ICG Magazine - January 2023 - Film Fest Issue

BABYLON

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ARRI SIGNATURE LENSES. TRULY CINEMATIC.

Here’s to a Year of Optimism and Success Happy New Year 2023! But honestly, it doesn’t matter what year it is, as the talent and creativity in this Guild never slow down. That’s why I know this coming year, like those that have come before, will see our membership continue to be comprised of the most talented and creative cinematographers, lighting designers, camera operators, camera assistants, camera technicians, digital utilities, loaders, video controllers, broadcast professionals, live-sports workers, unit, studio and independent publicists and unit still photographers in the world.

I’m also proud to congratulate all those Local 600 members who will be premiering work at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival; this January issue of ICG Magazine you’re reading is themed around independent film festivals, and to have a project you worked on accepted to Sundance (let alone win an award) is for many the peak filmfestival experience. Sundance has, for many years, provided a platform for independent filmmakers from all the

Guild’s many national regions; it’s a place where careers have been advanced and long-lasting creative partnerships have been born. I would urge all those Guild members attending the 2023 Sundance Film Festival in person to stop by ICG Magazine’s annual “Snowdance” party, being held for the first time since the COVID pandemic forced the festival to become a virtual-only event over the last two years.

Along those same lines, as 2023 arrives, it’s important to celebrate all the various in-person events with which this Guild is involved. Those include the ICG Publicists Awards, enjoying its Diamond Jubilee anniversary (60th annual); the ASC Awards; the SOC Awards; the Oscars; the Emmys and the Emerging Cinematographer Awards. These events not only acknowledge the enormous talent and creativity on display in this union, year in and year out; they also highlight our united mission as an IATSE craft local to meet – and surpass – the new challenges that inevitably come with each turn of the calendar.

Baird B Steptoe

photo by Quantrell D. Colbert

National President International Cinematographers Guild IATSE Local 600

Publisher

Teresa Muñoz

Executive Editor

David Geffner

Art Director Wes Driver

STAFF WRITER

Pauline Rogers

COMMUNICATIONS

COORDINATOR

Tyler Bourdeau

COPY EDITORS

Peter Bonilla Maureen Kingsley

CONTRIBUTORS

William Gray Suzanne Lezotte Valentina Valentini

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE

John Lindley, ASC, Co-Chair Chris Silano, Co-Chair

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January 2023 vol. 94 no. 01

IATSE Local 600

NATIONAL PRESIDENT Baird B Steptoe

VICE PRESIDENT Chris Silano

1ST NATIONAL VICE PRESIDENT Deborah Lipman

2ND NATIONAL VICE PRESIDENT Mark H. Weingartner

NATIONAL SECRETARY-TREASURER Stephen Wong

NATIONAL ASSISTANT SECRETARY-TREASURER Patrick Quinn

NATIONAL SERGEANT-AT-ARMS Betsy Peoples

INTERIM NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Chaim Kantor

ADVERTISING POLICY: Readers should not assume that any products or services advertised in International Cinematographers Guild Magazine are endorsed by the International Cinematographers Guild. Although the Editorial staff adheres to standard industry practices in requiring advertisers to be “truthful and forthright,” there has been no extensive screening process by either International Cinematographers Guild Magazine or the International Cinematographers Guild.

EDITORIAL POLICY: The International Cinematographers Guild neither implicitly nor explicitly endorses opinions or political statements expressed in International Cinematographers Guild Magazine. ICG Magazine considers unsolicited material via email only, provided all submissions are within current Contributor Guideline standards. All published material is subject to editing for length, style and content, with inclusion at the discretion of the Executive Editor and Art Director. Local 600, International Cinematographers Guild, retains all ancillary and expressed rights of content and photos published in ICG Magazine and icgmagazine.com, subject to any negotiated prior arrangement. ICG Magazine regrets that it cannot publish letters to the editor.

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Copyright 2021, by Local 600, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States and Canada. Entered as Periodical matter, September 30, 1930, at the Post Office at Los Angeles, California, under the act of March 3, 1879. Subscriptions: $88.00 of each International Cinematographers Guild member’s annual dues is allocated for an annual subscription to International Cinematographers Guild Magazine. Non-members may purchase an annual subscription for $48.00 (U.S.), $82.00 (Foreign and Canada) surface mail and $117.00 air mail per year. Single Copy: $4.95

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This January issue, themed around Guild members at Sundance, marks a particularly exciting start to a new year as it will see ICG Magazine staffers returning to Park City, UT for the first time since 2020, a mere six weeks before the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s also the first time in three years that the Sundance Film Festival will be held as both a virtual and inperson event. The virtual component, which was already in place before COVID, is stronger than ever, with the 2021 and 2022 Sundance festivals serving as proof of concept that wherever there is entertaining and compelling visual content, audiences will show up.

Still, there’s nothing like seeing Guild cinematographers (and members of their camera teams) onstage at Sundance’s largest venue, the 2500-seat Eccles Theater, for a post-film Q&A. Having directors, producers and large ensemble casts praise this membership’s work is career/ artistic capital that money can’t buy. There’s something intrinsically satisfying about making sacrifices in scheduling, budget, gear and so many other ways – with like-minded filmmakers –and having the fruits of those efforts recognized by your peers, and audiences who adore indie filmmaking. I’ve been in that room at Sundance many times over the years and seen the smiles (and sometimes tears) from Local 600 members, and it’s incredibly inspiring.

And that kind of recognition is not limited to film festivals.

Late in 2022, at a Los Angeles FYC screening for the three-time-Emmy-winning series Abbott Elementar y [ICG Magazine August 2022], Guild Camera Operator Jeremiah Smith was praised during the Q&A by Tyler James Williams (firstgrade teacher Gregory Eddie) as understanding the actor’s craft like no one else he’s worked with. “There are moments Jeremiah catches of mine that I don’t even know how he sees,” Williams gushed after Smith was asked to stand in the packed house. “He knows my timing; he knows what I’m feeling at any given time. Most of those ‘Gregory’ reactions are not scripted –they’re that man right there finding something special.” Co-star Lisa Ann Walter (who plays

second-grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti) added that “if you consider all the roles as an actor you’ve played, where you’re thinking, ‘I don’t know if they’re seeing [these moments] that are not in the script.’ But they catch them, and we don’t know until we see the final cut on TV. It’s incredible what [the camera team] can do.”

Praise for this union’s members runs throughout this issue. It flows from Oscar-winning Writer/Director Damien Chazelle when talking about his Oscar-winning Director of Photography Linus Sandgren, ASC, FSF, in our cover story on Babylon (page 28), Chazelle’s third straight movie with Sandgren and their most ambitious project to date. It’s there, as well, for Director of Photography Brian Burgoyne and his New York-based camera team in our story on Spoiler Alert (page 46). Director Michael Showalter, helming his third feature with Burgoyne, says he and the DP “have shorthand in how we want to present the characters and the scene” that is at the core of their successful partnership. (Their last feature was the Oscar-nominated Sundance hit The Big Sick .) Spoiler Alert’s production designer, Sara K White, also working with Burgoyne for the third time, says that this “small, intimate” film (about a real-life same-sex marriage cut short when one of the spouses is diagnosed with a terminal illness) was told through a variety of environments meant to capture the pair’s personalities. “Brian has such sensitivity in his framing,” White notes. “We captured that connection in a natural, comfortable way.”

“Natural and comfortable” is also an apt description of how Guild Directors of Photography Steve Holleran (page 18) and Lyle Vincent (page 20) feel when they're at Sundance. Both men have premiered multiple features at the festival that have been celebrated by Park City audiences for their visual daring and creative risk-taking. Holleran says his feature A Boy. A Girl. A Dream. – shot entirely as a oner – took him “further off the cinematography map” then he’d ever been. Vincent, whose film A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night was honored with an Indie Spirit Award, says he’s “been blessed to have two amazing experiences [at Sundance]” and a third on the way at Sundance 2023, with the genre-defying Premieres feature, Landscape with Invisible Hand . Not only do both DP’s appreciate having a platform that revels in their love of creative risk-taking, but, as Vincent notes, “we get to meet a lot of other great filmmakers because we all are there together, seeing each others’ movies.”

And, I might add, in the same room, in person, together.

Geffner Executive Editor

Email: david@icgmagazine.com

David Geffner

Camp Sundance

“It’s great to be headed back to Park City with ICG Magazine staffers after two years of a virtual Sundance. While festival organizers did a fabulous job of recreating ‘that Sundance feeling’ online, there’s no substitute for celebrating with Guild members in person at our annual ‘Snowdance’ party. Knowing I’ll be able to meet and greet so many of the members highlighted in this month’s annual Sundance Web Preview made compiling the feature that much more special.”

“For the filmmakers of Spoiler Alert the challenge of shooting in New York City was that outdoor dining huts had sprung up all over the streets. ‘Those didn’t exist in 2002 and 2003, when the book takes place,’ Local 600 DP Brian Burgoyne told me. They searched for locations with half a block that wasn’t inundated with post-COVID outdoor dining. ‘For the show I’m doing now,’ Burgoyne added, ‘we were finally allowed to stop wearing masks on set. It’s exciting to see faces again.’”

David

Cover photo by Scott Garfield, SMPSP

Photo by Sara Terry

Suzanne Lezotte New York Story

RED V-RAPTOR XL™ 8K VV

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Just starting to ship – for high-end television and motion picture productions – is the new RED XL, which leverages RED’s flagship V-RAPTOR 8K VV + 6K S35 multi-format sensor in a large-scaleproduction-ready, modular, 7-by-6.5-in. camera body weighing just under eight pounds. The sensor shoots 8K large format of 6K 35, allowing shooters to capture at over 4K, even when paired with S35 lenses. The sensor scan time is two times faster than any previous RED cameras, at up to 600 fps at 2K. The XL boasts an internal electronic ND system of two to seven stops with precision control of ⅓ or ¼ stop increments. It has dual-power options with 14-V and 26-V battery compatibility, an interchangeable lens mount, wireless timecode, genlock, and camera control for remote and virtual production.

The Varotal/i FF 19-40mm spherical zoom lens offers superb resolution, constant optical speed, and minimal breathing. All three Varotal/i Full Frame (FF) zooms deliver the famed Cooke Look, offering natural, flattering skin tone and character. They match both the Cooke S8/i FF and S7/i FF primes, enabling cinematographers to preserve their creative intent when switching between primes and zooms. Now with three zoom focal-length ranges, the Varotal/i FF series provides great flexibility in focal lengths, with suitable crossover. The new 19-40mm lens is the widest of the three Varotal/i FF’s, and slightly lighter at 3.5 kg (7.7 lb.), with 30-95mm and 85-215mm lenses each weighing 4 kg (8.8 lb.). It’s an ideal lens for Steadicam, allowing the camera operator to obtain fluidly moving shots while getting close to the subject. With an ergonomic design and solid casing, these lenses are relatively compact when considering their focal length range, speed and image circle. The /i Technology connectivity is provided to both camera and the LEMO connection on the side of the lens, making lens data accessible to production from a zoom.

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Tilta Mini Articulating Arm

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The Tilta Mini Articulating Arm is an ideal lightweight option for mounting accessories to your camera system. This adjustable arm comes with ¼-inch-20 mounting points on each end. The ¼-20 threads feature retractable locating pins that provide additional security when mounting to a thread with locating points (but does not limit users from only using these types of connections). The freely rotating design of the dual ¼-inch-20 bolts makes it easy to configure and attach this arm, as it can be secured in place without needing to rotate the entire arm or attached accessory. The unit supports multiple attachment types that can be easily swapped to accommodate different connections, such as ARRI Rosette, cold shoe, NATO, 15/19-mm rods, and even SmallHD’s monitor connection type. An extended ball joint arm can be added to expand the points of articulation and increase the size of the arm for unique applications, allowing users to adjust the position of external monitors, electronic viewfinders, on-camera lights or microphones, and other accessories.

DJI O3 Air Unit

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“The DJI O3 Air Unit has improved picture quality and range over the older iterations,” says Michael Isquierdo, chief pilot, Beverly Hills Aerials [ICG Magazine May 2020]. “This improved range is critical in high-profile moments, stunt sequences, minimal-take environments, and ultimately any scenario where maximizing the quality per take is essential to an efficient production. Seeing more detail for the pilot makes the shots smoother, better, and safer.” The DJI O3 Air Unit is a compact, lightweight FPV camera and transmission module system that will turn any drone into a DJI aerial-filming platform capable of transmitting high-resolution video up to 10 km away. The camera module houses a 1/1.7-in. sensor that shoots up to 4K/60-fps video at a 155-degree super-wide FOV. The DJI O3 is an essential addition to a high-performance FPV experience.

