{"id":14049,"date":"2025-12-18T15:57:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/?p=14049"},"modified":"2025-12-18T16:31:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T00:31:26","slug":"trigger-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/trigger-happy\/","title":{"rendered":"Trigger Happy"},"content":{"rendered":"
Thanks to the steady hand of Local 600 Director of Photography Arnaud Potier, AFC, and his Kentucky-based camera team, Dead Man\u2019s Wire <\/i>is a point-and-shoot replica of the best attributes of 1970s filmmaking: daring, spontaneous, and unpredictable.<\/div>\n
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by David Geffner \/ Photos by Stefania Rosini\/ Row K Entertainment<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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There\u2019s an extended sequence in the opening\u00a0of <\/strong>Gus Van Sant\u2019s newest feature,\u00a0Dead Man\u2019s Wire<\/em>, where the story\u2019s anti-hero, Tony Kiritsis (played by Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd), exits the high-rise office building of the Meridian Mortgage Company with a shotgun leveled at the back of the head of his broker, Richard \u201cDick\u201d Hall (Dacre Montgomery). Incensed that Hall and his father, M.L. (Al Pacino), have denied additional time to make payments on a chunk of land Kiritsis had plans to develop (so Meridian could repossess the property and bring in their own commercial tenants), Kiritsis wants to make sure the world (via TV news) understands his David-versus-Goliath plight. His plan involves lacing a wire around Hall\u2019s neck to the shotgun\u2019s trigger so that any attempt to escape (or a police bullet finding Kiritsis) would instantly kill his hostage. Kiritsis\u2019s main requests, once the media spotlight is shining on him, are to be compensated for the money Meridian would have made on the property and a personal apology from M.L. Hall for his company\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

As the men push out onto the downtown streets of Indianapolis (doubled by Louisville) circa 1977 and dusted with (real) snow, they\u2019re shadowed by anxious cops, their patrol cars haphazardly parked outside the building\u2019s entrance. Kiritsis walks steadily for several blocks behind Hall, chatting with law enforcement like they\u2019re old friends (which some of them are). Unable to find his own car, he commandeers an idling police car (true story!), telling a detective (he also knows) of the address of his apartment so that \u201cyou boys can all just follow me over there, if you want.\u201d What then transpires is a bizarre chase through the streets of a snow-bound Louisville with Kiritsis trying (in vain) to use the car\u2019s P.A. system while his shotgun is jutted against Hall, who is behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

The sequence \u2013 shot in two days of a 19-day schedule \u2013 is remarkably true to life, as news footage of the era reveals. As director of photography, Arnaud Potier, AFC, shares, \u201cWhat you see in our film is very much how it happened in 1977. Tony wasn\u2019t trying to escape \u2013 he had a plan to take Richard to his apartment, and he told the police and news cameras to \u2018follow me, as this is where I\u2019m going.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Potier, whose feature credits include\u00a0Skin<\/em>, for director Guy Nattiv, and\u00a0Aggro Dr1ft<\/em>, for director Harmony Korine, along with many high-end commercials, says shooting period films on an indie budget is always challenging. \u201cThere are usually restrictions in the frame, with buildings and cars that aren\u2019t period,\u201d he explains. \u201cFor one shot in that sequence, after Tony had taken Richard out of the building, we were way down at the end of the street using a Canon 50-1000 [T5.6-]\u00a0zoom with an extender. That allowed the areas that weren\u2019t 100 percent period to go a little soft as the car drives up towards camera. Inside the car, when the cops were following, we played a lot of low-angle frames so we wouldn\u2019t see too much that wasn\u2019t period. Our 1st\u00a0AC, Geoff Storts, did an amazing job, as we did just one take on that long zoom. And it\u2019s one of my favorites in the whole film.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The opening sequence covers a large swath of Louisville’s downtown. It included one of director of photography Arnaud Potier’s favorite frames (shot on a Canon 50-1000 mm zoom, with a 1.5 extender and a doubler). “Being on that long a lens, from so far away, lets you cheat out some of the areas that are contemporary,” Potier describes. “Our 1st AC [Louisville-based], Geoff Storts, did an amazing job, as we got that long zoom shot in a single take.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Storts, local to Louisville and a big union booster for<\/strong>\u00a0younger filmmakers in the city\u00a0[ICG Magazine August 2025]<\/a>, says the watchwords for his union camera team were to always be fast and expedient. \u201cThat sequence was in the first week of shooting, and it covered a large city block,\u201d Storts reflects. \u201cWe mapped it all out from the Courier-Journal office building that was our home base to where the car ends up crashing up on the snowbank.