Courtesy of Topanga Film Festival

From listening to the thoughts and feelings of past ECA winners at the recent Topanga Film Festival, it’s clear – ECA participants are being taken seriously by their Union brethren and the industry at large. Each budding cinematographer with the courage and stamina to make a short film wins something – and it isn’t only the recognition of their Local 600 peers. There’s that all-important platform to show agents, producers, and directors, who might have that perfect job just waiting to be filled.

More importantly, ECA participants secure confidence at that pivotal point when each one reaches beyond the comfort zone to take the next steps in their career.

It’s what moderator, ICG Magazine Executive Editor David Geffner and former ECA honorees Marco Fargnoli, John Snedden, Rodney Taylor, ASC and Todd A. Dos Reis all made clear when they participated in the Local 600 ECA panel held at the 7^th Annual Topanga Film Festival.

ECA Panelists and moderator David Geffner (far right) / Courtesy of Pauline Rogers

The setting – Ribbit’s open-air amphitheater off Old Topanga Canyon Road, in that legendary canyon where, it seems, half of L.A.’s artists reside. While the crowd was modest, the enthusiasm was high; Geffner took each panelist on a journey through their personal experiences, while examining what ECA has done for the Guild as a whole.

Cinematographer Rodney Taylor ASC, firmly entrenched in the indie world (and now in pre-production on Buttermilk Sky and in post with two films Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey and Boogie Town) says his short film changed many things, not the least of which its director’s mind.

Rodney Taylor, ASC / Courtesy of Pauline Rogers

“He was happy with what we’d shot, but he wasn’t going to make a print,” Taylor recalled. “It was 1999, and most everything was still shot on film. So, I convinced him to strike a print – and not only did the film show at the ECA Awards, it made the rounds of major festivals. That would never have happened, without the ECA.”

And what did Taylor get out of being one of the first ECA award winners? “I learned that events like this get you on the radar,” he said. “It lets people in the industry know that you are a serious cinematographer. There are a lot of DPs who see your work – and they might bring you on as a second unit, which is a great way to get started.”

Todd A. Dos Reis, a two-time ECA honoree, met Taylor at that ECA event, and recalled his feelings from that encounter. “I was just making that big transition from first AC to camera operator, the hardest jump to make,” he says. “After I shot my film, got the award, and went through all the ceremonies, I had more confidence in what I was doing even though I had been shooting music videos and such long before that.”

Todd A. Dos Reis / Courtesy of Pauline Rogers

Dos Reis says his second ECA award for Ugly, directed by Moon Zappa in 2000, allowed him to make that next big jump – from operator to DP. “It was even scarier because the higher up you go, the less positions there are,” he cautioned. “The award was telling me that I had to make a decision – make a lot of money as an operator, or struggle as a new DP and compete against the Rodney Taylors’ of the world.”

Obviously Dos Reis made the jump and has never regretted it – the support he got smoothed the way to DP on Entourage (where fellow honoree Marco Fargnoli was an operator), an episode of Southland, and several second unit feature jobs.

In fact, Fargnoli’s road followed a similar path. “The ECA is an amazing opportunity,” he said. “It gave me a little validation. The event brings Indie work out of the closet.” The attention paved the way to work on Entourage and Big Love, second unit director of photography for Dinner for Schmucks, work on Six Feet Under and Carnivale.

“It’s an exciting time for shooters,” Fargnoli added. “There are so many new opportunities for those who come to the attention of the industry. For example, I’m shooting two very different HD projects at the moment for Adult Swim, which takes over the Cartoon Network airwaves 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. They are perfect little nuggets for late-night college crowd audience called Childrens Hospital and NTSF:SD:SUV.”

John Snedden (L), David Geffner / Courtesy of Pauline Rogers

John Sedden, one of the most recent ECA honorees came to the attention of the industry with his entry Bright Eyes, a stunning dialog-less short about a black and white world, and the mob who attacks a young woman with color in her eyes. Ironically, this project was shot on film, a rarity today. In fact, he credits a film jam that was deliberately kept in the project as one of the stunning images that caught panelists’ attention.

“I’ve only been in L.A. about a year but the reaction to Bright Eyes has allowed me to get out there and meet people, and day play on Indie projects and documentaries,” Snedden said. “It helped me realize I do have an exciting future in this industry.”

Past ECA honorees are often attending the yearly event and the activities that surround it. They described it as a “special club” that fosters creativity and support. It’s also where they encounter others who have really taken off after the ECAs. One of the stunning examples they all recall is neophyte shooter Julie Kirkwood – whose work on a stunning Western panorama, in 2009, left many people speechless. Kirkwood’s star rose exponentially after the ECA win and she’s now on her third feature as DP.

Marco Fargnoli / Courtesy of Pauline Rogers

Of course, each panelist at the festival came from a creatively different mindset, a plus in the industry today. “There are so many choices and formats where shooters can work,” Fargnoli said. “There used to be three networks and HBO. Now there are cable channels, reality TV, and so many more ways to work as a DP. So many more chances for new cinematographers to work.”

Dos Reis agrees that it is an exciting time for new cinematographers. “When you are in the union, you are often working non-stop and can lose sight of why you are there. You get caught up in the mortgage or the kids’ school. And you have to figure out: do I want to be a camera assistant or an operator? Do I want to be a cinematographer? You have to focus on getting back to what you got into this business for.”

Marco Fargnoli (L), Rodney Taylor, ASC / Courtesy of Pauline Rogers

The panelists’ advice to shooters looking to take that next step in their careers was to find a way to make films. Take up a Canon 7D and Final Cut Pro, and don’t be afraid to experiment. Make a movie, any movie, and fill it with your passion. And submit it to events like Local 600’s Emerging Cinematographers Awards. It’s become one of the most important launching pads for young DPs today, supported by the Union that represents the best camera teams in the world, bar none, and seen by an artistic audience bent on helping develop the creative talent pool. “There’s no way a shooter eager enough to make a move can’t gain by these awards,” Taylor concluded. “All of us certainly did.”

Digital snowflakes

I recently had an opportunity to do a pick-up shot for a friend on a movie shot on film, which is rare these days, albeit not unheard of. I went in and took out my light meter, set the lens, pushed the button and went home!

It was only after that recent experience that I realized just how complex the lives of camera department members have become in recent years. New technologies have radically reshaped straightforward production experiences like the one described above, while at the same time provided sophisticated new ways to visualize a film or television series.

Thankfully (from the perspective of this Guild, whose members are the ultimate guardians of the captured image), several groups were formed along the way to ensure these new technologies would be applied in ways that best serve the needs and goals of our industry, and not the other way around. Because when technology forces filmmakers to work counter-intuitively to how a production should flow, everyone loses.

Entities that have done amazing work in overseeing the implementation of these new technologies include the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI), put together 10 years ago this month by all of the studios to determine how images should be packaged, delivered and exhibited in theaters. The ASC Technology Committee, also formed more than a decade back, has provided an industry-wide forum to make sure digital technology developed in a manner that would best serve the images being created. They’ve had a huge influence on what we see on screen and in our homes these days. StEM (Standardized Evaluation Material) for judging the quality of projection was a major project this group undertook in conjunction with the Producers Guild and DCI. Another landmark was its CDL (color decision list), developed with all of the major studios, lab and postproduction facilities around the world, and scores of Local 600 director of photography members. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, along with the ASC, recently developed the IIF ACES image transform system, which could well be a true starting point for the creation of a device-independent, end-to-end color management system that will bring back the elegant simplicity of a traditional film workflow.

All this change has placed our Guild at one of its most important crossroads in recent memory. While film may not yet be dead, digital capture is very much alive, so we must consider how we work on the set, and in pre- and postproduction, to help shape the outcome without overcomplicating the method.

A few months ago I spoke at a digital summit hosted by Variety and called for an industry-wide ad-hoc committee to sit together and discuss what is the best way to help us achieve our goals. The response was tremendous and indicated there is a groundswell in this industry that truly wants to shape how production workflows will best serve the craftsmen and -women working on sets all over the world.

As my friend Leon Silverman at Walt Disney Studios has told me time and again: every single workflow is unique, and once it’s done it disappears and something brand new has to be invented. Like snowflakes, workflows are singular and ever changing. So it is up to this Union (and our industry partners) to decipher the best way moving forward. Make no mistake. Every Local 600 member is essential to this process – from the director of photography to the digital loader. Without the concept of where we’re going, we will be relegated to the depths of trying to figure it all out before a film ever starts.

Fraternally,

Steven Poster, ASC
National President
International Cinematographers Guild
IATSE Local 600

Thirty years after his first visit, John Bailey, ASC returns to Alaska for the environmental drama Big Miracle. By Bob Fisher. Photos by Darren Michaels.

When director Ken Kwapis first gave John Bailey, ASC the script for Big Miracle, back in autumn of 2009, Bailey found the story engaging. He also looked forward to having an opportunity to shoot another film with Kwapis at the helm. The pair had previously collaborated on The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), License to Wed (2007) and He’s Just Not Into You (2009). When the studio set to produce Big Miracle dropped out, Bailey moved on to other work, including a family film (Ramona and Beezus) drawn from Beverly Cleary’s popular children’s book series and Country Strong, the second feature from director Shana Feste, for whom Bailey had shot a Grand Jury Prize–nominated Sundance film (The Greatest). A short list of Bailey’s other memorable credits includes Ordinary People, American Gigolo, Silverado, The Big Chill, Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Accidental Tourist and In the Line of Fire. When Working Title Films and Anonymous Content committed to producing Big Miracle in late 2010, the project shifted back into high gear and Universal Pictures signed on to release.