Matthews’ BM1 Four-Pack Bulb Mount Kit

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The Matthews Bulb Mount is a quick, versatile, and practical solution for mounting popular battery-powered bulbs to various types of grip equipment. Simply functional, one end of the black molded mount accepts the threads of an E26/E27 medium LED bulb, while at the other end, there’s a standard ¼-inch-20 female threaded insert, ready to hold a number of handy accessories that come in the bulb mount kit. Each included tool is professionally designed to better handle the many unforeseen issues that can arise on location work. Especially useful in unique and tricky environments, the Kit provides four matte-black bulb mounts along with a pair of Threaded Micro Grip Pins, a 6-inch Micro Grip Rod, a scissor clamp, and a rubbercoated Disc Magnet. This versatile package facilitates LED bulb use on drop ceilings, steel beams, filing cabinets, metal architecture and other challenging surfaces.

Bumble Bulb PAR30

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The Bumble Bulb PAR30 is the next generation in Hive Lighting’s OmniColor LED’s. Built into the classic form factor of a PAR30 light, the Bumble Bulb is a cutting-edge film and television production tool. This new bulb features modular optics; professional controls, including wired and wireless DMX; and a built-in battery in a rugged, weatherproof formfactor. The Bumble Bulb PAR30 uses Hive’s Omni-Color LED technology and a 7-spectrum array to create a full-spectrum, high-fidelity white light, and hundreds of presets to let you imitate any light source in the world. Like all of Hive’s Omni-Color LED’s, the Bumble Bulb PAR30 is modular, with unique modifiers offering complete beam-shaping control. The Bumble Bulb PAR30 can be controlled using DMX via wired USB-C, wireless CRMX, and Hive’s free Bluetooth app. It’s great for practical fixtures and re-bulbing of both industrial and theatrical PAR cans and track lights. Addressable without additional power and controllable from any professional lighting board, the PAR30 is designed for the seamless integration of control between the fixtures and the lighting departments on set.

Optimo Ultra Compact –Full Pack – U35/FF

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With the introduction of the ALEXA 35, the need for a modern lightweight cinematic zoom lens that was specifically designed for both large-format and S35 sensors became essential. Maintaining the classic fields of view from Angénieux’s Optimo legacy zooms, Optimo Ultra Compact zooms are a complete optical and mechanical redesign, capable of delivering the high resolution that modern sensors require while maintaining the low-contrast look that has made it the choice of cinematographers for decades. With focal lengths of 21-56 and 37-102mm at T2.9 in full frame, the optional Angénieux Interchangeable Rear Optics (IRO) convert these to a familiar 16-42mm and 28-76mm at T2.2 in the U35 Alexa open-gate format. The Optimo Ultra Compacts round out a complete set of matched optics that includes Optimo Primes and the Ultra 12×. Delivering first quarter 2023 are the Optimo Ultra Compact Zooms with Full Pack support and /i Technology metadata. For more information, contact Band Pro, Angénieux’s exclusive distribution partner in the Americas, which provides sales, service and support.

Hudson Super Slider

“The new Super Slider was designed to be the width of a dolly; therefore, it will go wherever the dolly goes. You don’t have to change from one size slider to another, or rotate a larger slider to fit through a doorway,” explains designer Richard Mall. “Most crews carry 2-, 3-, and 4-foot sliders on set. The Hudson Slider covers all the standard sizes in one tool. It can be used overhung or underhung; and, because of its stiffness, it doesn’t need to be supported if used on a larger robust dolly. It is also one of the quietest sliders on the market.” Mall, who is using this new slider on Apple TV+’s hit Emmy-winning drama The Morning Show, says the mechanism used to achieve a compounding move has the upper and lower stages on independent rails connected by a sturdy belt and pulley system, giving the footprint of a 2-foot slider with the travel of a 4-foot. Underslung or upright, the slider is suited for packages up to 100 lb. and features extremely smooth and quiet movement.

Steve Holleran

BY PAULINE ROGERS

COURTESY OF STEVE HOLLERAN

PHOTO

“Have you figured out what you want to do with your life?” a sixteen-year-old Steve Holleran heard his mother ask, as she dropped an issue of Outside Magazine about adventure filmmaking in his lap. “Adventure seemed out of reach and, to be honest, pretty scary,” the six-year ICG member recalls. “But the article highlighted the best filmmakers from National Geographic and MacGillivray Freeman, for instance – and made it sound possible. So, I was hooked and just young enough to think I could do it. After that, I’d shoot just about anything if you punched my plane ticket and put a camera in my hands.”

Holleran’s first assignment was a year-long environmental documentary about Māori and Samoan fishermen that he’d pitched as part of IBM’s Watson Fellowship. “For a year, I lived and worked alone in remote fishing villages with spearfishing families documenting their struggle to survive amidst climate change, overfishing and tsunamis,” Holleran remembers. “It was a true learning experience; I came away from the year profoundly changed as a young man with a clear understanding that telling underdog stories through film would be a lifelong passion.”

And it wasn’t the high-profile jobs that Holleran found most interesting but the ones that provided the most real-world education. “And those tended to be the documentary shoots,” he smiles. “Hiking backcountry wildfire lines with female felon hand crews, embedding with the cartels down in the Rio favelas who were helping pull kids out of poverty, or shooting deep-water solo climbing out in Mallorca in a tropical storm. But I also spent a month traveling through the French countryside with a three-star Michelin chef. Watching a master of his craft work with his crew was truly memorable.”

Holleran eventually gravitated toward shooting indie features. Three projects – The Land (2016), A Boy. A Girl. A Dream [ICG Magazine.com January 2018] and The Obituary of Tunde Johnson upped his profile on the festival circuit and garnered nominations at Sundance and TIFF. Holleran says his second film, A Boy. A Girl. A Dream., shot entirely as a oner, sent him further off “the cinematography

map” than at any point in his career. He followed-up these festival premieres with a selection to Variety’s Artisan Elite Up Next list, British Columbia’s Leo Award for Best Cinematography, and blockbuster work on Creed and Godzilla franchises.

The So Cal-based DP’s latest project, Sympathy for the Devil , with Nicholas Cage, seemed like a movie that didn’t want to get made. But, close to day one of shooting, the film moved from Atlanta to Las Vegas, and somewhere in the process, ended up nonunion below the line. “Some films are like that, by the way,” he explains. “They have this aura of impossibility around them for a whole variety of reasons and are often quite difficult to accomplish. But, they can also turn out to be the best films when they’re done.”

About halfway through the project, the crew decided that fair treatment was worth going on strike for, and picketed call time at the abandoned Vegas casino being used as a location. There was an old wooden bridge between the crew parking and the location. The IATSE representatives and the Sympathy producers went back and forth in discussion.

“It felt like a hostage negotiation,” Holleran reflects. “At some point, I was brought into the conversation to find some mutual understanding. I think it helped everyone – who had been very enthusiastic about the visuals and the performances up to that point. Both crew and producers knew we were making something special, and no one wanted to turn their backs on that. Eventually, we found that middle ground and got back to work." (Mainly due to Holleran's efforts.)

Even though his career has been built on creative risk-taking, Holleran says he’s deadly serious when it comes to safety. “When you take a camera off a stage and out to tell a story in the real world, anything is possible,” he says. “As magical as that can be, it can also get dangerous, and I have many cautionary tales.”

No doubt. Holleran has found himself in random gang shootings, set brawls, and out-of-

control wildfires that melted equipment to the ground. “I was detained in Morocco, mistaken for an American spy, during the filming of a music concert,” he recounts. “I had a gun drawn on me by the Colombian police over a pocketknife. Earlier this year, things got even more dangerous when I fell during the strike on Sympathy and broke my collarbone.”

Holleran describes the documentary and indie world as a place of difficult hours and budgets. “I’ve often worked with a lot of demanding creatives who push immersive filmmaking to its limits,” he describes. “This can produce wonderful results, but it also asks the crew to put their bodies in harm’s way, which I’ve done to myself many more times than I’d like to remember. It’s important to remember there are many ways to tell a story that don’t require getting hurt.”

And yet, for Holleran, experimentation remains a priority.

“My latest endeavor [the Sony Pictures Entertainment theatrical feature Missing ] is a screen-life international thriller shot from the perspective of laptops, security cameras, and cell phones,” he notes. “There was nothing traditional about the filmmaking process, from how we set up frames to lighting it to how it was monitored and colored. We staged the action often for nine-bysixteen frames and always had to be mindful of how a specific type of camera should see the world and work actively to mimic that, painting ourselves into corners from which we’d have to invent new ways to get out. I enjoy this process of exploration and adventure on set – it’s what got me into the business in the first place.”

If the young director of photography has one single piece of advice it would be to “never shoot the same movie twice.” It’s something he says to himself when he goes into a new project. “Why?” he asks. “Because the magic of the craft is found at the bleeding edge of being uncomfortable and in new territory, and that is where I love to take the camera.”

Lyle Vincent

BY

PHOTO COURTESY OF LYLE VINCENT ON THE SET OF THE INTERNATIONAL THRILLER KATE

PAULINE ROGERS

“When I first saw ET , with the fog and mist, and way it was lit – the glowing highlights and the atmosphere of the spaceship – I was shocked. The emotions that the filmmakers evoked. I wasn’t just a kid in the theater – I was watching the magic of creating other worlds,” recalls cinematographer Lyle Vincent. The shot when Elliot first sees ET, and the search for ET in the woods, “had a lasting impact on my life and interest in movie making.” It’s a movie that is often at the forefront of Vincent’s creative library, influencing his work on projects as diverse as the 2014 Sundance horror-drama A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and the action-horror feature The Bad Batch on through to 2019 SXSW feature Daniel Isn’t Real and his most recent work, HBO’s two-timeEmmy-nominated dramatic series, The Staircase

“I remember other teenage influences that are often fresh in my mind today,” Vincent recounts. “The intro of Rachel’s character in Tyrell’s office from Blade Runner. How graphic and shocking elements of Pulp Fiction and Taxi Driver influenced me as a teenager, like Mia Wallace’s overdose scene or the briefcase scene. Then there is the shootout scene in Taxi Driver. Or him driving the New York City streets. They are visceral, timeless and impressionistic.”

Vincent says he feels some sadness whenever he goes back to watch these movies “over and over today. The way lighting was used in these films – it’s kind of a lost art. Everything has become softer and LED-influenced. For me, going back to the look of hard contrast and bright colors – that’s what I react to and often embrace.”

The Guild member says he had originally set his sights on becoming a director, before a brutally honest Russian professor, Boris Frumin at NYU, gave him a kick in a different direction – cinematography. “He said, ‘You are not a director – a DP, maybe.’ Which was huge from him,” Vincent laughs. “I learned to see cinematically using light and shadow, reflections, extreme angles, frames within frames, composition and movement – all Boris. So, I started

shooting many fellow grad students’ projects at NYU. Boris liked what I did and encouraged me.”

Vincent says he came to NYU (where he received an MFA in filmmaking from Tisch School of the Arts in 2006) when master cinematographers were teaching, and wanting to give back. Each one left a mark. “Sandy Sissel was the head of cinematography, and I was so impressed with her words,” Vincent recalls. “She gave a great class on how to use window light and redirect it to light the actors on the set, giving a natural yet heightened feel. Sandy taught me to trust my gut, and not overthink how to light or shoot a scene.

“I got lucky when I connected with Declan Quinn [ASC, ISC],” he continues. “His generosity impressed me, and I did an indie project with Declan. He did a semester as a professor and shared his lighting tricks and interesting things he picked up over his impressive career. I remember learning about hard lighting in a natural way using mirrors to get the light further away in a confined space and using different weird materials with different colors and textures as a bounce to create a more interesting look.”

When Vincent did a project with Quinn at NYU, Quinn contacted Harris Savides, ASC, about how he lit the movie Birth . “We emulated the same soft top light with muslin across the entire ceiling of the set and used his color timer at Technicolor and his pull process, two stops underexposure. Harris worked with us directly, as he was in between projects and lived nearby,” Vincent recalls.

After NYU, Vincent started doing commercials, second unit, and plate work. “That’s how I got into the union,” he explains. “It was important to get going on union jobs right away to see how union sets and union crews work,” he shares. “VFX cinematography also gave me a foundation in shooting green screen and plates.”

