I was traveling with crews to — John Calhoun
32 / JANUARY 2022
p.32-45 Set Safety V3.indd 32 12/6/21 10:24 AM

JANUARY 2022 / 33

Perspectives on Set Safety
ASC Future Practices Co-Chairs Local 600 Leaders

Amelia Vincent, ASC and Erik Messerschmidt, ASC John Lindley, ASC and Rebecca Rhine
In the wake of the tragic killing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, There will eventually be a detailed explanation of what happened
the importance of stricter vigilance and adherence to existing safety on the set of Rust the day Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed. But
protocols cannot be denied. This incident should encourage not just knowing how easily this tragedy could have been avoided will not
a renewed focus on our industry’s safety protocols and procedures as provide comfort or closure. There are already myriad safety protocols
they exist, but also the improvement of those protocols where needed. in place for handling weapons on sets, stunts, special effects, aerial
The ASC Future Practices Committee will be shifting its focus from work, free driving, and many other potentially dangerous activities
pandemic-related safety issues to a more all-encompassing focus on and products that arise daily on far-flung productions.
safety across all areas of production. So, what goes wrong? Scheduling pressures and inadequate com-
Safety training programs are essential for any workplace, and we munication are often to blame, but so is fear of retaliation. We work
continue to encourage the industry to make training programs acces- in a clearly defined hierarchal system with a chain of command that
sible and mandatory for all members of our workforce, regardless of does not encourage questioning of an on-set practice. How do we en-
locality. sure that safety concerns are never submerged by fear? There are many
In the presence of incompetence, however, or non-compliance with reasons to come together in a union — wage scales, health and pen-
protocols, everything on a movie set is a potential risk — if not a gun, sion benefits — but equally important is the strength we have togeth-
then a mis-executed pyrotechnic, a bad car stunt, an improperly leveled er to protect each other when one of us speaks out if safety is being
condor, or even a poorly set C-stand. All of these risks are avoidable and compromised while we do our jobs. Our employers are responsible for
easily managed with qualified and trained crew and a responsible pro- maintaining safe workplaces, but we are ultimately the judges of the
duction staff. environments we work in. Our Union has always and will always stand
We need to exercise caution when calling for additional or unilateral with our members and our crews to protect their right to insist on safe
regulations, while not also focusing attention on those who failed to practices on sets. Both our contract language and the law offer protec-
act responsibly and against existing protocols. tion to members who advocate for the safety of themselves or others.
There is no doubt that we can easily curtail or even completely elim- We have been called on to do that in the past, and it will undoubted-
inate the use of functioning weapons in the production environment. ly be necessary again in the future, because there will always be a set
As an industry, we have protocols to practice our craft safely, and fire- somewhere with inadequate safety standards. In the end, “safety stan-
arm accidents, however tragic, represent a fraction of on-set injuries, dards” are just words; it is our commitment to enforce them that gives
all of which are avoidable. them meaning.
As cinematographers, we are in a position of leadership, both on The ICG 600 Safety App has a reporting function and a toll-free
set and in preproduction. Let us strive to set the highest bar to ensure phone number that are both constantly monitored. It also contains a
the safety of each and every crew member in the workplace, as well as complete list of the safety bulletins. All of that relies on crewmembers
while traveling to and from the set. Proper budgeting, scheduling and reporting. Whenever we receive a report, we will intervene to protect
preparation establish the foundation for safer sets. crewmembers on the set and to fight against retaliation. Our job is to
We need to hold productions and producers accountable when safe- help.
ty issues are reported. Additionally, all crewmembers must be trained Please keep Halyna’s memory close. She was stolen from us way too
to not only recognize unsafe situations, but also to feel empowered to soon.
respond to those situations responsibly.
ASC Future Practices 2021 will continue to discuss and explore with John Lindley, ASC is president of the International Cinematographers
our colleagues and collaborators in all 13 IATSE Locals, SAG and the Guild, Local 600. Rebecca Rhine is the ICG’s National Executive Director.
DGA how we educate our crews to recognize unsafe behavior and how
to react properly and confidently to protect themselves and each other.
“Our employers are responsible for maintaining
safe workplaces, but we are ultimately the
judges of the environments we work in.”
34 / JANUARY 2022

JANUARY 2022 / 35

PERSPECTIVES ON SET SAFETY
Producer-Director
Larry Fessenden
I run a small production company out of New York called Glass Eye Pix.
We have made dozens of movies, often with first-time filmmakers and
often with the same crewmembers.
Our motto is: “Safety first, movie second, feelings third.” And by “feel-
ings,” I mean ego. For me, this has philosophical weight. Safety of body
and mind is the most important, and over the years the concept has ex-
panded from car crashes and gunplay to include sex scenes, dietary re-
strictions and reasonable working hours. Let’s just say it up front: Good
food, communication and a respectful schedule are essential to a cre-
ative team’s morale.
Having said that, production safety is everyone’s responsibility. As
a producer, my approach is to build a community of trust around the
movie — the thing we are working together to achieve. I want collabora-
tors who are enthusiastic and who bring a sense of pride to the project.
I encourage camaraderie as well as personal responsibility among the
ranks. If it’s just another gig, they’re not going to be fully engaged in cre-
ating the kind of environment where everyone can do their best work.
At every budget level there should be a pursuit and expectation of
excellence and care. On the low-budget ($250,000-$3,000,000) films
I’ve produced — which have included fire, guns, underwater sequences,
ice-breaking, plane crashes, car crashes, boats sinking and bad weather
— everyone knows each other and has each other’s back. A crew with
fewer people means that everyone takes on more responsibility, and this
group mentality has the effect of focusing everyone’s attention.
This also goes for those in above-the-line production, who must
be responsive to the needs of the crew. If there’s a fear of speaking up
on set, you’re already in trouble, and those producers who are cutting
corners and pushing crews past their limits are ruining the business
for everyone else. Producers must listen and assess. If a complaint is
well-founded, you adjust. A filmmaker who truly understands the power
of film knows you don’t need to endanger people to create a sense of
danger on the screen. As Hitchcock would say: “It’s only a movie.”
Even so, I consider filmmaking a robust activity, and I expect my team
members to have some grit. I grew up loving the films of Werner Her-
zog, Akira Kurosawa and John Huston; these movies have an aspect of
controlled danger to them. You just have to create an environment of
trust where your crew feels like they’re always given a choice, and where
saying no doesn’t feel like a rebellion — it might just be a reality check.
— As told to Iain Marcks
“If there’s a fear of speaking up

on set, you’re already in trouble.”
36 / JANUARY 2022

JANUARY 2022 / 37

Director
Ed Zwick
Director Edward Zwick has blown up buildings, set fire to villages, Zwick says time is key when it comes to safety. “Whatever the stunt
crashed helicopters, and used weapons ranging from muskets to ma- is, whether it involves firearms or cars or helicopters or pyro, it takes so
chine guns in large-scale action films that include Jack Reacher: Never much time to prepare it properly and to do it correctly. We all deal with
Go Back, The Last Samurai, and The Siege. He credits the fact that he’s the pressure of speed as it comes down from the studio, but that’s the
never had an accident on one of his sets not only to the thoroughness place where you draw the line. That’s the place that you do not allow
of his assistant directors, stunt coordinators and effects technicians, but yourself to be pushed.” Zwick says that rehearsing stunts — running the
also to the care of the cinematographers with whom he’s worked. “[ASC action at “underwater” speed, then half-speed, and so on — is “excruci-
members] John Toll and Roger Deakins were very strong in pushing to atingly slow, time-consuming and expensive,” but he argues that it can’t
require an extraordinary amount of preparation,” Zwick recalls. “Roger be done any other way. “It’s a really boring and maddening process if
began his career shooting documentary footage in a battle zone in Er- you do it properly, but that’s the way that you get it right. That’s the best
itrea; nobody has been in greater circumstances of real danger, and yet chance you have of keeping it safe.”
his planning and insistence on a certain set of circumstances was really
strong and remarkable.” “Unless you are hiring people who are really
Beginning with Glory, his first film with elaborate stunts and pyro- skilled and really experienced, then you’re
technics, Zwick sought out collaborators with as much experience as increasing the possibility of accidents.”
possible who, as he puts it, “knew much more than I did.” He mentions
assistant director Skip Cosper, line producer Kevin de la Noy, and spe- Zwick concludes, “When you’re making a movie, you’re trying to be
cial-effects artist Paul J. Lombardi, who taught him about the precau- anti-entropic. You’re trying to control the universe. You’re trying to make
tions that need to be taken to minimize risk on set. The central lesson? the sun not come out at a particular moment. You’re trying to carve out
“This is not rocket science, but neither is it child’s play. A set is an indus- this little bit of reality, and film it exactly as you want. But all of that
trial workplace, so unless you are hiring people who are really skilled and suggests that you are not allowing for the vagaries and the eccentricities
really experienced, then you’re increasing the possibility of accidents.” of accident. Therefore, you need to gird yourself against the many possi-
Given the need for experienced professionals to keep a set safe, Zwick bilities that can happen, even when you’re stepping out of your bathtub.”
fears that the increase in production from the proliferation of streaming There will always be disagreements on set, he concedes, but some
services and peak TV could be leading to dangerous compromises. “If things should be non-negotiable. “Time and money are always a bat-
you remember what happened when the baseball leagues expanded to tle, and it’s a legitimate battle to have on both sides — but not when it
12 teams rather than eight, the quality of the game suffered for a while,” comes to safety.”
he says. “I have to believe that there probably aren’t as many trained and
experienced people in some of these capacities as there needs to be.” — Jim Hemphill
38 / JANUARY 2022

FOR YOUR
CONSIDERATION
OUTSTANDING
CINEMATOGRAPHY
J a nu s z K am i n s k i
© 2021 20th Century Studios
JANUARY 2022 / 39

