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The Founder<\/em> tells the story not only of how Kroc wrestled the company away from brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, but how he took their original idea of cooking a brief menu in an assembly line and essentially created the fast food industry.<\/p>\n Hancock, the director of Saving Mr. Banks<\/em> and The Rookie<\/em>, wasn\u2019t immediately sure he was up for the biopic. \u201cI got the script, and I thought, \u2018I just finished a movie where I did P.L. Travers and Walt Disney and one about Jimmy Morris. Do I really wanna do another true life story?\u2019 But I realized this is really more of an origin story of the fast food industry, and McDonald\u2019s in particular.\u201d<\/p>\n John Schwartzman, ASC, who had shot Banks<\/em> and Rookie<\/em>, and production designer Michael Corenblith, along with costume designer Daniel Orlandi (both of whom had worked those films plus Hancock\u2019s The Alamo<\/em> and The Blind Side<\/em>) reteamed with Hancock. (The unit typically includes editor Mark Livolsi, who was busy cutting The Jungle Book<\/em>). \u201cIt\u2019s like bringing the rock band back together,\u201d Schwartzman smiles. \u201cJohn Lee and I are very good friends, and we\u2019re even better collaborators.\u201d<\/p>\n Filming took place in Atlanta, and Schwartzman brought three of his own frequent team members \u2013 A-camera Operator Ian Fox, SOC, 1st AC Dan Ming and DIT Brook Willard. [For the occasional B-camera\/Steadicam shot, operator Bob Gorelick, SOC, now an Atlanta resident, would join the group.]<\/p>\n With the film\u2019s modest budget and short work period, Schwartzman was concerned about filling out the team with qualified technicians. \u201cIf you can\u2019t promise people six months of work, it\u2019s hard to get painters and plasterers, but also electricians and grips that are any good, because they\u2019re all doing Captain America: Civil War<\/em> or other big pictures,\u201d he laments. Fortunately for Schwartzman, seasoned local gaffer Dan Cornwall was in-between projects. \u201cAs soon as I heard John was doing it, I was interested,\u201d Cornwall recalls. \u201cPlus, when we all first met John Hancock, he told us, \u2018I just want to make sure everybody realizes my number-one goal is your quality of life, every day.\u2019 When did you ever hear that come out of anybody\u2019s mouth?!\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Neither Schwartzman nor Hancock had shot much in the digital format<\/strong> \u2013 and neither thought it appropriate for a period film like The Founder<\/em>, which takes place mainly in 1954. But they both quickly took to the ARRI ALEXA, and it\u2019s deft handling of low light levels. For a small bank-office location, Schwartzman wanted to avoid hard light, so he had Cornwall set several 18K HMI\u2019s outside each window directed into Ultrabounce. \u201cWhen I got there on the day, I realized I didn\u2019t even need it,\u201d the DP recounts. \u201cI turned the camera on, and I was getting the same quality of light without it.\u201d<\/p>\n But the digital sensor did pose an issue for the period costumes. The patterns Orlandi had designed for Keaton, commonly seen in the 1950s, produced moir\u00e9 patterns. \u201cThe sensor is a grid of dots, and dots don\u2019t like patterns on clothes,\u201d Schwartzman continues. \u201cI love the way his plaid jacket looked to my eye, but when I put it on camera, it suddenly came alive,\u201d forcing Orlandi to quickly find substitutes. \u201cWe camera-tested all the costumes,\u201d Hancock adds. \u201cWe would set \u2018\u2019em up, dolly in, zoom, try to do anything we could to get them to moir\u00e9 \u2013 and they would come up clean; then we\u2019d be on set, and it would happen. The only true test was to put on every single lens you\u2019d ever use on that garment, move in, out, which would make your camera tests about a week long.\u201d<\/p>\n As has been their custom with past film projects, Schwartzman and Hancock shot anamorphic, which required longer lens choices \u2013 a 40 mm where a 20 mm might otherwise be used. \u201cThe magnification of anamorphic is much more akin to the human experience of how we see the world,\u201d Schwartzman explains. \u201cWe also wanted it to look like how the lenses looked in the 1950s and 60s \u2013 a little softer, without as much contrast, and not as sharp, edge to edge.\u201d<\/p>\n As he did for Jurassic World<\/em> (ICG June 2015), where he turned to Panavision\u2019s Dan Sasaki to detune a set of Primos for a 1970s Zeiss look, for The Founder<\/em>, Schwartzman had Sasaki detune a set of G-series anamorphics to look like the DP\u2019s preferred C-series.