From the very beginning, Vincent wanted his storytelling to be visceral, with distinct composition,

movement, lighting, shadow and color. His early work also won him the American Society of Cinematographers Heritage Award. “It was amazing because I was able to meet so many great DP’s that were nominated and connect with Laszlo Kovacs [ASC], who was the one who nominated my NYU short film, The Grey Woman , which won the award.”

Meeting director Ana Lily Amirpour and shooting A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, and then Amirpour’s follow-up feature, The Bad Batch (Jason Momoa, Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves), solidified Vincent’s creative direction. “Lily was just starting,” he recalls. “We honestly didn’t know what would happen with Girl – it was an art passion project done in black and white.” After the film wowed audiences at Sundance, it was shown at MoMA’s New Directors/New Films, before receiving a domestic and international release – a rare occurrence for an unheralded midnight film, even one that played at Sundance. Vincent’s cinematography was also honored with an Independent Spirit Award nomination.

“Sundance was incredible,” he enthused. “Festivals are amazing. I was so blessed to have two amazing experiences with Girl and Thoroughbreds showing there and having a great buzz around them. Also, I got to meet a lot of other great filmmakers because we all are there together, seeing each others’ movies.”

Vincent and Thoroughbreds writer/director Cory Finley are back for Sundance 2023 with the genredefying narrative Premieres feature, Landscape with Invisible Hand, which, Vincent laughs, “is a little out there. It’s a lot of fun when you play with a project that covers a couple of genres. It’s the story of a pair of teenagers who try to save their family when aliens control the economy.”

Genre-busting, perhaps, but it’s the kind of nonmainstream project – at least at conception – that Vincent thrives on: indie stories where creativity is fully in the filmmakers’ hands.

Best

Seat

in the

House: An Assistant Director Behind the Scenes of Feature Films

BY PAULINE ROGERS

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID MCGIFFERT

One of David McGiffert’s earliest assistant-directing jobs was on a 1970s low-budget independent feature shot in San Francisco and Marin County. “The most complicated day of filming involved a crowd scene that took place on Van Ness Avenue in the heart of San Francisco,” the long-time AD recalls. Friday afternoon, traffic was rerouted, and two blocks were sealed off. Hundreds of people gathered to watch.

“To control a large scene like this,” he continues, “I had always heard an assistant director had to use a bullhorn.” Cameras ready. Actors in place. The director gave him a thumbs-up. He was in the middle of a four-lane highway, and “I took a few steps toward the camera position and spoke into the bullhorn, ‘Please standby!’ The sound of my voice boomed off the building and out over the massive crowd. Everyone tensed to see what was going to happen. I hurried toward the sidewalk to get out of the shot, but because I would give the cue for the action to start, I wanted to make sure everyone on the crew could see me, so as I approached a six-foot-wide swath of ivy between the curb and the sidewalk, I raised the bullhorn again. ‘All right, everyone, please watch me.’ All heads turned in my direction at the precise moment I stepped into a large hole hidden under the ivy and fell flat on my face! The bullhorn bounced uselessly down the sidewalk.”

And David McGiffert never used a bullhorn again.

It’s that self-deprecating attitude and ability to find a good laugh out of often challenging situations McGiffert has encountered, over the past 30-plus years, that makes reading Best Seat in the House: An Assistant Director Behind the Scenes of Feature Films a delight.

And almost impossible to review.

Because McGiffert’s book is mainly a collection of great stories, any reviewer will naturally pick the ones that resonate most. So fair warning: I’ve picked the stories I loved best, but know they are only a tease. To get the full impact, you must leaf through the entire book and choose your own.

As for McGiffert’s take on his job description, besides knowing everyone’s jobs well enough that the AD should be able to have an intelligent conversation with every department, “tact, diplomacy and a calm demeanor are also helpful qualities,” he writes.

While the director is the captain of the ship, the first assistant director watches over and manages the thousands of daily details that go into making a feature film, aka the process . As Oscarwinning writer/director Cameron Crowe (who met McGiffert while prepping Vanilla Sky ) says in the book’s introduction, “The AD is the spokesman and diplomat of the director, the one who knows that every thousand-decision day demands that he get at least 999 of those decisions right. They are the Special Sauce, the secret weapon, the superhero

behind the scenes.”

Crowe goes on to say that “it’s the heart that David McGiffert puts into his job” that makes him such a successful on-set partner. “It’s a heart filled with family, humanity and the pure joy of making a soul connection with his fellow workers,” Crowe states. “It not only shows up in the movie but also in the lives of all the participants for years to follow.”

Crowe notes that “in one of the beautiful stories in this book, David is told what is usually the case: that warm familiarity with a director will disappear when the project is over. It’s the way it is. Reading that passage, I thought to myself, yes, that’s usually the case – but not with David. The bond he creates in making a movie doesn’t disappear.”

And neither do the memories of the fun and foibles "McGiff" (as he is known on set) was always in the middle of.

Best Seat in the House is truly a cornucopia of what goes on behind the scenes and McGiff’s involvement. Some of the many famous film luminaries the AD worked with include Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Paul Newman, Tom Cruise –and the list goes on.

Amidst it all, one story jumped out for me. It was 1982, and director Sydney Pollack, known for having total creative control over his films via contractual elements, was to share control with star Dustin Hoffman on Tootsie. McGiffert writes, “The efforts to mesh the different ideas between Pollack and Hoffman were the project’s greatest challenge from the earliest days of shooting.” That, plus the many creative ideas brought to the set each morning, put production behind, and the studio watched everything. McGiffert writes that talking to Hoffman and Pollack about the studio’s concerns was a challenge. Especially when Hoffman was in character.

“When he was being Dorothy, Dustin’s manner changed completely,” McGiffert writes. “He would spend time hanging out with the crew, knew everyone by name and about them, and told hilarious stories about each one. Musing almost to myself, I mentioned how much fun it would be to be around Dustin when he was playing Dorothy – we could talk to her.

“Sydney picked up on it immediately,” he continues. “‘We might be onto something here. What if we did that?’ A few days later, when Sydney proposed a fairly substantial script change, I was waiting outside Dustin’s dressing room when he stepped out, made up and dressed as Dorothy. As we walked to the set for an upcoming rehearsal, I outlined the change Sydney was proposing. When I finished, I waited a few seconds before asking what he thought. Dustin’s reply – in a rich, feminine southern accent – was clear and unhesitating. ‘Oh, my, what a lovely idea. Why, yes, by all means, let’s try it!’ The creative differences continued, but by waiting to talk to ‘Dorothy,’ Sydney nearly always

got what he wanted.”

Other highlights include working with Paul Newman – how they “sparred” a little with cars, how generous Newman was with strangers, and how the actor lit a fire under McGiffert to drive. One of the most interesting highlights is tied to a what-an-ADneeds-to-do-to-finish-a-film scenario. It was 1984, and the University of Florida assigned a student named Terry Miller to be a production assistant as part of his film class. McGiffert and others saw something special in Miller that could lead to a career in the AD department. But, there is always the test, deliberate or accidental.

“We were prepared for an early evening dialogue scene between Paul and Robby Benson [ Harry and Son ],” McGiffert writes. “We had been shooting in an industrial area outside Fort Lauderdale. As we were setting up for the last brief scene, we could hear that an outdoor country-western concert was about to begin a few blocks away. I called Terry over. ‘We have to find a way to stop that concert long enough to make recording dialog possible. Terry was apprehensive, but sometimes we all need a little push to help us realize we’re more capable than we think we are. I was adamant. ‘You can do it.’”

Miller shuffled off to the concert and faced down the manager. No go. Until another AD suggested he find the stage manager. “When Terry called again, he sounded elated. ‘David, the stage manager says she’ll be happy to help us!’ Everything went perfectly. Each time we were ready, I radioed Terry. And the stage manager would pause the music. The audience was quiet. Terry told me the woman stage manager walked up to the mike and announced the pause so that ‘Mr. Paul Newman can finish a movie scene he’s shooting a few blocks from here.’ When Terry returned to the set, the look on his face makes me smile even now.”

And so it goes, as McGiffert’s book recounts sweet stories, out-and-out clashes of wills, and everything in between. There are stories from films like Man in the Moon , where everyone had to deal with Jim Carrey in multiple personalities on set; working with Conrad Hall, ASC on A Civil Action ; and working with Robert Redford, Jon Avnet and so many more.

This is a brave book. McGiffert somehow finds a balance between the fun experiences and the much more challenging ones that shape a career in movies. So pick up your copy of Best Seat in the House and zero-in on your favorite tales. You’ll learn a lot about the film industry (and what it was like before 2000), and you’ll have fun doing it.

ISBN: 979-8-88771-022-8 www.bearmanormedia.com $42.00 Kindle $9.95 Barnes & Noble $55.00, $42.00, ebook $9.95

Mary Zophres

COSTUME

DESIGNER | BABYLON

BY VALENTINA VALENTINI PHOTO COURTESY OF HUSSEIN KATZ/ PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Not long after Mary Zophres saw Whiplash in 2014, she heard that newbie writer/director Damien Chazelle was gearing up to film a musical based in Los Angeles. That’s all she knew, but she’d loved the Sundance-winning (and then Oscar-winning) feature debut and told her agents that she desperately wanted a meeting for the project.

Flash forward seven years, and Zophres is the costume designer for the third successive Damien Chazelle film since Whiplash – La La Land (2016), First Man (2018) and now Babylon , a wild cinematic ride through unseen Hollywood as the industry transitioned from silent films to talkies in the late 1920s.

Working for an auteur like Chazelle is nothing new for Zophres, who has designed costumes on three Farrelly Brothers films, three Steven Spielberg movies, and every Coen Brothers film since Fargo If you told Zophres – a child of clothing store entrepreneurs in Florida – any of this was possible, she would’ve said you were crazy. Yes, she went to the movies every week with her mother, and yes, she watched American Movie Classics at home (all the time). But Zophres says it never occurred to her that working in the movies was a career path. In hindsight, her parents’ work in retail made it clear that was not her path. But being around clothing had a subliminal impact, and helping in the store had a tangible influence on Zophres, who eventually became one of the most soughtafter costume designers in Hollywood, nominated for three Oscars and four BAFTA’s, and winning a Costume Designers Guild Award for that little musical she so badly wanted a part in called La La Land . ICG regular Valentina Valentini caught up with the busy designer to gauge her love for her craft (particularly when it’s shot on film, like Babylon ) and learn why auteur directors bring out the best in her.

“When I joined the union in New York, in 1989 or ’90, I was thrilled because it felt like legitimacy. I was among other like-minded people.”

ICG Magazine: When did you know you wanted to be a costume designer? Mary Zophres: Going to Vassar as an undergraduate opened my eyes to a lot of things. It changed the course of my life. My major was art history and studio art. I had friends taking film classes, and that was the first time I encountered the idea of “working in film.” I had my first film class in my senior year with Mr. Steerman. He screened Truffaut’s Day for Night , which is all about being on a film set, and that’s when the lightbulb went on. I think my parents hoped that I would get a liberal arts degree and come home to take over the family business. [Laughs.] But I moved to New York with barely enough to pay the first month’s rent with this idea that I wanted to work in the film business.

Were there any mentors along the way? I did a lot of bartending at night and worked as a PA during the day on various New York sets. Eventually, through one of my best friends at Vassar who was working on Born of the Fourth of July , I got a job as a costume PA. That’s where I met Judy Ruskin. I was among dozens of other [costume] PA’s on that film, and she liked what I did with categorizing the wardrobe and took me under her wing. She sponsored me to become an assistant costume designer with the New York union [IATSE Local 764], and I went with her to Texas for City Slickers and then to Los Angeles, where I was able to get into the Costume Designers Guild [IATSE Local 892] as an assistant. I worked some more with Judy, assisted Ellen Mirojnick, and then started assisting Richard Hornung. I always consider Judy my undergrad training, and working with Richard was my grad school. He actually told me not to go to grad school and to assist him instead and get paid! For me, it was the right choice. That practical, hands-on experience was valuable, and I learned so much from observing how he worked and his methods. Something interesting is that both myself and Mark Bridges were his two assistants for a long time, and Mark and I both have what I consider to be very good careers. I attribute 99 percent of that to Richard, and I feel like Mark would say the same.

And Richard Hornung is how you met the Coen Brothers . That’s true. My last assistant design

credit was on The Hudsucker Proxy under Richard, and I reached a point where I knew I was ready to do this myself. After that movie, I got my first design job on PCU (1994) and then Dumb and Dumber , my first with the Farrelly Brothers.