The script for Big Miracle was based on a real-life drama that happened near Point Barrow, Alaska during the winter of 1988. Three gray whales were trapped under the ice covering the Chukchi Sea off the coast in the northernmost part of the state. A dim twilight with dark clouds painted the sky, and temperatures were well below freezing with frequent rain and snowstorms. Despite the daunting environment, a few citizens and members of an Inupiat Eskimo tribe made a valiant and ultimately successful attempt to save the whales.

“This isn’t a simple, straight-line drama,” Bailey describes. “It’s a complex story with many intersecting and conflicting human agendas and natural forces.”

Bailey says he drew on his memories of a movie that he worked on in Alaska during the dawn of his career in 1969. He was a camera assistant on Tracks of the Snow Bear, a 16-mm film produced in Barrow for a Walt Disney television series.

“I was there for about four months, during late winter, spring and early summer,” he recalls. “Point Barrow was a remote village at that time. All the roads were dirt and there were no facilities for visitors in the town of Barrow. We stayed in Quonset huts at the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory about five miles north of town. In good weather, I would walk up to Point Barrow at the tip of the landmass. The Chukchi Sea was on one side and the Beaufort Sea on the other side. There was nothing in front or on either side of me other than water!”

Deep and lasting memories of that experience helped Bailey pre-visualize the visual grammar for Big Miracle, as well as anticipate some of the practical challenges.

“One of the early decisions that Ken had to make was where to shoot the film,” Bailey recalls. “The story takes place on the North Slope near Barrow, which is just a few feet above sea level. There are no trees, no shrubbery and the tundra, except for a few summer months, is covered with snow. When the Chukchi Sea is frozen, there is no demarcation line between land and sea.”

Kwapis and the producers decided that location wasn’t feasible because of the weather, the lack of adequate air service and too few facilities for housing the cast and crew.

“Ken chose an area at Anchorage harbor that is surrounded on three sides by the city and mountains,” Bailey continues. “The open ocean is on the fourth side.”

Bailey explains that a visual effects team from Rhythm and Hues, led by VFX supervisor John Heller, used CGI technology to extend the ice field set created by production designer Nelson Coates, making the field appear to stretch to infinity.

“John Heller was with us for the duration of production,” Bailey adds. “The set was modular to correspond with the ever-changing dimensions of the ice field. A high ridge at the end of the set helped hide the horizon line of the open sea. It was extended and blended by CGI.”

Both Kwapis and Bailey agreed Big Miracle should be shot in wide-screen 2.40:1 aspect ratio in order to capture the scope, depth and tactile feeling of the environment. They discussed going native anamorphic, but decided that three-perf Super 35 was more practical, given the remoteness of the locations.

“We knew that we would be covering scenes with two or three cameras from different angles, because the daylight hours were so short,” Bailey says. “We also anticipated that there would be many shots with multiple green screens in their backgrounds.”

Matt Szundy, a local scout, guided Bailey and Kwapis to potential locations during preproduction. They also studied archived news film of the efforts to save the whales in October 1988 at the CBS-TV affiliate in Anchorage, and at the Alaska Film Archives.

“The efforts to rescue the whales happened more than 20 years ago, but it is still like yesterday in the memories of many of the older Inupiats,” Bailey says.

Kristen Bell, Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Rob Riggle and Ted Danson were cast in leading roles.  Bailey brought most of his crew from Los Angeles and New York, including Matt Moriarty, who was the principal A-camera/Steadicam operator. Jim McConkey, SOC stepped into the breach in both roles when Moriarty had to leave for a prior commitment. Andy Shuttlesworth was also a camera and Steadicam operator for the entire shoot. Steve Cueva, Dennis Seawright, Jozo Zovko and Haydn Pazanti were the camera assistants.

“I feel privileged to have worked with three of the most artistic Steadicam operators in the business on the same film,” says Bailey, who also praises the contributions of gaffer Mike Moyer and key grip Art Bartels.”

Peter Collister, ASC directed and shot a week of second-unit work in Barrow. Operator Steven Rychetnik, who was familiar with the terrain from his work on local documentaries, worked with Collister, who recalls only having met Bailey once (at a film preservation seminar) before getting the assignment. The next time we met was on a charter flight from Anchorage to Barrow, where around 75 percent of the film is supposed to take place,” Collister says. “John had tears in his eyes when he saw the light in Barrow. I remember him saying that he was going to figure out how to recreate those colors and feeling while shooting scenes in Anchorage. When we began production in Barrow, we only had five hours and 15 minutes of daylight. Two weeks later there was perpetual night. When John saw our first dailies, he told me, this is the way I’m going to make the rest of the film look.”

Panavision provided the camera package, including Platinum, Millennium XL and lightweight Panaflex bodies and Primo prime lenses, ranging from 21 to 150 mm and Primo 24 – 275 mm to 17.5 – 75 mm zoom lenses.

Most daylight exterior scenes were recorded on Kodak Vision 3 5207, 250-speed color negative film balanced for exposure in daylight. The days were short and darkness came quickly. Interiors and dark exterior scenes were recorded on Kodak Vision 3 5219 500T film.

The exposed negatives were shipped to FotoKem in Burbank. The lab provided high-definition digital dailies. A projection room was set up in an office at the Anchorage Daily News. About 25 people, including Kwapis, Bailey, editor Cara Silverman, the producers, the camera and sound crews, gaffer, ADs and Heller were usually at dailies.

“That was important, because we were seeing the day’s work all at the same time, projected onto a fairly big screen,” Bailey describes. “It was a collective, collaborative experience, which is very different than looking at dailies on your computer alone in your hotel room at night.”

Bailey stresses that it wasn’t just about seeing if the images looked right. It was also about the shared creative experience and the emotions it evoked.

“Ken and I tried to make the natural environment’s beauty and severity characters in the story, while also giving the audience a sense of being there on the ice, in the austerity of the setting,” he says. “The camera is meant to be very much inside the action without resorting to a documentary style. The Steadicams allowed us to work in close and gave us more freedom to move around with the staging. Our goal was to give the audience a sense of being there, so they feel connected to the drama.”

The Alaska Film Commission closed down streets in downtown Anchorage so period cars could be used to create a sense of flowing traffic. The Film Commission also helped arrange access to locations, including a hotel and the offices of a former governor.

“Shots in restaurants, hotels and places like that were generally on dollies,” Bailey adds. “We also dollied over ice and employed a crane with a camera operator, rather than a remote head, because I was concerned about the reliability of electronics in the cold, wet weather. The sleet and frozen rain were so bad at times that my light meter stopped working. We prayed for a gentle, benign snowfall.”

Production ran from mid-September until the end of the first week of December 2010. The temperature was sometimes around 10 degrees in the first morning light. It hovered in the low to mid-20s during the day.

“The sun never got higher than about 24 degrees, so it was always a beautiful raking light,” Bailey says. “Sometimes we would start a sequence in soft sunlight and then clouds moved in. When that happened, we used a battery of 18Ks to light the foreground and middle ground to simulate low, soft sunlight.”

A climactic sequence begins when a Russian icebreaker joins the rescue effort by breaking through the ice ridges that were sometimes 25 to 30 feet high.

“The Russians had to cut through that ice in order to create the path for the whales to escape,” Bailey says. “The Inupiats also cut hundreds of holes in the ice so the whales could breathe as they moved toward the open water.”

The icebreaker sequence was largely visual effects created by Heller and his team using a 20-foot model of the Russian icebreaker that was filmed in a tank in Northern California.

In one scene, the character played by Drew Barrymore sees that the smallest baby whale, named Bam Bam, has a plastic net tangled around its fluke. She puts on a wet suit, dives into the icy ocean and cuts the net away. Underwater cinematographer Pete Romano flew to Alaska to shoot that scene with a double for Barrymore in a large aquarium tank.

The weather was unpredictable. They began shooting with heavy cloud cover. Suddenly, there was a break in the clouds and bright sunshine flooded the scene. The crew quickly responded by using silks on cranes to diffuse the sunlight.

Kwapis convinced the producers to have Bailey on the payroll for a week during DI timing at Technicolor Hollywood. Bailey and colorist Adrian Seery balanced sequences shot to shot while creating a variety of looks in the sky. “We did a DI because there are so many visual-effects shots,” Bailey says. “Our original hope was to do it at 4K resolution, but the number of VFX shots grew steadily larger, so everything was done at 2K.  Of course, it would take a 6K to 8K scan to get all of the picture information inherent on the film negative, but that’s a different story. One that involves the trade-off of degrading your images for the sake of the added control you have with the DI. Unfortunately that lower resolution 2K DI becomes your master record for all time.”

Which, Bailey adds, is a battle to be fought another day.

BIG MIRACLE
DP John Bailey, ASC
by Bob Fisher

HOMELAND
DP Nelson Cragg
by Matt Hurwitz

ASC AWARDS
by Bob Fisher & David Heuring

FAMILY AFFAIR
by Pauline Rogers

600 VOICES SERIES PART 2
by Pauline Rogers

EXPOSURE: Howard Gordon & Alex Gansa

FLASH FRAME: Wynn Hammer, SOC

GEAR GUIDE: Awards Season

KEYLIGHT: Fletcher Camera Chicago

DEEP FOCUS: Robert Dickinson

REFRACTION: Bruce Rosenblum

With this, his 22nd film festival, no one (save for founder Robert Redford) has been more intrinsically bound to Sundance than John Cooper. His tenure actually pre-dates Sex, Lies and Videotape, often cited as the turning point in Sundance’s now two-decade reign as the world’s best indie festival. Cooper (employees and volunteers rarely use his first name) says his love affair with Park City was written in the stars. “I actually stumbled” upon Sundance during a layover flight in Utah,” he remembers. “I was on my way back to New York from San Francisco and met someone in a bar who asked if I’d like to volunteer at the festival. I was involved in theater at the time and the whole do-it-yourself approach of independent film really spoke to me.”

