![\"A_Star_is_Born_6\"](\"http:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/A_Star_is_Born_6.jpg\")
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This grab-n-go indie-style scene opens Cooper\u2019s new take on the Hollywood classic, A Star Is Born<\/em>, which he also directed. Cooper stars as country rock idol Jack Mayne, alongside Lady Gaga, whose character, Ally, he discovers and helps become a star, even as his own star fades into oblivion due to personal demons. The duo\u2019s naturalistic performances, coupled with Cooper\u2019s earthy visual approach, help tell the tale far differently from the previous three versions (including the revered MGM version in 1954, starring Judy Garland and James Mason).<\/p>\n \u201cBradley was specific that [his film] should not look like any music movie that went before us,\u201d describes producer Bill Gerber. \u201cHe wanted [audiences] to feel like they were really experiencing what it\u2019s like to be a person who gets very famous,\u201d but to do so in a unique way, adds Libatique. \u201cIt feels homemade and earnest. It\u2019s crafted and very specific in every decision we made.\u201d<\/p>\n Like its predecessors (including the 1976 version starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, both of whom visited Cooper\u2019s set), A Star Is Born<\/em> has a rich love story at its core, interspersed with live performances. And, as Libatique describes, \u201cthe narrative and the performance portions were one and the same. We used a lot of handheld and a camera that had flexibility.\u201d<\/p>\n Following initial testing for Gaga with Janusz Kaminski, ASC, Libatique (who has a long history with musical projects, including Straight Outta Compton<\/em>, ICG August 2015) felt an immediate creative connection with Cooper, even though they had never worked together. \u201cBradley called me after and said Matty totally got the movie, and already had a shorthand,\u201d offers Gerber. \u201cIt was a great collaboration from the onset.\u201d<\/p>\n On the recommendation of Warner Bros. executive producer Ravi Mehta, A-camera\/Steadicam operator Scott Sakamoto, SOC, who also had not worked with Libatique, was brought on board. First AC Matt Stenerson, who got his start in the late \u201990\u2019s as a 2nd AC for Libatique, pulled focus for Sakamoto. Second Unit DP Chris Moseley operated B-camera, assisted by 1st AC John Holmes, though Holmes would shift to pulling focus for Libatique when the latter operated handheld during concert scenes. Peter Berglund filled out the operator corps as needed.<\/p>\n Libatique used the ALEXA Mini for its small form factor and light weight, both of which provided enough \u201cfreedom to shoot handheld and in tight spots, while also offering studio camera quality,\u201d Stenerson says.<\/p>\n Digital Imaging Technician Michael Kowalczyk says a tight prep schedule did not allow time to create LUT\u2019s, so the Mini\u2019s inherent low contrast curve (LCC) was used as a base, with slight adjustments. \u201cMatty would come in the tent and try some things, just to get a sense of what he\u2019d like,\u201d Kowalczyk relays. The DIT would save TIFF images for Libatique, who would do his own grading in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom each night after shooting to give to the dailies colorist.<\/p>\n Kowalczyk describes Libatique as a master of light. \u201cYou walk out of the tent, see the sources, and it\u2019s all consistent,\u201d the DIT marvels. Company 3 Co-Founder and Digital Finishing Artist Stefan Sonnenfeld agrees. \u201cMatty and Bradley\u2019s basic premise was to keep a sense of realism, which was so important to this film. But it also had to be quite beautiful, without being overt,\u201d especially in concert imagery. \u201cYou don\u2019t come out of this movie saying, \u2018God, that didn\u2019t look like a real concert.\u2019 Everything is true to form.\u201d<\/p>\n For lenses, Libatique turned to CamTec Motion Picture Cameras president Kavon Elhami,<\/strong> who provided sets of vintage Cooke as well as older Kowa anamorphics. Elhami worked with Cooke to develop a custom modified coating to help enhance flaring, and for even more pronounced flares during concert sequences, CamTec provided a set of older Kowa anamorphics. \u201cThey don\u2019t have a lot of coating on them,\u201d Sakamoto explains. \u201cAnd they had huge flares when a light hit them.