Was joining the union a big moment? I am a huge proponent of unions. There was a period, about 10 years ago, where it felt like we were the only industry that still had unions. Now, I feel the importance of unions growing. When I joined the union in New York, in 1989 or ’90, I was thrilled because it felt like legitimacy. I was among other like-minded people. And when I got into the union in L.A. I felt the same way. Even though I was new to the business, I was welcome, and I felt like growth could be fostered there. And now, it’s a place where I can help usher in new designers, like Jenny Eagan, who worked with me for 10 years. She was in Local 705 and then joined CDG; Nomi Shichor and Jo Kissack were also in 705 and then I sponsored them, and several other costume production assistants I’ve mentored, including Mallory Bush, Irene Jeong, Sophie Kay, and Jeffrey Brown. To be honest, we don’t have the power of the writers, producers and directors guilds, or even ICG. But it gives us a family unit and a lovely community of people who are helpful to one another and supportive.

Because of the directors you’ve worked with, including Christopher Nolan, even in recent years, you’ve been on movies shot on film. Any opinions on that? I prefer film. Honestly, I hope that we end up going back to it. I realize there are these technological advances and money involved, but I think when you watch a film that was shot on film, on any device, it looks different than if you watch a digital film on any device. It looks kind of fake to me. It’s weird. And I know the Coen Brothers have been sold on it, starting with The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and then The Tragedy of Macbeth [adapted and directed by Joel Coen], though I do think the black and white was more forgiving in digital. But there were a couple of shots where I didn’t remember it looking like that in dailies and surprised me with the end product. So, yeah, I’m not a fan of digital, and I don’t think it will stand the test of time.

What are some ways shooting digitally impacts your job? I have to be very careful when using stones and gems or metal or anything that has a sheen, like leather or buckles. They all go a little rogue on digital. The movie I’m doing now is shot digitally, and I had to say no to using rhinestone because it does not look good on digital. It’s less visually reliable than film. I cross my fingers that enough filmmakers continue to work with film so that the processing houses can stay in business.

You’ve had some terrific directors who continually want to work with you. That must be a nice place to be. I never take it for granted, ever. It’s not a guarantee. For instance, after Buster Scruggs , Ethan took a break, and Joel directed Macbeth on his own, but I wasn’t sure I’d be asked back. I feel lucky and privileged to have been, but I don’t expect it to ever happen again, because sometimes it hasn’t happened again, which might be my choice, or it might be their choice. I feel like I design the movies I’m meant to design. I like to pick my movies for the director as that’s what interests me. Yes, the subject matter is important, but the filmmaker is tantamount. I have a strong personality – I’m not submissive in any way – but directors have said to me that they know if I’m on their film, I’m going to get it done. When Damien reached out to me for Babylon , I was thrilled. But, like, Steven Spielberg hasn’t asked me to do any of his recent films, and that’s just the way he works and that’s fine.

So, even though it’s been three-for-three with Damien, you don’t feel like he has you on speed dial? I’ve done a commercial or two with him since Babylon , actually, and still, I’m so glad he called. He’s never said, “I’m not going to call,” but he also doesn’t say, “See you on the next one!” You just have to leave it open in this business because people’s schedules don’t always align.

Each of these repeat directors has recognizable aesthetics, even when their movies are tonally different. Cinematography and production design have a lot to do with that, but so do costumes. I work for the director. It’s not The Mary Zophres Show . My boss is the director. Of course, I listen

to the producers, and my favorite thing to do is to collaborate with actors, but the person whose vision I am trying to create is the director’s. Their leadership and guidance are filtered through my aesthetic, but I always defer to the director. It’s what makes a successful collaboration, but it also makes a successful costume designer.

And yet iconic wardrobe moments come to mind when a director’s work is recognizable. Like the orange and blue suits from Dumb and Dumber or The Dude’s “uniform” in The Big Lebowski. Is there anything deliberate about that in your work? No. On Dumb and Dumber it was scripted that they were in bright tuxedos, though I can’t remember if the colors were specified. But I never approach a costume like “This is the iconic moment.” The yellow dress in La La Land , for instance, I wasn’t going for any iconic moment. It was based on her character, on where we were shooting the dance sequence, and on the other colors being used in the scene. And if you have that pressure of thinking you need to create something iconic, I don’t know that you can come up with the right choice. It has to happen organically because the script calls for it.

Was that the case with Margot Robbie’s red outfit that opens Babylon ? It so quickly defines her character and what’s to come. The choice of color and fabric was deliberate, as we knew Margot was going to be the only person in red, and your eye would be drawn to her. Other elements in the frame also have that color. We wanted to make clear she’s not somebody who comes from tons of money. So, it had to look a bit scrappy and put together, while still graphic and sexy, and sexual, as she was there to be discovered. But it was not an easy nut to crack. We went through many different iterations, and it took us a minute to land on that. She also has an elaborate dance in that scene, so the choreography played into it. Damien would come in and shoot the choreography rehearsals, and I could see what he was after by the movement that he was using. And then when Linus was able to start on prep, it was the same thing. You could watch the camera rehearsals and get a good sense of where the scene was going. Given all of that, I eventually figured out [Margot Robbie] would need

to wear shorts. As an actress, Margot’s willing to go for it. But she’s also surrounded by hundreds of background extras, and I wanted to be protective of her privacy. And that became clear as we started fitting background. We weren’t setting out to have it be her iconic moment in the film, but we did want her to stand out.

You’ve been nominated for three Oscars. Do awards matter? I’m grateful for all my nominations, hugely flattered, and super proud of them. On that level, yeah, they matter because they give some validation to what you do. But also, I’m proud of the movies that I was not nominated for and happy with how they look. Ultimately, I don’t think awards or nominations have changed my career. Like when I got nominated for an Academy Award, nothing happened that I’m aware of. I think your résumé is what your career is. Working with directors I find brilliant and inspiring outweighs the award nomination. The reason I’m talking to you is not with awards in mind, it’s because I want to promote the film. Damien is a daring and innovative filmmaker, and anything that I can do to promote that, I’m in. And I think Paramount deserves kudos, too.

How do you mean? The fact that they gave this movie a green light and financed it – this period, arthouse subject matter. That’s happening less and less these days. Twenty years ago, that was all that got greenlit; now it’s a handful every year. So, I guess it’s selfish on my part to promote the film because I want these kinds of movies to keep being made so that I can continue to design them. But designing a good project is more important to me than the awards part. And any kind of recognition of the film helps to get people to watch it, and hopefully in a movie theater. I love the fact that people are going back to the movies. Every time I’ve gone, it’s a full house. And that’s why I ended up in the film business, because of that movie-going experience. You can watch them at home and sometimes have a great experience, but there’s nothing that compares to having that theatrical experience.

Which is fitting because Babylon is one long love letter to the theatrical experience. Yes. Yes, it is.

Linus Sandgren ASC, FSF, and writer/director Damien Chazelle’s third feature, Babylon, set in silent-era Hollywood, is their wildest yet.

by Valentina Valentini photos by Scott Garfield, SMPSP framegrabs courtesy of Paramount Pictures

SEX,

AND...

THE

CHARLESTON?

CHARLESTON?

ABOVE: LINUS SANDGREN, ASC, FSF

OPPOSITE: SANDGREN WITH WRITER/DIRECTOR DAMIEN CHAZELLE, WHO SAYS OF BABYLON : "THE OLD HOLLYWOOD WE THOUGHT WE KNEW WAS A MANIPULATION OF A MORE SORDID REALITY THAT HAS BEEN SCRUBBED AWAY. "

It’s said that cinematographers and directors who often work together are in a marriage of sorts. But the more accurate analogy may be that of dance partners. A successful DP/director relationship syncs well because the two are listening, and creatively dancing, to the same music. This reference (cribbed from Ed Lachman, ASC) feels especially right when describing Linus Sandgren, ASC, FSF, and writer/ director Damien Chazelle. Their first film together, the 2016 hit La La Land [ICG Magazine December 2016], won six Oscars, including directing and cinematography; and their 2018 followup, First Man, won an Oscar for visual effects. The pair have also done dozens of commercial campaigns. And Chazelle extends this repeat dance card to other creative partners, namely editor Tom Cross, costume designer Mary Zophres (Exposure, page 24), and composer Justin Hurwitz, who has scored all of Chazelle’s work dating back to the 2009 short Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench.

Babylon is the latest iteration of Chazelle and Sandgren’s ongoing pas de deux . It’s a savage and scintillating story written by Chazelle that looks at Hollywood during the cataclysmic shift from silent films to talkies. The behemoth of a movie (in scope, scale, narrative, and subtext) stars Margot Robbie as Nellie LaRoy, a fictionalized amalgamation of the Silent Era’s “It Girl” (attributed to Clara Bow), whose transition into a chaste, sound-based Hollywood does not go well. Jack Conrad, played by Brad Pitt, is LaRoy’s male counterpart, and Manny Torres, played by newcomer Diego Calva, is the scrappy production assistant who rises to become a Hollywood executive, only to suffer similar tragic consequences in his ongoing love for LaRoy. This quick summary of Babylon can’t do justice to the chaos that romps across the screen for just over three hours.

Or as Sandgren puts it: “When I saw it for the first time, I just had to process it. It was so much. Even though I shot it, and was involved with it, it was so intense.” And as Chazelle explains, all that chaotic intensity was the best way to contextualize (for a 2022 audience) exactly how wild a place Los Angeles was from 1926 to 1932, even though it was still mostly dirt fields and rocky hills. Babylon’s genesis began in 2009, when Chazelle came across accounts of the silent-era lifestyle (when movie stars paid no income tax) and the hard-working, hard-partying pioneers of a nascent Hollywood. “The cataclysmic flameouts that some of those careers encountered,” he recalls, “the suicides that peppered Hollywood, especially when sound came in, the raw collateral damage to a society changing that quickly,” all served as an inspiration to dive deeper into a story Chazelle thought he knew.

“[The goal was] to dig through the research to find the things that would feel surprising or shocking, or that would confound whatever my preconceptions of the period were,” adds the filmmaker, whose debut feature, Whiplash , captured the prestigious Dramatic Grand Prize (and the Audience Award) at Sundance in 2014, before going on to win three Academy Awards. “I had ideas one would expect of the period –all bobbed haircuts and Charleston [dancing] – and that the debauchery didn’t extend much beyond a martini glass.” This meant that any time Chazelle found anything that defied his preconception of the era, it found its way into the script. As he tells it, bringing that undergrowth to life wound up dictating almost every choice the crafts team collectively made. “The old

Hollywood that we have in our mind is a concoction,” he continues, “and, in many ways, is a manipulation of a more sordid, wild-west, freeform reality that has been scrubbed away.”

And that may very well be why the movie begins with an elephant in a small pick-up truck (the only CGI animal in the movie, which also includes a crocodile, a rattlesnake, and a trained butterfly) being pushed up a hill, which results in the pachyderm violently defecating all over Torres. (The part-animatronic part-puppet elephant also exploded its prop poop all over Sandgren, as he operated the camera for that scene.)

“Linus is the type of cinematographer who, if you propose something that’s a little crazy, and not quite practical, he’ll not only meet you there, he’ll push the idea even farther,” adds Chazelle, who also bonds with the DP over their love and respect for celluloid, which all their features are shot on. “There’s a willingness to experiment, a hunger to push boundaries, and an attitude to the whole enterprise that’s exciting and contagious.”

Chazelle asked Sandgren to shoot Babylon in 2019, but because of the pandemic, production was pushed several times. Once a shoot date was set for July 2021, the DP spent a full week alone with Chazelle discussing the film’s visuals. (Each of Chazelle’s collaborators gets a similar allotment in which he focuses solely on that specific aspect of the film.)

Before going through the script page by page, Sandgren wanted to hear about the director’s motivations for the story. The goal was to target specific words used to describe its themes that Sandgren could build on to visually narrate.

“Raw emotional truth, large canvas, transformations, heat, spectacle, decadence, debauchery, chaos, dreams, and defeats” were all words and phrases Sandgren committed to his creative psyche in preparing for the 71-day Babylon shoot, as well as those he imparted to the camera and lighting teams. The ethos Chazelle conveyed was a microcosm of the building of a new civilization – Hollywood –in a seemingly impossible environment: hot, dry, and dusty with glaring sunshine, and interiors with no air conditioning and not much light. And yet film crews created art in this world. As the story progresses, new

buildings are erected, things feel cleaner, the city gets bigger and the contrast between light and dark becomes even greater – something we also see in the characters’ lives.