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Courier-Journal building, much of which is vacant, served as a sort of mini-studio for the production team. It housed sets for Meridian Mortgage, the radio and TV stations, and Tony\u2019s apartment. Storts says the long walk-and-talk outside was accomplished with a lot of delegation. \u201cOur B-Camera Operator [Danielle Bartley] was positioned in an alleyway, and A-Camera Op [Federico Verardi] was down the street with the actors. We couldn\u2019t leave our carts by the building because we didn\u2019t have time to double back. So, it became this giant game of checkers with the cameras hopscotching while our utilities were running back and forth to the truck. One of the biggest challenges was radio frequency and where we could place Gus so his monitor could see both cameras. We were spread out over a big area, in the snow and freezing cold.\u201d<\/p>\n

DIT Tim Erickson confirms, noting that \u201cthe location did have a small opening between two buildings and across\u00a0the street from where Tony is walking with his hostage, and that\u2019s where we set up the DIT cart and video village in popup tents. The Art Department helped us out by staging garbage\u00a0cans\u00a0and then hiding the front with some additional set decoration. But there was no way the wireless would cover the whole distance, so I needed an RF extender for iris. For video, we were able to run and hide the cable to each receiver on a stand that was carefully hidden and out of the shot. One camera required a 200-foot cable run, while another required our loader to follow and wrangle because we couldn\u2019t find a spot that it would hold for the full run. It was quite the setup.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Director Van Sant (middle) prefers to work quickly with minimal takes. Potier (right) says, “my trick for adapting to Gus’s style, \u00a0like with the long dialogue scene when Tony [Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd, left] comes into Richard\u2019s office and takes him hostage, is to relocate the camera on each new angle \u2013 wide, close, medium \u2013 so Gus had options in editing, even if we only did one take of each shot.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because Van Sant\u2019s preferred method of working is one take,\u00a0<\/strong>with few rehearsals or marks for the actors, both Potier and Storts used techniques they\u2019d honed on earlier projects. \u201cI might ask for a second take for lighting or action,\u201d Potier recounts, \u201cas would the actors and the 1st\u00a0AD. But three takes was the absolute maximum we\u2019d go, and that was rare,\u201d he laughs. \u201cMy trick, like with the long dialogue scene when Tony first comes into Richard\u2019s office and takes him hostage, is to relocate the camera on each new angle \u2013 wide, close, medium \u2013 so Gus had options in editing, even if he only had one take of each shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming through the indie film scene in Louisville, \u201cwhere focus may not always get a lot of attention,\u201d Storts says he\u2019s developed skills to always be ready. \u201cLike reading the sides each day and knowing where the actors will be located, as well as studying each actor\u2019s tendencies,\u201d he describes. \u201cBy week two, I\u2019m usually calibrated to what they\u2019re doing. For example, Bill, who is six-foot-five, would often lean into Dacre when he was talking, and I\u2019d know where the threshold was to keep him in focus. I would also calibrate with Federico [Verardi], who was always precise with his movements. Arnaud operated handheld a lot on the [Sony] FX-3 with the Leica Noctilux 50 millimeter, and I got to know when he would like to push into the actors with that lens. With no marks or rehearsals, you\u2019re working mostly by feel, having established a key connection with the actors and your operators.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the long zoom Potier references from the opening sequence, Storts adds that \u201cwe were full-stick at 1000 millimeters, and then we added an internal 1.5 extender and then a doubler. So, we\u2019re sitting at 3000 millimeters, pulling on cars that were racing toward the camera. You could actually see heat vapors coming off the street. Checking focus, I was like, well, that\u2019s where the bridge is. And then I\u2019d look above the lens, and I could barely see it with my own eyes; we were so far away! It was just the tiniest of movements pulling them through, but it actually came out really good.\u201d Erickson calls the shot one of the most challenging of his entire career. \u201cFor the drone coverage that covered the full distance of the drive, [1st AD] Francisco [Diaz] was surprised when I told him I didn\u2019t think we would get a signal from the top of the roof, where the drone team staged halfway through the run, to us on the ground a half-mile away. But my loader and I were able to do a long cable\/DA combo to get the RF close enough that it came up before we rolled.\u201d<\/p>\n