Director of Photography
Mandy Walker, ASC, ACS
A member of the Order of Australia, Mandy Walker, ASC, ACS was born dangerous activity or hazards that the crew should be aware of at the
in Melbourne and started her career in film at a time when safety reg- particular location. “They monitor and check with the first AD and the
ulations in Australia were laxer than they are now. “When I first started armorer each time before a gun or weapon comes on set, in order to
shooting, I fell off the back of a camera car one day,” says Walker. “I was comply with the workplace safety protocols.”
leaning off the back filming handheld and someone was only holding Walker thinks that with all that has happened recently, it is time for
onto my belt, and I fell. I was not seriously hurt, but that was before we the film industry in the U.S. to look into the use of safety officers. “It does
had safety officers on set. That wouldn’t happen there today.” work in other countries, so we should definitely look into it,” she says. In
Australia is one of a handful of countries, that also includes New Zea- states like California, there is a requirement for fire marshals to be on set
land and the U.K., where a safety officer is standard on all sets. Now there when there is a conceivable fire hazard, but their responsibilities do not
are increasing calls for the film industry in the U.S. to look at adopting extend to other safety issues.
the practice.
According to the National Guidelines for Screen Safety, released in June “[Having a safety officer on set] does work
2021 in Australia by the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) in other countries, so we should definitely
and Screen Producers Australia (SPA), a safety officer “should be pres-
look into it [in the U.S.]”
ent during all stunt/hazardous action, special-effects action and where
significant location hazards exist.” Their main function “is to ensure that “I always am aware to call out anything I see or report if others bring
cast and crew are not engaging in or are exposed to an activity or envi- unsafe concerns on set. I will always do that, but I feel cinematographers
ronment that will put at risk their health and safety.” or other department heads should not have to be the ones tasked with
Walker says that the safety officer’s job starts right at the beginning: monitoring safety issues,” Walker says. “We are busy shooting the film,
“Part of their job is to start by reading the script and identifying any con- so we cannot also be responsible for everyone’s safety — it would be
cerns they might have, and then to go on a scout where they are flagging much better if someone else had the responsibility for maintaining a
anything that might be an issue in advance. I think it’s good that they are safe work environment.”
brought on so early.” All crewmembers can report to the safety officer any issues that they
Walker adds that in her experience, safety officers are required to see or hear, and the safety officer reports this to the producer. “That takes
write a report in preproduction that outlines any upfront preparations the onus off crew people who are not comfortable reporting things, and
that need to be done for safety reasons. “Then they do a risk assessment who might otherwise feel like they may be punished in some way for
after preproduction meetings and talk to each department about their being a whistleblower.”
plans for builds and how shooting will be executed — for example, grip Walker recalls that as Covid struck, her fellow ASC member Steven
rigs, tracking vehicles, drone shots, stunts, etc.” Fierberg observed how quickly everyone in the industry moved to get
This person is on set 100 percent of the time and will give a safety Covid officers on set, which worked out very well — and so why, Fierberg
briefing with the first AD at the beginning of the day to let the crew know asked, couldn’t the same thing be done with safety officers? “It is a con-
about any potentially hazardous setups and announce any possible versation that we should at least be having,” says Walker.
— Terry McCarthy
40 / JANUARY 2022

F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R AT I O N
I N A L L C AT E G O R I E S I N C L U D I N G
Best Picture
Todd Black, p.g.a.
Jason Blumenthal
Steve Tisch
Best Cinematography
Jeff Cronenweth, ASC
amazonstudiosguilds.com
JANUARY 2022 / 41

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION IN ALL CATEGORIES INCLUDING
BEST PICTURE
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
(THEATRICAL RELEASE)
ARI WEGNER, ACS
“GORGEOUS.
A movie as big as the open sky, but one where human emotions are
still distinctly visible, as fine and sharp as a blade of grass.
Jane Campion and her cinematographer, Ari Wegner, use the expanse
of screen they’ve been given as if it were a precious resource.”
TIME
A FILM BY ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER JANE CAMPION
42 / JANUARY 2022

JANUARY 2022 / 43

1st Assistant Director

David Webb
Safety is really a group effort — it involves the 1st AD, the production I feel fortunate to work on the kinds of productions where we scout
manager and the safety coordinator. Then there’s the gaffer, the key grip, our locations ahead of time so we’re aware of any issues. For every sin-
the special-effects supervisor and the stunt coordinator. There are dif- gle set, there’s an extensive risk assessment, which we’re all required to
ferent variables and situations for every department. As a 1st AD, you read. The risk assessment covers everything: flooding, water hazards,
really need to monitor every situation and listen to your gut. If your gut electrical, special effects, specific sets, etc. Every morning there’s a safety
says something about what you’re doing, then you can question it, but meeting where we touch upon all the hazards we might encounter, from
nobody goes blindly into a situation. Nobody wants to put anybody’s life the seemingly banal sort of stuff — like what shoes to wear, hydrating
or livelihood at risk. If one of the key players in a given scenario is un- and sunscreen — to big effects or stunt work. The whole crew is there;
comfortable, then you have to deal with it, and resolve it. Films that get otherwise, you don’t proceed with your day.
in trouble are the ones that push ahead despite legitimate misgivings. Of course, there are many different levels of production, and there
I’ve shot in countries all over the world, in all kinds of situations, from will always be people who are starting out, but it’s imperative that
jungles to oceans to mountains, and my whole thing has always been to production companies don’t cut back on safety. If anyone on your set
use my common sense and to rely on the experts. demonstrates behavior that seems unsound, then don’t trust them. If
When we set up a stunt with pyrotechnics, I’ll talk to the special-ef- any crew member sees something that they think is unsafe, I would hope
fects supervisor and the stunt coordinator, the DP, the key grip and the they would come to the 1st AD — or, alternatively, to the head of their
gaffer. I have a good understanding of how they operate, but I don’t have department, who would then discuss the issue with production. I think
to know how long it takes to light something, and I don’t have to know there is an increasing focus on safety, and I would hope that raising a
100 percent of everything involved in a pyro event because I’m sur- safety issue would not result in any sort of retribution.
rounded by people who do and whose reputations precede them. I can Visual effects have taken over so much. [Explosive] squibs started
trust their opinions because they’re experts in their fields. getting phased out years ago, just because they looked bad. We’re using
I tend to work with a lot of the same directors, and there’s a group of fewer blanks on set. All the weapons are airsoft models. Muzzle flash-
DPs with whom I’ve crossed paths again and again. I know what they’ve es, squibs and ricochets are added later in postproduction. Still, every
done and what they’re capable of doing. time we have a gun on set, the armorer shows me the weapon. If it’s a
With the film I’m on now [Indiana Jones 5], I know that our armorer real gun, we check the chamber and check the mag. Everybody wants to
and stunt coordinator are veterans — completely trustworthy through- know it’s empty. Trust, but verify, especially with guns.
out their careers. If you rely on good judgment, scouting, due dili-
gence and putting in the time for prep, then your set should be a safe — As told to Iain Marcks
environment.
Aiken Weiss is a camera and Steadicam operator and a member of

the Society of Camera Operators (SOC). Weiss got his first lesson in set
safety early on while covering a javelin competition in his native Munich.
“I got a great angle from out in a field in the grass, low with a long lens.
I looked up and the javelin was sliding past me maybe two feet away,
and I saw my assistant’s face, and she was just pale.” Not long afterward,
Weiss was leaning from a gondola in the Alps while shooting when he
suddenly took a tree branch in the face. “I didn’t drop the camera, and
Camera Operator nothing happened — other than my eye really hurt for a few days,” he
Aiken Weiss recalls. Still, it became clear to him that there was more to surviving the
job than capturing the perfect shot.
There are no stunt stand-ins for camera operators. Yet they are frequent- Later in his career, he was shooting a stunt scene on a Hollywood
ly expected to brave some of the most dangerous conditions on set, set involving a car crashing at high speed through a gate he’d been told
whether it’s a driving shot or capturing an elaborate action sequence. was made of lightweight balsa wood — only it wasn’t balsa wood. “My
The job requires an understanding of the dangers faced not only by the dolly grip picked up a two-by-four [of hard wood] shaped like a sword
operator themselves, but also their immediate crew and the entire unit. that had broken off and flown past us at about 60 miles per hour!”
44 / JANUARY 2022

Weiss recalls. “I took it and walked over to the DP and said, ‘You guys are Safety boils down to applying
bloody crazy!’ By that point in his career, he was enough of a production
veteran to know that in such a situation he could threaten to walk there sensible, professional protocols on
and then. Producers coaxed him back with promises to be more rigorous sets or locations, and being proactive
about safety for the remainder of the production. if something seems amiss.
Weiss stresses that in his career, safety has been the rule, not the ex-
ception. “I’ve been around guns on set quite a lot doing cop shows and around horses, or I want to know more about guns or about working in
action movies, and I’ve always felt safe,” he says, noting that the only water or about tying knots — it would be nice if there were a way to have
exception involved a particularly volatile action star, whose antics had additional [safety] training available for people who want it.”
terrified many who witnessed them. Generally, he says, armorers check Overall, Weiss says, safety boils down to applying sensible, profes-
and re-check weapons on set, and everyone takes them seriously. “With sional protocols on sets or locations, and being proactive if something
all the scenes [I’ve shot] over many years where guns were involved, I’ve seems amiss. Don’t let an actor who doesn’t have a drivers’ license drive.
never witnessed anyone getting hurt as a result,” he says. Don’t walk backwards on a set unless you’ve studied the terrain; you’re
Weiss looks specifically to ADs to oversee safety procedures and to likely to trip over something. Be extremely careful about agreeing to
take the concerns of cast and crew seriously. But as an operator, he also “free drive” — operating from a car’s passenger seat as an actor drives.
relies on the experience of his grips. “The grips you surround yourself If there’s any kind of accident where the airbag deploys, the camera is
with have a very good sense about [potential danger] because they build between the operator’s head and the airbag, “and that camera’s going to
whatever platform the camera might be on. I just had an example where hammer you with immense force.”
the dolly grip didn’t feel comfortable using a dolly on an old porch. We If people take precautions — such as deploying a remote head or un-
ended up going on sticks.” crewed camera, or finding a different way to get a particularly treacher-
Weiss applauds IATSE and the SOC for the work they have done on ous shot — then, he estimates, “You should be able to do this job for 30
safety but suggests the addition of optional training over and above IA- or 40 years, have a good time, and be safe doing it.”
TSE’s mandatory Safety Pass system. “Let’s say I’m going to work on
a Western,” he says, “and I want to learn more about how to behave — Jon Silberg
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JANUARY 2022 / 45

Palace Intrigue
The Tragedy of Macbeth reteams Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC
with director Joel Coen for an ambitious take on Shakespeare.
By Benjamin B
46 / JANUARY 2022
p.46-57 The Tragedy of Macbeth_v3.indd 46 12/3/21 7:46 AM