“We didn’t set out to make a polished period film,” describes Sandgren, who counts La Dolce Vita , Chinatown , Boogie Nights , and There Will Be Blood among the many tonal references for Babylon . “But also, I didn’t deliberately think, ‘Let’s create a modern look.’ It was something in between, something very naturalistic.”

Given the vast scope of the film, which included outdoor movie sets at a fictional silent film studio named Kinoscope, where full orchestras played as massive battle scenes were filmed and 800 extras were prepped, all while cameras tried to capture a tear rolling down LaRoy’s face – shooting anamorphic was the way forward. Sandgren opted for Arricam and Arri 435, loaded with Kodak 35 mm (5203 50D, 5207 250D, 5213 200T, 5219 500T and 5222 black and white). “This is a funny, dramatic, and bold film, full of filthy textures,” Sandgren continues. “And as a way to visualize that, I went more expressive and push-processed all the stocks throughout, enhancing the grain, colors, and contrast to a more dramatic effect. Damien wanted the visual language [both in camera and in editing], to be a mix of Whiplash and La La Land . So, we had lots of movement –whip pans, sweeping Technocrane and Cable Cam moves, and rapid cuts, [all juxtaposed] with long Steadicam takes. This served our desire to show viewers the entire world, but also to help the dynamics of the story. There are times in the film where we go entirely handheld, depending on how chaotic or emotional we wanted to be.”

In addition to push-processing, Sandgren credits the use of Atlas’ Orion lenses. [In a meta moment that showcases Hollywood as a cycle of evolving generations of inventors, Atlas Lens Co. was started in 2016 in a garage in Glendale, CA by cinematographer Dan Kane and lead designer Forrest Schultz, creating new lenses with old techniques.]

“They make them with sharp edges and a very shallow, close focus, which is unusual with anamorphic,” describes Sandgren, who also supplemented with Zeiss B-speed spherical and B&H spherical lenses. “I talked to Forrest about making them less clean, and he modified them for us, taking them

ABOVE/BELOW/PAGE 38: “RAW EMOTIONAL TRUTH, HEAT, SPECTACLE, DEBAUCHERY, CHAOS, DREAMS, AND DEFEATS” WERE ALL WORDS SANDGREN COMMITTED TO HIS CREATIVE PSYCHE IN PREPARING FOR THE 71-DAY SHOOT, AS WELL AS THOSE HE IMPARTED TO THE CAMERA AND LIGHTING TEAMS.

apart and scratching them like if you got your eyeglasses scratched. The reason I wanted that was to have the highlights bloom more, and for everything to be not too sharp and clean.”

Sandgren worked closely with Production Designer Florencia Martin and Set Decorator Anthony Carlino to create a rich and varied world. His approach toward lighting veered towards impressionistic, always pushing the edges of the extremes. “My biggest inspiration for the lighting came from painters like Anders Zorn and John Singer Sargent,” he shares. “These were artists who used the natural light of their environments, but painted with a great amount of emotional expression. In a similar manner, I always lit the room naturalistically, but exposed with emotional expression toward the extremes, like the story.”

One such example is when Chazelle wanted the audience to feel the heat from the desert, so Sandgren overexposed the Kodak stocks more than he’s ever done. “It’s not what you learn in film school, as exteriors are overexposed by four stops,” the DP smiles. “Like that scene when Manny smokes a cigarette outside on the Paramount lot – I rated the 50D at ISO 25 and shot it at f/5.6 and pushed process on top of that. This got us a unique look you only achieve with celluloid.”

Chief Lighting Technician Tony Bryan says lighting the many movie scenes within the movie, both on Paramount sound stages for the talking films and at the Kinoscope exterior set for the silent films, was a particular challenge – the goal was to have period prop lights keying the scene plus the behind-the-scenes people in the shots.

“We did many tests trying to illuminate the prop lights from the inside by installing modern light fixtures but decided to use the prop lights to light the entire scene,” recalls Bryan, who has worked with Sandgren and Chazelle on commercials. “We acquired hundreds of periodcorrect lights and converted them with modern lighting fixtures. Some of this included taking heavy Arc lights from the 1920s and ’30s and ripping out all the internals and replacing them with modern 12K and 18K HMI’s. We found a wonderful man at Warner Bros.’ [IBEW Local 40 shop], Sam Chibata, who normally oversees repairing all fixtures used by the studios, and we asked him to convert these lights. Sam’s love of the period lights and his knowledge of how everything worked made this all possible. We then had special UV glass [cover] the fixtures

to make them period correct. We ended up with about 100 fixtures to put in front of our camera to light the set.”

Sandgren and Bryan also used information garnered from books like Hollywood Lighting from the Silent Era to Film Noir by Patrick Keating (2009). “I wanted to make sure to light the movie sets in a period-correct way,” Sandgren explains. “Our characters were often outside of the sets or backstage, so we would simply not give them any additional light than the light from the sets they were shooting to create more dynamic contrast. A character could easily be two stops underexposed at the edge of a set, and we would just embrace that. The stop was always T2, so when a door opens up to the exterior daylight, at ISO 500, [the frame] would completely blow out.”

On the largest set, Kinoscope, shot in Piru and Simi Valley, Bryan utilized most of Chibata’s inventions, as well as real arc lights. He credits Rigging Gaffer John Manocchia in all respects. “At that location,” Bryan shares, “we needed so many different voltages and generators and cable runs from every direction, and that all had to be invisible. John made that look easy. We needed to be able to look in every direction and not have to worry about seeing our equipment. I think Damien appreciated not being limited in that way.”

Sandgren explains the methodology for the varied ways they moved the camera: “There are many scenes with chaos or dramatic turns, or short shots in intense cutting sequences,” he begins, “where we wanted dynamic moves. Some of these were made with a Scorpio 45 [crane] operated by Bogdan Iofciulescu, with me on the Matrix head. Other scenes required a Steadicam that [most of the time] was operated by Brian Freesh. For all the other shots, Key Grip Anthony Cady proposed we carry a Miniscope 7 [Telescoping Arm]. This was a brilliant idea as this little telescopic jib arm was easy to get inside any location and our [Camera Dolly Grip] Mike Wahl did many dynamic moves with it. For other intense moments, like in the snake fight, I went handheld.”

Shooting 360 degrees was also Production Designer Martin’s mandate. The “new kid” on Chazelle’s creative team, Martin had recently wrapped Blonde [ICG Magazine September 2022], which utilized dozens of practical locations in and around Hollywood. With over 120 sets and about 60 percent of those being locations, she

WITH OVER 120 SETS (60 OF WHICH WERE PRACTICAL LOCATIONS), PRODUCTION DESIGNER FLORENCIA MARTIN SAYS “LINUS AND I WORKED CLOSELY WITH DIGITAL MODELS AND BIG WHITE MODELS THAT WE BUILT IN THE ART DEPARTMENT. WE WERE GOING TO USE THE SAME TECHNOLOGIES THEY WERE USING IN THE 1920S TO LIGHT THE SETS, BUT WE NEEDED TO PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE SUN PATH AS TO HOW WE WERE GOING TO ORIENT THE SETS.”

and her team had their work cut out. She scouted with Chazelle and Location Manager Chris Baugh for almost four months before officially starting prep, driving through the desert terrains of Piru, Fillmore and Santa Clarita, and studying the sun’s path to pick their location for Kinoscope.

“Linus and I worked closely with digital models and big white models that we built in the art department,” recalls Martin. “We were going to use the same technologies that they were using in the 1920s to light the sets, but we needed to pay close attention to the sun path as to how we were going to orient the sets.”

For Martin, Chazelle’s edict to avoid period tropes translated into looking mostly into the early 1920s to find references – and then actual locations to shoot in – that represented Los Angeles as undeveloped land where “these dreamers were coming to build something of epic scale,” she shares. “We talked about feeling the desperation in the sets and the textures. My early conversations with Linus were about how to shoot this all practically, being in these environments, full 360, and feeling both the interior and the exterior. I wanted locations with good options for both. We built sets on land properties that allowed us to have unobstructed views, and when we came into [the] sound [era], we built at Paramount and converted those sound stages back into what they looked like in the early 1920s.”

Costume Designer Zophres’ work paralleled Martin’s aim for authenticity, even to the point of rubbing dirt from Piru into the costumes. And while Zophres’ research into 1920’s fashions yielded drop waists, bobbed haircuts, and pristine makeup, her studies of L.A. in the same period looked more like the Old West. “Studios were popping up, literally, in dirt and gravel, on the side of a hill,” Zophres describes. “There was nothing stylish or sophisticated about [it]. Damien wanted to show the dirt in their nails and the dirt on the clothes; and everything [we created for Babylon ] was from photographic or film

reference.”

The top of the skimpy red outfit LaRoy wears for the first 30 minutes of the film is based on something Zophres saw Anna Mae Wong wearing. The bottom, what she calls “tap pants,” was inspired by a period black and white photo. “It wasn’t that Damien was encouraging us to do something inaccurate when he asked us to stay away from ‘period,’” Zophres shares. “He was just challenging us to find ways to avoid Hollywood tropes.”

After the elephant scene (which feels like a soft open compared to what follows), we’re at a party where we meet the wild-haired, wide-eyed LaRoy. It’s the Hollywood Hills (before they were a neighborhood) and the home of studio executive Don Wallach (Jeff Garlin), aka the hottest ticket in town. Party exteriors were shot in Lake Elizabeth at Shea Castle, built in 1924 by Hancock Park developer Richard Peter Shea. The interiors were a mix of built sets, including a bedroom, entrance hallway (and a room where LaRoy and Torres do an absurd amount of cocaine), and the Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown L.A., originally commissioned in the 1920s by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and other stars of the time. Martin says the Ace Hotel location was also chosen for its Spanish Gothic architecture, which contrasts with the sweeping vista of barren desert that LaRoy looks out on as dawn breaks after a raucous night of partying, and she’s landed her first film role.

The party itself was shot in the narrow and tall foyer of the Ace, with the art, construction, paint department, and Set Decorator Carlino transforming it into a ballroom by plugging all the theater entrances with gothic doors and paneling and adding a bandstand. The tightness of the area was a massive challenge for the crew, but Chazelle wanted a cocoon-like feeling, with sweat, drugs and naked bodies all adding to the chaos.

“We had many ambitious oners in this film,” Sandgren notes. “At the

Wallach party, we had many characters in precise coordination and had to work out a lot in advance. The space of the location didn’t allow for a larger crane, so we had to set up a Cable Cam to track through the hundreds of characters partying, and back to Sydney playing trumpet, and then whip pan to continue as a Steadicam shot.”

Many visuals helping to sell the party’s mayhem come from B-Camera Operator Davon Slininger’s inserts. Slininger, whose most recent work can be seen at Sundance 2023 operating for Adam Arkapaw on Magazine Dreams and who operated B-Camera for both La La Land and First Man , fills what he describes as a mercenary-like position: if they need him, he’s there on set fulfilling his role, but if they don’t require him, he’s off on his own, running down an extensive list of shots from Chazelle. “It’s rewarding because it employs a lot of trust from both the director and the DP,” Slininger explains. “People may think this type of coverage is substandard, or there’s an elitist perception that shooting B-roll means you’re not with A-Camera shooting the hero talent. But when I watch a Damien Chazelle film, it’s all the other stuff that holds everything together and makes the big shots work so well. I felt privileged to be able to contribute in that way.”

That meant that while Freesh was on Steadicam, and Sandgren was operating off a Cable Cam, the Miniscope 7 or a dolly, all specifically covering the main beats of the scene – LaRoy’s dancing, Conrad’s lines, Torres’s longing, Lady Fay Jzu’s (Li Jun Li’s) song number – Slininger was off finding special moments. “There was no way A-camera could capture all that was going on,” Slininger continues. “So, everything you don’t see A-camera doing, I had to be shooting. People doing drugs, the piles of drugs, naked people dancing, people making out, people in weird costumes, the dwarf bouncing with a penis sculpture pogo stick, and all the band mates. I spent hours just with the jazz band getting angles on Jovan [Adepo, who plays Sidney Palmer]

playing his trumpet, close-ups on keys, the drumsticks, and any awesome angle that Damien could use as beats throughout that performance.”