Twenty years later, Sundance’s D.I.Y. craziness continues to speak to Cooper despite a wave of changes for independent film. From the heady days of multi-million dollar bidding wars to the slow attendance of post 9/11 and recession, he’s seen it all. Few were surprised, in 2009, when Cooper succeeded Geoff Gilmore (who had led Sundance for 19 years) as director. But the spotlight on how Cooper will keep Sundance relevant in indie film’s most challenging times (the closing of many specialty divisions and declining theatrical play deals for starters) has been intense. On the eve of the 2010 festival, The New York Times ran an article wondering if Cooper’s new tenure will “redefine” the indie film industry.
ICG Executive Editor David Geffner talked with Sundance’s top man about his favorite memories, and why he’s more passionate than ever to lace up his winter boots after so many Januaries in the Park City slush and snow.

ICG: Did the year of the Sex, Lies and Videotape screening feel like a tipping point? John Cooper: Not exactly. It was around the time companies like October Films, Orion, Strand Releasing got started, and while we all felt there was a new possibility [for indie films] brewing, you had to keep your expectations, financial and otherwise, small. The biggest message being sent was that there was an audience for a different type of film.

Did you feel prepared once the indie boom hit? We had to do a lot of catch-up. This was a small mountain town with limited places to screen a movie. The Eccles Theater wasn’t yet built, and it was before we even had The Library as a venue. The biggest theater we had was The Egyptian, which is, like, 350 seats. We also had to create a new structure for the huge amount of submissions we began receiving. Most of those were in 16mm so when we got a film in 35 it was a big decision what format to screen. [Laughs] You ask whether we knew something important was happening: I vividly remember sitting in a room and saying, ‘If [Sundance] is ever mentioned in The New York Times we will have made it! That was our benchmark for cultural significance.

Fairly ironic, given The New York Times article that ran before your first festival as director. To paraphrase: “putting the indie back in Sundance; a return to tough, arty filmmaking.” That year in the press was difficult for me, because they wanted to know why Geoff left, and all kinds of other things. But, basically, what I wanted to show were films that were authentic. I felt some of the films we had in years past, sort of made for cable type projects with stars and some commercial attributes, just didn’t pop, for lack of a better term. Now, obviously there’s a lot of pressure in this job – from sales reps, agents, etc. But I’m not here to build relationships with industry people because this is my job. Not some other industry job down the road. Redford said it best when he told me we have to “keep our chops.” I completely agree.

You began at Sundance getting prints and wrangling filmmakers. When did programming come in? Not long after I started as a volunteer, they handed me a box of 250 short films and said, “see if you can do something with these.” I shared an office with [Programming Directors] Tony Safford and Alberto Garcia, and I kind of forced them to add two programs of shorts to the schedule. [Laughs] I guess I was pushy. I programmed shorts on my own until 2000, when I was able to hire Trevor [current director of programming Trevor Groth] as my very first employee! I think we had more than 7,000 shorts submitted this year, and I’m quite proud to say I was part of that beginning.

What other lasting memories of that first decade do you have? Getting our first-ever woman programmer [Beth B.] and gay filmmaking really beginning to pop. Longtime Companion winning the Audience Award was a huge shock to everyone. What it made you realize, and this is what the 90’s were about, is that the audiences weren’t much different than us, the people working at Sundance. I remember playing this crazy drag queen movie [Vegas in Space] in the midnight section and being terrified no one would show up. I walk in and the place is packed with drag queens from all over Utah! I went wow; this is amazing. You think you’re plodding along at this little festival and something like that reveals this kind of creative force that’s got a life of its own. You could see and feel it.

What was the first feature you programmed? Slacker. For some reason they always gave me the edgy, youth stuff [laughs], even though I was older than most of the people I worked with. Slacker was three hours long, and I said there’s kind of a cool movie in here, but it’s so long it just wears you out. We didn’t accept it that first year. We gave [director Richard Linklater] our notes, and he came back the next year with a shorter cut that was wildly successful. Then a few years later Kevin Smith came in with Clerks, and you really got the sense filmmakers were pushing each other. One person would take a chance, like Todd Haynes with Poison, and everyone else would be inspired to break the rules.

You became director of programming in the late 90’s. Did the films begin to reflect your own tastes from that point on? We all worked collectively, and still do to this day. Working with Geoff [Gilmore] was like being in this weird marriage. Geoff’s knowledge of film is so broad [Gilmore was the former head of the UCLA Film Archives], that he was a better director of programming, in some ways, while I would put all this energy into making everyone’s experience on the mountain great. As for my own tastes, I’m not an academic. I’m not really concerned about how something fits into cinema history so much as just getting blown away on an instinctual level. Redford knew that about me, so he and Geoff looked to me for this pop culture kind of barometer. In The Company of Men was a good example. We had huge arguments about whether it was too disrespectful to women, and I said that was [director] Neil LaBute’s point. To show these guys, who were very real, as they are. It was part of our growing pains – to decide what the culture could consume, like violence against women or gays. You feel that responsibility to the community when there’s a backlash, but at the same time, our mission is to represent the filmmaker’s vision.

The Excellence in Cinematography Award, for both Documentary and Narrative, was first given in 1987, three years after Sundance started. Not many other festivals can claim such support for the visual image. It’s always been something we believe in because of what cinematographers bring to the process. It’s a thrill to see a DP come with their first film to Sundance, or to the Labs, and then return a few years later. Before you know it, they are working on big Hollywood movies. Bobby Bukowski, Nancy Schreiber, Ellen Kuras, of course, are some of the names that come to mind. Robert Elswit, who first came with Paul Thomas Anderson and Hard Eight, which was originally called Sydney. I’m proud that Sundance has created an alternate path for these kinds of artists, a bit separate from the old model of starting in television and working your way up to a feature.

I was at the Eccles Theater for Sundance’s first digital screening, Things Behind the Sun, shot by Guild member Terry Stacey. Have new technologies been a game-changer? It’s lowered the costs of production and made it easier, to some extent. Before digital projection, filmmakers who shot in Super 16mm would have to go to 35 before they were ready. I remember testing those digital projectors for that screening – working with different companies to find a technology we had complete confidence in, and that we could afford. When we went digital we wanted to make sure we could sustain it in every theater and not ghettoize them into some special program. At least 75 percent of the films we screen now are digital. Of course lifting all those cans of 35mm film back in the day was a great workout. I was like, so that’s what a muscle looks like! [Laughs]

It’s a challenging time for indie movies. Yes, and that’s an offshoot, I suppose, of how quickly the movement grew. The scale was not right – both in the making and in the distribution. People began paying too big of a price for independent films, and when they didn’t perform in the market, they were considered failures. Although, last year was our biggest sales year ever. Of the 100 features up for distribution, 80 were sold. People say: yeah, but did as much money change hands as in past years, and the answer is probably not; although I don’t know the specifics of the deals. For me, the fact so many movies got sold is good because it means the scale of what’s made to what gets seen is in proportion.

Many of those deals might end up being online only. Yes, and that’s a new area for filmmakers, especially those who want to release right away and keep the buzz going. We actually have a system in place for films selected to Sundance that want to self-distribute. They sign a standard deal and the films are streamed via Hulu, Netflix, iTunes, etc.

So what do you say to those who still come to Sundance hoping for that big theatrical deal? A lot of filmmakers I’m hearing from want sustainability, as opposed to the big flashy career. They don’t want to wait five years in-between movies because, honestly, how many movies do you have in you for a lifetime? Kevin Smith’s recent approach with Red State is a fascinating example of a new approach to distribution. People laughed at him when he was up here talking about it last year, but he kind of did it.

Interview by David Geffner. Photo courtesy of The Sundance Institute.

Local 600 filmmakers scale indie film-land’s summit at Sundance 2012. By David Geffner.

(Lead Photo: Graham Phillips, David Duchovny, Goats / Photo by Gregory Peters)

The climbing metaphors abound for invitees to the world’s most important showcase for independent film, the Sundance Film Festival, unspooling later this month in the snow-covered hills of Park City, Utah. First off is the location, plopped beneath some of America’s most picturesque peaks in the Wasatch mountain range. And then there’s the months, sometimes years, of effort that making an indie movie requires: assembling a team, triple-checking the gear, battling the elements, all on a budget that would barely allow for a week of freeze-dried meals from your local REI. Chasing some distant summit in the clouds, independent moviemakers are this industry’s equivalent of extreme athletes. Their quests are long and hard, and the debts and favors incurred along the way may well trump the glory of planting their flags at the top of the mountain (especially when no distribution is secured). Yet still they climb, for love and art and that warm glow that only a Park City premiere can provide. This year’s celebration includes more than 40 films shot with Guild members – an intrepid pack of climbers inhaling deeply of that rarefied mountain air.

(Note: this listing was compiled with information supplied by Local 600 members prior to the start of the festival. We apologize in advance for omissions of names not provided to www.icgmagazine.com by posting date)

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION

For Ellen – New York-based cinematographer Reed Morano (see ICG December 2011 Generation NEXT) shot this indie feature for director and screenwriter So Yong Kim. The drama concerns a struggling musician, who takes an overnight long-distance drive in order to fight his estranged wife for custody of their young daughter. The cast includes Paul Dano, Jon Heder, and Jena Malone. Guild member Nate Selvin was Morano’s 1^st AC on the project.