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To emulate\u00a01970s-era news coverage, the ICG team used Ikegami broadcast cameras (sourced through Old School Cameras<\/a>), one of which was in frame<\/span>\u00a0and had to provide usable footage. “We needed a way to hide all our modern tech,” recalls DIT Tim Erickson. “Luckily, the props department had non-working Ikegamis and plenty of parts, so we mixed and matched viewfinders, lens support, period brackets, and even an old-school tungsten camera-mounted light for one scene.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Potier\u2019s history with Van Sant before\u00a0Dead Man\u2019s Wire was<\/em>\u00a0a brief one,\u00a0<\/strong>having shot a large commercial together that traveled three U.S. states. \u201cWe got along well on the commercial, and Gus liked my approach to lighting and camera,\u201d the French-born and raised DP recounts. \u201cSix months went by, and he called out of the blue, saying, \u2018I\u2019m starting a new movie. Do you want to shoot it?\u2019 I said, \u2018Of course I do.\u2019 But I was shooting another movie at the time in L.A. It was only because of an accident I had that forced me to leave that movie, [which, after recovery and the timing,] allowed me to end up working again with Gus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Sant says he liked the way \u201cArnaud designed his cameras when he worked a few years ago on a Harmony Corine film, and I didn\u2019t have any difficulty in communicating during the commercial project.\u00a0The fit into Dead Man\u2019s Wire<\/em>, I felt, was at first not possible, as Arnaud was my first choice, but he wasn\u2019t available. Then, suddenly, things shifted, and he was available again.\u00a0For me, the [DP\/Director connection] is often more about the ability to communicate than anything else.\u00a0Usually, the best course of action for me is the most daring and reckless, and if you can both get into that, you proceed with caution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Potier and Storts are quick to praise Van Sant\u2019s calm, crew-friendly style\u00a0<\/em>but note that his laid-back approach belied a distinct vision for transposing the 1970s style of filmmaking into their modern production. \u201cWhen Gus sent me the script,\u201d Potier adds, \u201che also attached the documentary feature [<\/a>Dead <\/em><\/a>Man\u2019s<\/em><\/a> Line<\/em><\/a>]<\/a>\u00a0that was made about the event. Most of that was shot on an Ikegami news camera, and that gave us the idea to replicate that look, intercutting news footage in real time with our Sony VENICE 2 cameras. That approach extended to the set dressing, wardrobe, hair, and makeup \u2013 a lot was geared toward bringing the documentary to life, to trying to make it feel like a film that doesn\u2019t so much look like what we remember about the 1970s but one that feels like it was shot in that time.\u201d Van Sant calls the documentary \u201cinspiring for us, especially the colors of those industrial color video cameras of the 1970s. They had a lot of strange greens and yellows that I liked.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The film contains a large amount of handheld camerawork because, as Potier describes, \u201cGus fell in love with the Sony FX3\/50-millimeter Noctilux combo. The FX3 has some internal stabilization, so we could push in very close, like the scenes in the radio station with Colman Domingo [above], as it felt smoother than normal handheld.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Speaking of broadcast cameras, the Ikegamis<\/strong> (see ICG\u2019s 2022 \u201cDeep Dive Live\u201d panel on\u00a0Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty<\/em><\/a>) were sourced through Old School Cameras <\/a><\/span>\u00a0(San Diego and L.A.) on the advice of Local 600 Director of Photography John Matysiak, with whom Storts has a long history (and who co-shot Season 2 of Winning Time<\/em>). \u201cWe didn\u2019t get to prep the Ikegamis until they showed up in Kentucky the first week of production,\u201d Storts shares, \u201cand only then learned that one of them would be on-camera, with the actor playing the news cameraman shooting footage that had to be usable for our film. It was an interesting mix of old and new tech, as the Ikegamis are not built to shoot cinema. Since there was no practical way to remotely control the lens for iris and focus, we relied on the actor playing the news shooter [John Robinson], who had worked with Gus before and knew how to operate a camera. He used the rocker on the lens and did a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erickson was \u201csuper-excited\u201d when Van Sant and Potier told him about wanting to use the Ikegamis, \u201cas I was a big fan of how they looked on Winning Time<\/em>, and I have a background in analog electronics.