<\/p>\n Ming, who calls Sasaki \u201ca genius,\u201d was able to alter the lenses, \u201cto the exact amount we needed. We did tests, with light, medium and heavy detuning on all focal lengths, and decided to go for mediums for most of the lenses,\u201d though backing off some for wider lenses. \u201cDan\u2019s alterations allowed us to drop the contrast, and get things like veiling glares, which fit the period.\u201d<\/p>\n Whenever possible, Ming pulled focus using Preston Cinema\u2019s new Light Ranger 2 (offered by Howard Preston as a test run). \u201cIt\u2019s an infrared LED-based system, with a wide beam, broken into different zones,\u201d the AC adds. \u201cSo you get simultaneous readings across the whole field of view,\u201d tied in to Preston\u2019s FI+Z hand unit.<\/p>\n The detuning also allowed Hancock to include more lens anomalies that would mimic a filmic period look. \u201cIt was never about fixing what the lenses did,\u201d Willard offers. \u201cWe would try and find shots sometimes where the flaws that had been engineered into these lenses would show up and let it stay there.\u201d<\/p>\n While the detuned prime lenses were used for most of the film, for the later years, Hancock says he didn\u2019t mind, \u201cif it got sharper\u201d as Kroc\u2019s metamorphosis, from door-to-door milkshake multimixer salesman to corporate executive \u201cis complete.\u201d For that part of the film, Schwartzman used unaltered Panavision G Series zooms, 70-200 mm and the new LWZ-2 36-78-mm 2:1 zoom.<\/p>\n Fox has operated 15 films for Schwartzman, beginning in 2002 with Hancock\u2019s The Rookie<\/em> when Panavision cameras, dollies, and optical viewfinders were the tools at hand. \u201cDigital monitors on set have evolved so significantly in quality that I\u2019d rather operate looking at [the monitors] than through a digital eyepiece, even though that means sacrificing the intimacy I\u2019ve been accustomed to with an optical viewfinder,\u201d he observes. \u201cThat was the most significant change working on The Founder<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n The operator also tried KFX Technology\u2019s new Aurora Remote Head, which the company offered him to test for most of the shoot. The unit was placed on the dolly or crane, with Fox standing adjacent with the Aurora\u2019s control unit on a tripod, viewing the imagery on a high-resolution monitor.<\/p>\n \u201cI stand as close to the camera as I can, which helps maintain the connection with the actors,\u201d he explains. \u201cTechnocrane, Libra head, and KFX were all great partners in helping me develop a new relationship with the digital eyepiece experience.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As per Hancock\u2019s vision, the look of The Founder<\/em><\/strong> is naturalistic.<\/strong> Or as Schwartzman concisely notes: \u201cWhat you see in the frame is how it looked on set.\u201d Willard confirms that, \u201cit was never \u2018make this look old,\u201d the DIT offers. \u201cWe weren\u2019t trying to build a period piece in the computer \u2013 it was already there in front of the lens.\u201d<\/p>\n Though the McDonald\u2019s corporation didn\u2019t cooperate or aid the production, they didn\u2019t impede, either. But, adds Corenblith, \u201cwe were a little fuzzy on how McDonald\u2019s was going to be reacting to all this. So in terms of fair use, the safest place to be was to do everything within our power to get things as correct as possible from an archival perspective,\u201d which meant the designer poring over historical records and images with Hancock and Schwartzman.<\/p>\n For the various carhop drive-ins Kroc visits in the beginning of the film \u2013 including that of the McDonald brothers \u2013 the designer tracked down existing structures in the Atlanta area. Practical sets, like the McDonalds\u2019 offices and Kroc\u2019s \u201cPrince Castle Sales\u201d interior, were built on stages at EUE Screen Gems Studios in Atlanta. But it is the carefully reproduced McDonald\u2019s restaurants \u2013 the brothers\u2019 original \u201cOctagon\u201d carhop and true Golden Arches sets \u2013 built on location in Newnan and Douglasville, GA, which are the visual showstoppers.<\/p>\n Corenblith says he researched countless photographs of Golden Arches-style McDonald\u2019s (before most were converted to Mansard roof-style structures around 1970), as well as original blueprints and other documents found online and in a museum adjacent to the brothers\u2019 original San Bernardino location. \u201cWe also studied the only existing Golden Arches restaurant, in Downey, California,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n Local building officials insisted the structure be built to code, which meant only one, restaurant set could be built; with dressing and VFX extensions, the single structure played as eight different locations. \u201cThey said if people are pretending to serve food, it has to be built to code,\u201d Schwartzman recalls. \u201cThat\u2019s the great myth about shooting in rebate states; sometimes you\u2019re not necessarily saving so much money.