\u201d<\/p>\n The Cooke set also included a 65mm lens, which became Libatique\u2019s workhorse for his onstage handheld work capturing performances of Cooper or Gaga. \u201cThat was my favorite lens in the set,\u201d the DP shares, \u201cbecause it has a minimum focus that\u2019s more akin to a spherical lens. Typically, anamorphic lenses have a weak minimum focus \u2013 you can\u2019t get too close to your subject. This lens is essentially a macro \u2013 I could really get in close to Bradley when he was playing, and get in close to his fingers,\u201d as well as capture the personal facial expressions so integral to the musical scenes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The M\u014dVI was typically operated in a two-person fashion, with the rig held\/moved by Chris Herr, in conjunction with either Sakamoto or Moseley, who would operate pan and tilt via an Alpha Wheels remote device from 1A Tools.<\/p>\n \u201cImagine a remote head on a dolly, and you have a dolly grip pushing the camera, but the operator is operating on wheels,\u201d Libatique explains. \u201cIt\u2019s the same thing, but here, it\u2019s like a handheld\/Steadicam hybrid.\u201d Adds Key Grip Tana Dubbe, \u201cIt differs from a Steadicam in that the dolly grip, or whoever is carrying it, can look where he\u2019s going, while a Steadicam operator has to be watching the monitor.\u201d [Dubbe adds that the M\u014dVI\u2019s \u201cMajestic mode,\u201d where the grip also operates, was not used on A Star Is Born<\/em>.]<\/p>\n Key to the M\u014dVI\u2019s success was Herr using it in conjunction with Cinema Devices\u2019 AntigravityCam (see ICG April 2018, Dream Weaver<\/em>), a rig that allows the operator to easily boom the M\u014dVI-gimbaled camera up and down, via a system of arms, supported by bungees and pulleys, all while maintaining a constant iso-elastic tension on the bungee. \u201cIt\u2019s like a jib arm or crane\u2014there\u2019s no lifting or pushing,\u201d Herr explains. \u201cYou just coax it up or down like a weightless camera in outer space.\u201d Herr, who worked all but three days of the 48-day shoot, says Libatique \u201cuses the M\u014dVI in a lot of ways. But Matty\u2019s one of those people who knows when and where not to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n The performance scenes in A Star Is Born<\/em> were filmed at a variety of locations and music festivals,<\/strong> many of which Production had to squeeze in stage time, or, at the very least, utilize the stage and lighting setup during a publically scheduled show.<\/p>\n Gerber, who has attended Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival for years, arranged with Coachella\u2019s producers, AEG and Goldenvoice, to shoot portions of A Star Is Born<\/em> there, \u201cand then, two months before shooting,\u201d he relates, \u201cBeyonc\u00e9 dropped out [of Coachella], so they asked if they could have [Gaga] take her place.\u201d<\/p>\n Production shot between Coachella\u2019s two main weekends, filming the concert after Jack and Ally first perform together, as well as show segments for a road montage sequence. The process was similar to concert scenes shot at The Greek Theatre three weeks later (when Sakamoto joined the production, before wrapping on Black Panther<\/em>, Steve Campanelli, SOC taking his place for one week during Coachella).<\/p>\n The music, written by Cooper and Lukas Nelson, as well as by Gaga and other contributors, was\u00a0not\u00a0performed live for the extras present.\u00a0Cooper and Nelson\u2019s band had pre-recorded the backing tracks at the famous Village Recorders in West L.A., where studio sequences featured in the movie were also filmed. The band then played along, unamplified, for the camera. [The exception was Gaga\u2019s solo piano performances, which she insisted on recording live.] The two stars\u2019 live vocals, though tracked by the production sound mixer, also didn\u2019t go out through the P.A., though they could be heard by the crew, along with the music, in their Clear-Com HME wireless intercom system. This was used to protect the film\u2019s unreleased tunes from going viral before release.<\/p>\n The extras, when needed, were usually made up of Lady Gaga\u2019s \u201cLittle Monsters\u201d fan base and invited to participate. \u201c[Gaga] would explain that \u2018the songs we\u2019re doing right now, that I need you to cheer for, I can\u2019t really play them,\u2019 and they would cheer as if they could hear them,\u201d relates Stenerson. \u201cBut we would take a break or reset, and she would play them her own songs. That\u2019s not something you see all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cooper\u2019s general approach to concert footage was unique as he assembled a reel of dozens of music films to guide himself and Libatique away from clich\u00e9 trappings. \u201cBradley\u2019s instinct, which I agreed with, was to just keep everything onstage \u2013 to not have the objective crowd POV,\u201d Libatique recounts. \u201cThere are no proscenium shots in the film.