{"id":5419,"date":"2015-08-05T23:18:33","date_gmt":"2015-08-05T23:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/?p=5419"},"modified":"2021-06-01T16:46:29","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T23:46:29","slug":"living-large","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/living-large\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Large"},"content":{"rendered":"

Icons now, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, DJ Ren, MC Yella and Eazy-E began their storied lives just trying to survive and prosper in the meanest \u2018hood in L.A.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI was watching TV in a New York hotel room when I saw Ice Cube on Queen Latifah [the talk show], and she asked what he was doing next,\u201d recounts Oscar-nominated cinematographer (and lifelong rap\/hip-hop fan) Matthew Libatique, ASC. \u201cWhen Cube said a film called Straight Outta Compton<\/em>, I literally jumped up and grabbed the phone. For the first time in my career, I called my agent and said I really<\/em> want that project.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Matty<\/a>
Matty Libatique, ASC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fortunately for Libatique, he and Compton<\/strong> director, F. Gary Gray, shared the same agency. They met on Oscar day, 2014, to discuss the film. As Libatique picks up the story: \u201cI remember walking into Gary\u2019s office and seeing this wall of images \u2013 one image per scene in chronology with the script. I had come to that meeting with some general ideas about camera movement, but nothing textural that related to color or mood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese images, which were basically snapshots by friends or people who were around N.W.A. at that time and happened to have a camera, were completely naturalistic. They put you right there in that time and place, in the recording studios, the concert tours, the photo and video shoots, right on the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Libatique says the office images felt like a good starting point, \u201cbecause to me this movie was an origin story about superheroes,\u201d he adds. \u201cI remember telling Gary [in that first meeting] how I read a lot of comic books as a kid, and my favorites were always the origin stories \u2013 the ones that showed how Batman or Superman or the Green Lantern became who they are. That\u2019s what Straight Outta Compton<\/em> is \u2013 an origin story about people who ultimately become larger than life in the eyes of pop culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Straight<\/a><\/p>\n

The superhero metaphor (from the man who shot Ironman and Ironman 2)<\/strong> is well placed. The Los Angeles where the transformative gangsta rap group known as N.W.A. (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) came of age was as treacherous and crime-ridden as any in the history of that city. Rival Crips and Bloods gangs ruled the streets with crack-cocaine empires, while a militarized LAPD waged indiscriminate war on criminals and civilians alike. Black teenagers (especially those with phone pagers) were ever-moving targets.<\/p>\n

As director Gray, who grew up in South L.A., notes in this month\u2019s Exposure<\/em> conversation (Page 20): \u201cIt was a nervous, edgy time having to confront your own mortality every time you walked out the door. We tried to capture that in the look and feel of our story, particularly in the early section of the film when they all meet.\u201d<\/p>\n

N.W.A.\u2019s founding members \u2013 Dre, Ice Cube (played by Cube\u2019s son, O\u2019Shea Jackson, Jr.), Eazy-E, DJ Yella, MC Ren \u2013 all came from different situations, yet bonded together through words and music that gave voice to that era\u2019s rage, fear, and often very dark humor. With three instant mega-hits from their debut album (\u201cStraight Outta Compton,\u201d \u201cFuck tha Police,\u201d \u201cGangsta Gangsta\u201d), the group had a meteoric rise before suffering an equally spectacular breakup amidst royalty disputes, and harsh finger pointing in later solo albums. Banned from American radio for their profane, often misogynist lyrics, N.W.A. came under direct fire from the F.B.I. for what conservative groups called \u201cinciting violence against the nation\u2019s law enforcement professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"straight_outta_compton_movie4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Libatique opted to shoot Compton on RED DRAGON, using re-housed vintage Kowa (4.5K) anamorphic lenses (occasionally swapping with spherical Zeiss Super Speeds to compensate for close-focus issues inside the recording-studio scenes.)<\/p>\n

\u201cShooting anamorphic period is all about pulling back from that digital edge, particularly if you come from shooting film,\u201d he states. \u201cWe tried to keep the beginning of their stories as gritty as possible, using smoke and [for night scenes] changing out existing LED streetlights back to their original sodium vapor. That combination of the smoke, a dirty color palette and the anamorphic lenses introduces us to the first third of the story, before they make a record and go on tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s early sections are also where Libatique worked hard to reproduce that found, naturalistic feeling he saw in the images in Gray\u2019s office, mainly by not using key light. \u201cThat can be a challenge when you\u2019re making a movie about black people who are all wearing baseball caps,\u201d he shares. \u201cBut if I put a key light under every cap just so you can see someone\u2019s face clearly, I\u2019m undercutting the reality of the time and place. The same goes for the midday light in L.A., which is my least favorite light to shoot in on the entire planet. There\u2019s a scene right after their first tour and Cube has just left the group, and he\u2019s basically saying goodbye to Dre. We\u2019ve got Suge Knight, Trench Mob, Ren, Yella, Dre, and Cube, all in this high harsh light that\u2019s cut by baseball caps, and nothing else! Avoiding key light [and in this example, any fill] is a trend I applaud in cinematography. The imperfections are key to the look.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Straight<\/a><\/p>\n