\u201d He says the two Ikegamis were each tuned for a specific look (at the behest of Potier) by Old School Cameras before they were shipped. \u201cOn the day they arrived, we built one in our truck-docking bay in 10-20 degree temperatures,\u201d Erickson describes, \u201cand I immediately noticed something was off with the color and focus, plus I saw some ghosting\/color blending on bright light sources. It turns out that one of the Ikegamis got knocked out of alignment during shipping. I haven\u2019t tuned an analog device in some time, so initially, I was worried when I took off the side cover to see a large number of adjustment pots,\u201d he smiles. \u201cHowever, both Gus and Arnaud do an excellent job of giving us room to be creative, and I know that while the technical aspects are important, for them the artistic side is the main priority; at the very worst I knew I just could twist the pots until the look resonated with them, i.e., I knew I was in good hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erickson set up the on-camera Ikegami with the desired white balance\/ISO\/gain\/iris settings, and, as noted, the actor pulled his own focus. \u201cIf John didn\u2019t appear on screen,\u201d Erickson adds, \u201cwe would also have an operator shoot more coverage, occasionally on a tripod, but they also pulled focus themselves, keeping with the methods of the era. Since that body often appeared on camera, we needed a way to hide all our modern tech, and luckily, the props department had non-working Ikegamis and plenty of parts, so we mixed and matched viewfinders, lens support, period brackets, and even an old-school tungsten camera-mounted light for one scene. The Ikegamis also had covers with the logos of the TV news channels that we used to hide our AJA RGB converter. Geoff had a period leather camera bag to hide the Blackmagic monitor\/recorder, hardware scaler, battery, and cables, so the actor could just grab and go.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For Kiritsis’s tiny studio apartment, Production Designer Stephen Dechant designed the set in an L-shaped configuration to give Potier depth in his framing and lighting choices. \u00a0\u201cI thought of Scatman Crothers\u2019 bedroom from The Shining<\/em>, which had a coral color that we aged down,” Dechant describes. “I also designed wild walls on wheels so Arnaud could work quickly. I want my designs to give the DP a lot of flexibility, particularly on a film of this size and budget.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The Ikegami footage proved to be such a hit\u00a0<\/strong>that Van Sant and Potier came up with a unique concept that the team called \u201cIkegami Re-Record.\u201d As Erickson explains, \u201cArnaud wanted to play back footage shot on our Sony VENICE 2s and then re-shoot it with the Ikegami. I did some tests and showed them to him and Gus, and they loved the results. Arnaud, [co-DIT] Sin Cohen, and I then did more tests to come up with a workflow to incorporate the \u2018Ikegami Re-records.\u2019 That involved loading the footage into Da Vinci Resolve, outputting it to a large monitor, and then shooting it again using a zoom to emulate the handheld news look. Sin came up with a custom solution to ensure we had proper matching timecode and audio on the re-records, and I came up with a way to color-correct the VENICE footage on the monitor so the look matched as closely as possible. Our last week in Louisville was stage work, so [Utility] Kennedy Cochran and I set up a 24-inch SmallHD OLED monitor that we tented with Duvetyn and played back the footage Arnaud wanted us to shoot. We also had fun creating new footage to emulate the handheld look. Honestly, this is the first time I\u2019ve ever had the opportunity to do something\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>far out of the box, so I consider myself lucky for the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Sant calls the montage approach (which also included black-and-white and color stills, along with the Ikegami re-records and archival footage) \u201csomething that has become how we are used to communicating today.\u00a0Working in the year 2025, you won\u2019t necessarily be able to completely make it seem like it is 1977, but you have it as a reference and work with the knowledge of 2025 techniques. We were also picking up on montage techniques that were used in the 1970s, like the films La <\/em>Jet\u00e9e<\/em>,\u00a0Woodstock,<\/em> or\u00a0Don\u2019t Look Back<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much like how\u00a0Winning Time\u2019s union <\/em>crew experimented with camera media, Potier\u2019s ICG team employed as many as seven capture systems (rarely all at the same time). Those included two Sony VENICE 2s as the A\/B cameras, shooting full-sensor 8.6K, 3:2 mode (cropped for a 1.66:1 final aspect ratio); the small footprint Sony FX3 as a C-camera, recording internally\u00a0<\/strong>to the highest bit rate, XAVC I frame mode, in 4K. Erickson says he would\u00a0typically record RAW to an external recorder, \u201cbut Gus really liked the look when Arnaud went handheld with the minimal FX3 build, as he could get very close to the actors and hold it with one hand. That caused a subtle but real difference compared with the larger VENICE, even in Rialto mode. The ISO was 1250-1600 because we saw that the more compressed codec was a better match to our VENICE 2, texture-wise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other cameras included a DJI Inspire 2, recording in 5K, Cinema DNG RAW, with ISO adjusted for the stop; the two Ikegamis, with different gain settings instead of ISO, \u201cbut we typically stayed at the 0 and +9 modes,\u201d Erickson adds, \u201cas +18 was just too noisy and fell apart too much. They had different white balance settings like 3200K and 5600K for daylight, plus a daylight and ND mode. We had zooms for these, a long and short B4 broadcast zoom.\u201d The final camera, a Sigma, was nicknamed the \u201cGus\u201d cam, which Van Sant wanted to use for stills. It had a video mode that the director could use to shoot inserts, but it was mainly used as a viewfinder and communication tool. The team did roll a few times on it, though in 4K, to internal cards in H.265.<\/p>\n