T
he Tragedy of Macbeth, directed by Joel Coen
with cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel,
ASC, AFC, reinvents Shakespeare’s mas-
terpiece in a brilliant, innovative blend of
cinema and theater. The stark, stunning
black-and-white cinematography results
from a close collaboration between the
director and cinematographer that permeated many other
aspects of the film’s conception.
The plot will be familiar to most readers. Witches tell
Macbeth (Denzel Washington), a Scottish warlord, that he
will become king. Macbeth shares the prophecy with his
wife (Frances McDormand), who persuades him to murder
the benevolent King Duncan (Brendan Gleeson) and take his
place. After attaining the throne, Macbeth feels compelled to
kill others to preserve his crown, but is deeply haunted by
his crimes, while Lady Macbeth’s own guilt pushes her to-
ward madness.
JANUARY 2022 / 47

PALACE INTRIGUE
Previous spread: Lord Macbeth (Denzel Washington) observes as his

wife (Frances McDormand) greets royal guests in their residence. This
page, top: Returning from a triumphant battle, Macbeth and Banquo
(Bertie Carvel) are confronted by a prescient witch (Kathryn Hunter).
This page, bottom: Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC (far
right) works out part of the “exterior” scene on a soundstage with
director Joel Coen and Hunter.
“The initial question … was how to put

the theatrical form inside a film.”
IMAGES COURTESY OF APPLE.
This highly stylized Macbeth narrows the frame (within a 1.37:1 aspect does that mean? How do we do it?’
ratio) and simplifies the sets to place the actors in an evocative, imagined The last thing we were interested in doing was a realistic adaptation
cinematic space. Delbonnel’s poetic lighting helps to reveal the emotions of the play: you know, renting a castle in Scotland and people riding
of the characters, and to frame the power of Shakespeare’s verse. around on the heath, that sort of thing…
Joel Coen has written, directed and edited 18 motion pictures with his Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC: The initial question with Joel was how to
brother Ethan — productions that have earned the duo four Academy put the theatrical form inside a film. We arrived at the idea of a “haiku”:
Awards and 14 nominations — but The Tragedy of Macbeth is the first to strip everything down to essentials, taking out all ornaments. Then
project he’s directed on his own (even though he’s been credited as sole we started to think about applying that idea to the form, the narrative,
director on some of the brothers’ past projects). the set.
Delbonnel has earned five Academy Award nominations and four ASC We tried to reduce spaces to their purest simplicity, just like a haiku.
Award nominations. He previously worked with the Coen brothers on We would ask, ‘What is a room?’ It’s four walls, a door, a window, and
Inside Llewyn Davis and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. nothing else. We sought the simplest forms of a staircase, a corridor, a
This interview combines separate conversations with each filmmaker. wall. There is almost no furniture in Macbeth’s castle.
We also wanted to include some of the artifice of the theater, like
American Cinematographer: Your version of Macbeth creates a new painted backdrops in exteriors, and having no ceilings in interiors. We
cinematic space, a kind of no man’s land between theater and cinema. wanted this sobriety to avoid the image competing with Shakespeare’s
Joel Coen: The ambition for myself and for Bruno — without really poetry, to leave room for his text.
knowing how to go about doing it — was to preserve the ‘play’-ness of One of the things that eliminates realism immediately is the choice
Macbeth, but still make something that is, moment by moment [and] in of shooting in black-and-white, which alerts the viewer to look at the
every way, designed for a camera. That was the starting point, [but] con- film differently.
ceptually we were groping around in the darkness, going: ‘Okay, what Coen: Yeah, I agree. It’s so hard to articulate what black-and-white
48 / JANUARY 2022

JANUARY 2022 / 49

PALACE INTRIGUE
does, compared to color. It’s partly abstraction, partly just how you enter Coen: Right, I guess it’s theater-movie space. There’s something
the texture of the piece. Black-and-white completes certain visual ideas that’s really liberating about being able to control your environment that
without having to build them in. It’s more like a drawing than a painting, way. In this movie, we would create our own weather, and put the sun
and your mind fills in the blank parts. where we wanted to put it. We weren’t concerned at all with motivating
It makes you imagine more? light from a direction, or in being consistent with it. Something that’s
Coen: Exactly. It’s an important part of accomplishing what we were mentioned over and over again in the play is that it’s hard to tell whether
trying to do. it’s day or night.
You’re also shooting in black-and-white while using the 1.37:1 ‘Acad- Delbonnel: The light is never justified. It sometimes comes through
emy’ aspect ratio. windows, but often you don’t know where it’s coming from. Light in this
Delbonnel: Those were the first two decisions. An important refer- film becomes an artifice. It interested us to have light be a narrative el-
ence for us was Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc [1928, ement, a graphic element, often with this ambiguity about whether it’s
shot by Rudolph Maté, ASC], with its many close-ups. Dreyer’s sets also day or night. During prep, Joel and I spoke a lot, and we shared many
have a magnificent sobriety. images. I couldn’t have done the lighting without Joel.
When you do a close-up in 1.37, you fill the screen. The set disappears, There’s also a simplified architecture for Macbeth’s castle: tall rect-
and you bring the face and the text to the forefront. Of course, close-ups angles and arches, crisscrossing diagonals in the frame.
don’t exist in theater — they are pure cinema. Coen: We were able to move those volumes around on the set to the
Coen: Close-ups are so interesting in this aspect ratio. You can have camera frame. So, if we had a wall that was just a very reduced abstract
the character in close-up smack in the middle of the frame, which has a notion of a wall, or arches, or a tower, those were on wheels, and we
completely different feeling. could move them back and forth out of the corners of frames, to create
The exteriors you shot on soundstages are striking: the ‘beach,’ that the frame we wanted on the stage floor.
smoke-filled environment where Macbeth meets the witches, and the Delbonnel: Another part of the visual language was sharp shadows.
huge ‘crossroads’ landscape [see sidebar below] contribute to this new We used rock-and-roll-concert-style ‘mover’ fixtures to create those —
kind of cinematic space that you’ve created. ETC SolaFrame 3000s, SolaHyBeam 3000s and SolaFrame Theatres.
Standing at the Crossroads

The massive set depicting the movie’s crossroads exterior was built
on Warner Bros.’ Stage 16, a structure whose interior measures
approximately 30,000 square feet and 100 feet high. We asked
Delbonnel and gaffer Michael Bauman about their approach to this
impressive piece of construction.
Delbonnel: We built a landscape that is not a naturalistic repro-
duction of Scotland, but a feeling of Scotland. We used a painted
backing, designed by production designer Stefan Dechant, that
was 150 meters long. That was costly, but still cheaper than blue-
screens or LED walls.
Bauman: Above the set, we had eight big soft boxes with
three Maxi Brutes in each. We also used 96 Arri SkyPanel S60s
for general ambience — these were mainly positioned on the far
side of the set to provide a soft directional light when we needed
‘movement’ or ‘undulation’ on the landscape, like during a chase
sequence. We also aimed 20Ks through camouflage netting to
speckle the landscape and created a narrow horizon glow by
bouncing 54 Chroma-Qs against the backing.
All the movers and LED fixtures were daylight-balanced — Delbonnel: We added movers to simulate moving clouds. We
6,500 degrees Kelvin, more or less — and we were shooting didn’t change the intensity of the movers — we just changed the
tungsten at 3,200 degrees. We were shooting in color, and the blue gobos and other layers. I played with that very carefully, because
saturation was interesting when converted to black-and-white; we as soon as you start moving lights, you can mess up the editing
could play with the blue channel in post to change the quality of continuity. There’s no clear sun in the ‘sky,’ but I feel that keeping
the black-and-white image. the lighting vague adds poetry.
50 / JANUARY 2022

JANUARY 2022 / 51

PALACE INTRIGUE
Shots from a stagebound sequence featuring

both “exterior” and “interior” settings illustrate
Delbonnel’s stylized visual approach.
Your gaffer, Michael Bauman, explained that the crew made some Joel, you write, direct and edit, and it feels like the film’s editing
custom gobo cut-outs in the form of an arch, which they put inside a se- rhythm makes it more accessible to the audience.
ries of movers to simulate fake shadows for each arch in the colonnade. Coen: Well, that’s interesting. The whole play is in that time signature,
Delbonnel: That was the only way to get the sharpest shadow. We verse in a particular meter. Shakespeare himself, and actors interpreting
did a lot of that kind of geometry on the film. We also created lines and their roles, all play with that meter, and break the meter in all kinds of
stripes on the set with the mover shutter blades. And we even aligned ways — it’s not totally rigid. But the idea of those things being in a meter
the edges of the beams of several movers in a courtyard scene so that it and having a rhythm was important, and it did inform certain scenes.
seemed like one big source with sharp shadows. There is a wonderful visual range to the film.
For the colonnade, we used 13 SolaFrame Theatres. In each of them Delbonnel: It’s like a musical score, with different movements to ac-
there was a gobo we designed in the shape of the arch and the column. company the text. The first 10 minutes are completely gray because we
What you see onscreen is not the actual shadow of the arch, but the pro- don’t know exactly where we are; and we added fog to evoke witchcraft.
jected gobos, which are pin-sharp. You could compare it to an intro to a piece of music. Then the film be-
Why was it so important for you to have those very sharp shadows? comes more and more black-and-white, as if we were in the heart of the
Delbonnel: Because that is what the sun casts, but also what the melody. In the scene where Macbeth mulls over murdering the king, day
moon casts. We don’t always know which is which — the only difference changes quickly into night in the same shot.
is the quantity of fill light that I would add to go from one to another. When Lady Macbeth persuades her husband to murder Duncan, she
And there’s another level. Here’s Macbeth, who is going to commit and Macbeth are almost entirely in silhouette.
a murder. He’s not sure he wants to go through with it, but at the same Delbonnel: When Joel saw that shot, he said, “It’s great, I love it, but
time, he wants to do it — and then he doesn’t want to anymore. He is there is one moment when I have to see her, and one moment him.”
constantly changing his mind, alternating between shadow and light. At one point there’s just a single spot of light around Lady Macbeth’s
So it’s also a matter of rhythm. This complemented Joel’s idea of this eye. It’s striking, and it’s definitely ‘old school.’
recurring knocking sound: ‘boom, boom.’ The visual correspondence is Delbonnel: I’m completely old school. I love Gunnar Fischer’s cine-
shadow, light, shadow, light. There is no soft transition. matography in The Seventh Seal… [Laughs.]
We see a perfect illustration of this as Macbeth walks across your After that moment, we stay in high-contrast night until the king’s
sharp shadows in the colonnade before he murders the king. And as murder. The “crossroads” exterior is gray during the day, and it becomes
he approaches the bedroom door, he imagines the bright handle as a contrasty again with the murder at night. And we return to gray for the
dagger. ending.
Coen: From the beginning, in thinking about that scene, I wanted it Some of the gray images with creamy whites instantly reminded me
to play in the rhythm with his walking. There’s the meter of the Shake- of a platinum print.
spearean language, and the rhythm of his footsteps. So we cut the sound Delbonnel: Platinum prints were a reference I shared with my long-
of the footsteps, and we could play with their placement. Then there’s time colorist collaborator, [ASC associate] Peter Doyle. Peter and I
the visual rhythm of when we cut and when we don’t cut. And those wanted texture in the whites, so I never overexposed whites, and Peter
three things — the meter, the footsteps, the visual cuts — made it a re- stretched the grays. [See sidebar, page 54.]
ally fun scene to cut. Throughout the film, as we’ve discussed, there are many scenes that
So yeah, a lot of it is about rhythm, and of course a huge part of the could be either day or night. We were combining old techniques, like
movie is the other element that is very present in the play: ‘Whence is painted backgrounds, with the latest lighting technology.
that knocking?’ You flipped the crossroads set to night for the scene where Banquo
52 / JANUARY 2022