\u201d Adds Sakamoto: \u201cHe and Matty wanted the camera to feel free and be with [the actors] all the time. It was a story about them, not necessarily their performance.\u201d<\/p>\n Sakamoto says that same freedom extended to the coverage, as he and Libatique would \u201cattack the stage at the same time, trying to avoid each other.\u201d Adds Dubbe: \u201cYou can plan all you want, but once the music starts and they get into it, all bets are off. And that\u2019s the way to do it \u2013 get your infantry in place, and just be open to inspiration. When he\u2019s [operating handheld], Matty\u2019s like a Tasmanian devil. It\u2019s intense.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the seeming chaos, Libatique was able to orchestrate the coverage via his HME intercom, noting that he \u201cknew what lens I had on every camera, so I knew what they could each capture and how to guide them.\u201d<\/p>\n When possible, Androvich was given the music ahead of time to develop lighting cues, which Libatique would tweak. Then, in final color timing, Sonnenfeld would provide enhancements. \u201cWhen you polish things too much, they become contrived,\u201d the longtime digital colorist states. \u201cIt was important to be meticulous, but not to a point where you\u2019re taking away some of the realism Bradley and Matty put into it.\u201d<\/p>\n The team also made use of the\u00a0CamTec exclusive\u00a0Color-Con, and Color-Con Mini, wireless devices developed by CamTec that were\u00a0operated remotely by Androvich. The Color-Con, placed in the matte box, is ringed with RGB LED\u2019s, which,\u00a0when interacting with different diffusion type filters,\u00a0produces a \u201cflashing\u201d of the image in the camera, in essence softening the image based on the color of the light in the scene.\u00a0Color Con units were placed on multiple cameras allowing Libatique to call out adjustments to Androvich, who would immediately implement them on each camera.<\/p>\n Innovations were also found in scenes away from the stage, like in Jack\u2019s woodsy home, where Cooper\u2019s character ultimately succumbs to his depression. The shot, which shows Jack emerging from his truck to enter his garage, starts inches from the pavement. As his boot steps out from his truck, we follow him into the garage, the camera rising up to drift over his waist, as he places his hat down, and then pulls back as he shuts the door.<\/p>\n \u201cThat scene could only have been shot with the M\u014dVI, using the AntigravityCam,\u201d Herr explains. \u201cThe way the arms articulate as you move lets us get into the garage, float around, and boom up and out. It can fit into places you wouldn\u2019t think it could.\u201d<\/p>\n The M\u014dVI was also part of a skillfully executed shot revealing the aftermath of Jack\u2019s death. The camera starts on a wide of the house, with police lights flashing, and passes quickly across the yard, making its way into the house, to a close-up of a neon sign of a French phrase uttered upon his and Ally\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cThat house had become part of their lives, where they started together,\u201d Libatique explains. \u201cSo the question was how do you visually show that Jack had been found and that there was an aftermath?\u201d<\/p>\n With a crane out of the question, and the landscape too steep for a Steadicam, Dubbe and her grip team used a CableCam system, tying a cable high in the front of the property, with its other end at a tree close to the house. The M\u014dVI was attached to a carriage and latch, with a wireless release system devised by Best Boy James Coffin, to unlatch it at its far end. At that point, Dolly Grip John Mang, who hid out of sight of the lens, could pick up the M\u014dVI rig and continue the shot, as a handoff, walking it into the house \u2013 all with the camera under Sakamoto\u2019s control (via the wheels). \u201cThat was Bradley\u2019s vision,\u201d Sakamoto shares. \u201cHe wanted the image to keep growing, come into the house, into this great neon sign that is iconic to them and iconic to her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to refer back to the start of their relationship,\u201d Libatique concludes. \u201cThe police light meant the end of it. And getting us up to that neon sign, with those words, at the very end, brought us back to where it all began.