Operation Imperative – Part I

Riddle me this: what do Touch of Evil’s three-and-one-half minute opening crane shot, Saving Private Ryan’s Normandy beach invasion, or Bound For Glory’s dusty ramble through a California migrant camp all have in common? If you said they’re among the most famous shots in movie history you’re only half right. What they all shared, lest we forget, were four extremely gifted craftsmen - Phillip Lathrop, Mitch Dubin, Chris Haaroff, and Garrett Brown - operating the cameras.

Memorable shots, indeed entire movies, are canonized down through the ages, but how often are the hands behind the matte boxes, the ones actually guiding the magic box ever linked with their creations? Not nearly enough. That’s why we’re presenting Operation Imperative, our three-part exploration into one of this industry’s least acknowledged yet perhaps its most essential craft. We begin with a Q & A comprised of Dan Kneece, President of the Society of Camera Operators (SOC) whose most recent film is the highly anticipated adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s best-seller The Road, Cleve Landsberg, producer and UPM, who has worked on features from Bruce Almighty and Weekend At Bernie’s to long-form television, and Academy Award winning cinematographer John Toll, ASC, who began his storied career as an operator on films like Scarface and Urban Cowboy. Together this trio has more than 75 years of experience on movie and television sets. In Part I of our series, they chew over the recent contract provision that allows a director of photography to operate, and share their perspectives on why not using an operator may well be a disadvantage to producers in cost and quality.

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Still Photography: LitePanels Micro

This little LED unit, which offers continuous output and runs on AA batteries, is attachable to both Nikon and Canon stills cameras. Litepanels Micro for Stills can be dialed up to supply just the right amount of light to fill unflattering shadows and bring the subject’s face and eyes to life. No more red-eye or flash fill.
The Micro for Stills features an integrated dimmer 100% to 0 and runs 1.5 hours on 4 AA cells (Alkaline) and 7-8 hours on E2 Lithium AA batteries. It works with stills and camcorders, as focusing aid in low light, close ups, and can use warming and diffusion filters.
“I recently was able to use this light source in a setting having nothing to do with a film set,” says Barry Wetcher, the first unit stills photographer to use the new Litepanels Micro for stills. “I think it can be a great tool to have attached to a camera for those moments when you need to just have a little more light to make an exposure.”
Wetcher says he likes that the Litepanels allow him to dial in the intensity of the light. “We’ve all seen DP’s hand hold LED bricks just to get a little ‘something’ on the face,” he explains. “Now in some situations, we can do the same. For example, when the cameras aren’t rolling and it’s too dark to capture a candid moment without using a flash. I also like that this unit has a built-in filter holder to help match the color temperature of source lights on the set.”    www.litepanels.com

ICG November 2008

FEATURES

MILK
DP Harris Savides, ASC
By David Geffner

THE SOLOIST:
DP Seamus McGarvey, BSC
By Bob Fisher

Quantum of Solace:
DPs Roberto Schaefer, ASC & Dave Stump, ASC
By Kevin H. Martin

DEPARTMENTS

FLASH FRAME
Bob Richman
Tom Hurwitz

EXPOSURE
Marc Forster

GEAR GUIDE
Documentary Tools

SPECIALS

WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE DANIEL MARRACINO & MORGAN SPURLOCK DOING?
By Margot Carmichael Lester

THE REAL DIRT

FROM REAL LIFE TO THE REALLY BIG SCREEN

OPERATION IMPERATIVE PT 1

What in the World are Daniel Marracino & Morgan Spurlock Doing?

DPs are accustomed to a certain amount of preparation for a shoot. Mundane things like lining up special equipment or engaging a second camera. Rarely does pre-production involve instruction in Krav Maga (the official self-defense system of the Israeli Defense Forces) or a crash course in surviving hostile regions. Unless, that is, you’re Daniel Marracino and you’ve agreed to join documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock in his search to find the world’s most infamous terrorist.

Before heading out to the Middle East to shoot Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? Marracino, went into serious training. He learned practical things like how to treat broken bones and burns, and do CPR. He also learned more valuable skills, like avoiding the mistakes others have made. “I literally saw a video of cameramen getting shot from being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” says the DP. “It was hard to digest the gravity of the situation – usually I’m pretty free with jumping police lines and taking liberties.”