JANUARY 2022 / 53

PALACE INTRIGUE
A triptych of images from Lady Macbeth’s

tormented bout of sleepwalking.
[played by Bertie Carvel] is ambushed and fights off his attackers with We did that both for exposure and to create another rhythm with light.
his torch. There’s a scene where Lady Macbeth sits on the bed, invoking spirits,
Delbonnel: At night, we dimmed the light boxes way down, and the with these changing shadows behind her as she speaks. It’s a stunning
movers took over. Then, during the torch fight, there was almost nothing. moment, along with the scene when she walks toward the balcony with
We had a real torch, and for some shots I asked an electrician to swing a the burning letter. The whole room seems alive with the wind and mov-
fake torch, equipped with LEDs, offscreen. The electrician was swinging ing shadows on the curtains. Both of these scenes show how a varying
the torch in a random way, not trying to follow the actor’s movement. light can help tell the story.
Black-and-White in Color
AC spoke about the project’s digital-intermediate work with Delbonnel: It was ‘merely tinting’ the black-and-white image.
Delbonnel and the production’s renowned colorist, ASC associate The overall image drifts from a warmer, pleasant, almost neutral
Peter Doyle, who has worked on every film the cinematographer black-and-white to something cooler and more aggressive.
has shot since 2009. I know that platinum prints were a reference for you and
Bruno.
American Cinematographer: Why did you and Bruno decide Doyle: Yes, the white of platinum print is the paper. For [the
to shoot Macbeth with a color camera? movie], we wanted the white to be in the image, instead of relying
Doyle: We shot in color to allow for the use of green- and on the projector’s peak white. That’s what gives you that gray scale
bluescreen. For Bruno, shooting in color meant we could move de- — the silver gelatin feel in the image — because there’s always
cisions about skin tone and contrast by using virtual red or green texture in the whites. They never actually clip out.
or yellow filters in post. So you’re muting the whites and getting contrast from the
We were also able to work with Fran [McDormand] and her blacks?
makeup team to modulate her skin tone. We began with a classic Doyle: Correct. Once we’ve agreed on the pipeline, the camera
black-and-white look from the 1940s and shot with a red virtual and a LUT, the rest is pretty much in-camera. It’s really about
filter to lend a luminescent glow to the skin. Then, as her madness capturing what’s on set, interpreting that and transforming it for
descends, we made her paler with a classic-green virtual filter. the display, with a minimal amount of rotoscoping, keying and all
Delbonnel: Since we can create virtual filters in post, I don’t use of that — just coming out with a pure, correct transfer of Bruno’s
filters on the camera. We were shooting with a color sensor on the lighting.
LF, so there was no need for alteration on the makeup. Bruno, did you monitor black-and-white with a LUT on set?
What was the final image format? Why did you choose to shoot large format?
Doyle: We committed to framing the final 1.37 within a 1.85 con- The LUT I use is for underexposure. It gives me an image which
tainer for projection, and 1.78 for HDR streaming. Picking up from is a bit darker and more contrasty than the actual recorded image,
Joel and Bruno and the set design, we sought to have the cleanest, which allows me to have all the information I need for the final
sharpest, purest black-and-white image we could. grade. We used the large format because I wanted to get a very
We also took control of the color of the black-and-white, which sharp image; I didn’t want to be ‘nostalgic’ about old black-and-
we hadn’t thought about initially. We varied the color file’s white white movies. Quite the opposite: I was looking for the intensity
point very subtly across the film by about 400 degrees Kelvin, from that a very sharp image gives to close-ups.
a little warm to a little cool.
54 / JANUARY 2022

B E S T C I N E M AT O G R A P H Y
WILLIAM POPE
“C I N E M A T O G R A P H E R W I L L I A M P O P E C R E A T E S
A N E X C I T I N G A N D FA N C I F U L W O R L D
C O M P L E T E W I T H I M P R E S S I V E C R E AT U R E E F F E C T S A N D S T U N N I N G
V I S U A L S T H A T I N S P I R E S O M E S E R I O U S M O V I E M A G I C .”
© 2021 MARVEL
JANUARY 2022 / 55

PALACE INTRIGUE
Tech Specs: 1.37:1

Cameras: Arri Alexa LF, Mini LF
Lenses: Cooke S7/i, Fujifilm Fujinon Premista
A diptych demonstrating two looks fashioned

by Delbonnel for the Birnam Wood setting.
“Bruno was involved months and months Delbonnel: The shadows are from a mover fixture above. We could
combine rotations of a gobo, a prism and an animation layer to create all
before we were in production on the
these abstract moving patterns that you can soften; there are so many
movie.” possibilities.
Will you continue to pursue that type of moving-light strategy in the
future?
Delbonnel: Yes, that certainly interests me: moving shadows and
lights that change. I want to try alternatives to static lighting, with light
changing during the length of a shot or a scene to add another layer to
the dramaturgy.
Joel, Bruno told me that he has never worked with a director as
closely as he has with you.
Coen: That’s true for me, too. It was an extremely close design col-
laboration between me and Bruno, in a way that’s special to this project.
Bruno was involved months and months before we were in prepro-
duction on the movie. We would get together, not so much about cin-
ematography, but about the conceptual and visual design, and even the
thematic aspects of what we were trying to do: what the right language
was for the piece.
Bruno, is there anything you’d like to add?
Delbonnel: I want to thank my crew for their help — especially gaf-
fer Mike Bauman, key grip Ray Garcia, rigging gaffer Adam Harrison,
dimmer-board operator Dave Kane, rigging grip Matt Floyd, 1st AC Andy
Harris, DIT Josh Gollish and my longtime colorist, Peter Doyle. But most
of all, I want to say how fortunate I was to collaborate with Joel Coen!
56 / JANUARY 2022

“Filled with big performances, breathtaking cinematography and expertly choreographed
battle sequences that put you right there in the middle of the gruesome chaos, ‘Gladiator’-style.”
Richard Roeper, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
B E S T C I N E M ATO G R A P H Y
Dariusz Wolski, ASC
©2021 20th Century Studios disneystudiosawards.com

JANUARY 2022 / 57

Reluctant Allies
Markus Förderer, ASC, BVK and director Rawson Marshall Thurber
PHOTOS BY FRANK MASI, SMPSP, COURTESY OF NETFLIX.

enlist vintage optics, the latest drone and camera tech, and an
LED volume for the action comedy Red Notice. By Noah Kadner
58 / JANUARY 2022
p.58-65 Red Notice_v2.indd 58 12/3/21 7:49 AM

A
former FBI agent (Dwayne Johnson) aims to clear
his name by forging a shaky, snarky alliance with
a smart-aleck art thief (Ryan Reynolds) as they go
head-to-head with a criminal mastermind (Gal
Gadot). Although the storyline for the Netflix ac-
tion-comedy Red Notice includes such locales as
Rome, Bali, Russia and Egypt, nearly the entire pro-
duction was captured at Atlanta Metro Studios in Atlanta, Ga. — where
Markus Förderer, ASC, BVK and director-writer Rawson Marshall Thurb-
er leaned heavily into such cutting-edge technologies as FPV drones and
LED walls while pursuing a vintage look with classic lenses.
Förderer — whose prior work includes I Origins (AC Sept. ’14) and
Independence Day: Resurgence (AC July ’16) — first worked with Thurb-
er when he was called in for additional photography on the director’s
previous picture, Skyscraper, shot by Robert Elswit, ASC. “Robert wasn’t
available for the reshoots, and they were very complex,” says Förderer. “It
was a good testing phase, because Rawson and I started talking about
future projects, which ultimately led to Red Notice.”
Says Thurber, “I’ve been a fan of Markus’ work since Hell [aka Apoca-
lypse, see Shot Craft in AC May ’18], which I thought was gorgeous. It was
such a pleasure working with him on the Skyscraper pickups, and he was
my first choice for Red Notice.”
Thurber’s desire to make, as he says, “an old-school, swashbuckling,
globe-trotting heist picture” led him and Förderer to develop what the
cinematographer describes as “a classic approach, but also something
fresh, fun and entertaining.” Förderer cites The Talented Mr. Ripley as a
reference — “it feels so classy, and it’s shot on location in Europe and on
water on a fairly modest budget” — as well as James Bond and Mission:
Impossible movies, and True Lies.
Vintage Glass, Wide Sensor