Potier\u2019s go-to lenses were a full set of never-used Richard Gale Optic Clavius that required Storts to spend more time in prep making sure they were on point; the 50 mm Leica Noctilux, T 0.95, used on the FX3; as well as a full set of vintage Canon K35s, both for the look and because they were faster at T1.4 than most of the Clavius (helpful on night exteriors). Potier opted to use 1\/8 or 1\/4 smoke filters on the main cameras. He also employed POLA filters and a set of diopters, mainly for the night exteriors. A full set of ND was used on the FX3, with the internal ND in play for the VENICE 2. Verardi brought his own Ronin and Black Arm, which was rigged to a car\/crane combo, when Kiritsis leaves Meridian, as well as a stairwell scene when he finally exits his apartment with Hall.<\/p>\n

A courtroom scene at the end of the film portrays Kiritsis (found guilty by reason of insanity) exiting the building and getting into the police vehicle as it drives off, with the camera lingering on his implacable expression. Potier designed the scene as a oner with Verardi in the courtroom on the 4th floor, then leading Kiritsis all the way outside and into the car that drives off. \u201cIt was a tough shot,\u201d Potier recounts, \u201cas Fedi had to walk backwards down four full flights of stairs, out the door, down the exterior court steps, and then stand on a special rig the grips had created on the car. It was shot on the FX3 with a special handheld cage that had remote focus, iris, and Vari-ND motors.\u201d Erickson adds that \u201cit was challenging for all involved, since there were large stop changes going from the courtroom to the stairwell to outside to the car, then staying on him as it drove. We set up a variable ND on one motor and iris on the other, so it was a dance keeping exposure and focus. For some parts, Geoff was pulling on a T0.95, and for others it was a 2.8 or 5.6, so he really had to be on his toes.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe had three days to shoot all of Tony\u2019s apartment on stage,\u201d Potier reflects, \u201cand because so much time goes by \u2013 dusk, night, day again \u2013 I relied on [1st AD] Francisco [Diaz] to help us with the scheduling. We always wanted to feel the pressure of the police shining lights up into the apartment [on the third floor], so we used elements mounted on rigs that could slowly turn to give the feeling of light sweeping across the window.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Production Designer Stefan Dechant\u00a0<\/strong>[<\/strong>ICG Magazine January 2022]<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>currently prepping James Gunn\u2019s next\u00a0Superman\u00a0<\/em>film in Atlanta, was connected with Van Sant through\u00a0Dead Man\u2019s Wire<\/em>\u2019s\u00a0costume designer, Peggy Schnitzer, with whom Dechant had just finished the Ethan Coen-directed\u00a0Honey Don\u2019t!<\/em>\u00a0\u201cThe films I was looking at for reference,\u201d Dechant shares, \u201cwere\u00a0Dog Day Afternoon<\/em>,\u00a0The Taking of Pelham 123<\/em>, Network<\/em>, All The President\u2019s Men<\/em>, Taxi Driver,<\/em> and\u00a0The Shining<\/em>. Those all took place in the era they were made, and they share an honesty about that time period. There\u2019s a tendency now to fetishize what the 70s looked like. For example, it wasn\u2019t all earth tones \u2013 there are scenes in\u00a0Taxi Driver\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0All The President\u2019s Men\u00a0<\/em>that have bright, bold colors, and I thought we had to be open to that approach. What I wasn\u2019t expecting was getting a photo from Gus of Tony Leung\u2019s office from\u00a0In The Mood For Love<\/em>, saying that he envisioned that look for Tony Kiritsis\u2019 apartment. That\u2019s a Wong Kar Wai movie from 2000, so it definitely threw me for a loop!\u201d<\/p>\n

Dechant called up an illustrator friend to create a look for Kiritsis\u2019 apartment that utilized elements of that photograph. \u201cThe other thing that crystallized my approach,\u201d the designer continues, \u201cwas visiting Gus at his house and seeing all the art he\u2019s made. I thought, \u2018This person is a painter, and he\u2019s going to look at this film with that eye. I grew up in Cleveland in the 1970s, and it\u2019s very similar to Indianapolis, so I had a preconception from my own memories. But Gus\u2019s inspirations were more eclectic; for example, he brought me a William Eggleston photograph of a mural that he said would be great for the background in the TV station. His instincts took me to areas I never would have gone, and the design of the film was the better for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A large chunk of\u00a0Dead Man\u2019s Wire<\/em> takes place in Kiritsis\u2019 tiny studio apartment. The action begins during the day after he brings Hall inside, and spreads into dusk, night, and day again (the real event was spread over 63 hours!), when the pair finally exits to attend a climactic press conference. Most of the dialogue takes place around a single table where Richard is seated, with Tony moving from the large window to the kitchenette behind his hostage. Dechant designed the apartment set in an L-shaped configuration to give Potier some depth in his framing and lighting choices. \u201cI wanted to play with color so we weren\u2019t just in a brown and green room all this time,\u201d Dechant recounts. \u201cI thought of Scatman Crothers\u2019 bedroom from The Shining<\/em>, which had a coral color that we aged down. I also designed wild walls on wheels, so Arnaud had options and could work quickly. I try to plan my designs to give the DP as much flexibility as possible, particularly on a film of this size and budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