Also key to Compton\u2019s visuals was production designer <\/strong>Shane Valentino, who, like Libatique, had never worked with Gray, but had just come off HBO\u2019s 1980s period film The Normal Heart<\/em>. \u201cLike Gary and Matty, I grew up in L.A. and remember that era very well,\u201d he recounts. \u201cWe wanted to place the guys, particularly before they form the band and go on tour, in a faithful rendition of that era, so coming from a film history perspective, which is always the first place I go for inspiration, I looked at To Live and Die in L.A.<\/em>, Training Day<\/em>, and Italian neo-realism like Open City<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In keeping with the three-part narrative\/visual structure, Valentino embraced the bleached-out exteriors of South L.A., when the band first meets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second part is the blue phase, which was influenced by Eazy-E, who was associated with the Crips,\u201d he continues. \u201cThe last part, when the band is breaking up and Death Row Records comes to prominence, was based in red, for the Bloods. Matty and I also used [still photographer] Todd Hido as a reference point. His images feel like there\u2019s one source of light that falls off very quickly. Matty likes to work with a lot of practicals, so we\u2019d walk through the space, and then I\u2019d do virtual layouts based on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Compton<\/em> had 126 sets at 54 locations. Charting a visual arc for the film\u2019s many music scenes involved augmenting (or re-designing) those locations according to period photos. \u201cPhotos weren\u2019t always available,\u201d Valentino adds, so scenes like Dre\u2019s early recordings with Wreckin\u2019 Cru in his garage had to be recreated according to how Cube and Dre remembered it. \u201cOther recording spaces, like Broadway Studios,\u201d the designer adds, \u201cjust didn\u2019t have tall enough ceilings for Matty to light.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first time Cube and Dre perform Gangsta Gangsta<\/em>, at a local club called Dodo\u2019s, Libatique scoured high and low for reference images. \u201cIt was all on film back then, and it wasn\u2019t like these people carried around 35-millimeter cameras,\u201d he shares. \u201cI did find one photograph where Cube is side-lit with a few Par cans, and that\u2019s it. I wouldn\u2019t call it pretty, but that\u2019s the look we reproduced.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Straight<\/a><\/p>\n

The film\u2019s musical climax is set at an infamous 1989 concert in Detroit (shot at L.A.\u2019s Sports Arena), where N.W.A., defying pressure from an F.B.I. letter that was circulated to local law enforcement agencies around the country (and to off-duty officers who doubled as concert security) began to play \u201cFuck tha Police.\u201d Shots may (or may not) have been fired, mayhem ensues and the band is pulled offstage by security cops.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used a lot of handheld camera onstage with the performers to keep with the naturalistic feel,\u201d Libatique describes of the Detroit concert. \u201cBut we also did a big Spydercam shot that starts wide looking at the stage, travels over the audience, wraps around Ice Cube as he juts out his middle finger, and goes back out.<\/p>\n

\u201cLighting-wise, I replicated images of a period concert stage Shane had given me, with all of the lighting in-frame. Of course, given modern schedules, we had to cheat and use LED\u2019s [rather than period-correct elements.] We needed red and blue in the film and the ability to switch to other colors to maintain the palette. [Gaffer] Jeff Ferrero and dimmer board operator Josh Thatcher did a great job making those color switches happen within the frame. The performance aspect of this movie was so important, so I can\u2019t say enough about what they did [preparing different lighting themes] before I got the cameras in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used these super-bright [1000-watt] RGB Solaris Flares, instead of something period-correct, like a Dataflash, which could overheat after four or five bursts,\u201d Ferrero recalls. \u201cModern LED\u2019s are consistent and don\u2019t split the shutter on digital cameras.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Straight<\/a><\/p>\n