To imbue Red Notice with a timeless feel, Förderer tested vintage glass,
ultimately selecting Panavision APO Ultra Panatar anamorphic primes.
Elements of the lenses were originally used on such Ultra Panavision
70 productions as Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad,
Mad World (1963). “Whenever I’m trying to determine the best format to
shoot a project on, I always start with the lens before picking a camera,” “I think it’s critical for cinematographers
he says. “At Panavision I saw the vintage Panatars, which Robert Rich- to shoot their own plates for LED-wall work,
ardson [ASC] had dusted off for The Hateful Eight [AC Dec. ’15] and Greig
because you know which angles you’ll need
Fraser [ASC, ACS] had used on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story [AC Feb. ’17].
These lenses were the perfect fit to capture the large-format look we and you can ensure everything will line up
were after. They create gentle, soft skin tones with natural high resolu- correctly in the volume.”
tion, and are reminiscent of the classic anamorphic look without adding
too much distortion.”
Regarding the choice of Red’s Ranger Monstro 8K VV for the pro-
duction’s main camera, Förderer says, “Because the lenses have a 1.25x
squeeze, they’re very subtle in their anamorphic quality, and it’s ben-
eficial to have a wider sensor like the Red’s. I also loved the DSMC2
Monstro’s smaller form factor because the Panatars are quite large and
heavy. [Red Digital Cinema President] Jarred Land was highly support-
ive; with input from Rawson and me, he made us a custom, compact and
stripped-down RED Ranger Monstro camera.” The production shot at 8K
full-frame sensor mode. Opposite page: Former FBI Agent John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson, left)
To assemble a complete lens package, Förderer turned to Panavision’s and art thief Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds) form an unlikely alliance.
Dan Sasaki, an ASC associate member. “Dan was super helpful tracking This page: The production employed an LED volume for sequences that
down three of the original Panatar lenses and also making additional included a tense encounter on a train car and an escape in a helicopter.
JANUARY 2022 / 59

RELUCTANT ALLIES
Top: Cinematographer Markus Förderer, ASC, BVK (left) and

director Rawson Marshall Thurber plan out a shot. Bottom:
A Red Komodo was mounted to a custom-built FPV drone,
flown at high speeds by pilot Johnny Schaer.
focal lengths so we could have two complete sets of 35mm to 180mm,”

says the cinematographer. “We shot most of Red Notice on the 35mm
and the 65mm.
“As good as the newer Panatars are,” he adds, “it’s just impossible to
re-create the way lenses were manufactured before they were designed
with a computer. The glass was hand-polished and less precise — this
TOP PHOTO BY FRANK MASI, SMPSP. BOTH PHOTOS COURTESY OF NETFLIX.

acts like a natural diffusion filter that softens skin tones, but the effect is
spread out over all lens elements, unlike a purely two-dimensional filter
in front of the lens.” “At first, [the
FPV drone
Fast Flying
Seeking to combine a vintage palette with contemporary shot tech- sequence] looks
niques, the filmmakers chose some cutting-edge tools. One was the first- like a standard
person-view (FPV) racing drone, which flies at very high speeds — in helicopter
the case of this production, up to 30 miles per hour — with remarkable
agility. “The main difference between an FPV drone and a traditional establishing
drone is there’s no gimbal stabilization, so the FPV flies more like a tiny shot — then it
plane with the operator seeing everything through virtual-reality gog- suddenly dive-
gles. We found this incredibly talented operator, Johnny Schaer — aka
‘Johnny_FPV’ on Instagram — who just does crazy stuff and makes the bombs into a
camera look like it’s freefalling.” narrow alley and
To make the rig as lightweight as possible for the custom-built chases police
drone, Förderer teamed a prototype Red Komodo 6K RF-mount cam-
era — shooting in 6K full-frame sensor mode — with a highly compact, cars across
hand-made Perar Ultra-Wide 17mm f/4.5 pancake lens from Japanese the bridge.”
company MS Optics. “These drones typically carry an ultra-small camera
like a GoPro, and the Komodo had just been announced at the time we Julie Förderer, who’s a gaffer, that we honeymoon on that beach. While
were shooting,” he says. there, we hired a local drone crew and shot plates that we could use in
Förderer used the FPV to capture Red Notice’s dizzying opening shot, the volume. I think it’s critical for cinematographers to shoot their own
set in Rome. “At first, it looks like a standard helicopter establishing plates for LED-wall work, because you know which angles you’ll need
shot,” says Thurber. “Then it suddenly dive-bombs into a narrow alley and you can ensure everything will line up correctly in the volume.”
and chases police cars across the bridge to the Castel Sant’Angelo be- “I’d previously shot the Netflix show Nightflyers using LED walls and
fore wrapping up in a close-up of Dwayne Johnson as he gets out of a Unreal Engine,” says Förderer. “We had a huge LED volume outside of
car.” The sequence worked out so well that the filmmakers added Schaer a spaceship cockpit. I was amazed by the technology, but it was expen-
to the permanent crew and tasked him with shooting additional scenes sive and complex due to the camera tracking. For me, the parallax is
with the drone, including a climactic mine-shaft chase. not nearly as important as having a photorealistic image that reflects
onto a set and is the main lighting source. I also prefer capturing every-
Turning to the Volume thing in-camera with lenses that have character, as opposed to shooting
The production primarily employed the LED volume to capture cockpit against greenscreen with clean lenses to simplify compositing.”
shots for a helicopter scene, close-ups and stunt work for a mine-shaft Lux Machina integrated the LED volume onstage in Atlanta. Accord-
chase, a tense sequence aboard a train car, and a scene set on a yacht off ing to Wyatt Bartel, Lux vice president of production, “the volume in-
the coast of Sardinia. cluded a slightly curved 60-by-20-foot primary LED wall, a 20-by-20
For the latter, Förderer says, “We were supposed to shoot near a beau- ceiling for overhead lighting, and a flat, mobile 16-by-16 wall on wheels.
tiful beach there, and we scouted it several times via helicopter, but then We also had 6-by-3 LED walls on C-stands that could be rolled in as
Covid shut everything down. During the shutdown, we decided to re- needed. Everything was made with ROE Black Pearl BP2 2.8mm panels.”
structure the scene for the LED wall to avoid concerns about the safety Förderer notes that the production employed “[Arri] SkyPanels and
of the location. Astera tubes to add interactive light — but we [primarily] used the
“Also, I got married during the shutdown,” the cinematographer con- [lighting from the] wall, and five portable smaller video wall sections as
tinues, “and when I heard Italy had reopened, I suggested to my wife, portable lights.
60 / JANUARY 2022

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ben Davis, BSC
©2021 20th Century Studios disneystudiosawards.com

JANUARY 2022 / 61

RELUCTANT ALLIES
Tech Specs: 2.39:1

Cameras: Red Ranger Monstro, Komodo
Lenses: Panavision APO Ultra Panatar
Actors Gal Gadot and Johnson perform in a scene that, due to the pandemic,
was relocated from the coast of Sardinia, Italy, to the LED volume.
For a sequence in which the two reluctant allies steal a helicopter Parting Shots
from a snowy mountaintop stronghold, the filmmakers used high-reso- During AC’s interviews with Förderer and Thurber, which took place
lution still-image plates as LED-wall backgrounds for the interior shots shortly before the movie’s premiere — November 5 in limited theatri-
of the aircraft. “The entire helicopter prison-rescue sequence in Russia cal release and November 12 on Netflix — each assessed the onstage,
was built essentially with a still image and a lot of smoke,” Förderer says. in-camera effort.
“I extracted an 8K raw frame from Red footage we’d shot in the Alps and “It was such an amazing collaboration with Markus,” the director
Photoshopped it a bit. Onstage, the effects department blew real smoke says, “and he’ll be my DP for as long as he’s willing to work with me!”
and snow particles through the air, which gives the illusion that there’s “Rawson and I spent a lot of time testing, finding the right lenses,
life outside the window of the helicopter.” and creating a show LUT that matched our intended look as closely as
Regarding his aim to eschew greenscreen for this production — possible,” says Förderer. “Working with Roland Emmerich, I learned the
which he essentially achieved for principal photography — Förderer importance of making shots look as close to final as possible in camera,
says, “as soon as you get even a little green spill in your shots, it starts because the director is going to spend a year or more looking at them
polluting skin tones. Richard Hoover, our visual-effects supervisor, was during postproduction.”
very supportive. He said, ‘Shoot it the way you want to, and we’ll roto- Förderer also credits his crew and collaborators for their support
scope anything we need.’” throughout the production. “We were fortunate to have [A-camera/Stea-
In addition to these high-tech solutions for background imagery, dicam operator] Jeff Haley, who had just won [SOC] Operator of the Year
for a number of other sets the filmmakers used the classic technique of for Joker,” says Förderer. “And our production designer, Andy Nicholson,
photographic backdrops. Says Förderer, “Several of our jungle scenes, was fantastic; he built huge sets that you might think are real locations,
including the sequence where they discover the bunker, are built on a including the jungle and part of the waterfalls. To have everything de-
stage with real plants and a huge [backlit] photo backing.” signed, prepared, pre-lit and ready to go on the day meant we could give
Rawson and the actors more shooting time, and that was our goal.”
62 / JANUARY 2022
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Fashion Battles
Dariusz Wolski, ASC and costume designer
Janty Yates discuss their collaborations
on House of Gucci and The Last Duel.
By Rachael K. Bosley
Top: Lady Gaga brings extravagant

style to her role as Patrizia Reggiani
in House of Gucci. Bottom: Costume
designer Janty Yates.
66 / JANUARY 2022
p.66-73 House of Gucci-Last Duel_v2.indd 66 12/3/21 7:50 AM

C
ostume designer Janty Yates was beginning to imag-
JESSICA FORDE, COURTESY OF 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS.
ine how Adam Driver would look in classic Gucci

THE LAST DUEL PHOTOS BY PATRICK REDMOND AND
fashions from the 1980s, though her task at hand

was fitting him with 14th-century French armor. It
was 2020, and Yates was amid back-to-back projects
with director Ridley Scott — The Last Duel, followed
by House of Gucci — both featuring Driver.
“We talked about Gucci often during filming of Last Duel — you’d have
to be totally inhuman not to,” says Yates. “It was a very exciting project.”
The short break between the disparate productions was typical for
Scott, who directs a movie a year, give or take. Yates is part of the core
creative team that helps him maintain that pace, along with cinematog-
rapher Dariusz Wolski, ASC and production designer Arthur Max. Max
and Yates have worked with the director since Gladiator (AC May ’00),
and Wolski has been with the team since Prometheus (AC July ’12).
Top: Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) is armored for

bloody combat in The Last Duel. Bottom: Cinematographer
Dariusz Wolski, ASC (right) frames a shot during production
of the medieval drama.
JANUARY 2022 / 67

FASHION BATTLES
Top: Reggiani adapts quickly to Gucci glamour. Bottom, left to right:

Talking shop with her fashion-designer brother-in-law, Paolo Gucci
(Jared Leto), and slaloming through some après-ski drama with her
husband, Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver).
tremendous amount of research and work while I’m reading the script
and thinking about it in my own way,” Wolski says. “When I arrive, they
walk me through what they’ve done, and we discuss everything. The
photographic approach is a bit more between Ridley and me, but they
are involved in that, too.”
Dressing the Guccis

The first thing Yates does when Wolski arrives is “take him through
every character’s ‘closet’ to get his blessing, because by then I’ve got a lot
of the costumes made,” she says.
That process was quite an undertaking on House of Gucci, which
charts the Guccis’ turbulent family dynamics and business fortunes over
three decades. Among Yates’ biggest challenges were Patrizia Reggiani
Gucci (played by Lady Gaga, whom Yates refers to as “L.G.”) and Aldo
Gucci (Al Pacino), who is the public face of the family business.
“Patrizia has 54 different looks, because L.G. wouldn’t wear anything
twice,” she says. “Ridley said he wanted her to be ‘slightly sober’ in her
look, and I was a bit nervous about my first Zoom fitting with L.G. — as
we know, she has worn a meat dress [to the MTV Awards]! But she im-
mediately told me she wanted to dress like her mother, who was a classy
Italian woman. That was a huge relief. We took that idea and blinged it
up with an enormous amount of jewelry; she always wore two necklac-
es, two bracelets on each wrist, brooches and huge earrings.”
Scott, who draws his own storyboards and character concepts, “sent
me the most beautiful drawing of Aldo,” Yates continues. “He is a dandy.
He has a checked jacket, a waistcoat, a flower in his lapel, a pocket hand-
kerchief, wonderful cufflinks, dark glasses, a Panama hat and very ele-
gant shoes. So, we dandied Al up. For example, I had several shirts made
“We took [Lady Gaga’s] idea and blinged it up for him with half-inch horizontal stripes — quite unusual, but we have
HOUSE OF GUCCI PHOTOS BY FABIO LOVINO, COURTESY OF MGM PICTURES, INC.

with an enormous amount of jewelry.” photographic proof Aldo wore shirts of that ilk.
“Aldo is a bit clashing, and then there is Paolo [played by Jared Leto],
Aldo’s son, the dandiest dandy, who’s gone a bit wrong — his clothes
never match. I actually wasn’t able to show Dariusz much of Paolo’s clos-
Teamwork et because Jared spent six hours in the prosthetics department and we
“It’s been an extremely strong collaboration and a very important one,” seldom saw him until he came on set. We’d just send along my choice,
Yates says. “Ridley is very involved in costume, and his approval is my and he’d put it on. His clothes were all made by the Attolini brothers,
be-all and end-all. The next person I turn to is Dariusz. And, of course, who did the magnificent tailoring for The Great Beauty. We couldn’t have
on everything we do, I sit down with Arthur as early as I can and as often done better in that department!”
as I can. For me, it’s about color palette first and foremost.” A striking shot of Patrizia posing for her husband, Maurizio (Driver),
Referring to the project the trio is currently prepping for Scott — Kit- on their Manhattan balcony pays explicit homage to fashion photogra-
bag, about Napoleon Bonaparte — Yates continues, “Just yesterday Ar- pher Helmut Newton, specifically his black-and-white photo Elsa Peretti
thur and I spent three or four hours going through all the interiors of the in New York, 1975. With a laugh, Yates recalls this as one of her most
locations we’re going to use, and it’s just as well I did, because I saw he’d vexing assignments. “Ridley kept saying, ‘Helmut Newton! I want it to
got a four-poster draped in cerise. Cerise — a deep pink!” She laughs. be Helmut Newton! She’s got to look spectacular!’ Well, [Peretti] is in a
“And three days ago, I sent Dariusz the undipped duchess satin and the Playboy bunny outfit. I didn’t know what the hell we were going to do.
dipped duchess satin for the ladies in waiting for Napoleon’s coronation I finally said, ‘Let’s put her in a very simple long-sleeved black dress.’
scene. We’re always in touch about that sort of thing.” It was either me or my cutter, Dominic Young, who decided to do the
By the time Wolski begins to physically prep a Scott film, Yates square neck with the flash in the center front. And it does look spectacu-
and Max have been at work for several weeks. “They’re both doing a lar because it’s angular and monochrome. It just worked.”
68 / JANUARY 2022

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FASHION BATTLES
Top: Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon, right) confronts Pierre d’Alençon

(Ben Affleck, sitting, far left) and Jacques Le Gris (Driver, in armor).
Bottom: Jean’s wife, Marguerite (Jodie Comer), sparks a blood feud with
her accusations against Jacques.
Medieval Garb
Marveling at Yates’ ability to transform even simple setups, Wolski
points to an over-the-shoulder shot in The Last Duel: “It’s early morn-
ing, and Pierre [Ben Affleck] and Jacques [Driver] are talking on top of a
castle with the landscape behind them. Adam has this cloak around his
shoulders that’s such a beautiful graphic fabric. Normally, when you set
up an over-the-shoulder, you put the foreground in shadow just enough
to draw attention to it, but in this case, the shoulder had such incredible
texture!”
The wrap was not a last-minute addition to the scene, says Yates. “I
had spotted that cloak and singled it out for Adam, and I’d also singled
it out to be draped around his shoulders on that balcony,” she says. “It
was a beautiful cream cloak with a dark-brown leather fretwork pattern
on it — [his character] had just picked it up to keep himself warm, as it
was 5 or 6 in the morning. Even Adam, who has strong opinions about
his costumes, loved it.”
In another scene, Marguerite (Jodie Comer) argues with her hus-
band, Jean (Matt Damon), in a courtyard in front of several bystanders.
70 / JANUARY 2022

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JANUARY 2022 / 71

FASHION BATTLES
House of Gucci costumes designed by Yates, along with other items

and props from the movie, were showcased during a special exhibit at
the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles from
Nov. 23-Dec. 4, 2021.
HOUSE OF GUCCI EXHIBITION PHOTOS BY ALEX J. BERLINER, COURTESY OF ABIMAGES.

“This exhibition serves as an extension and “Everyone in the background looks like they stepped out of classic Ital-
showcase of the terrific work by my remarkable ian Renaissance paintings — just beautiful,” says Wolski. “That’s Janty.”
The cinematographer acknowledges that the fairly monochromatic
team of artists.” — Ridley Scott
palette dictated by The Last Duel’s period and wintry setting did not al-
ways show Yates’ work to its best advantage. “Janty hasn’t quite forgiven
me,” he says with a laugh. “So many of the fabrics she found had rich
color and fine-pattern textures, and she’d say, ‘If you take all the color
out, no one will see it!’”
Noting Scott’s preference for desaturated palettes, he adds, “[Janty
and I] often have that argument.”
“Yes,” says Yates, “we do joke about it. I’ll show Dariusz something
and say, ‘Look, Dariusz, look! Bright colors!’ And he’ll say, ‘That’s fine,
I can get rid of that by pressing a button.’” She laughs. “It’s an ongo-
ing discussion, for sure. But with Ridley’s vision, I am happy to go with
whatever he and Dariusz decide.”
It is all part of “a fluid collaboration,” says Wolski, “and the result has
a bit of everything in it: Janty’s touch, my touch, Arthur’s touch and, ulti-
mately, Ridley’s vision. It’s all integrated, and in this way the look of the
film comes together.”
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PHOTO COURTESY OF SCAD.

An array of work by costume
designer Ruth E. Carter — with
a piece from the feature Black
Panther in the foreground —
displayed at the Savannah
College of Art and Design’s SCAD
Fash Museum of Fashion & Film.
Costume and Story

By Andrew Fish, Samantha Dillard and Tara Jenkins
Three of the industry’s top costume designers discuss

their work and their collaboration with cinematographers.
T
wo members of Wakanda’s Dora Milaje security force
arrive at an apartment in Oakland, Calif. The room’s
subdued illumination and careful compositions create
a sense of claustrophobia and imminent trouble, while
the imposing women’s red garb, adorned with metal
and beadwork, suggest that the royal bodyguards are a
long way from home.
In these opening moments of the Marvel movie Black Panther, the
interplay between the work of cinematographer Rachel Morrison, ASC
and costume designer Ruth E. Carter helps lend weight and context to
the events at hand and to the story they set in motion.
This month’s special focus explores the essential role of costume de-
sign in moving-image storytelling. Academy Award-winning costume
designers Carter, Sandy Powell and Colleen Atwood offer a look at their
creative process, recall some of their favorite projects, and share insights
into their collaboration with cinematographers.
74 / JANUARY 2022
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COSTUME AND STORY
TOP PHOTO BY MARY CYBULSKI, COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES.

BOTTOM PHOTO BY ALEX BRAMALL.
SANDY POWELL side of it. Then I even look at contemporary fashion — images that just
appeal to me, that remind me of a character, or color palettes that go
Building Characters together. If I’m lucky enough to have months rather than weeks for prep,
“The difference between costume every time I revisit an image, it sinks further in. It’s my way of really get-
design and fashion design is that ting immersed in the period — that’s how that starts.”
fashion is made for people in gen-
eral, while costumes are designed Prepping for Photography
for specific individuals to help “It’s really useful to know how a cinematographer is going to shoot a
create a character. Costume, hair, project. This would come up with a meeting with the director as well
makeup, and the environment that — if they’re going to use particular filters, whether it’s digital or film, if
the person inhabits all build on there’s a specific color palette, if there are any particular colors to avoid,
that character. It’s primarily about or if there was anything we needed to experiment with.
making all of the characters in a “It’s always beneficial to do camera tests in advance, if the budget
film believable to the audience.” allows, in order to try things out — to run a palette of colors in front of
the camera, or a specific texture or a pattern you’re concerned about,
Collecting Images just to see how it’s going to look in the way that the cinematographer
“The first place I go to is my own is lighting and shooting it. And then we try to communicate as much as
Top: The Wolf of Wall Street
library. I have a lot of books — art possible, in the same way as you do with the art department or with hair
(shot by Rodrigo Prieto, ASC).
books, history-of-fashion books, and makeup designers. Everybody needs to be on the same page; we all
Above: Costume designer
picture books, books about all sorts Sandy Powell. need to be doing the same thing. So if I know what set dec is doing, and
of things, and I just start looking production design, and I know how it’s being shot and lit, then I’ve got
through them. If it’s a period proj- a fairly good idea of where I should be coming from in terms of tone,
ect, I start looking at anything in palette and texture.”
that period and collect images. And
then I go broader, outside of that Fitting vs. Fitting
period, maybe a little bit to either “‘Fitting’ an actor actually means coming up with a character. It’s not
76 / JANUARY 2022

JANUARY 2022 / 77

COSTUME AND STORY
BOTTOM PHOTO BY ROBERT VIGLASKY, COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES CLASSICS.