The apartment set was built in the basement of the Courier-Journal building. Dechant put it on risers so Potier could light from below to mirror the police lights shining up into the apartment\u2019s only window. Both Dechant and Potier lobbied to place an exterior backing beyond the window to help sell the distance down to the ground, which became a human circus of police, media, fans of Kiritsis as the underdog hero, and eventually Tony\u2019s brother, Jimmy (Daniel Hill), who helps broker a deal for his surrender.<\/p>\n

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Geoff Storts notes that “whenever we were on the Canon zoom, it was assumed we were the POV of one of the news cameras, and I would try to do what handheld news crews did in the documentary, as you can feel the operator rocking the lens to search for focus. In fact, Arnaud would tell me not to make the focus \u2018too perfect,\u2019 which is not something an AC is used to hearing!”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Potier explains that the color palette he used was key to making<\/strong> the story feel like it was shot in the late 1970s. \u201cThe exteriors, with the snow, were a bit desaturated,\u201d he shares, \u201cand wherever there was red, I tried to get it as close to film as I could. Inside Tony\u2019s apartment was a warm, greenish feel. The radio station [where jazz station DJ Fred Temple, played by Colman Domingo, becomes Kiritsis\u2019 main conduit to the outside world], I wanted to have lights coming from underneath, bounce, and practicals, because all the lighting is on tables and desks \u2013 nothing from the ceilings. We lit his apartment from above and through the windows.\u201d Dechant says the radio station was another find inside the Courier-Journal building. \u201cI told Gus and Arnaud there\u2019s this strange room on the 7th floor with wallpaper and mirrors that looks like it was designed by David Lynch,\u201d he describes. \u201cThe radio station was basically a three-walled set, and I was trying to just give Arnaud as much room as I could. We knocked holes in adjoining rooms to create Colman\u2019s DJ booth and the engineer\u2019s room. We couldn\u2019t afford the massive record collection they would have had at that time. So, we bought fifty to seventy-five records and had the art department photograph them in different configurations. We printed them out like wrapping paper and folded them into paper boxes. Those got shoved into the set and appeared as rows and rows of albums.\u201d<\/p>\n

Potier used all period lighting, tungsten, and HMIs, save for one large Aputure LED LiteMat in the TV studio to break up the blacks. \u201cWe had three days to shoot all of Tony\u2019s apartment on stage,\u201d he states, \u201cand because so much time goes by \u2013 dusk, night, day again \u2013 I relied on Francisco to help us with the scheduling. After that, it was mostly about swapping heads, changing colors on gels, and adjusting the calibration of the camera to fit the time of day. We always wanted to feel the pressure of the police shining lights up into the apartment [on the third floor], so we used elements mounted on rigs that could slowly turn to give the feeling of light sweeping across the window. It cost more, but Stefan and I wanted the set raised to get that feeling of uplighting from below.\u201d<\/p>\n

Storts says, for him, the lengthy apartment scenes were a challenge of a different type. \u201cThe set was very small, and Arnaud lit it 360 degrees to give the camera freedom to follow Tony around,” he remembers. “That meant I had to be outside the set build in this small corridor. I had a diagram from the art department with measurements of how Stefan had designed the room and where everything was. I\u2019ve pulled focus remotely before, but this was unique, as I was very close and could hear all the dialogue. I relied heavily on my Focusbug CineRT because when it\u2019s calibrated into the center, you get an error message [when you\u2019re off] and can quickly find your way back to where you need to be. The Focusbug integrates into the [handheld wireless focus unit] ARRI Hi-5, which helped keep the builds small for the FX3. Our A-camera VENICE was always built out onto the Rialto. That way I could have the RF motor on the front of the camera with no need for an MDR box.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