While Thatcher oversaw color changes and strobe work via the dimmer board, Ferrero looked after four different follow-spots, which needed to avoid creating shadows on the many different camera rigs Libatique had in play \u2013 Technocrane, Spydercam, Steadicam, etc. \u201cWe never placed a traditional follow-spot \u2013 in the back of the house and straight into the performer\u2019s face,\u201d Ferrero adds. \u201cIt was always three-quarter profile on the opposite side of where the camera was to create contrast and depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valentino again worked closely with Libatique to build-in practical lights that would, as he explains, \u201callow us to see the audience\u201d in that moment when the police rush the stage. \u201cWe were fortunate in that the Sports Arena had existing fluorescent fixtures behind the stage that allowed the light to fall off in a more dramatic way,\u201d he reveals. \u201cThe mandate from Gary was to make sure each arena looked different as they travel around the country, and in-frame lighting is one way to do that. Obviously Matty, Jeff and Josh had more control over the color temperature of the light using LED\u2019s than Par cans. A great example from the Detroit concert is when the band plays Fuck tha Police<\/em>, and we used red and blue light bars, like you see on the top of police cars, that are flashing on and off, and then have to go back to a full yellow all very quickly in the shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Straight<\/a><\/p>\n

Libatique says Compton\u2019s naturalistic feel<\/strong> extended to the camerawork, which was led by operator Colin Hudson and focus puller Matt Stenerson, with DIT Mike Kowalczyk watching over the ultrahigh-resolution RED workflow.<\/p>\n

\u201cGary would call bullshit on anything that felt stagey and unreal to that time and place,\u201d Libatique reflects. \u201cSo that meant the camera had to react to the actors and how they moved, not the other way around. We discovered with the MoVI we could subtly move around a room \u2013 like going over couches, tables, and objects you wouldn\u2019t normally go over with a Steadicam \u2013 and that had a very natural feel, even though it was completely technique-driven.\u201d<\/p>\n

One such scene is in a hotel while the group is on the road (shot in adjoining rooms at a hotel near LAX that Valentino period-dressed with blinds, carpet, and fixtures). The scene begins with Dre on the phone with his brother, Tyree (who later passes away). A knock on the door reveals a man with a gun looking for his girl, \u201cFelicia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDre closes the door and walks back to the girl he\u2019s with on the bed,\u201d Libatique continues. \u201cHe grabs a \u2018forty\u2019 and opens up an adjoining door, where there\u2019s a full-on party. Dre passes by Ren and DOC, looking for Felicia, as the MoVI goes over a bed to see Cube and find Yella on another bed. We then follow the girl Yella\u2019s with, who gets up and walks naked to the bathroom, where we finally see Felicia, who\u2019s giving Eazy-E a blowjob!\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s not all. The camera then picks up Eazy-E as he leaves the bathroom and flips open a Murphy bed to reveal a bunch of guns on the bottom. He tosses handguns and sawed-off shotguns to Ren and Cube, who all poke their heads out of the hotel door into the hallway, where the interlopers are waiting at the other door. \u201cThat\u2019s when E says: \u2018So, you guys looking for Felicia?\u2019\u201d Libatique laughs.<\/p>\n

The complex move was accomplished by handing the MoVI off between Hudson and dolly grip John Mang. Libatique says it\u2019s to Gray\u2019s credit that he \u201ctotally committed\u201d to doing that shot, even though the DP hadn\u2019t used the MoVI before.<\/p>\n

Hudson says the best thing about working with Libatique is that he will always try to bring some magic into a shot even if elements aren\u2019t there. \u201cThe hotel location had very tight corners and limited space for operating, low ceilings and required 360-degrees of view for lighting,\u201d Hudson recounts. \u201cWe had 25 extras [that may or may not be wearing clothing] running down hallways with formidable looking weapons all within a working hotel. Bringing all those elements in one place and having them work together while looking effortless is where that magic happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Libatique says the RED Dragon turned out be to a good fit for the show. \u201cWhen you strip [the RED Dragon] down, it\u2019s as big as a Hasseblad, and you can customize exactly as you need,\u201d he relates. \u201cColin and Matt came up with a way to couple cables together so we had a single umbilical cord with full remote focus. We called the camera the \u2018Mini Me.\u2019 For example, we did a night exterior night party scene on Crenshaw Boulevard, where I stuffed myself into the back of a low-rider [car] and panned freely around with what was, basically, a box and a [Kowa anamorphic] lens.\u201d<\/p>\n