TOP PHOTO COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS AND ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS.
Above: Wonderstruck “[The colors] had to look good in black-and-
(shot by Edward
Lachman, ASC). white and look good to the eye.”
Left: Mothering
Sunday (shot by
Jamie Ramsay). which is the most expensive bespoke tailoring you could get. And then
you’ve got all the other guys — his henchmen — and you have to figure
out how to dress them. And not all of them look great; some of them look
like a mess. That was a really satisfying film to do, in terms of character.”
Reconciling Black-and-White
Wonderstruck (shot by Edward Lachman, ASC | directed by Todd
whether something physically fits — whether it goes on them in the Haynes)
right way. Sometimes, you might dress an actor in something that “[Portions of Wonderstruck (AC Oct. ’17) were] set in the 1920s, and it
doesn’t fit on purpose. How many people on the street on a daily basis was the first time I’d ever done anything in black-and-white. That was
do you see that are well dressed? Very few. Sometimes you want to do a very interesting process, because colors that I would have put togeth-
that for a character. That’s actually quite a difficult one to persuade ac- er for a color film didn’t necessarily work together in black-and-white.
tors to pull off.” I’d photograph items or fabrics that I wanted to put together, and then
have a look at it with Ed — and he said to me that, for him, it was much
Escalating Style better to have as much texture as possible, and contrast. I still couldn’t
The Wolf of Wall Street (shot by Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC | directed by bring myself to use colors that looked horrible together in real life. It had
Martin Scorsese) to work both ways — it had to look good in black-and-white and look
“Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in The Wolf of Wall Street [AC Dec. ’13], good to the eye. I actually made [young actor Millicent Simmonds] a pair
Jordan [Belfort], has a specific trajectory. He starts out without much, of shoes that were red. You’d never have known they were red, but they
and then you see him develop, and you see his clothing get more and were just really nice — and I did them for her.”
more expensive, until he is actually up there with Savile Row tailoring,
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COSTUME AND STORY
LEFT AND BOTTOM PHOTOS COURTESY OF SCAD. TOP RIGHT PHOTO BY JOSHUA WHITE, COURTESY OF
JW PICTURES / ACADEMY MUSEUM FOUNDATION.
RUTH E. CARTER Above, from left: Black Panther
costumes for Queen Mother
Ramonda, from the SCAD exhibit,
Clothing and Character and the Dora Milaje, on view at
“The relationship between clothing and a person is very personal. We the Academy Museum of Motion
make those choices every day — what we’re going to wear, what’s going Pictures. Left: Costume designer
to represent us — and when a costume designer is working on a film, Ruth E. Carter.
she becomes all of the characters of the film by making those choices for
them. We’re storytellers who support characters with clothing.”
Prepping for Photography

“I always have a conversation with the DP about things like how bright
I can go with my white fabrics. I sometimes do a ‘white test,’ where I
will put several pieces of white fabric side-by-side in front of the cam-
era — from something that’s basically paper-white to something that’s
very warm or very gray. I usually ask the cinematographer, ‘How bright
do you want your whites? How bright can I go with this grayscale?’ Then
we select the brightest white, and usually it’s surprisingly gray or beige. I
use that white as my hottest temperature — and I place that fabric in my
office, so all the support staff that I have can place a garment up against
that brightest white, and know whether they have to take it down or
[how to] make the composition come together with that tone.
“When it comes to stand-ins, I really try to train my crew about color
value. You can put a stand-in, to be lit, in a green top that’s the same
value as the blue top that the actor will wear, and the DP can light that
top — and when the actor comes in, it’s okay. So, I’m a stickler for color
value.
80 / JANUARY 2022

JANUARY 2022 / 81

COSTUME AND STORY
PHOTO BY ANDREW COOPER, SMPSP / DREAMWORKS PICTURES, COURTESY OF

PHOTO 12 / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO.
“If we’re going to underexpose the picture, then I can use a little bit Amistad (shot by Janusz Kaminski).
more white in my colors. I can use a brighter color because it actually
enhances the blacks and the contrast.
“Sometimes the cinematographer and I will get together beforehand
and we’ll look at photographers to help us consider the direction we
might go in. I pay very close attention to the mood, which the cinema-
tographer helps to set, and I don’t want to step outside of that mood.”
Favorite Costumes
“Tina Turner’s gold dress with the fringe in What’s Love Got to Do With
It [shot by Jamie Anderson, ASC]; the Dora Milaje — the highest-ranking
female fighting force in Black Panther [shot by Rachel Morrison, ASC;
AC March ’18]; Malcolm X in any of his speeches and in his zoot suits in
Malcolm X [shot by Ernest R. Dickerson, ASC; AC Nov. ’92]; and Martin
Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King in Selma [shot by Bradford Young,
ASC; AC Feb. ’15].
“When I think of my experience on Amistad [shot by Janusz Kaminski,
AC Jan. ’98], I was very young and eager, and wanted to present my best
work. I looked at a lot of art history, and I feel like I brought art history “I pay very close attention to the mood, which
to the film in terms of the palette and textures and the colors. There’s a
scene where Joseph Cinqué is drowning — he falls into the water and the cinematographer helps to set, and I don’t
he’s in a very gold shirt with red pants — and I felt that that was very want to step outside of that mood.”
painterly and poetic.”
82 / JANUARY 2022

JANUARY 2022 / 83

COSTUME AND STORY
TOP PHOTO BY ATSUSHI NISHIJIMA, COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES, PATHÉ AND HARPO FILMS.
BOTTOM PHOTO COURTESY OF SCAD.
Above: Selma (shot by
Goals for Wakanda
Bradford Young, ASC).
Black Panther (shot by Rachel Morrison, ASC | directed by Ryan Coogler)
Left: Costume for
“When I first looked at the comics, what I took away was that Wakan- protagonist Mookie
da was a melting pot of culture. I grew up in a household that was Af- in the feature Do the
ro-centric, Black-centric, so I grew up understanding that Africa was Right Thing (shot by
not one monolithic place. And with Black Panther, even though this was Ernest R. Dickerson,
a fictitious world of Wakanda, and it was kind of a utopia, I wanted to ASC), displayed at the
SCAD exhibit.
present the differences between the tribes and be very specific about
what forms of beauty I could present. And I didn’t want to just combine
the Nigerian cloth with a South African beadwork and look like I didn’t
know what I was talking about. I dove deep into research and really tried
to understand it and present it in a real, pure way that would make Af-
ricans proud, but also educate and give African Americans a sense of
family and history, and a sense of pride.”
Finding the Glow

Malcolm X (shot by Ernest R. Dickerson, ASC | directed by Spike Lee)
“We had a scene where Elijah Muhammad was a vision that came to Mal-
colm X when he was in prison, and Ernest wanted me to put him in a
light-colored suit so it would feel like he was glowing in this vision. But
Elijah Muhammad was never really seen in a light-colored suit; it was
always a dark one. So, I toyed around with that — ‘What in the world
am I going to give him that would still look like Elijah Muhammad?’ We
managed to find a very light gray that still felt very ’60s and true to the
character but was also very light, and Earnest was able to get that shot.”
84 / JANUARY 2022

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JANUARY 2022 / 85

COSTUME AND STORY
TOP PHOTOS BY DAVID JAMES, SMPSP / MIRAMAX, COURTESY OF AF ARCHIVE /

ALAMY STOCK PHOTO. BOTTOM PHOTO BY ROBERT VIGLASKY, SMPSP.
COLLEEN ATWOOD Top row: Chicago (shot by
Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS).
Left: Costume designer
Behind the Scenes Colleen Atwood.
“The costume department is a huge team to manage. Sometimes you
have 300 or 400 people a day that you’re dressing in period costume.
That team, which you might not ever see on set, is massive. People who
make things, age things, paint things. There’s a huge story behind every-
thing you see in front of the lens, from shoes being made, to stockings
being made, to so many things being created for camera — work that
nobody ever sees because you’re in the back of a warehouse somewhere,
churning it out. Some might think you just go get everything from a cos-
tume house and put it on people, but it’s a process. I think it’s a great
process to be part of.”
Prepping for Photography

“How I prep with the cinematographer depends on the project. General-
ly, we talk about light and color, and what they’re going to do to the film
once they’ve shot it. For example, I don’t want to try to make everything “If they’re going to desaturate the footage,
warm and shadowed, and then look at the monitor and everything’s to- it’s good to know up front, because then I can
tally desaturated. If they’re going to desaturate the footage, it’s good to
adjust the colors of the costumes to marry
know up front, because then I can adjust the colors of the costumes to
marry into that sort of desaturated world.” into that sort of desaturated world.”
Handmade Creation
Edward Scissorhands (shot by Stefan Czapsky, ASC | directed by Tim
Burton)
“It was a pre-superhero sort of costume. I got all these different scraps of
leather to sew into the piece, and it was all handmade, and all hand-sewn
together in a way that it looks kind of funky and homemade. It’s not slick
like the Marvel costumes, but that is the beauty and the art of it. The
character is one of Tim’s greatest creations, really — it’s a spectacular
idea for a character. And I collaborated with [renowned creature-effects
artist] Stan Winston on that because he did the hands. It was so exciting
the first time we went to Stan Winston’s workshop, and somebody put
on the hands — and they just worked. It was one of those moments in
your life that you’ll never forget. It made us all so happy just to see that.”
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COSTUME AND STORY
LEFT PHOTO BY DAVID JAMES, SMPSP, COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES. RIGHT PHOTO BY ZADE ROSENTHAL, SMPSP / TWENTIETH
CENTURY FOX, COURTESY OF SCREENPROD / PHOTONONSTOP / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO.
Designing Silhouettes to Kyoto and found a private collection of ’30s kimonos that I was able to
Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha (shot by Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS | access for the film. Rob had an idea of how he wanted the silhouette of
directed by Rob Marshall) the geisha to be — he didn’t want it to be exactly traditional; he wanted
“The characters of Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly are both so strongly on it exaggerated. We achieved this by elongation of the silhouette, which
the page in Chicago [AC Feb. ’03] — who those two women are. Then gave it a slightly more Deco feel.
you plug in Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones [who played the “Because of Rob being Rob and Dion being Dion, those costumes
respective characters] and half the job is done, because they are already were embraced in a way that everything the costumes did, you saw on-
Roxie and Velma without your having to do anything. To represent the screen — which doesn’t always happen. You never know what elements
lightness and external frailty of Roxie — with Renée, in the beginning of the costuming you’re going to see and not see in a movie when you’ve
especially, we used colors that were almost like she didn’t have clothes finished it, but in that case, it was a huge part of the story. It was ac-
on. Those skin tones, pinks, and all those really pale colors reflected who knowledged in a beautiful way by both of them.”
she was. She was almost like somebody without a skin, she was so hy-
persensitive to the world. And Velma was a showgirl, so a lot of her char-
acter came from what was on the outside, so you didn’t see what was on
the inside. Her clothes were harder, darker, shinier, or more aggressive
silhouettes. The contrast between the characters was built up through
that — and then, in a way, Roxie’s journey as she’s transformed reflected
Velma’s external appearance.
“I was so lucky that Memoirs of a Geisha [AC Jan. ’06] came to me
through Rob. It was a journey that we made together. We got to go to Left: Memoirs of a Geisha (shot by Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS).
Japan and go through the world of the geisha by visiting museums, Right: Costume for Edward from the feature Edward Scissorhands (shot
watching geisha shows, and through watching sumo wrestling. I went by Stefan Czapsky, ASC).
88 / JANUARY 2022