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n by Matt Hurwitz \/ photos by Clay Enos \/ framegrabs courtesy of Warner Bros.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n MAIN UNIT<\/p>\n Director of Photography<\/strong> A-Camera Operators\/Steadicam<\/strong> A-Camera 1st AC<\/strong> A-Camera 2nd AC<\/strong> B-Camera Operator<\/strong> B-Camera 1st AC<\/strong> B-Camera 2nd AC<\/strong> M\u014dVI Operator<\/strong> DIT<\/strong> Loader<\/strong> Still Photographers<\/strong> Unit Publicist<\/strong> 2nd UNIT<\/p>\n Director of Photography<\/strong> A-Camera 1st AC<\/strong> A-Camera 2nd AC<\/strong> DIT<\/strong> Loader<\/strong> Matthew Libatique, ASC, tunes up another great musical drama, with Bradley Cooper\u2019s A Star Is Born. At the Stagecoach Festival in Palm Springs last year, as the changeover was being made from Tommy James to Willie Nelson, Hollywood star Bradley Cooper took the stage with his band, Promise of the Real, led by Nelson\u2019s own son, Lukas, and belted out two songs (which were not amplified for the festival audience to hear). Capturing the performance was Oscar-nominated cinematographer Matthew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8182,"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":[500,502,29,37,38,503,40,501],"class_list":["post-8181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-a-star-is-born","tag-bradley-cooper","tag-cinematography","tag-icg-magazine","tag-international-cinematographers-guild","tag-lady-gaga","tag-local-600","tag-matty-libatique"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"A_Star_is_Born_1\"](\"http:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/A_Star_is_Born_1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A_Star_is_Born_2\"](\"http:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/A_Star_is_Born_2.jpg\")
\nAnother key piece of gear was Freefly Systems M\u014dVI Pro, a 3-axis gimbaled stabilizer that Libatique used on Straight Outta Compton<\/em>, and which he has incorporated in different ways ever since \u2013 as a remote head or as a handheld device that can move over objects and get through doorways.<\/p>\n![\"A_Star_is_Born_5\"](\"http:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/A_Star_is_Born_5.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A_Star_is_Born_4\"](\"http:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/A_Star_is_Born_4.jpg\")
\nConcert footage comprised four cameras: Libatique on handheld (with his favorite 65mm Cooke lens) capturing close-ups of Cooper; Sakamoto also doing close-up work (either handheld or Steadicam), and Moseley and Berglund on long lenses on the sides on stationary dollies. Herr would also have the M\u014dVI onstage, either with Sakamoto operating the wheels, or Moseley operating the M\u014dVI if Sakamoto was on Technocrane with crane grip Bogdan Iofciulescu. In the latter case, the crane base would often be placed toward the rear of the performers, with the arm swinging out to cover musicians.<\/p>\n![\"A_Star_is_Born_3\"](\"http:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/A_Star_is_Born_3.jpg\")
\nA similar arrangement was in place with Libatique\u2019s gaffer, Jeff Ferrero,<\/strong> and dimmer board operator Eric \u201cTK\u201d Androvich. As Ferrero relates: \u201cMatty had all the songs broken down into color palettes,\u201d with various portions of the stage divided up to allow him to call out cues to Androvich to switch on or off, or add a color to fit a mood Libatique sensed in the performance. \u201cRather than being concerned about effects,\u201d Ferrero adds, “Matty wanted to give the audience a certain feeling via the use of color.\u201d<\/p>\nLOCAL 600 CREW<\/h3>\n
\nMatthew J. Libatique, ASC<\/p>\n
\nScott Sakamoto, SOC
\nStephen S. Campanelli, SOC<\/p>\n
\nMatthew T. Stenerson<\/p>\n
\nJoey O\u2019Donnell<\/p>\n
\nChris Moseley<\/p>\n
\nJohn Holmes<\/p>\n
\nJeff Stewart<\/p>\n
\nChris Herr<\/p>\n
\nMike Kowalczyk<\/p>\n
\nJohanna Cerati<\/p>\n
\nClay Enos
\nNeal Preston<\/p>\n
\nHeidi Falconer<\/p>\n
\nChris Moseley<\/p>\n
\nChris Toll<\/p>\n
\nSal Alvarez<\/p>\n
\nNina Chadha<\/p>\n
\nJorge Cortez<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"