And that was just the beginning of a four-and-a-half-month journey around the world with Spurlock, who makes films that explore big issues in minute (and personal) detail. The Oscar nominated Super Size Me, which Spurlock wrote and directed, looked at the medical fallout from the director eating every single meal at McDonald’s for one solid month (it wasn’t pretty). Last year, Spurlock produced the documentary feature What Would Jesus Buy?, targeting the commercialization of Christmas.

“I’ll do research and learn a lot around an issue,” describes Spurlock. “But I really like to learn as we go. That way, it’s a vicarious journey we take together. When I learn, you learn.” When it came time to build Where in the World’s crew, Spurlock wanted a shooter who was a fast study, someone with the ability to get the shot, listen to the story thread and bust the right moves to get the coverage that’s needed for the scene to work. Enter Marracino, who had been second unit on Spurlock’s Jesus/Christmas doc.

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ICG October 2008

Milk Trailer

Academy Award nominee Gus Van Sant directs Academy Award winner Sean Penn as gay rights icon Harvey Milk. Mr. Milk (1930-1978) was an activist and politician, and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in America; in 1977, he was voted to the city supervisors’ board of San Francisco. The following year, both he and the city’s mayor George Moscone were shot to death by another city supervisor, Dan White. Mr. Milk was previously the subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary feature “The Times of Harvey Milk,” but “Milk” – filmed on location in San Francisco – is the first non-documentary feature to explore the man’s life and career.

Quantum of Solace Trailer

QUANTUM OF SOLACE continues the high octane adventures of James Bond (DANIEL CRAIG) in CASINO ROYALE. Betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and M (JUDI DENCH) interrogate Mr White (JESPER CHRISTENSEN) who reveals the organisation which blackmailed Vesper is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined. Forensic intelligence links an Mi6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti where a case of mistaken identity introduces Bond to the beautiful but feisty Camille (OLGA KURYLENKO), a woman who has her own vendetta. Camille leads Bond straight to Dominic Greene (MATHIEU AMALRIC), a ruthless business man and major force within the mysterious organisation. On a mission that leads him to Austria, Italy and South America, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world’s most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano (JOAQUIN COSIO). Using his associates in the organisation, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in a Latin American country, giving the General control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land. In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit, Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, 007 must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists and even M, to unravel Greene’s sinister plan and stop his organisation.

Exposure: Marc Forster

Directors known for character-driven pictures are rarely hired to steer the venerable James Bond action franchise. With the exceptions of filmmakers like Michael Apted or Lewis Gilbert, the legendary British spy series has relied on former film editors like Peter Hunt, John Glenn, and Roger Spottiswoode, or on veteran action helmers like Terence Young, Guy Hamilton and Martin Campbell to serve up the eye-popping action sequences Bond fanatics have come to expect.
But with this 22nd Eon-produced adventure, Quantum of Solace (one of the few Ian Fleming-penned 007 titles not yet used), producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli chose a different route, hiring indie/art film director Marc Forster, whose character-driven resume has ranged from Monster’s Ball to Finding Neverland, with zero pit-stops for conventional action-adventure.
Forster’s timing couldn’t have been better, as Quantum of Solace picks up right where 2006’s Casino Royale left off, the series now rebooted (with actor Daniel Craig) as a newly promoted 007 with plenty of hard edges, ala early Sean Connery or Timothy Dalton. Craig’s Bond is at an early stage in his career, lacking the infamous polish typified by Connery’s caveman-in-a-tux and original Bond director Terence Young. Developing that character further, as well as incorporating the larger-than-life scope of a Bond adventure were among the challenges Forster faced, as he sat down to talk with Kevin Martin during Quantum of Solace’s post-production.

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Documentary Tools: Cine Saddle by CineKinetic

It’s a lightweight pliable camera platform that allows you to easily and quickly compose stationary shots from a multitude of varying surfaces. From your lap in a car, to the handlebars of a bike, to just about any surface that a hi-hat would take time to stabilize. This bag saves me time and allows me to capture more stable shots with the least amount of effort. In a pinch it even works as a quick hood mount. On a recent shoot for the World’s Funniest Commercial, the director, at the last minute, asked if we had a hood mount. Although it’s not my first choice in car mounts, the Cine Saddle came through in a pinch. We got the shot. The director couldn’t have been happier.
www.abelcinetech.com

A Place Called Hope

Harris Savides, ASC, and Gus Van Sant re-team to chart the inspiring story of human rights activist Harvey Milk, the one-time “Mayor of Castro Street.”
by David Geffner

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