First AC Stenerson says, \u201cMatty and Colin wanted the [Dragon] smaller and smaller as we were shooting, so we just kept taking more off. We ended up having 2 sets of \u2018mini mode\u2019 cable looms for A- and B-camera that housed power, Preston focus and iris, and wireless video,\u201d he describes. \u201cIt worked out great because Matty and Colin could easily move the Dragon body with a small adjustable handle, the Red five-inch [on-board] monitor, and a lens with a motor. Everything else we needed was 10 feet behind them. The \u2018Mini Me\u2019 allowed us to get in and out of small spaces without compromising the shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"straight_outta_compton_movie5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Gray notes how having the film\u2019s subjects \u2013 Dre, Cube, Yella and Ren<\/strong> \u2013 visit the set helped confirm the path he and Libatique had set out upon. \u201cThey told me after one music scene how they were \u2018right back there, in that time and place as very young men,\u2019 Gray reflects about shooting Compton<\/em>, \u201cand what a strange and incredible experience that can be.\u201d Libatique says N.W.A., and what came after, \u201cspread across race and class,\u201d like no other musical force before. \u201cThe questioning of authority was embraced by everyone,\u201d he describes, \u201cand it\u2019s pretty awesome to have your heroes standing behind you every time you turn away from the camera.\u201d<\/p>\n

Awesome indeed, as one pivotal (and mainly symbolic) scene Gray added to the film attests. The director uses the aftermath of the 1992 Rodney King verdict to climax the foreshadowing in N.W.A.\u2019s music of a city in flames due to race, class, and authority.<\/p>\n

Shot at an abandoned strip mall in North Hollywood, CA, the violence and chaos, post-verdict, culminates in a shot of a Crip and Blood, joined by their respective bandanas and walking toward an LAPD squad car \u2013 as fires, mayhem and palm trees consume the background. Valentino says the scene covered less than a page in the script. \u201cBut we were all here during the riots, and the imagery is still fresh,\u201d he observes. \u201cWe had to get that scene right, regardless of our resources or however long it\u2019s on screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Production had four days and two city blocks to cover two sections \u2013 one where Ice Cube drives through and sees graffiti from an N.W.A. song, the other including burning fires and street mayhem. \u201cIt\u2019s always challenging knowing it\u2019s a three-to-four-camera day, and everywhere the DP\u2019s lenses turn, [the designer] needs to provide something interesting,\u201d Valentino admits. \u201cThis scene had a lot of crane work and pursuit camera, so we had to plan for a 360-degree field of view, no question.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same expansive range of vision is what N.W.A. brought to the world with its take-no-prisoners view of South Los Angeles in the late 1980\u2019s, and it speaks louder than ever to a new generation numbed by recent law-enforcement killings of young black men across the nation. Although both Gray and Libatique don\u2019t deny Straight Outta Compton will inevitably have political and social overtones that mirror recent events, they insist the film\u2019s themes of fame and fortune, poverty and unrest, loyalty, betrayal, and brotherhood among young men are timeless.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this an important film?\u201d Libatique asks rhetorically. \u201cI know for me it\u2019s one of the most passionate of projects I\u2019ve ever done, because this music spoke to me like nothing else really has. And what was important, from my perspective as a cinematographer, was to get it absolutely right: to show who these superheroes were and where they came from.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

by DAVID GEFFNER<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Unit Photos by Jaimie Trueblood\/Universal Pictures<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Frame Grabs Courtesy of Universal Pictures<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Icons now, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, DJ Ren, MC Yella and Eazy-E began their storied lives just trying to survive and prosper in the meanest \u2018hood in L.A. \u201cI was watching TV in a New York hotel room when I saw Ice Cube on Queen Latifah [the talk show], and she asked what he was doing next,\u201d recounts Oscar-nominated cinematographer (and lifelong rap\/hip-hop fan) Matthew Libatique, ASC. \u201cWhen Cube said a film called Straight Outta Compton, I literally jumped up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5430,"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":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLiving Large - ICG Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/living-large\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Living Large - ICG Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Icons now, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, DJ Ren, MC Yella and Eazy-E began their storied lives just trying to survive and prosper in the meanest \u2018hood in L.A. \u201cI was watching TV in a New York hotel room when I saw Ice Cube on Queen Latifah [the talk show], and she asked what he was doing next,\u201d recounts Oscar-nominated cinematographer (and lifelong rap\/hip-hop fan) Matthew Libatique, ASC. \u201cWhen Cube said a film called Straight Outta Compton, I literally jumped up […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/living-large\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ICG Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theicgmag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-05T23:18:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-01T23:46:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/COMPTONfeaturedimage.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"933\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"EDITOR\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@theicgmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@theicgmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"EDITOR\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"15 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/living-large\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/living-large\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"EDITOR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/#\/schema\/person\/3da442a689e09c8352acb17db68abf9a\"},\"headline\":\"Living Large\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-05T23:18:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-01T23:46:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/living-large\/\"},\"wordCount\":2990,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/living-large\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/COMPTONfeaturedimage.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Features\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/living-large\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/living-large\/\",\"name\":\"Living Large - 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