The press conference was meant to emulate the real event \u2013 rushed and distinctly uncinematic. As Potier notes about the hard lighting, \u201cOf course, it can be ugly with an open-faced bulb shining into the lens. But you find the beauty in creating something that looks and feels real. Our job is to sell the story, not just make pleasing frames.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eventually, Kiritsis is lured down from the apartment, <\/strong>based on his belief that his terms have all been met, including full immunity from prosecution. Potier says when he makes his way down the stairwell with Hall to give a press conference, \u201cWe kept the camera handheld to give it this kind of urgency. They\u2019ve been in the apartment a long time, and now suddenly there\u2019s energy and movement. Once the press conference started, we pulled back and used a static, straight-on camera angle, like the real news cameras. We had 1K or 2K lights from the period shining into people\u2019s faces with a hard, open-faced light, just like what was there at the time. I managed to find some flashes with the bulbs, like the still cameras would have been doing, but those were quite expensive, so we couldn\u2019t do too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

In keeping with the documentary, the press conference was meant to look rushed and uncinematic. As Potier reflects on the single-source, hard lighting, \u201cOf course it can be ugly with a single open-faced bulb shining into the lens. But you find the beauty in creating something that looks and feels real. Our job is to sell the story, not just make pleasing frames.\u201d<\/p>\n

Storts recalls how the press conference was shot in the basement of a local church, \u201cwith no elevator, and in a small space. They threw up prop cameras alongside the real cameras, so we didn\u2019t have to hide our cables,\u201d he states. \u201cWe also hard-lined everything, which helped to sell the look.\u201d Storts adds that\u201cwhenever we were on the Canon zoom, it was assumed we were the POV of one of the news cameras, and I would try to do what news crews did in the documentary. They\u2019re handheld, and you can feel the operator rocking the lens to search for focus. In fact, Arnaud would tell me not to make the focus \u2018too perfect,\u2019 which is not something an AC is used to hearing,\u201d he laughs. \u201cWhen Bill and Dacre came down the stairwell [from Tony\u2019s apartment], we were on FX3 with the Noctilux wide open \u2013 the whole movie was shot wide open \u2013 and we were inches from their faces. There was no way I could maintain critical focus walking backwards on a T.95, so after we did a take, I told Arnaud I would need another one, as parts of the action went soft. He was like, \u2018No, no, that\u2019s perfect. It will look great.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Erickson says that cabling hard lines out of both Ikegamis for the press conference “allowed us to let Gus see everything at once. If you point the Ikegamis for a long time, like a static shot on a tripod, and the exposure is on the bright side, when you pan, there will be an afterimage of what was burned in, with the intensity related to brightness and time spent hitting the tubes with the same signal. In keeping with the period, Arnaud used mainly hard front lighting, but there were some backlights that could be seen in frame as well. To get around the burn-in\/ghosting effect, we exposed them a bit lower, and the actors naturally would cross the hard backlight, so we didn\u2019t have that strong source constantly oversaturating the tubes.\u201d<\/p>\n

As to the large amount of handheld camerawork, Potier says, \u201cGus fell in love with the Sony FX3\/50-millimeter\u00a0Noctilux\u00a0combo \u201cbecause the FX3 has some internal stabilization. We could push in very close, like the scenes in the radio station with Colman Domingo, and it felt smoother than normal handheld. I\u2019d estimate that about half of the movie was shot with the FX3 at 4.5K, which is kind of incredible, if you think about it.\u201d Storts says Potier and Van Sant talked in preproduction about the benefits of a tighter turn radius using the FX3 and\/or the Rialto. \u201cIt gives the operator a different feel when doing a whip pan, like the scenes in M.L. Hall\u2019s office at the beginning or later in Tony\u2019s apartment,\u201d Storts describes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
In bringing on Potier, Van Sant says he liked the way the DP “designed his cameras for a Harmony Corine film a few years ago,” and the pair got along well for the commercial they shot before Dead Man’s Wire<\/em>. “For me, the [DP\/Director connection] is often more about the ability to communicate than anything else,” Van Sant says. “Usually, the best course of action is the most daring and reckless, and if you can both get into that, you proceed with caution.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Potier says that Van Sant\u2019s style encourages<\/strong>\u00a0unity on set.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cEveryone loves to work with him because he\u2019s so respectful of us as creative people,\u201d Potier explains. \u201cOne thing for sure is that he doesn\u2019t waste a second of your time. He shoots like he has film in his camera! With Gus, Take One is\u00a0really<\/em> the take, and that\u2019s an interesting way to work because everyone is on their game the moment he calls action.