Lighting Focus: The Cloud by Airstar
I was introduced to the The Cloud by Airstar on the Adam Sandler film Bedtime Stories. The look of the film called for a magical, stylized reality, and the filmmakers agreed that this reality didn’t include hard sun coming into contact with faces. Unfortunately, a number of scenes and locations were too remote to bring in a crane and overhead. My key grip, John Janucek, suggested The Cloud. By the end of the film we had brought it out a dozen times. It consists of one to four 20-foot by 20-foot balloons, which can be zipped together or used separately. Two Airstar technicians inflate the balloons quickly, and throughout the day reposition The Cloud as the sun travels from one side of the set to the other. Even when it got windy the tag lines held it in place. The techs don’t treat it as delicately as you might expect and one afternoon they lost a battle attempting to get it though some tree branches. Twenty minutes later it was patched up and flying. In addition to sun control, we also used it as a 40-foot by 40-foot bounce for both day and night exteriors. It has attachments ranging from variations in density via nets or diffusion, to green screen. I love this thing. – DP Michael Barrett
Credits: Bone Deep, Bedtime Storie, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Mysteries of Pittsburg, Bobby, Goal, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
www.airstar-light.com
It’s Not Easy Being Green (or is it?)
From LED to ceramics, there are more environmentally friendly lighting options powering the film and television industry than ever before, as cinematographer Jim Matlosz reports.
ICG March 2009
FEATURES
12 ROUNDS
DP David Boyd, ASC
By Kevin H. Martin
DUPLICITY
DP Robert Elswit, ASC
By Matt Hurwitz
THE MENTALIST
DP Geary McLeod
By Steven R. Condiotti
DEPARTMENTS
FLASH FRAME
R. Bruce McCleery
Simon Miles
EXPOSURE
Albert Wolsky
GEAR GUIDE
Lighting Focus
SPECIALS
GREEN-FRIENDLY LIGHTING
By Jim Matlosz
OPERATION IMPERATIVE PART II
By Jack Messitt
GAFFER/DP PARTNERSHIPS
Exposure: Albert Wolsky
This is not a rhetorical question: can you name another industry pro that’s worked with Bob Fosse, Paul Mazursky, Herbert Ross, Alan J. Pakula, Woody Allen, Carl Reiner, John Schlesinger, Warren Beatty, Garry Marshall, Jonathan Demme, Mike Nichols, Robert Towne, and Sam Mendes, not to mention Sven Nykvist, ASC, Conrad Hall, ASC, James Wong Howe, ASC, and has been nominated for (and won) more Oscars than any of them? Paris-born, Manhattan-raised costume designer Albert Wolsky has learned a thing or two about filmmaking in his five decades in the industry, and he stitches a magnificent verbal collage about filmmaking past and present, including his work with cinematographer Robert Elswit, ASC, on the new romantic spy film, Duplicity. It’s probably no accident Wolsky cited Hitchcock’s North by Northwest as inspiration in dressing modern-day stars like Clive Owen and Julia Roberts: those who say movie royalty died off with Cary Grant need only witness the elegant and gracious designer in action. The man embodies old and new Hollywood in the best of all possible ways.
Smackdown!
David Boyd, ASC and WWE star John Cena stay light on their feet for a wild rumpus through the streets of the Big Easy.
By Kevin H. Martin
Photos by Patti Perret
Academy Awards Wrap-Up
March 9, 2009 by admin
Filed under Web Exclusive
From Mumbai to Gotham, 2008 was a winning year for cinematography
By Bob Fisher and David Heuring
The five films nominated for the 2008 Oscars® for cinematography ranged from fantasies to reality-based dramas and a novel that was translated to film. One common denominator: The six nominees and eventual winner, Anthony Dod Mantle, BSC, DFF all share nontraditional backgrounds. Wally Pfister, ASC, Chris Menges, ASC, BSC, Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC and Tom Stern, ASC, AFC began their careers in the nonfiction arena shooting 16 mm news and documentaries. Claudio Miranda was a stage manager before he transitioned to working as a gaffer. Menges and Deakins shared a nomination for The Reader. It was the eighth nomination for Deakins and the fourth for Menges, who claimed top honors for The Killing Fields in 1984 and The Mission in 1986. Pfister also earned his third Oscar nomination for The Dark Knight. Stern, Miranda and Dod Mantle were all first-time Oscar nominees.
