Well I’d just turned them the other way and you won't get any spill.
There you go--all the way-yeah.
Now, there's no spill.
You got to do that one too.
There you go.
Next time, I can do it for you.
Chuckle.
Simplistically the role of the cinematographer is to tell the story visually.
Every night, before the day of the shoot I study the script so that I understand the
scene.
And I understand the story and I understand the subtext.
Subtext is what the story is about.
And plot is, what they do.
And sometimes they’re opposite of each other.
And I need to understand that on an intimate level, so I know how to approach the scene
visually.
As a cinematographer, you're not in front.
The actors are in front.
The script is in front of them.
So, we as cinematographers enhance the story.
We set the mood we set the atmosphere sometimes we can tell it visually.
What I enjoy doing, is telling the story visually so it looks completely natural, doesn't look
like a movie-doesn't look lit.
So, all of my lighting is motivated by sources but usually I put the sources where I want
them to be.
In coming from documentaries, I know that no matter what I can make a shot.
I can tell a story.
I don't need that crutch of all that preparation, Now, that's not to say don't prepare I prepare
quite a bit.
But, then you arrived at work and find out: Oh, we can't shoot in this coffee shop.
Something's happened.
So, now we're across the street you know on the sidewalk.
What do you do?
If you understand the story and understand the scene, it's very simple.
Some of the best work I've ever done is when, all the sudden we have to do a three-page
scene that we didn't know we were going to have to do.
We’ve got 30 minutes before the sun sets you get very creative.
And That's when the good stuff happens.
The joke I always say is it the “Cine Gods” will talk to you and say you need to do this.
And if you're so married to your plan that you can't let go of it, then sure it'll be
fine.
But, it won't be inspired.
The transition from film to digital for me was instantaneous.
I never compared the two to each other.
Because they're two different mediums.
Why compare digital to film?
It's a waste of time.
In the capabilities of digital even the lowest digital camera, so at far out exceeds what
film is capable of.
Film is very limiting.
It’s very limiting.
Interviewer: How so?
Latitude, speed--all of these things.
It's how it accepts different colors.
Here's the deal, if film came second and video came first, we would all be saying, “Gee
it doesn't look like video.”
And my feeling when I look at these cameras, I just look at the capabilities of how far
I can go with it.
That's why I love the Panasonic camera.
Because significantly large dynamic range and the ISO 5000.
If I can see it, I can shoot it.
So, that is great freedom that have never had before.
I don't use primes all the good zooms are as good as primes.
They're little bit slower.
The 19-90mm is a T2.9.
Well with (ISO) 5000, that doesn't matter.
It's never a problem.
And what I do is when I go interior, I’m ISO 5000.
Day, night doesn't matter.
If it's not outdoors, in bright light we're in ISO 5000.
And the reason for that is, I dial in the NDs that are internal in the camera and A
camera will shoot at a T2.8, a T2.9.
And B camera which is on a 150mm (on the zoom).
Instead of them shooting at a T2.9, you click out the ND and he’s shooting at a T5.6.
So, all of a sudden, your focus puller has a chance.
So, in that configuration with the zoom and the LT, all of the sudden we're not changing
lenses for every shot.
I mean I literally spent my whole career to try to take “This and make it That” By,
not spending all the money on the technology and spending all the money on stuff, we spend
the money on the movie.
Unforgiven, the color grade, the lighting, the shooting, everything was about making
it real.
A real prison--nothing moves.
When they close the door, we kept locking ourselves into the cells because, when you
close the door they all locked.
So, we had to be very careful in so we're in a real, operating prison.
I couldn't really rig lights.
So, I went through taking tubes out of fluorescent fixtures and I used a bunch of my LEDs and
a few things.
Every now and then, we could run a putt-putt down the hall or outside of window.
But most of the time, you can't get outside the windows.
So, I was relying on the ambient light outside the windows to create the daytime look.
And controlling it inside with LEDs and things like that.
But we went green.
I always scout with a Lumix camera.
Because it has the same color science as this camera.
And at that time, it was GH4.
And I take a lot of photos and spend some time in Photoshop and create the look.
I decided I love this green.
It was right for the story.
And it just gave it that awful feeling.
This is not a pleasant place to be.
The most important thing about making movies is there’s no right or wrong.
It's just good, better, best.
You need to understand the rules and I think if you're studying cinematography, you need
to understand all the technical rules.
You need to understand the concepts of lighting, understand the evolution of lighting, three-point
lighting and all of that.
The advice I would give the people starting in the business is shoot.
When I came up, it was difficult--you had to buy film.
And you had to process it.
Then you had to print it and the cost of that alone was debilitating.
With all these little digital cameras, there's never been a better time to come into the
business.
You can take any brand of camera that shoots video and shoot excellent video with it.
You just need to understand what the camera does, where the limitations are and work within
them.
The only thing that holds anybody back, is talent and commitment.
And that the critical element.
That part hasn't changed the way we make movies today, is no different than the way they did
it 1916.
The problem with making movies and making it in the film business, is there’s luck
involved.
Anybody that tells you differently is lying.
But you make your luck.
Don't just go into the industry kind of interested in everything.
Set a goal as to what you want to do.
Once you set that goal, then every move you make would intuitively lead you to it.
That's the most important thing you've got to decide what it is you're interested in
and what you want to do.
You know the bottom line in this business is the only control you have of your career
is 2 words, Yes and No.
Somebody offers you a job and if it's garbage you can say no.
And if it's good they don't have any money you can say yes.
Because doing good work, gets you better work.
It's as simple as that.
Came across a copy of American Cinematographer Magazine and it was an article about Haskell
Wexler making Thomas Crown Affair.
And I was hooked from that point on.
Because all my interest in life were combined into this one art form.
That was it!