\u201d Storts describes the director this way: \u201cThere\u2019s a sense of implicit trust that we\u2019re all capable professionals and will do exactly what we\u2019re expected to do,\u201d he offers. \u201cI remember when we were shooting the radio station scenes. We had this extremely close shot of Colman Domingo in the microphone, similar to the opening shot of The Warriors\u00a0<\/em>[1979, shot by Andrew Laszlo]. They wanted to do it on the Leica; we had a plus-three, which still wasn\u2019t close enough for Arnaud and Gus, and we were out of diopters. I told them I could break the matte box apart and rebuild it to squeeze in another diopter to get even closer. Arnaud asked me how long it would take, and I said 10 minutes. He went to Gus, who said, \u2018If it makes it better, let\u2019s do it!\u2019 No meltdowns, no drama. Just implied trust in my word that I could get him what he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Storts says the work filtering through Louisville is mainly Tier One indie features, much like\u00a0Dead Man\u2019s Wire.<\/em> \u201cWe get smaller commercials, the occasional music video,\u201d he shares. \u201cBut with films like this one, I think producers are seeing how fast and capable our crews are,\u201d Storts says Dead Man\u2019s Wire\u00a0<\/em>is a testament to the growing confidence in smaller, regional markets. \u201cThat first day of production,\u201d he continues, \u201cin the bitter cold, trying to keep pace with just one camera, was one of the hardest days I\u2019ve ever had on set. And it was clear that we needed a B-camera to survive \u2013 logistically, physically, and in every possible way. So, I asked the producers, and they approved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AC brought in Louisville-based Emily Keenan as B-Camera 1st AC and Danielle Bartley as B-Camera operator. \u201cWe bumped up our utility, Gillian Sparks, to 2nd AC, and brought in Kennedy Cochran as our utility,\u201d he recounts. \u201cThese are people who are still in their 20s, who are unbelievably good and would excel in any market. But they\u2019ve chosen to work here alongside me, and I am so grateful for that. I remember I called Emily at the end of that first day because we were getting our asses kicked. I said, \u2018Do you think you could come in tomorrow?\u2019 And she said, \u2018Sure. For how many days?\u2019 And I said, \u2018All of them!\u2019 The movies may be small in budget, but we\u2019re working with filmmakers like Gus Van Sant and Ethan Hawke. That kind of experience leads to pride in work, which leads to pride in our union, and it just keeps rising from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unit Production Manager Veronica Radaelli, who has shot nine movies in Kentucky, says that as soon as Van Sant came on board, she knew Louisville was the right place and had the right crew for the director\u2019s approach to moviemaking. \u201cI always say they are not only crew, but they are all filmmakers who care about the project and love the challenges,\u201d Radaelli states. \u201cBesides Arnaud, I brought in a few trusted people [from L.A.], like [Unit Stills] Stefania Rosini, [A-Camera Operator] Federico Verardi, and [DIT] Tim Erickson. Everyone was able to blend in and trust each other right away, despite budget and scheduling limitations, and extremely harsh weather. This crew came to set every day, excited and with a smile; they went above and beyond, and I will be forever grateful for the amazing work they did. I don\u2019t think I could have made this movie anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Unit Production Manager Veronica Radaelli, who has shot nine movies in Kentucky, says she knew Louisville was the right place and had the right crew to realize Van Sant’s vision. \u201cThese are all filmmakers who care about the project and love the challenges,\u201d Radaelli shares. \u201cThey came to set every day, excited and with a smile. I don\u2019t think I could have made this movie anywhere else.\u201d A-Camera Operator Federico Verardi (bottom center), A-Camera 1st AC Geoff Storts (back left), B-Camera 1st AC Emily Keenan (back right), Key Grip Michael Stoecker (far right).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dead Man’s Wire<\/em>– Local 600 Crew\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Director of Photography – Arnaud Potier, AFC<\/div>\n
A-Camera Operator – Federico Verardi<\/div>\n
A-Camera 1st AC – Geoffrey Storts<\/div>\n
B-Camera Operator – Danielle Elise Bartley<\/div>\n
B-Camera 1st AC – Emily Keenan<\/div>\n
B-Camera 2nd AC – Gillian Sparks<\/div>\n
DIT – Tim Erickson<\/div>\n
\n
DIT – Sin Cohen<\/div>\n
Utility – Kennedy Cochran<\/div>\n
\n
Utility – Mark Moehle<\/div>\n
Unit Stills Photographer – Stefania Rosini<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to the steady hand of Local 600 Director of Photography Arnaud Potier, AFC, and his Kentucky-based camera team, Dead Man\u2019s Wire is a point-and-shoot replica of the best attributes of 1970s filmmaking: daring, spontaneous, and unpredictable. by David Geffner \/ Photos by Stefania Rosini\/ Row K Entertainment   There\u2019s an extended sequence in the opening\u00a0of Gus Van Sant\u2019s newest feature,\u00a0Dead Man\u2019s Wire, where the story\u2019s anti-hero, Tony Kiritsis (played by Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd), exits the high-rise office building of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-web-exclusive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTrigger Happy - 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