All of which hark back to the Sundance Film Festival’s launching of Chazelle’s career and Whiplash , where the percussive beat of the camera work echoed the musically driven story and performances. Or to the seemingly infinite creative dance Chazelle has developed with Sandgren (and other creative partners) that’s on display in Babylon.

“Even though we’ve done three very different types of films,” Sandgren concludes, “I learned in the beginning, and it’s still true, that Damien wants to learn everything about the world he has chosen. He takes the subject very [seriously] and does a lot of research. He’s an amazing filmmaker [to work with because] he just wants to be as prepared and know as much as possible in order to write an emotional story within the world that he creates. And then he uses all that knowledge to work closely with every department.”

LOCAL 600 CREW

SANDGREN CALLS CHAZELLE "AN AMAZING FILMMAKER," WHO WANTS TO KNOW AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE "IN ORDER TO WRITE AN EMOTIONAL STORY WITHIN THE WORLD THAT HE CREATES. AND THEN HE USES ALL THAT KNOWLEDGE TO WORK CLOSELY WITH EVERY DEPARTMENT.”

FEATURE

Sundance veterans Michael Showalter and Brian Burgoyne reteam for the romantic dramedy Spoiler Alert. (And, yes, the hero dies in the end.)

by Suzanne Lezotte photos by Linda Källérus / Focus Features

Framegrab Courtesy of Focus Features

NEW YORK STORY

With a history of four films together, including 2017 Sundance hit The Big Sick, Director Michael Showalter (The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Search Party) and Guild Director of Photography Brian Burgoyne (Do Revenge, Swimming with Sharks, I Want You Back) re-teamed for Focus Features’ Spoiler Alert, a romantic dramedy about a fourteen-year love story interrupted and cut short by tragedy. Based on Michael Ausiello’s best-selling memoir Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Other Four-Letter Words, the film traces the relationship of TV journalist Ausiello (played by Jim Parsons, a long-time friend of the author) and photographer Kit Cowan (played by Ben Aldridge) from boyfriends to married couple to the tragic diagnosis of Kit’s cancer and his ultimate passing.

(L) DIRECTOR MICHAEL SHOWALTER AND (R) DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY BRIAN BURGOYNE ON LOCATION IN NEW YORK CITY. PHOTO BY DAVID SCOTT HOLLOWAY

GIOVANNI RUFINO

Showalter and Burgoyne’s history began with the indie film Hello, My Name Is Doris , starring Sally Field (who plays Kit’s mother in Spoiler Aler t). After its premiere at SXSW, Showalter recalls, “that movie connected with audiences, and for the first time, I had a calling card. Camille Magiani, who had a small role in Hello, My Name Is Doris , sent me the script for The Big Sick . I loved it and saw a chance to work with and learn from Judd Apatow.”

“Midway through shooting The Big Sick ,” Burgoyne picks up the tale, “it occurred to all of us that we might be part of a really good movie, but we didn’t know how well it would connect with audiences until it screened at Sundance. The project was a bit of magic with its unique cast and fantastic crew. It got my work noticed and opened a lot of doors.”

Burgoyne says Showalter is good at setting the tone of a movie that can be both very funny and very serious. “It was a similar challenge with Spoiler Alert ,” the DP notes, “a story that was joyous yet heartbreaking. Because of his skill and nuance with storytelling, Michael has become one of my favorite collaborators. He’s also extremely fun to work with.” Adds Showalter of the surprise reception of The Big Sick , “You can’t predict the success of a film, but we were proud of the work we had done.”

When assembling a team, Showalter says he’s always looking for people who understand his vision.

“I have a clear idea in my mind of what the characters’ worlds look like, and I try to achieve that with a certain reality level,” he notes. Production Designer Sara K White ( The Flight Attendant , Mrs. Fletcher , A Kid Like Jake ), who was working with Showalter for the first time on Spoiler Alert , says the director has “a warm and welcoming personality, and is very focused on the performances and storytelling. He trusts his collaborators to bring him ideas, and we work together to make sure we are in sync.”

White, who never went to film school, calls her four years as an art director in residence at Sundance Labs “a crash course in filmmaking and working with people totally invested in storytelling.” When she eventually had her own project debut at Sundance, it was like coming home. “It’s such a warm environment,” she describes, “and it’s hard to deny that when a film you work on gets into a festival as prestigious as Sundance, it’s going to lend credibility to your career.” When Spoiler Alert came along, White says she was looking for something that would keep her in New York to be close to family and friends. “I had done bigger projects and wanted a change of pace,” she adds. “I had just lost someone important to me, and the script [co-written by Executive Producer David Marshall Grant, Dan Savage and Ausiello] was crafted so beautifully that it hit me the right way.”

Having worked with Burgoyne on The Flight Attendant , White was excited about another chance to collaborate. “It was a great opportunity to go into an environment with friendly, warm people I knew,” she states. “The conversation I had with Michael, in the beginning, was inviting. He was all about bringing people into the experience of filmmaking.” Showalter, already a fan of White’s work, says the designer “has an incredible aesthetic; Sara’s work is subtle but detailed. She was wonderful in terms of finding the right look for the spaces we were inhabiting.”

Production began in New York City in October 2021, after nearly a full year of COVID safety protocols had been in effect. It was important to Ausiello that the film be shot in New York, since their entire relationship takes place in the city, and it was equally important to Showalter that Ausiello be part of the production. “First and foremost, Michael wrote the book, so we had major source material,” Showalter describes. “And since he writes about TV, he understands how to tell a good story. Just on a spiritual level, I wanted him to be happy with the material. Similar to The Big Sick , we were telling a true story, and I had the real people on set. I wanted to be sure Michael liked the movie but also have him there to remind

us all about the heart of this story.”

Conversations about the film’s tone revolved around Showalter’s decision to “create a world that felt warm, inviting, and rich. The movie is sad, but we wanted it to have humor and joy and be romantic and funny. At the same time, we wanted it to evoke all the things we love about New York City. Because the movie is celebrating the love these characters have for each other, we wanted it to look bright and inviting, and not be too intense or brooding, because ultimately it is joyful.”

Burgoyne enlisted another longtime partner, Company 3 colorist Tim Stipan ( Jojo Rabbit , The Greatest Showman, Deadpool), who says that “when Brian and I start a movie together, we shoot tests, which I’ll color and give him a look-up table to use. Once the film is shot and edited, I come back to the project. Brian always sends photographs and images from the camera throughout the shoot.” Burgoyne says Stipan is “very thorough and has great ideas. He’s worked with so many great filmmakers and has done amazing work, so I am always excited to incorporate Tim’s ideas and collaborate with him.”

Heeding Showalter’s direction, Stipan worked on making the New York scenes “as rich as possible with color contrast and saturation. It was important there was a warmth in the skin

tones, in the beginning, to show them as healthylooking,” Stipan says. “When they get married, we use that as a transition to go cooler, as that was the start of Kit’s demise.”

Burgoyne adds that Showalter’s ideal was to create a world that felt tactile and grounded. “Yet the script has these moments of fantasy that play off the main character being a TV critic,” he shares. “Certain moments are viewed through the lens of different genres of TV shows. His childhood is a flashback to an ’80s multicam series and is brightly lit. A deathbed scene turns into a soap opera because Kit watched [soap operas] with his mom. We knew there would be stylized fantasy scenes, so the bulk of it we wanted to be very naturalistic.”

White had conversations with Burgoyne about the characters’ shifts within the film: depicting time periods among multiple apartments and jobs, while still being respectful of the source material. A number of White’s past projects also dealt with intimate personal dramas, and, she says, “it’s important to respect the real environments people live in, and explore the way those spaces affect them. There was a variety of environments in this small, intimate film that captured personalities. Finding a way to communicate that to the audience with tenderness was important. Brian has such sensitivity in his framing, we were

able to capture that connection in a natural and comfortable way.”

Burgoyne’s Local 600 crew comprised members who had worked with him on The Big Sick , The Flight Attendant , and Crashing . A new addition was Camera Operator Oliver Cary, “who was a perfect fit in terms of how I like to work,” the DP offers. “I’ve been lucky to shoot a lot in New York, so I knew most of the camera crew very well, and we hit the ground running.” Burgoyne’s camera package [from TCS rentals] consisted of an ALEXA Mini LF with rehoused vintage Canon K35 lenses. The DP says he selectively uses “the very shallow depth of field that the larger format camera gives you, and I can pull some NDs on set when I want more depth for a particular shot. The LF sensor has a natural feel, so people look really good. I also like pairing the camera with Canon K35s because they still have a nice contrast to them but are not clinically sharp. They are gentle on faces, but don’t get washed out and milky.”

Spoiler Alert stays true to Ausiello’s memoir but is condensed for the screen. The author is a passionate TV writer, so the script uses imaginary flashbacks to depict his life unfolding like the plot of a comedy. “The idea to have Michael’s reality blend into a TV reality resonated,” says Showalter.

“I grew up seeing my life through this lens, and there are moments that diverge from Michael’s world to a fantasy. It’s playful yet also has a thematic place to show his coping mechanism. It provided a break from the heaviness.”

Showalter, Burgoyne, and White viewed clips from 1980s sitcoms, settling upon Roseanne for the prototype of the TV set, which White then created. “We used a lot of old-school lighting instruments I typically don’t use anymore – zip lights and large tungsten Fresnels,” says Burgoyne. “For this set, we wanted to give it the classic, brightly lit sitcom look, with a lot of fill light and shooting at deep F-stops, so you don’t have that shallow cinematic focus. We were able to emulate how those shows looked with a hybrid approach using ALEXA cameras and vintage Angénieux zoom lenses. We lit the set brighter than anything I’ve ever done.” Adds Stipan, “During color, we enhanced that brighter, bleaker look of a 1980s TV show, then added grain to solidify the look.”

White enjoyed the opportunity to revisit the sitcoms of Ausiello’s childhood. “The 1980s were our guiding light,” she says. “Roseanne, Family Ties, Who’s the Boss? – shows that required bringing family members together in a central space. There has to be four main points of entrance: the front door, the stairs, the kitchen, and the back door. We wanted everyone to identify it as a sitcom set immediately.” To further define the era, White added touches like a homemade afghan on the back of the couch to evoke a time when that kind of crafting was functional. “You know someone thought about it and made it for their home. The afghan is seared into my memory from childhood.”

As Michael and Kit’s relationship evolves, they are defined by the spaces they inhabit. Kit, a burgeoning furniture designer, was all about design and detail. Michael, on the other hand, lived in an almost sterile apartment filled with an oversized collection of Smurfs. “It was important to show how design drove Kit’s space,” White shares. “For him, it was about his curated space. He decided every element that came in there.” White says each apartment mirrored the men’s personalities and how they were pulling their lives together. “Michael is not very sure of himself, so he needed [the Smurfs] to bring him joy in the most overt way. For him, being shocked by the multitude of Smurfs was being shocked by love when he walks in. Underneath that there is confusion; none of the furniture matches. It’s a comedic moment when Kit sees it, but it’s heartbreaking as well.”

Burgoyne intentionally kept Michael’s apartment bland. “Because it was a boxy, white space, I went with less inviting lighting: not too warm or romantic,” he describes. “I lit it to be somewhat unappealing, in contrast to Kit’s apartment, which is warmer and romantic, with color and life out the windows to make it more inviting.”

For when the men move-in together, White designed a set that modeled the peak of their professional success. She wanted it to reflect the West Village, with windows and details that evoked their actual building. “Kit was able to live out his design fantasies by curating not just his room but the whole apartment, and Michael let him run with that,” she explains. “I was focused on showing a place that was loving and had responsiveness to the character of the neighborhood while supporting the journey of their relationship. All of that was important to show through colors, using orange tones and a very warm gray tone that flexed in our colorspace depending on what light we were using to convey the emotional space they were in. We responded to Kit’s love of design with the midcentury modern furniture, while incorporating and showing reverence for the Smurf collection with a space display near the entry.”

Burgoyne had plenty of flexibility working on a well-designed set.

“It’s simpler to light a set for different looks and times of day versus a tiny practical New York apartment location, and I was free to change the quality and look from scene to scene,” he explains. “I also had the ability to play moody, cool daylight scenes and yet jump into a scene like the holiday party, which was warm and romantic. I used a range of lighting styles because we wanted it to be visually appealing and an exciting new stage of their life together, and yet it’s also where they begin to come to terms with Kit’s health issues and some turbulence enters their relationship.”