For Ellen/ Photo by Justina Mintz

Hello, I Must Be Going – 2009 Emerging Cinematographers Awards honoree Julie Kirkwood lensed this offbeat comedy about a divorced, childless, and “demoralized” 35-year old woman (New Zealander Melanie Lynskey), who moves back in with her parents. Prospects look bleak until the unexpected attention of a teenage boy changes everything. Kirkwood shot on ALEXA around Connecticut locations last summer, with Bret Suding as 1^st AC and Mike DiCarlo as 2^nd AC.

Hello I Must Be Going

LUV – Gavin Kelly’s last visit to Sundance was the 2010 Grand Jury Prize nominated drama The Dry Land. The Generation NEXT (ICG December 2010) cinematographer, who has won an Emmy and been honored by the ASC, returns to Park City with LUV, the story of an orphaned 11-year-old boy who is forced to face the truth about his beloved uncle during one harrowing day on the streets of Baltimore. Kelly says he “lobbied” to use Hawk V-series Lite Anamorphic primes on his RED MX rig. “We needed sharp anamorphic lenses with nice contrast that were also lightweight, fast and sharp, and have the unique ability to flare that we were looking for,” Kelly explains. “We wanted to keep the look anchored to the boy’s perspective, which includes a subtle innocence, even when things get darker and more complex in the story.” Guild 1st AC Marc Wiercioch and Unit Stills Bill Gray were on the project. The powerhouse cast includes Common, Dennis Haysbert, Danny Glover, and Charles S. Dutton.

LUV / Photo by Bill Gray

Nobody Walks – Guild operator and former 1^st AC, Chris Blauvelt, whose cinematography feature debut, Meeks Cutoff, won an 2010 Independent Spirit Award, shot this indie drawing room comedy about a young New York artist whose visit to the home of a hip, liberal Los Angeles family unravels a quagmire of sexual and emotional entanglements. The cool young cast, working with writer/director Ry Russo-Young, includes John Krasinski, Olivia Thirlby and Rosemarie DeWitt. Blauvelt was also 2^nd Unit DP on this year’s Sundance Premieres feature, Goats.

Nobody Walks

Simon Killer – New York-based AC Joe Anderson’s debut feature was for Antonio Campo, whose previous film Afterschool, played at the Cannes and New York film festivals. Simon (Brady Corbet) is a recent college graduate who goes to Paris after breaking up with his girlfriend of five years. When he falls in love with a young mysterious prostitute, a fateful journey begins. Anderson says the production was granted rare access to the Louvre and the D’Orsay museums as well as active brothels and the streets of the Pigalle red-light district.

Simon Killer

Safety Not Guaranteed – New Guild DP Benjamin Kasulke was behind the lens for director’s Colin Trevorrow unique story about a trio of magazine employees who investigate a classified ad seeking a partner for time travel. One employee develops feelings for the paranoid but compelling loner and seeks to discover what he’s up to.

Safety Not Guaranteed

Smashed - Kate and Charlie are a young married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of music, laughter and drinking. When Kate decides to get sober, her new lifestyle brings troubling issues to the surface and calls into question her relationship with Charlie. Sundance veteran Tobias Datum, and Guild 1^st AC Lawrence Montemayor, shot the project on ALEXA for writer/director James Ponsoldt.

Smashed

The Surrogate – John Hawkes plays Mark O’Brien, a 36-year-old poet and journalist with an iron lung who decides he no longer wishes to be a virgin. With the help of his therapist (Helen Hunt) and the guidance of his priest (William H. Macy), he contacts a professional sex surrogate to take him on a journey to manhood. Guild cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson shot this touching dramedy for writer/director Ben Lewin.

The Surrogate

The End of Love – Alicia Robbins and Ben Semanoff operated Canon 5D Mark II’s for this drama centered on the relationship between a young father and his infant son after the death of the boy’s mother. Robbins says the free-form documentary style helped in covering the intimate scenes with the two-year old boy playing Isaac, who director/actor Mark Webber worked with prior to shooting to acclimate the toddler to the camera crew.

The End of Love

The First Time - Cinematographer Rhet Bear shot this romantic comedy about two high schoolers who meet at a party, and over the course of a single weekend, discover what it’s like to fall in love for the first time. Guild members on the crew included A-camera operator and Steadicam Ron Veto, A-camera 1^st AC Kevin “Blair” Rogers, B-camera 1^st AC David Erickson, 2nd AC Ashley Carpenter, DIT Kyle Spicer, additional 1st AC Hiro Fukuda, and Unit Stills Gemma LaMana.

The First Time / Photo by Gemma LaMana

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U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare – Longtime documentary cinematographer Wolfgang Held (The Lottery, American Teen) returns to Sundance with this examination by filmmakers Matthew Heineman and Susan Froemke of how to repair the nation’s broken medical system. The timely non-fiction piece follows dramatic human stories, as well as leaders fighting to transform healthcare at the highest levels of medicine, industry, government, and even the U.S. military.

Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare

Finding North – Daniel Gold, who won the Sundance Documentary Prize for Cinematography 10 years ago for the critically acclaimed Blue Vinyl, co-shot this documentary feature about hunger in America, which filmmakers Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush posit is not limited to the poverty stricken and uneducated. One of the main questions posed is can a return to policies of the 1970s save our future?

Finding North

The Invisible War – Oscar nominated documentarian Kirby Dick  (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Twist of Faith, Chain Camera) tackles yet another taboo in American culture: the rape of soldiers within the U.S. military, and the institutions that cover up its existence. Co-shot by Guild member Thadeus Wadleigh, whose work on the critically acclaimed documentary Who Killed The Electric Car? premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.

The Invisible War

Love Free or Die: How the Bishop of New Hampshire is Changing the World – Macky Alston’s profile of two defining passions in conflict was shot by Sundance and Emmy-winning documentary cinematographer Tom Hurwitz, ASC, the first of two documentary features Hurwitz has in Competition this year at the festival. Gene Robinson,  Christendom’s first openly gay bishop, refuses to leave the Church or the man he loves.

Love Free or Die: How the Bishop of New Hampshire is Changing the World

Me At The Zoo – This is the second entry in the Documentary Competition section for Wolfgang Held, who helped visualize this supremely contemporary story about Chris Crocker, a young video blogger from small-town Tennessee who, with 270 million hits to date, has become the Internet’s first rebel folk hero, and also one of its most controversial personalities. Held’s cinematography combines with footage shot by directors Chris Moukarbel and Valerie Veatch, along with video from Crocker himself.

Me at the Zoo

The Other Dream Team – USC Film School graduate Jesse Feldman shot this dramatic true-life story about the1992 Lithuanian National Basketball Team, which went from the stranglehold of Communism to the Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Former NBA stars Mitch Richmond and Bill Walton are among those interviewed by director Marius Markevicius. Shot in the U.S., Italy, and Lithuania, Feldman says, “travel and cost restraints required us to shoot on several different cameras that were available locally; mainly a variety of 2/3-inch Panasonics, and a Canon 5D Mark II.”

The Other Dream Team

The Queen of Versailles – Tom Hurwitz’s second feature in the Documentary Competition category is a uniquely American story about a wealthy Florida family who falls into the abyss of the nation’s massive financial crisis. Jackie and David were constructing the biggest house in the country – a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot palace inspired by Versailles – when their timeshare empire faltered. Guild cinematographers Shana Hagan and Sarah Levy did additional photography on the film.

The Queen of Versailles

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PREMIERES

Bachelorette – Doug Emmett shot this all-union low-budget comedy in New York City, the first of two projects Emmett has screening at Sundance this year. Unresolved issues between four high school friends come roaring back to life when the least popular of them gets engaged to one of the most eligible bachelors in New York City and asks the others to be bridesmaids in her wedding. The large Guild crew included A-camera operator Alan Pierce, B-camera operator and Steadicam Michael Fuchs, A-camera 1^st ACs Michael Burke and Sarah Hendrick, A-camera 2^nd AC Jeff Pinette, 2^nd AC Patrick Bracey, B-camera 1st AC Johnny Sousa, B-camera 2^nd AC Mara Galus, DIT Patrick Neri and Unit Stills Jacob Hutchings, the first of three films Hutchings has at Sundance for 2012.

Bachelorette / Photo by Jacob Hutchings

California Solo – The first of two Sundance entries this year for DP James Laxton centers on a former Britpop rocker, now working on a farm outside of L.A. When he’s caught driving drunk and faces deportation, he must confront past and current demons in his life to stay in the country. Marshall Lewy writes and directs.

California Solo

Celeste and Jesse Forever – Cinematographer David Lazenberg partnered with director Lee Toland to help visualize the story of high school sweethearts, Celeste and Jesse, who marry young, and then divorce a decade later, only to remain best friends while pursuing other relationships.

Celeste and Jesse Forever

For A Good Time, Call…Laxton’s second Premieres film was directed by Jamie Travis, and written by Katie Anne Naylon and Lauren Anne Miller. The main characters (named after the writers) move in together after a loss of a relationship and a rent-controlled home, respectively. When Lauren learns what Katie does for a living the two enter into a wildly unconventional business endeavor.

For A Good Time, Call...

Goats –Fifteen-year-old Ellis (Graham Phillips) leaves behind his unconventional home in the Arizona desert to begin his freshman year at Gates Academy, a preparatory school on the East Coast. Once there, he reconnects with his estranged father (Ty Burrell) and questions the family dynamics he left behind, which include his new age mother (Vera Farmiga) and the only real father he has ever known, Goat Man (David Duchovny). Shorts and docs shooter Wyatt Troll makes his narrative feature debut for director Christopher Neil, with a story adapted by Mark Poirier from his novel. Guild unit stills Gregory Peters was also on the project.