\u201d<\/p>\n The built restaurant\/set was fully functional, with working mechanical\/electrical systems, grills and fryers. Extras were even versed (via original training manuals) to perform different functions via the McDonald brothers\u2019 ingenious \u201cSpeedee System,\u201d which is detailed in a complex flashback scene that included an overhead camera, and choreography by local hip-hop artist Kiki Ely, because as Hancock explains, \u201cwe wanted it to play like a Busby Berkeley musical.\u201d<\/p>\n Photographing in the tiny, to-scale McDonald\u2019s structure, would have been impossible if not for extensive preplanning between Schwartzman and Corenblith. Working with Foamcore models, the pair devised a system that allowed the kitchen action to be shot from outside the restaurant, via removable windows.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d take the windows out of one side, so we could place two cameras out there, and get tighter and wider coverage at the same time,\u201d Fox recalls. \u201cThen we\u2019d do a turnaround \u2013 put all the glass back in and take it off on the other side and get our coverage. It was pretty efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n Lighting the interiors of the restaurants was made equally efficient by Cornwall\u2019s use of Quasar Science Q-Line S Switch Linear LED Lamps. \u201cThey have an LED tube that\u2019s basically a replacement tube for four-foot fluorescents,\u201d the gaffer explains. \u201cThere\u2019s a little switch on each that allows you to quickly switch from daylight to tungsten. We had 55 two-tube fixtures, which run off 120 volts, bypassing the ballast. You could just grab a couple of ladders and quickly go from daylight to a nighttime look. It was a real game changer.\u201d<\/p>\n As noted above, the key moment when Kroc gets his first eyeful of a Golden Arches-style McDonald\u2019s was \u201cthe only time we have any kind of saturated color \u2013 so that it would stand out,\u201d Cornwall describes. (The gaffer actually found a close match to the neon yellow for another shot, via a gel \u2013 Storaro Yellow, formally VS Yellow).<\/p>\n \u201cThat was originally going to be a day sequence,\u201d Schwartzman remembers. \u201cBut I got out there one night to test the neon, and I told John Lee, \u2018We gotta make this a night scene. [The arches] will play like a beacon, a little jewel in the night. Also I love reflections \u2013 because you can see two different things at the same time \u2013 what he\u2019s looking at and his reaction.\u201d Hancock used the shot as a tease for the audience, before offering a low-and-wide reverse showing what Kroc is beholding. \u201cI wanted to just give every hint \u2013 anything we could do to tease that moment,\u201d the director adds.<\/p>\n As time passes, the look of the film also shifts \u2013 from dingy to bright and warm \u2013 \u201ca visual metaphor,\u201d Corenblith describes, \u201cfor the shift from the McDonald brothers\u2019 individually operated carhop culture to Kroc\u2019s development of mass-market clones. It represents the change in post-War America, that moment of optimism and opportunity, which is really Kroc\u2019s religion.\u201d Adds Hancock: \u201cAmerica had come through World War Two, and we felt like we deserved everything, and we wanted it now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I find so iconic about this movie,\u201d Schwartzman concludes, \u201cis that in the beginning, you sort of root for Ray Kroc, and by the time it\u2019s over, you don\u2019t know whether you should feel bad about rooting for him. Either way, I think McDonald\u2019s will sell even more hamburgers than they already do after [the film] comes out.\u201d<\/p>\n by Matt Hurwitz \/ photos by Daniel McFadden<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" John Schwartzman, ASC, captures Michael Keaton\u2019s \u201csupersized\u201d performance in the story of McDonalds\u2019 founding. While heading home one night from San Bernardino to Illinois, Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) makes a fateful decision. He pulls off to the side of a Phoenix highway, transfixed by a band of golden yellow that appears in a reflection across his windshield. The world will now easily recognize the reflection as the famous \u201cGolden Arches.\u201d But in the early 50\u2019s that iconic swath of yellow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6427,"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":[29,37,40,406,405],"class_list":["post-6426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-cinematography","tag-icg-magazine","tag-local-600","tag-mcdonalds","tag-the-founder"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Behind](\"http:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/theFOUNDER_3.jpg\")
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