As Michael’s career progresses, he goes from a stale job at TV Guide to an exciting position at TV Line . The two sets were shot in the same office building on separate floors. White explains that “I tried to evoke [the long] history [of TV Guide ] weighing him down, and communicate that it was not a welcoming space for his career.” Burgoyne went with a more bland look for the office. “The office we shot in didn’t have any windows and had a lot of fluorescent light.” When he transitioned to TV Line , “it had to be a place that felt invigorating

and new,” says White. “We saw pictures from Michael’s life, and one had a brilliant red sofa at TV Line that Kit had picked out for him. Touches like that were important for the actors, and for Ausiello when he was on set.” Burgoyne was able to show upward mobility with the TV Line set, “which was a great location with large windows and a nice view of Madison Avenue outside. We had a simple video-interview-lighting setup in the shot mixed with natural light.”

Another key set was Kit’s parents’ house, where he and Michael share news of Kit’s cancer diagnosis. The 200-year-old farmhouse in upstate New York “was visually dense, with a lot of textures and objects,” recounts Burgoyne. “We shot almost entirely natural light for the day scenes. I loved that place.” White agrees. “It was a great house to show the kind of family home Kit grew up in – a clear contrast to Michael not having a warm childhood environment. And yet, given that it was warm, cozy, and texturefilled, you can see how Kit might have felt a little crowded in that home, not wanting his coming out to upset the order of things.”

The conversation plays out during dinner, “which we lit with just a practical over the table,” Burgoyne recalls. “The conversation is set up, and then the camera cuts outside, and by the time you are in the room again, Kit’s parents know about the cancer diagnosis. Michael felt it was more interesting not to hear what they were saying, to use a slightly voyeuristic style to lapse the dialogue. Michael has a great sense of what to give the audience and what to withhold from scene to scene.”

As Showalter adds: “Brian and I have shorthand in how we want to present the characters and the scene. To me, the camera is like a human eye. I tend to look at where the best seat in the house is to watch the conversation. I don’t want to be at the table with them, so having the camera outside gave them their privacy. We don’t need to hear what they are saying to know what they are saying.”

As Kit’s diagnosis worsens, multiple hospital rooms figure into the story. With the progression of his disease, the tone becomes more dramatic. Burgoyne wanted the final sequence, when Kit is rushed into the hospital for palliative care, to feel and look naturalistic. “The day scenes were almost solely natural light, very soft, silhouetted and cool, and the night scenes were warm, lowkey lighting,” the DP explains. “It’s the end of his life, so it felt right to be minimal and soft with the light.”

White notes that the medical setting wasn’t a place of treatment, but rather a comfortable place. “To heighten the emotional space, the color palette was more finessed with calming blue tones to evoke more of a homey environment than a sterile space. We used one empty hospital floor to create two different hospitals, decking them out in different tones. The earlier scenes were more classically functional.”

With Spoiler Alert in theaters during the holiday season, Burgoyne is optimistic that audiences will connect with the movie “because the memoir is amazing,” he concludes. “ The Big Sick was also based on real people, and the small details that make their way into the movie from the memoir are so specific and granular. The book makes Kit’s and Michael’s experiences tactile and real, so having Michael Ausiello on set every day was incredibly helpful.” For Showalter, it’s all about “telling stories that are funny, but also about real people exploring the human condition. I love that we’re given those opportunities as filmmakers.”

MOST OF SPOILER ALERT'S GUILD CAMERA TEAM HAD WORKED WITH BURGOYNE ON THE BIG SICK , THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT AND CRASHING , SAVE FOR A-CAMERA OPERATOR OLIVER CARY (L), HERE EXECUTING A POV SHOT WITH ACTOR BEN ALDRIDGE (KIT) TAKING PHOTOS THROUGH A BUBBLE WAND.

COMPILED

BY TERESA MUÑOZ

The input of Local 600 members is of the utmost importance, and we rely on our membership as the prime (and often the only) source of information in compiling this section. In order for us to continue to provide this service, we ask that Guild members submitting information take note of the following requests:

Please provide up-to-date and complete crew information (including Still Photographers, Publicists, Additional Units, etc.). Please note that the deadline for the Production Credits is on the first of the preceding cover month (excluding weekends & holidays).

Submit your jobs online by visiting: www.icg600.com/MY600/Report-Your-Job

Any questions regarding the Production Credits should be addressed to Teresa Muñoz at teresa@icgmagazine.com

20TH TELEVISION

“9-1-1" SEASON 6

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JOAQUIN SEDILLO, ASC OPERATORS: RICH STEVENS, DUANE MIELIWOCKI, SOC, DALE VANCE, SOC ASSISTANTS: KENNETH LITTLE, CLAUDIO BANKS, TOBY WHITE, STEPHEN FRANKLIN, MELVINA RAPOZO, JIHANE MRAD

CAMERA UTILITY: PAULINA GOMEZ

DIGITAL UTILITY: BRYANT POWELL STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: RON JAFFE

“911: LONE STAR" SEASON 4

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: NATHANAEL VORCE, PJ RUSS

OPERATORS: BRICE REID, JACK MESSITT, JAMES HAMMOND, DEAN MORIN ASSISTANTS: CARLOS DOERR, KAORU "Q" ISHIZUKA, PENNY SPRAGUE, KELSEY CASTELLITTO, BLAIR ROGERS, EVAN WILHELM, BEN PERRY

STEADICAM OPERATOR: BRICE REID

RONIN OPERATOR: DEAN MORIN

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MIKE SANCHEZ

CAMERA UTILITY: JOE PACELLA

DIGITAL UTILITIES: BASSEM BALAA, BEAU MORAN

“FEUD!" SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JASON MCCORMICK

OPERATOR: JULIAN DELACRUZ

ASSISTANTS: ROBERT MANCUSO, JUSTIN MANCUSO

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MATTHEW SELKIRK

LOADERS: NYLE HIGGS, CHRIS MENDEZ, REGINALD BERNARDIN

“HOW I MET YOUR FATHER" SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: GARY BAUM, ASC

OPERATORS: JAMIE HITCHCOCK, DEBORAH O'BRIEN, DAMIAN DELLA SANTINA, ALLEN MERRIWEATHER ASSISTANTS: BRADLEY TRAVER, SEAN ASKINS, YUKA KADONO

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: DEREK LANTZ

CAMERA UTILITIES: DAN LORENZE, RICHIE FINE

LOADER: KIERSTEN DIRKES

VIDEO CONTROLLER: JOHN O'BRIEN

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: PATRICK WYMORE

ABC STUDIOS

“JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!” SEASON 20

LIGHTING DIRECTOR: CHRISTIAN HIBBARD

OPERATORS: GREG GROUWINKEL, PARKER BARTLETT, GARRETT HURT, MARK GONZALES

STEADICAM OPERATOR: KRIS WILSON

JIB OPERATORS: MARC HUNTER, RANDY GOMEZ, JR., NICK GOMEZ

CAMERA UTILITIES: CHARLES FERNANDEZ, SCOTT SPIEGEL, TRAVIS WILSON, DAVID FERNANDEZ, ADAM BARKER

VIDEO CONTROLLER: GUY JONES

STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: KAREN NEAL, MICHAEL DESMOND

2ND UNIT

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BERND REINBARDT, STEVE GARRETT

“GREY'S ANATOMY" SEASON 19

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BYRON SHAH, JEANNE TYSON

OPERATORS: STEPHEN CLANCY, JANINE MIN, GREG WILLIAMS

ASSISTANTS: NICK MCLEAN, KIRK BLOOM, FORREST THURMAN, LISA BONACCORSO, CHRIS JONES, J.P. RODRIGUEZ

STEADICAM OPERATOR: STEPHEN CLANCY

STEADICAM ASSISTANT: NICK MCLEAN

LOADER: MARTE POST

DIGITAL UTILITY: SPENCER ROBINS

“STATION 19" SEASON 6

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DARYN OKADA, ASC, BRIAN GARBELLINI

OPERATORS: HARRY GARVIN, LISA STACILAUSKAS, SOC, DAVID MUN

ASSISTANTS: TONY SCHULTZ, GEORGE MONTEJANO, III, SALVADOR VEGA, DUSTIN FRUGE, ANDREW DEGNAN, HANNAH LEVIN

STEADICAM OPERATOR: HARRY GARVIN

STEADICAM ASSISTANT: TONY SCHULTZ

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: ANDREW LEMON

UTILITIES: GRANT JOHNSON, BELLA RODRIGUEZ

CRANE TECHS: CHRIS DICKSON, DERRICK ROSE

A+E STUDIOS

“THE LINCOLN LAWYER” SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ABRAHAM MARTINEZ

OPERATORS: DENNIS NOYES, BRETT JUSKALIAN

ASSISTANTS: JOE CHEUNG, BRENDAN DEVANIE, PENNY SPRAGUE, BEN PERRY

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: FRANCESCO SAUTA

CAMERA UTILITIES: ANDREW VERA, ELANA COOPER

LOADER: RAUL PEREZ

AP PRODUCTION SERVICES, INC.

“DIARRA FROM DETROIT”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: MATTHEW EDWARDS

OPERATORS: MATTHEW FLEISCHMANN, JORGE DEL TORO

ASSISTANTS: RORY HANRAHAN, JASON RIHALY, CODY SCHROCK, MIGUEL GONZALEZ, FRANCES DE RUBERTIS

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: LUKAS METLICKA

LOADERS: OFELIA CHAVEZ, VINCENT FERRARI, PHILIP BABICH

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: CLIFTON PRESCOD

BEACHWOOD SERVICES

“DAYS OF OUR LIVES” SEASON 56

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: VINCE STEIB

OPERATORS: MARK WARSHAW, MICHAEL J. DENTON, JOHNNY BROMBEREK, STEVE CLARK

CAMERA UTILITIES: STEVE BAGDADI, GARY CYPHER

VIDEO CONTROLLER: ALEXIS DELLAR HANSON

BIG INDIE HONDO, INC.

“HONDO AKA FALLOUT” SEASON 1

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ALEJANDRO MARTINEZ, TEODORO MANIACI, BRUCE MCCLEERY

OPERATORS: PYARE FORTUNATO, ROBERT CAMPBELL

ASSISTANTS: TOSHIRO YAMAGUCHI, BRENDAN RUSSELL, CORNELIA KLAPPER, ALEC NICKEL

LOADERS: TRUMAN HANKS, LORENZO ZANINI

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: JOJO WHILDEN

BOAT YARD PRODUCTIONS, LLC

“THUG”

OPERATOR: DEAN EGAN

ASSISTANTS: NOLAN RUDMAN-BALL, ROBERT BULLARD, THOMAS BELLOTTI, CHRISTOPHER BOYLSTON

CAMERA UTILITY: MATTHEW B. SULLIVAN

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: GRAHAM MASON

LOADERS: MCKENZIE RAYCROFT, SIERRA NICOLE COSSINGHAM

DIGITAL UTILITY: JENNA HOBGOOD

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: BENJAMIN KNIGHT

BOTTOM DOLLAR PRODUCTIONS

“MINX" SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BLAKE MCCLURE

OPERATOR: NICK MEDRUD

ASSISTANTS: LOGAN HALL, KELSEY JUDDO, NICHOLAS KRAMER, RACHEL WIEDERHOEFT

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: SPENCER SHWETZ

LOADER: MIKE WILLIAMS

DIGITAL UTILITY: BRANDON GUTIERREZ

STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: JOHN JOHNSON, RON JAFFE

CBS

“ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT” SEASON 41 LIGHTING

DESIGNER: DARREN LANGER

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KURT BRAUN

OPERATORS: JAMES B. PATRICK, ALLEN VOSS, ED SARTORI, BOB CAMPI, RODNEY MCMAHON, ANTHONY SALERNO

JIB OPERATOR: JAIMIE CANTRELL

CAMERA UTILITY: TERRY AHERN

VIDEO CONTROLLERS: MIKE DOYLE, PETER STENDAL

“EVIL” SEASON 4

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PETR HLINOMAZ, FRED MURPHY

OPERATORS: KATE LAROSE, PARRIS MAYHEW ASSISTANTS: ROBERT BECCHIO, RENE CROUT, ALISA COLLEY, VINCENT LARAWAY

LOADERS: FAITH EMMOLO-JOHNSON, HOLDEN HLINOMAZ, ROBERT STACHOWICZ, DENIZE SZALMA

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: ELIZABETH FISHER

“NCIS” SEASON 20

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: WILLIAM WEBB, ASC OPERATORS: GREG COLLIER, CHAD ERICKSON ASSISTANTS: JAMES TROOST, NATE LOPEZ, HELEN TADESSE, YUSEF EDMONDS, ANNA FERRARIE LOADER: MIKE GENTILE