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JANUARY 2022 / 89

New Products and Services
For more of our latest tech reports, visit
ascmag.com/articles/new-products.
Leitz Announces Elsie Primes Elation Releases KL Panel XL

Ernst Leitz Wetzlar has announced Leitz Elsie primes, a new line of Elation Professional has released the KL Panel XL, an update to the
cinema lenses. Made in Germany, Leitz Elsie lenses are designed for KL Panel full-color-spectrum LED that is larger, more powerful and
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Sony Unveils Venice 2

Sony Electronics Inc. has introduced the Venice 2, the company’s
new flagship camera, which builds upon the strength of the original
Venice. New features include a compact design, internal recording,
and the option for two different sensors: the newly developed
full-frame 8.6K sensor or the original 6K Venice sensor. Paired with
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sensor, the Venice 2 offers 16 stops of total latitude. The Venice 2
8K CineAlta camera has a unique dual base ISO of 800/3,200, which
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For more information, visit pro.sony.
AC will feature expanded coverage of the Venice 2 in an
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JANUARY 2022 / 91

NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Unity to Acquire Weta Digital

Filmmaker Peter Jackson has sold Academy Award-winning visual-
effects house Weta Digital to Unity, a platform for creating and
operating interactive, real-time 3D content. Unity will acquire Weta’s
tools (i.e., Manuka, Lumberjack, Loki, Squid, CityBuilder), pipeline,
technology and engineering talent. The acquisition is designed
to put Weta’s VFX tools into the hands of millions of creators and
artists around the world through a cloud-based workflow. Weta’s
VFX teams will continue to exist as a standalone entity known as
WetaFX and is expected to become Unity’s largest customer in the
media/entertainment space. WetaFX will remain under majority
ownership by Jackson and will continue to be helmed by CEO Prem
Akkaraju.
For more information, visit wetafx.co.nz and unity.com.
Brompton Tech Expands:

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92 / JANUARY 2022

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Carl Zeiss 85 and Tourism 93
Expedited Permitting charming DOwntown Chattahoochee River
Cinec 91 Samy’s DV & Edit 71, 73, 87
Court Rooms park space Miles of Trails
Cine Gear 95 Searchlight Pictures 3, 7
Elation Lighting 45 The Studio - B&H 89 m
Fil
m/
Focus Features 5, 11 United Artists Releasing 23, 25, 27, Contact Visit Roswell to arrange a scout llGA.
co
oswe
Formatt KT America/Tokina Camera 29, 31 itR
Vis
75 Vitec CS/Teradek C2, 1
Fujifilm/Fujinon 77 Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
HBO, HBOMax 16-17 39, 57, 61, 64-65
Hulu 35, 37 Warner Bros. 13
Marvel Studios 55, 64-65 ASC Photo Gallery 6
NBC Universal Pictures 21
JANUARY 2022 / 93

Clubhouse News
Latest Bulletins From the Society
Left: Charles Libin, ASC
Right: Loren Yaconelli, ASC
Libin, Yaconelli Welcomed Into Society Membership Loren Yaconelli, ASC studied psychology at California State University,
New York City native Charles Libin, ASC took a photography class at the but soon after graduation, she entered the camera department as a film
YMCA during high school, which led him to pursue street photography and loader and climbed the ranks. She worked as a 2nd AC on the comedy
further education at SUNY Purchase School of Film and Media Studies. He features Never Been Kissed and The Out-of-Towners before moving up
developed a love of lighting, which led to working in New York City as a to 1st AC on projects such as the procedural drama Without a Trace and
gaffer on independent features, commercials and music videos, including the documentary feature The Kid Stays in the Picture. She then moved
collaborating with Fred Murphy, ASC as a gaffer for insert shots on The on to serve as camera operator on such series as Heroes, True Blood,
State of Things. He then transitioned into serving as an operator and 2nd- Life, Brothers & Sisters, Lie to Me, In Plain Sight and Ray Donovan.
unit cinematographer on series that included Boardwalk Empire, Mildred During this time, mentors including Sidney Sidell, ASC and Matthew
Pierce, The Night Of, Fosse/Verdon, Escape at Dannemora and Halston. As Jensen, ASC gave Yaconelli opportunities to shoot additional photogra-
a cinematographer, Libin’s credits include the features Sister of the Groom, phy, and she served as 2nd-unit cinematographer on Glee. She was able
En el séptimo día and Remote Control, and the documentaries The Gift: to transition from operator to director of photography on Ray Donovan,
The Journey of Johnny Cash, The New Yorker Presents and Rise: Rave and since then, she has photographed series that include House of Lies,
Outlaw Disco Donnie. Shameless, The Chi and Animal Kingdom.
In addition to his work behind the camera, Libin taught a cinematog- Yaconelli is also the first daughter of an active ASC member to be
raphy workshop at SUNY Purchase and has served as a mentor for teen invited to join the Society; her father, Steve, was a veteran cinematog-
filmmakers at Reel Works in Brooklyn. He also worked with gaffer David rapher who became a member of the ASC in 1996. She currently serves
Skutch to design the Ruby 7, a luminaire distributed by Arri. on the National Executive Board of Local 600.
94 / JANUARY 2022
p.94-95 Clubhouse News_v2.indd 94 12/3/21 7:56 AM

CINE GEAR
EXPO 2 0 2 2
LA EVENT
JUNE 2022
ATL EVENT
OCTOBER 2022
WWW.CINEGEAREXPO.COM
GO AHEAD - EXPERIENCE IT ALL

LIVE EVENTS | ON AIR EVENTS | SCREENINGS | FILM COMPETITION | MASTER CLASSES
p.94-95 Clubhouse News_v2.indd 95 12/3/21 7:56 AM

Wrap Shot
Moulin Rouge
LARGE IMAGE COURTESY OF UNITED ARCHIVES GMBH / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO.

SMALL IMAGE COURTESY OF TSUNI / USA / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO.
The seductive-yet-tragic character Satine (Nicole Kidman) in the
spectacular musical Moulin Rouge (2001) provided an ideal opportuni-
ty for creating an array of memorable costumes. Director/producer Baz
Luhrmann and cinematographer Donald McAlpine, ASC, ACS earned
Academy Award nominations for their work, and art director/costume
designer Catherine Martin and set decorator Brigitte Broch (pictured
together, from left) took home Oscars — along with costume designer
Angus Strathie.
96 / JANUARY 2022
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MARCH 2021 / 3
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for your consideration in all categories including
BEST PICTURE
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
(Theatrical Release)
Hélène Louvart, AFC
“MASTERFUL.”
“Leaves you haunted like only the best films can. WINNER
BEST ENSEMBLE
The film is cuddled by renowned DP HÉLÈNE LOUVART’s characteristically
signature cinematography of textured compositions and sensually grainy
close-ups. Her eye for close-ups and human skin is as erotically suggestive
as ever. Grade: A.”
p.Cover 4_OBC.indd 4 12/3/21 8:07 AM

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January 2022 The International Publication of the American Society of Cinematographers

The Tragedy of Macbeth

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74 Costume and Story

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“ROBERT YEOMAN’S CINEMATOGRAPHY IS A CONSTANT DELIGHT.

FOR YOUR CO NSIDER ATIO N I N ALL CATEGORIES I NCLUDI NG

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WEB DIRECTOR and ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

CREATIVE DIRECTION and DESIGN

SUBSCRIPTIONS, BOOKS and PRODUCTS

ASC CEO and PUBLISHER Terry McCarthy

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WINNER Dallas Film Festival

WINNERSan Diego Film Festival

WINNERMontclair Film Festival

WINNER Mill Valley Film Festival

“Visually stunning and gloriously

“Haris Zambarloukos’s black and

BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR

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MEMBERS OF THE ASC The ASC is not a labor union or a guild,

You’ll find everything in the ASC Gallery at MUSEUM CURATOR

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www.searchlightpictures.com/fyc © 2021 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS

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PHOTO BY MICHAEL M. PESSAH, ASC.

WORDS FAILED ME IN THE MOMENT

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p.8-9 Presidents Desk v3.indd 9 12/3/21 3:05 PM

Moiré and the Fashion of Harry Nyquist

An example of a moiré pattern appearing on fabric.

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A series of Ronchi charts of increasing spatial frequency, from left to right.

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LED Walls and Moiré

a finite pattern of pixels — an isotropic grid — and this rigid

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A FILM BY REBECCA HALL

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Landscapers Scenes From A Marriage Insecure

And Just Like That... Search Party Made For Love

A Black Lady Sketch Show Oslo 8-Bit Christmas

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Hacks Station Eleven The Other Two

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Behind the Legend

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“We were making a film about a man

trauma surgeon I had met in Iraq, talking to a room full of mentees

TOP IMAGE BY ALAN BARKER. BOTTOM IMAGE BY RITA TAGGART.

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“RELENTLESS IN ITS TERROR, FEAR, AND ANXIETY,

universalpicturesawards.com © 2021 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

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Churchill and Wexler in California wine country.