Goats / Photo by Gregory Peters

Lay The Favorite – Sundance veteran Michael McDonough (Winter’s Bone) steps up to the main track for this story, based on Beth Raymer’s memoir, about an adventurous young woman (Rebecca Hall) who gets involved with a group of geeky older men who have found a way to work the sportsbook system in Las Vegas to their advantage. The Derby field cast includes Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Vince Vaughn, and was directed by two-time Oscar nominee Stephen Frears. The all-union camera department included A-camera operator/Steadicam Michael Stumpf, A-camera 1^st AC Craig Pressgrove, A-camera 2^nd AC Mike Kennedy, B-camera operator Alan Pierce, B-camera 1^st AC Matt Pebler, B-camera 2^nd AC John Hoffler, DIT (and ICG National Vice President) Lewis Rothenberg, Digital Utility Michelle Garcia, Unit Stills Frank Masi and Unit Publicist Peter Silbermann.

Lay the Favorite / Photo by Frank Masi

Liberal Arts – New York-based cinematographer Seamus Tierney brings his third narrative feature (Adam, Happythankyoumoreplease) in four years to Park City. Written, directed and starring Josh Radnor, Liberal Arts centers on thirty-something Jesse, who is invited back to his college alma mater. When he falls for a young 19-year-old college student (Elizabeth Olsen), Jesse is faced with the powerful attraction that springs up between them. Local 600 crewmembers on the film, which was shot in Ohio and New York City, included Camera Operator Tarik Hameedi, Steadicam Operator Michael Fuchs, 1^st ACs Katherine (KT) Comkowycz and Cameron Dingwall, 2^nd AC Carolyn Pender, DIT Patrick Neri, and Unit Stills Jacobs Hutchings.

Liberal Arts / Photo by Jacob Hutchings

Predisposed – Ben Kutchins, who shot 2010 Sundance Grand Jury Nominee Holy Rollers, returns to Park City with this story about piano prodigy Eli Smith (Jesse Eisenberg), who is constantly derailed by his troubled mother. On the day of an audition for a prestigious music program, mother and son enlist the help of two hapless drug dealers to get her into rehab, embarking on a journey where events spiral comically out of control. “We shot on 35mm 3-perf 2:40 with Panavision Primo lenses and an XL2 body as our A-camera,” Kutchins recounts.  “Although we shot almost entirely handheld with 1000-foot magazines to increase efficiency, the key audition scenes were shot on dolly on a curved track laid around a grand piano. We wanted the long sweeping movement to bring the audience into Eli’s head.” Other Guild members on the show included Operator/Steadicam Dave Isern, 1^st AC George Tur, Loader John David Devergilis, B-camera 1^st AC Franziska Schirmer Lewis, B-camera 2^nd AC Marc-Eric Nielson, and Unit Stills Jacobs Hutchings.

Predisposed / Photo by Jacob Hutchings

Price Check – One-time gaffer and electric department member Sam Chase visualized this story about Pete Cozy (Eric Mabius), who is struggling to resolve a happy marriage and family life with rising debt and a job he hates. When his new boss, Susan (Sundance perennial Parker Posey) shows up, Pete is pulled into the maelstrom that is her life and made to work harder than he ever has before. Suddenly, money and opportunities come his way, but at what price?

Price Check

Robot and Frank – Matthew Lloyd shot this story about a curmudgeonly ex-jewel thief (Frank Langella) who is given a robot caretaker by his grown children (James Marsden and Liv Tyler). The Salt Lake City Gala screening was directed by Jake Schreier and features the voice of Liev Schrieber as “Frank’s robot.”

Robot and Frank

The Words – This closing night film was lensed by Antonio Calvache and co-directed by screenwriters Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal. Aspiring writer Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper) finds another man’s haunting memories in a collection of lost stories and claims them as his own, thus propelling him to literary stardom and a price to pay he could never have envisioned. Calvache’s In The Bedroom won a Special Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival before going on to be nominated for five Academy Awards.

The Words / Photo by Jonathan Wenk

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DOCUMENTARY PREMIERES

Ethel – Documentary cinematography legend Buddy Squires (ICG – November 2009) teams up with Emmy Award-winning director/producer Rory Kennedy for this intimate family portrait of Rory’s famous mother. The character study provides a unique insight into Ethel’s life with Robert F. Kennedy, and the eleven children she raised on her own following his death. A personal story interwoven with some of the most important moments of the 20th century, Ethel also features never-before-seen footage from the Kennedy family’s private collection.

Ethel

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SPOTLIGHT

Your Sister’s Sister – Benjamin Kasulke’s second of three films screening in Park City this year was written and directed by actress Lynn Shelton (Safety Not Guaranteed). The comedy stars Emily Blunt, whose character, Iris, invites her friend Jack (indie filmmaker Mark Duplass) to stay at her family’s island getaway after the death of his brother. At their remote cabin, Jack’s drunken encounter with Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), Iris’ sister, kicks off a revealing stretch of days.

Your Sister's Sister

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PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT

The Pact – Park City native Bridger Neilson shot the short, and this feature it then inspired, for writer/director Nicholas McCarthy. Caity Lotz plays a woman who, as she struggles to come to grips with her past in the wake of her mother’s death, feels an unsettling presence emerge in her childhood home.

The Pact

Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie – This outlandish comedy was shot by Rachel Morrison, who made her Sundance debut with last year’s Sound of My Voice. Written, directed and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Warenheim, it concerns two guys who are given a billion dollars to make a movie, When their Hollywood dreams run off course they decide to rehabilitate a run-down shopping mall in an attempt to make the money back. Hollywood star cameos abound, including Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Zach Galifianakis and Jeff Goldblum. Morrison credits her “incredible, all Union crew”, which consisted of operator Abby Linne, 1st ACs Shaun Mayor and Scott Garrison and  2nd ACs Eli Berg and Isaiah Fortajada. “We shot in L.A. and Palm Springs on two RED MX’s,” she adds.

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie/ Photo by Justina Mintz

SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS  - Cinematographer Reed Morano’s second film at Sundance follows James Murphy, front man for dance-punk band LCD Soundsystem, over a crucial 48-hour period. The film begins on the day of Murphy’s final gig at Madison Square Garden to the morning after, and the personal and professional ramifications of his decision to disband the group at the height of their success. Morano says her and Guild AC Kevin Akers shot this unique documentary/narrative hybrid with the ALEXA in a run-n-gun style using all available light and practicals.

Shut Up and Play the Hits

V/H/S - Second AC Victoria K. Warren lensed the “Amateur Night” segment of this POV/found footage horror-thriller that unites six up-and-coming genre directors – David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, Radio Silence, Ti West, and Adam Wingard. When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for. The cast features Hannah Fierman, Joe Swanberg, Calvin Reeder, and Kate Lyn Sheil.

V/H/S

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NEXT <=>

Mosquita y Mari – Guild cinematographer Magela Crosignani was behind the lens for this bold and provocative effort from writer/director Aurora Guerrero about a friendship between two 15-year-old Latinas, who are struggling to recognize the sexual undercurrent in their relationship. The all-Latin cast includes Fenessa Pineda, Venecia Troncoso, Joaquín Garrido, Laura Patalano, and Dulce Maria Solis.

Mosquita y Mari

Pursuit of Loneliness – A startling Sundance debut for director of photography Gary Young, and writer/director Lawrence Thrush. When an elderly patient dies in a county hospital leaving no known next of kin, four different characters try to find a family member to contact in regards to unknown person’s death; a nurse, a social services representative of the hospital, the emergency contact person listed on the decedents admission form, and an investigator from the public administrators office.

Pursuit of Loneliness

Sleepwalk With Me – From Ira Glass, the producer and creator of the popular NPR radio series, This American Life, comes this story of a budding standup comedian who is reluctant to confront his fears of love, honesty, and growing up. His struggle is made all the more intense (and hilarious) by the constant plague of sleepwalking. Music video and documentary cinematographer Adam Beckman also lensed the TV version of Glass’ series in 2007/2008.

Sleepwalk With Me

That’s What She Said – Armed with nothing but their addictions and lots of personal baggage, two best friends and a mysterious young interloper battle a series of misadventures on their quest for love in New York City. This offbeat comedy, which is the feature cinematography debut from former gaffer and episodic DP William Klayer (Royal Pains, Law & Order), was shot on Super 16mm with Panavision equipment. It stars Anne Heche, Marcia DeBonis, and Alia Shawkat, and was directed by actress Carrie Preston, whose resume includes stints on The Good Wife, True Blood, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

That's What She Said

Twenty-Eight Hotel Rooms – From writer/director Matt Ross comes this experimental look at a long-term extramarital affair, seen only as fragments in the secret world of hotel rooms, and yet, perhaps, the most significant relationship of a couple’s lives. Making his Sundance debut is Guild cinematographer Doug Emmett. Local 600 crewmembers on this project included 1^st AC Buddy Allen Thomas, and 2^nd AC Joey Joyce.

Twenty-Eight Hotel Rooms

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SHORTS

The Arm – Guild DP Blake McClure shot this micro-budget short film over three days on a Canon 5D Mark II. Lensed in and around Seal Beach and Los Alamitos, CA, the story is about a young man named Chance, who in an attempt to keep up with social pressure in a technologically advanced world, starts a texting relationship with Genevieve – a girl he meets at a yogurt shop. When Genevieve dies while texting and driving it forces Chance to realize he was never in a relationship at all.

The Arm

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SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL USA (Nashville, TN, January 26)

West of Memphis – Acclaimed documentary cinematographer Maryse Alberti shot this non-fiction tale about three teenage boys who are incarcerated for the murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Nineteen years later, new evidence calls into question the convictions and raises issues of judicial, prosecutorial and jury misconduct – showing that the first casualty of a corrupt justice system is the truth.

West of Memphis

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SLAMDANCE

Neil Young Journeys – Director Jonathan Demme serves up an intimate retrospective of the legendary rock and roller. Guild DP Declan Quinn, ASC also shot Demme’s earlier rock-doc, Neil Young Trunk Show, as well as Demme’s critically acclaimed Rachel Getting Married. Quinn has won three Independent Spirit Best Cinematography Awards  – Leaving Las Vegas, Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love and In America.

Neil Young Journeys

Holiday Road - Bobby Palmer and Daron Leah Nefcy (daughter of L.A.-based Local 600 Operator Jay Nefcy) contributed the “St. Patrick’s Day” animation segment to this compilation film featuring twelve different directors’ celebrating an American holiday. Daron Nefcy graduated from California Institute of the Arts in 2009, and received a $1,500 grant from Local 600’s Scholarship Committee, chaired by Guild Operator Bonnie Blake.

Holiday Road

Reinaldo Arenas – Second AC Daniel Fernandez shot this short film, inspired by a true story, which captures the dying moments in the life of an unintentional immigrant into Miami. “We kept the lenses long and the depth of field short to accentuate the character’s confusion,” Fernandez explains. “I tested the lens babies but the effect needed to be less premeditated, more jarring. So we shot with the lens loose and pulled it out intermittently.” Fernández, an avid diver and underwater cinematographer, decided to use the GoPro for the opening POV shot because of its maneuverability. “Normally the rolling shutter would have been a problem but here it adds a sense of confusion.” The film was finished with a DI to match the two cameras and blue was added to the de-saturated footage for a more film-like look.

Reinaldo Arenas

The Dude – A documentary short on legendary film sales agent and indie film world player Jeff Dowd. It was lensed by Benjamin Kasulke for RSA Films/USA Network’s Character Project in Santa Monica and Tampa last February on a Panasonic AF-100 rented from AbelCine. RSA Films and USA networks debuted the film online last summer.

The Dude

All photos courtesy of Sundance/Slamdance Press Office unless otherwise noted.

My New Year’s Resolution? More change.

New years bring new thoughts about what lies ahead in the world of image capture and processing. And I think, in some ways, it will be a year of consolidation of services and transition to all things digital. The jury is still out however on how good this will be for the quality of motion pictures (notice I didn’t call them films).

Firstly, there’s the consolidation of 35mm laboratory services, like Technicolor and Deluxe, all over the world. If this means we will still have very high quality processing and daily services available then this will be a good thing. Technicolor has assured me that no matter where the film is processed they will still have their supervising eyes on it at all times.

The name most associated with film, Kodak, is consolidating as well. As the print business slackens, they’ve chosen to concentrate on their core businesses and future technologies. The company’s Laser Projection system sounds like a solution to the (huge) problem of 3D screens being too dark and completely inconsistent; and if that issue is not solved, we may well see a consolidation (shrinking) of 3D releases due to audience indifference. Kodak is also talking about releasing new emulsions, which I hope heads in the direction of higher speeds to compete with the low-noise, larger chip digital cameras due out next year. I’ve been asking them for 1000 EI film ever since I shot the entire (35mm anamorphic) movie Donnie Darko on their ill-fated 800 EI stock. (I don’t even remember the number of that emulsion).

Film, itself, is also consolidating, moving toward being an artistic choice rather then one where producers say, “we want you to shoot digital with this camera.” Choice of a capture medium for economic reasons is a concept that I think is quickly disappearing. When the mantra to make a movie was “this camera will save you money” (a false notion at best), cinematographers were often forced into the wrong choice for the look and the budget of the project. Now the choice of a camera equates one-for-one to the quality and look of the image, filling the same role the choice of film stocks once occupied.

One change I know we won’t be seeing in 2012 is an end to the fast and furious pace of new imaging technologies and new camera platforms on the market. Canon’s impressive new push into professional film and television capture will not stop at one camera; I think we will see some more exciting things coming from them in very short order. We will also see the release of the 8K Sony F65 into the market, which will raise the bar of image quality and dynamic range. And then there’s the long anticipated introduction of Panavision’s new digital platforms, expected in 2012.

Along with these higher quality systems the quality of lenses will need to increase as well. Ironically this will also call for new ways to “influence” these high acutance and sharp lenses and image chips. New quality camera filters and diffusion will be needed at the point of capture to help actors and actresses slip into their characters without audiences seeing every flaw and pore on their skin. Go to work Tiffen. We are going to need your help.

Also entering the marketplace are the so-called “Lab In A Box” systems that will allow Union camera crews to get deliverables finished on set before the end of a production day, in whatever format necessary for post. The director of photography and director approved color management notes will follow each frame of a movie through to the final digital intermediate as metadata. Hopefully, as I’ve been talking about for the last 20 years, this will mark the beginning of ‘end-to-end, device independent color management systems’ moving away from being a discussion and becoming a reality.

New Years and new ways of thinking subvert the old model of creating hard and fast resolutions to stick by. And maybe that’s a good thing; constant change is what makes 2012 such an exciting year to be working in the film and television industry.

Fraternally,

Steven Poster, ASC
National President
International Cinematographers Guild
IATSE Local 600

Chris Menges, ASC, BSC, unlocks the fragile secrets of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. By Joseph Donovan. Photos by Francois Duhamel.

Chris Menges, ASC, BSC received the American Society of Cinematographers International Award two years ago, and the nod of respect from his peers underscored what has been a remarkable career for the U.K.-born and bred shooter. Beginning on documentary crews in Africa, and the Far East, Menges’ talents were later nurtured on a dozen independent films with director Ken Loach; with his skills reaching full bloom on two Oscar® winning projects for director Roland Joffe, The Killing Fields and The Mission. Other gems in this longtime indie’s chest include Black Beauty, Walter and June, The Boxer, Dirty Pretty Things, Local Hero, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, The Yellow Handkerchief and Stop-Loss. Additional Oscar nominations came for Michael Collins and The Reader, the latter of which he shared credit for with Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC.

The Reader was directed by Stephen Daldry, also the director of Menges’ most recent assignment, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. “Our collaboration works for a number of reasons,” describes Daldry, who also directed The Hours and Billy Elliot. “Not just because Chris lights so beautifully, and not just because he is brilliant at moving the camera. Everything [for Menges] is about the characters and the story. He is an invaluable partner in understanding the structure of the narrative, and worries about every aspect of production, not just camera. His friendship, along with his enabling guidance and suggestions, makes it a proper collaboration.”

Fans of novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, whose first book Everything Was Illuminated, was turned into in a film by Liev Schreiber, will no doubt have high expectations for this screen version of Safran Foer’s popular follow-up novel, whose precocious and sensitive hero is a 9-year-old Oskar Schell (wonderfully played by newcomer Thomas Horn). After Oskar’s father dies in the 9/11 tragedies, he leaves behind a key that Oskar finds, triggering a quest to find what it unlocks. Overwhelmed by the brash city, and gripped with fear, Oskar learns some difficult, yet life-affirming lessons along the way. Matters are further complicated by a guilt-ridden family dynamic, and a fraught relationship with his grandfather, whose identity is at first a secret.

Daldry says that Menges’ background shooting World in Action documentaries was key to the project. “Chris’ incredible BBC work all those years ago was applicable here, in terms of capturing the child lost in the city,” the director states. “Finding the moment, finding what interested the boy, and plotting where we would place him, and what he might be frightened of, interested in, or recoiling against – this was the incredibly pleasurable exploration we shared. Having a flexible crew was of utmost importance. We weren’t locked into shot lists. We could improvise and move around with freedom.”

In addition to Menges, the top-notch crew included production designer K.K. Barrett, and Oscar-winning editor Claire Simpson (Platoon), and a cast with the likes of Zoe Caldwell, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow, Viola Davis, John Goodman and Jeffrey Wright.

New York-based Harris Savides, ASC assembled a crew and began testing cameras for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, ultimately settling on the ARRI ALEXA. At the same time, Menges had been learning about the ALEXA in the U.K. with Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC. He had also visited Bob Richardson, ASC using the ALEXA on the set of Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, shot in 3D. Savides withdrew before principal photography, and Menges, whom Daldry had originally asked to shoot the movie, came back into the frame, with the ALEXA remaining the rig of choice because as Daldry notes, “I was immediately taken [with the ALEXA] for the vividness and extraordinary clarity of the images that drew you closer to the characters.”

After a series of tests, and with the cooperation of ARRI and Deluxe Creative Services, the film became one of the first features to use the ARRIRAW format and the Codex OnBoard recorder to access the full sensor resolution of the ALEXA, and deliver uncompressed data. Previous ALEXA productions opted for the ProRes workflow using onboard SxS PRO cards.

Menges says he didn’t try to create a forced style for the film, other than a wee sense of heightened realism. “This is a story that’s set against a horrific event in recent history,” he explains. “And we needed to find a way that worked for Thomas Horn, who is a brilliant child, perfect for the role, but who had never acted before. We needed a sympathetic and simple way to capture his performance. That led us to lighting sets with practicals and using windows as main sources, and doing our best to keep lighting equipment off the set. Our focus pullers, Gregor Tavenner and Andy Harris, had an extraordinarily difficult task, as they worked successfully without marks to give young Thomas as much freedom as possible. The sharpness of the Alexa’s images meant that focus was even more unforgiving and critical.”

For the most part, the camera is observational, except for a couple of less objective scenes. “On the whole, the story is simply told,” continues Daldry. “There are a few moments where we get into the subjective world of the child, for example when he is frightened of the noise and tumult of the city, or when he is retelling stories. That subjectivity we worked hard at. We looked for a cinematic language that allowed the audience to get closer, into how the boy’s mind actually worked. A lot of it therefore is in extreme close-up.”

That objectivity translated into a lot of dolly work, with a few handheld scenes. The subjective scenes employed more visual effects to “twist” the images depicting careening ambulances and other disturbing urban elements. But Menges says that for the most part, the film takes place in the apartment of the boy’s family rather than on the city streets. Those interiors were constructed on soundstages at JC Studios on 14th Street in Brooklyn.

“The apartment designed by K.K. Barrett was a terrific set,” he describes. “It was intentionally built quite small to give a claustrophobic feeling. We lit using the external windows or with practicals inside, again to give it a sense of heightened realism, but also to keep equipment off the floor in order to give Thomas a comfortable space in which to perform.”

In one emblematic scene, Oskar plays the desperate, anguished answering machine messages his father left from inside the World Trade Center just before he died. The boy had heard them at the time they were left, but couldn’t pick up the phone. Even though Oskar has hidden these messages from his mother, he shares them with “the renter,” played by von Sydow, who is eventually revealed to be the boy’s grandfather.

Menges lit the scene with 4K and 6K sources reflecting off Ultrabounce units, and one 24K aimed directly into the room, thus keeping the lights off the floor of the set. “It’s a terribly simple thing, really, but very powerful because of the performances,” Menges says. “This approach kept the floor clear, which was a constant challenge, and it meant that seeing in eyes was sometimes a problem. But we managed to work on that in the DI.”

In another emotional scene, Oskar’s grandfather decides to leave because he is causing too much stress in the boy’s life. The boy confronts von Sydow’s character in the street. Here, Menges lit mainly with 5Ks gelled to match the color temperature of sodium vapor lamps. Rather than adding light to a scene shot on a moving subway car, Menges was able to create a more modeled, less flat light by holding back some of the existing fluorescent tubes.

“The ALEXA is good at that,” he shares. “It has a great ability at night, because you can boost the ASA so easily. It’s got a very good, vibrant color presence that you can use to advantage. But best of all, particularly when you’re dealing with a child actor, is the Codex hard drive, which can run for 50 minutes. You can keep rolling and shooting, and it maintains the concentration of the whole crew.”

First AC Tavenner had worked with ALEXAs on the Hugo shoot, and was a valuable member of the camera team, as was longtime N.Y.-based digital imaging technician Abby Levine. The workflow was such that loader Matt Howard would take Codex “mags” as they came off the camera and reconcile metadata to camera reports. [Future iterations of the ALEXA will be able to automatically record metadata.] Backup copies of the ARRIRAW files were made to hard drives on the set. The “mags” went to Deluxe for dailies color correction and editorial. Backups were made and verified.

Levine says the on-set process was designed to allow Menges to treat the ALEXA the same as he would film. “On day one [Menges] took out his meter, set it to 800 ASA, and metered fill and key very carefully,” Levine recalls. “Our goal was to give Chris that additional comfort factor, and over time, once we got into the daylight exteriors, he relied on me a little more, coming over the see the monitor. I was careful, as always, to make sure that the representation of what Chris was seeing on the set was close to what he was seeing in the DI theater where we saw dailies. During the first week, we stopped by Deluxe with some frequency to see how things matched up. If adjustments were needed, he made them with his lighting. He really did treat it as a film stock.”

Levine monitored both ALEXA units via Blackmagic HD Link Pro units, with a basic LUT provided by Deluxe Creative Services that emulated film. Levine occasionally added a bit of contrast, under Menges’ direction, but for the most part, kept things simple. That same LUT would be applied to dailies. “To spend too much time obsessing about on-set color correction is, to me, kind of a fool’s errand,” Levine describes.

Digital artist Stefan Sonnenfeld, founder of Company 3, which is under the Deluxe Creative Services umbrella, describes the look coming out of the DI as cinematic. “The images have a nice, strong contrast, but nothing contrived or obvious,” he says. “We’re trying to replicate what was there and what they shot, but at the same time, give it a little bit of energy.”

Sonnenfeld says that working with Menges, Daldry and editor Claire Simpson was “fantastic.” “Chris has great taste and aesthetics, and a good sense of what he wants,” the longtime colorist observes. “He is used to film’s properties, so sometimes we were playing around with the contrast ranges. It took some acclimating. But to me, the ARRI Alexa seems to be closer to that film feel. It’s a very streamlined process, and probably the least complicated and most efficient one out there. Chris was very pleased with the film-out, which has some texture and grain that makes it hard to distinguish whether it was shot on film or digital. Some features we are in discussions on are thinking of shooting film for one aspect, and shooting Alexa for another aspect, because of the different characteristics of each. Low ASA stock and Alexa footage marry well together. More flexibility and creativity is what filmmakers want.”

Bill Feightner, executive vice president of technology at EFilm (also part of Deluxe Creative Services), served as chief technical advisor for the project. Feightner says that aside from translating the ARRIRAW images to a format that worked with the company’s standard DI procedure, the workflow was well established. “The capture device and the way it was set up was the only thing that was new, so we didn’t have to do any custom-design work,” Feightner says. “It was the first time a Hollywood feature had used the RAW format, so we had a team of technical people and programmers available, as did ARRI, to change a few small things during testing. But once we had the handshake with this new format, it was seamless.”

Using a LUT from Deluxe’s library, according to Feightner, helped make the process work. “ARRIRAW captures every bit of information from the sensor,” he says. “It’s close to the kind of capture range you have with film. It’s still not there – but it’s close. There is so much information captured, that if you don’t have a whole robust system planned out, meaning if you just plug it into a color corrector and start twisting knobs it’s not usually going to work very well. The idea of this system is that you load up your dailies or DI, and without touching a knob, it’s going to be a beautiful, balanced picture. All of that baseline work is already done, and what’s left is the creativity.”

Feightner says he is often asked by cinematographers shooting digital for the first time, “What is the number one mistake people make?” “It’s forgetting all the experience you’ve gained, and thinking you have to do everything differently,” he answers.

In the DI, Menges says he discovered even more about the ALEXA. “I initially thought there was more information and latitude than there actually is,” he says. “Going through the DI process, one truly understands the dynamics of the camera. The really wonderful thing about the Alexa is the 50 minutes of recording without reloading. But with everything I know now, having done the DI, if I had it to do over, I probably would have chosen film. I think film still has better resolution and definition, and stronger blacks. That said, I’m still very pleased with what I’m seeing and what we accomplished.”

Menges is quick to credit the crew he inherited from Savides, which included Steadicam/B camera operator Maceo Bishop, key grip Tommy Prate, dolly grip Brendan Malone, second unit director of photography Pat Capone and gaffer Bill O’Leary. “This New York camera crew was absolutely terrific,” he concludes. “It’s a terribly emotional story and I think that made for a difficult shoot. It was quite tough to be working and contemplating what happened on 9/11. Good crews everywhere make good work possible. People who love film and care about their work will fall over backwards to make something work, and they certainly did on this project.”

EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
DP Chris Menges, ASC, BSC
by Joseph Donovan

JOYFUL NOISE
DP David Boyd, ASC
by Ted Elrick

ARE WE THERE YET?
DP Bill Berner
by Pauline Rogers

DSLR TRENCH TALES
by Matthew Irving

INDIE HORROR CASE STUDY: THE WOMAN
by Valentina I. Valentini

600 VOICES SERIES PART I
by Pauline Rogers

EXPOSURE: John Cooper

KEY LIGHT: Canon Event

GEAR GUIDE: Indie Issue

UNSCRIPTED: Jeremy Walker

Youssef Alsheikh as "young Mehdi" in Thief / Courtesy of Andrew Wheeler

Cinematographer Andrew Wheeler shot his thesis film, Thief, while earning a Master of Fine Arts at the American Film Institute. The 24-minute short, which has racked up more than a dozen international awards, focuses on two periods in the life of Saddam Hussein, and is told in the Iraqi Arabic language with English subtitles.

The opening sequence takes place in 1959, when Hussein is a young man. The setting is a dirt-poor family farm made up of a father, mother and their teenage son. When a disheveled looking Hussein crawls out of the river nearby, he is befriended my Mehdi (Youssef Alsheikh), who brings him back to his dirt-poor family farm. After some conversation, Mehdi’s father (Ayman Samman) invites the stranger into the house, where he cleans and wraps a makeshift bandage around his wounded leg. They share a meal, and the father offers to drive Hussein to town. He repays the family’s hospitality by stealing their cherished truck. More than 40 years later, Hussein, now on the run from American soldiers, returns to the farm, where he is reunited with Mehdi, who has become a goat herder (Maz Siam).

Few thesis films have enjoyed as much notoriety as Thief: so far it has earned a Narrative Gold Medal at the 2011 Student Academy Awards and First Place Drama and Best Director at the College Television Awards, along with double top honors in the Cinematography and Student Film competitions at the 2011 Big Bear International Film Festival.

I talked with Wheeler and his mentor, Stephen Lighthill, ASC (Cinematographer in Residence at AFI), who brings a broad range of experience to his teaching duties. Lighthill began his eclectic career in San Francisco as a news cameraman for CBS-TV and 60 Minutes before segueing to network television (Nash Bridges, She Spies) and independent narratives and documentaries that include Always Been a Rambler, Surfing for Life, and Berkeley in the Sixties.

(R) Maz Siam as "Mehdi" and (L) Muneer Katchi as Saddam Hussein / Courtesy of Andrew Wheeler

ICG: Andrew, where were you born and raised? Were you a movie fan or photo hobbyist as a kid?

Andrew Wheeler:  I was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Pittsburgh. When I was five years old The Natural was released, and it [and still is] my favorite movie. It convinced me to be a baseball player. It was also the same year my parents won a video camera in a raffle, and I soon became obsessed with that camera.  Later on in high school, I took a video production class where my teacher, Dr. Judith Hulick, instilled confidence in me to pursue my passion. During my junior and senior years, I was allowed to attend cinematography classes at the University of Pittsburgh every Friday.

ICG: What other experiences influenced you as a filmmaker?

Wheeler: The biggest influence was playing guitar in a hardcore punk band. I spent five years touring in more than 40 countries. It was our mission to play where Western bands never went, including Borneo, Sumatra, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Finland, Macedonia, Serbia, and Croatia.  I saw the sun set differently in so many places, and recognized that human emotion is universal. I also learned to deal with challenging situations and people in a diplomatic way. Sometimes I feel like my cinematography career got started late, but I wouldn’t trade the experience of meeting people around the world.

ICG: How did Thief become your thesis project?

Wheeler: I befriended [director] Julian Higgins during my first year at AFI. We teamed up with [editor] Justin Laforge before we had the script that Julian wrote in collaboration with Matthew Wieland. Julian and I walked around the Silver Lake Reservoir many times discussing the story and life in general. We must have walked 100 miles.

(F) Youssef Alsheikh and (R) Sana Etoile as Mehdi's mother/ Courtesy of Andrew Wheeler

ICG: Tell us more about Thief. It’s been wildly successful for a student thesis project.

Wheeler: It’s a coming-of-age story about the moment in your life when you realize the world is a dangerous place and everyone isn’t well intentioned. Most of the film takes place at the same house. It was a nice family home in 1959, but over 40 years later, it has become a dilapidated, squat looking house.

Stephen Lighthill: Did you choose to shoot in an actual house or a set?

Wheeler: Erika Walters (production designer) and her team did a fantastic job building the house on a movie ranch in Acton, California.

Lighthill: The actors speak in the Iraqi dialect with subtitles. How did Julian find actors who spoke the language?

Wheeler: The cast is a mix of experienced actors and first-timers. Julian went to plays, film festivals, mosques and other places to find Arab actors. We were lucky to find the boy, as he was one of only a few young, Arabic-speaking actors in Los Angeles. The two actors who play young and old Saddam Hussein are both Iraqi. The actors playing the young and old version of the boy he meets are Egyptian and Palestinian. The mother is from Morocco, and the father is from Egypt. The actors were thrilled to be playing humanistic Arab characters just as much as we were to be making a hopeful film about humanity.

Courtesy of Elizabeth Kitchens

ICG: Tell us more about your collaboration with your director.

AFI emphasizes collaboration on all levels. I have an immense amount of respect for Julian (Higgins). He enabled everyone to bring their best to the table and he respected their craft.  Julian bounced ideas off of me. He trusted me to interpret them.

Lighthill: What films did you use for visual reference?

Wheeler: I was mostly influenced by the cinematography in There Will Be Blood, shot by Robert Elswit, and Hud, shot by James Wong Howe. It’s funny because they are both anamorphic films and Thief is 1.85:1.  It was just the tone of those films that I really liked.

ICG: Why did you choose to shoot in 1.85:1?

Wheeler: We tested 2.40:1 and 1.85:1 at our location. After long discussions, Julian and I agreed to shoot on 3-perf super 35 mm negative composed in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, because it emphasizes the steepness and secluded nature of our location. We used a Panavision G-2 camera with Ultra Speed Mark II lenses that AFI has on loan from Panavision. Kodak donated most of the film, and we received a grant from Technicolor to do processing, DI postproduction and prints.

ICG: Stephen, what were your impressions of Andrew’s work on Thief?

Lighthill: One of the things that I love about the movie is how they created two distinct period looks. They used nuanced images, much like words in the script. There is a scene that takes place by the Tigris River, which they shot at the Salton Sea. Other than that, the story evolves outside of and inside the house. Probably, because of my documentary background, I like narrative films that reflect the world around the characters.

Courtesy of Reid Chavis

ICG: Andrew, how did you make the two eras look and feel different?

Wheeler: I learned an important lesson from my first film at AFI.  Especially in a short film, you need to be careful not to make things look too dissimilar, or else the scenes seem like different films. Everything has a little more color and life in the 1959 scenes. The production design was a big part of that look. For the 1959 scenes in the house, I exposed for the interior, so you don’t see quite as much outside the windows. They are slightly blown out and it feels like you are watching memories. We wanted the 2003 segment to feel like the world was imposing on our main character.  I kept the exposure on the windows, so it was darker inside. The 2003 segments have a partial bleach bypass look. We shot tests with Erika, using different film stocks, wardrobe and background colors to find the right look. After testing, Kodak Vision 2 5260 500T, color negative film was the clear choice.  I also tested different types of color correction and decided on using a Tiffen Decamired (DMR12) filter during the 1959 scenes and a half Decamired (DMR6) filter for half correction in the 2003 segments. There was a difference in skin tones between the Decamireds and an 85 filter.

ICG: Tell us about the pivotal scene where Saddam steals the truck.

Wheeler: Early in the film, the father arrives with a truck he’s bought for the family, so they can take things to market.  Later, Saddam convinces the boy to help him steal the truck. It’s the only scene that is all handheld, which heightens the drama. Julian likes to direct near the camera and is always focused on the task at hand.  I have complete trust in him. If something isn’t right, all the way down to a tiny prop, he takes responsibility.

ICG: Share some memories about the scene you filmed at the Salton Sea, when Hussein comes out of the river and meets the boy.

Wheeler: The sunset was beautiful. The biggest challenge was that the boy was a minor. Children can only work five out of nine hours in a day, including travel time. We only had a few hours to film the scene. We used bounce cards and reflectors to light.

Courtesy of Andrew Wheeler

ICG: Tell us about the DI.

Wheeler: We did a 2K DI with the wonderful (colorist) Adrian Seery. We took most the colors out of the foliage in the 2003 scenes, because we wanted a dead environment. One of Adrian’s suggestions was a saturation fade during a 20 to 25-second transition into a 1959 flashback.  I don’t think the audience notices it on a conscious level, but they feel it.

Lighthill: You told me that Thief isn’t really a story about Saddam Hussein, the dictator.

Wheeler: We were originally fascinated with the idea about someone who had everything and lost it all. That idea helped inform how we would portray Saddam.  However, Saddam isn’t the main character, and the movie works whether you know it’s him or not.

Lighthill: For me, he has a dictator’s presumption of being welcomed wherever he goes. When he returns to the farm, Hussein helps himself to the family’s meager supply of milk, yoghurt and crackers. Then, he says to the main character, “have a seat.” It’s an implied threat, because he’s carrying an AK-47 gun. He’s a guy on the run that is willing to kill to stay alive.

ICG: Stephen, what is approval process at AFI for shooting thesis films?

Lighthill: During their first year, we let them shoot their films with relatively little input. We critique the films afterwards.  During the second year, they show us the script and we discuss their plans. There is a mentor for every person on the team.

ICG: What do you take away from AFI and your time there with Stephen?

Wheeler: I didn’t realize it while it was happening, but looking back, my first year at AFI was the most influential. It was a really brutal year. We were going non-stop seven days a week, 12 to 14 hours a day. Your film is projected in a theater with the whole school watching one week after you have finished shooting. An amazing part of the experience was that almost half of the students were foreigners. During the interview process at AFI, I don’t know if Stephen remembers this moment, he asked me what I wanted out of AFI and I said that I wanted criticism of my work. During my time at AFI his way of communicating with me was effective in that he told me things I needed to hear and often without telling me directly. He had a way of giving advice that required me to look within myself to fully realize what he was trying to say to me.

I would also add that while I obviously learned a lot and had tremendous guidance from faculty members like Stephen, in some ways, for me, the best part was hanging out with my fellow students. We all had different experiences, perspectives and ways of working.

Courtesy of Elizabeth Kitchens

ICG: Stephen, what were your impressions instructing and working with Andrew?

He came into the program with a great deal of professional set experience, mainly in the electric department, but limited photographic/cinematographic experience and knowledge. To address this, Andrew kept a notebook of still photographs, and carried a still camera everywhere. And, he was diligent in our first year technical lectures, questioning us when he was unsure of something. Definitely his saving grace as someone wanting to become a cinematographer was a desire for criticism and feedback. He was never afraid to ask questions about his own cinematography. Each narrative short he shot was better than the previous one. Even during Thief, when the die was cast, production was done and he didn’t need to hear my opinions, we still had conversations about his approach to the piece. I think his two years at AFI were successful.

ICG: Andrew, what lessons did you learn while shooting Thief?

Wheeler: I think the most important lesson I learned was to trust my instincts. You have to prepare as much as possible, but ultimately you have to decide in the moment if what’s happening is right for the film. I knew Thief had the potential to be a very good film, but it was a wonderful surprise when we started getting calls saying we were winning awards.

Lighthill: For us here at the Institute, it’s so very gratifying to have our fellows receive this recognition. I really believe the AFI curriculum is infinitely richer because of the diversity of nationalities, genders and backgrounds in our classes.