“NCIS: LOS ANGELES" SEASON 14

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: VICTOR HAMMER OPERATORS: TERENCE NIGHTINGALL, HARVEY GLEN ASSISTANTS: KEITH BANKS, RICHIE HUGHES, PETER CARONIA, JACQUELINE NIVENS

“THE TALK” SEASON 13

LIGHTING DIRECTOR: MARISA DAVIS

PED OPERATORS: ART TAYLOR, MARK GONZALES, ED STAEBLER

HANDHELD OPERATORS: RON BARNES, KEVIN MICHEL, JEFF JOHNSON

JIB OPERATOR: RANDY GOMEZ

HEAD UTILITY: CHARLES FERNANDEZ

UTILITIES: MIKE BUSHNER, DOUG BAIN, DEAN FRIZZEL, BILL GREINER, JON ZUCCARO

VIDEO CONTROLLER: RICHARD STROCK STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: RON JAFFE

“WALKER INDEPENDENCE"

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BROOK WILLARD

OPERATORS: AIKEN WEISS PAUL ELLIOTT

ASSISTANTS: RENE VARGAS, JEFFERSON JONES, OSCAR CIFUENTES, DANIEL DUERRE

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MARSHALL HENDERSHOT

LOADER: LINDSAY HEATLEY

DIGITAL UTILITIES: JORDAN HERRON, DANIEL WIERL

CMS

“DADDIO”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PHEDON PAPAMICHAEL, ASC, GSC OPERATORS: SEBASTIAN SLAYTER, KATHERINE CASTRO ASSISTANTS: TONY COAN, EVAN WALSH, AMBER MATHES, RACHEL FEDORKOVA

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: PATRICK CECILIAN

LOADERS: BRANDON BABBIT, NAIMA NOGUERA STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: JESSICA KOURKOUNIS

“MOTHER COUCH!”

OPERATOR: KELLY BORISY ASSISTANTS: NORRIS FOX, JONATHAN CLARK LOADERS: MONICA BARRIOS-SMITH, CASSIDY MINARIK

COOLER WATERS

“WINNING TIME: RISE OF THE LAKERS DYNASTY” SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TODD BANHAZL OPERATORS: DOMINIC BARTOLONE, JESSICA LAKOFF CANNON, JUSTIN CAMERON ASSISTANTS: DAVID EDSALL, SCOTT JOHNSON, ARTURO ROJAS, GARY BEVANS, JASON ALEGRE, RYAN JACKSON, RIO ALLEN

STEADICAM OPERATOR: DOMINIC BARTOLONE STEADICAM ASSISTANT: DAVID EDSALL LOADER: EMILY GOODWIN

DIGITAL UTILITY: BRANDON JOHNSON STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: WARRICK PAGE

“SWEETWATER”

CRANETOWN MEDIA, LLC

“GOOD GRIEF”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: MICHAEL RIZZI OPERATORS: KYLE GORJANC, AUTUMN MORAN ASSISTANTS: DANIEL RODRIGUEZ, CALEN COOPER DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MICHAEL ASHLEY

“LIONESS"

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL CAMERON, ASC, NICOLE HIRSCH-WHITAKER, MARYSE ALBERTI, ERIC KORETZ, NIELS ALPERT, GEORGE BILLINGER OPERATORS: JOSEPH CICIO, SOC, DAVE ANGLIN, KIMO PROUDFOOT

STEADICAM ASSISTANT: JIMMY THIBO

LOADER: ANNIE LI

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JOHN MILLS

DIGITAL UTILITY: NICHOLAS WEAVER

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: RAYMOND LIU

EYE PRODUCTIONS, INC.

“BLUE BLOODS” SEASON 13

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DONALD THORIN

OPERATORS: STEPHEN CONSENTINO, GEOFFREY FROST ASSISTANTS: NICHOLAS DEEG, GLEN CHIN, KENNETH MARTELL, JONATHAN SCHAEFER, MICHAEL GUTHRIE, MAXWELL SLOAN, MATEO GONZALEZ, HAROLD ERKINS, MYO CAMPBELL LOADERS: NANDIYA ATTIYA, MICHAEL PARRY

STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: LINDA KALLERUS, ALYSSA LONGCHAMP, EMILY ARAGONES

“MAGNUM P.I." SEASON 5

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: NEWTON TERMEER, YARON LEVY

OPERATORS: KEITH JORDAN, SCOTT MASON, RUBEN CARRILLO

ASSISTANTS: JEFF PELTON, NIGEL NALLY, WILL WACHA, KANOA DAHLIN, KAIMANA PINTO, BRANDON HO

STEADICAM OPERATOR: KEITH JORDAN

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: BLANE EGUCHI LOADER: GEOFF LAU

UTILITY: KRISTINA ZAZUETA

DIGITAL UTILITY: MATHEW MEDEIROS STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: ZACK DOUGAN

FIDELIS PRODUCTIONS, LLC

“AMERICAN RUST” SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: RADIUM CHEUNG, HKSC OPERATORS: DAVID KIMELMAN, FRANK RINATO ASSISTANTS: GUS LIMBERIS, AMANDA ROTZLER, BRIAN BRESNEHAN, GABRIEL MARCHETTI, VINCENT DEPINTO

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: CHRISTOPHER CHARMEL LOADER: THOMAS HOLMES

DIGITAL UTILITY: JUSTIN ILLIG STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: DENNIS MONG

H3D MEDIA, INC.

“HIS THREE DAUGHTERS”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: SAM LEVY OPERATOR: CLINT LITTON ASSISTANTS: CHRISTOPER ENG, RONALD WRASE LOADER: JONATHAN FARMER

HOP, SKIP, & JUMP PRODUCTIONS

“WHILE YOU WERE BREEDING" SEASON 1

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BENJAMIN KASULKE OPERATORS: MARC CARTER, GARRETT ROSE ASSISTANTS: SHARLA CIPICCHIO, LITONG ZHEN DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: CHARLES ALEXANDER

KANAN PRODUCTIONS, INC.

“POWER BOOK, III: RAISING KANAN” SEASON 3

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRIS LAVASSEUR, FRANCIS SPIELDENNER

STEADICAM OPERATORS: TERENCE NIGHTINGALL, HARVEY GLEN

STEADICAM ASSISTANTS: KEITH BANKS, RICHIE HUGHES

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: CAROLINE MILLS

DIGITAL UTILITY: TAYLOR O'NEIL

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: RON JAFFE

“THE NEIGHBORHOOD" SEASON 5

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRIS LAFOUNTAINE, ASC OPERATORS: BRUCE REUTLINGER, KRIS CONDE, CHRIS WILCOX, KEVIN HAGGERTY ASSISTANTS: CHRIS TODD, JEFF ROTH, CRAIG LA FOUNTAINE

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: RYNE NINER

VIDEO CONTROLLER: KELSEY NINER

CAMERA UTILITIES: VICKI BECK, TREVOR LA FOUNTAINE

TECHNO JOB OPERATOR: SCOTT ACOSTA

TECHNO JIB TECH: JESSE WILLIAMS

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: MONTY BRINTON

ASSISTANTS: STEVEN WOLFE, THOMAS BARRIOS, RICHARD CRUMRINE, RICHARD DABBS, DUSTIN WHITTLESEY, MAJA FEENEY, ZACHARY HOLLORAN

CAMERA UTILITY: SAGE LARSON

DIGITAL IMAGING TECHS: MARK WILENKIN, DAMON MELEDONES

LOADERS: LAUREN CUMMINGS, STEVEN WALTON STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: BILL GRAY, KAROLINA WOJTASIK

“THE

ROOKIE” SEASON 5

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KYLE JEWELL, PAUL THIERAULT

OPERATORS: MIGUEL PASK, COBY GARFIELD, DOUGH OH ASSISTANTS: JIMMY THIBO, JASON GARCIA, CHRIS MACK, RICHARD KENT, KELLY BERG, TYLER ERNST

STEADICAM OPERATOR: MIGUEL PASK

OPERATORS: JEFFREY DUTEMPLE, GREGORY FINKEL ASSISTANTS: MARK FERGUSON, SUREN KARAPETYAN, EMILY DEBLASI, KEITH ANDERSION

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: HUNTER FAIRSTONE

LOADERS: BRIAN CARDENAS, PAUL SPANG, JC QUIROZ

STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: CARA HOWE, DAVID SCOTT HOLLOWAY, MATT INFANTE, ERIC LIEBOWITZ

PUBLICIST: EVELYN SANTANA

LAMF ROB PEACE, INC.

“ROB

PEACE”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KSENIA SEREDA

OPERATORS: ALAN MEHLBRECH, JOHN LARSON

ASSISTANTS: RICHARD PALLERO, CARLOS BARBOT, MARTIN LUCERO, LUKE HEALY

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: GUILLERMO TUNON

STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: GWENDOLYN CAPISTRAN, MARQUISS AARON RICKETTS

MINIM

PRODUCTIONS,

INC, “SNOWFALL” SEASON 6

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRISTIAN HERRERA, LUIS SANSANS

OPERATORS: DAVID CHAMEIDES, DICK CROW ASSISTANTS: ALEX LIM, GINA VICTORIA, JOSE DE LOS ANGELES, FERNANDO ZACARIAS

LOADERS: JACQUES VINCENT, AIDAN OSTROGOVICH

UTILITIES: SELENESOL MASSIEL SINGLETON, BEN MOHLER

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: RAY MICKSHAW

NBC UNIVERSAL TELEVISION, LLC

“CHICAGO PD" SEASON 10

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JAMES ZUCAL

OPERATORS: VICTOR MACIAS, JAMISON ACKER, CHRIS HOOD

ASSISTANTS: KYLE BELOUSEK, DON CARLSON, NICK WILSON, MARION TUCKER, CHRIS POLMANSKI, MAX MOORE

STEADICAM OPERATOR: VICTOR MACIAS

STEADICAM ASSISTANT: KYLE BELOUSEK

LOADER: STEVEN CLAY

DIGITAL UTILITY: REBECCA JOHNSON

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: LORI ALLEN

“FBI" SEASON 5

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BART TAU OPERATORS: AFTON GRANT, MICHAEL LATINO ASSISTANTS: LEE VICKERY, YURI INOUE, GEORGE LOOKSHIRE, NKEM UMENYI LOADERS: RAUL MARTINEZ, CONNOR LYNCH

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: BENNETT RAGLIN

“GRAND CREW" SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: RICK PAGE OPERATORS: PHIL MASTRELLA, LAUREN GADD, MARQUES SMITH, SOC

ASSISTANTS: DUSTIN MILLER, JULIUS GRAHAM, GRACE THOMAS, JENNIFER LAI, RIKKI JONES, ERNEST DICKERSON, JR.

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: NICK GILBERT

DIGITAL UTILITY: JASON CHUN

“LAW & ORDER" SEASON 22

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CRAIG DIBONA, ASC OPERATORS: CHRIS HAYES, TOM WILLS ASSISTANTS: ALEX WATERSTON, IAN BRACONE, DEREK DIBONA, EMILY DUMBRILL

LOADERS: MAX SCHWARZ, MATT ELDRIDGE

“LAW

& ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME" SEASON 3

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JIM DENAULT

OPERATORS: JON BEATTIE, JAY SILVER ASSISTANTS: KEVIN WALTER, ALEKSANDR ALLEN, KEVIN HOWARD, KJERSTIN ROSSI LOADERS: BRANDON OSBORN, VINCE FERRARI

“LAW

& ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT" SEASON 24

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: FELIKS PARNELL OPERATORS: JON HERRON, CHRIS DEL SORDO ASSISTANTS: MIKE GUASPARI, CHRISTIAN CARMODY, RYAN HADDON, MARY NEARY LOADERS: LIAM GANNON, JAMES WILLIAM STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: ALYSSA LONGCHAMP

“THE EQUALIZER” SEASON 3

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TERRENCE BURKE, RON FORTUNATO

OPERATORS: JOSPEPH BLODGETT, TODD SOMODEVILLA, JASON MASON, RICARDO SARMIENTO ASSISTANTS: ADAM GONZALEZ, JOHN FITZPATRICK, JELANI WILSON, BRYANT BAILEY, JAY ECKARDT, WARIS SUPANPONG, MICHAEL LOBB, JASON RASWANT, NIALANEY RODRIGUEZ, DANTE CORROCHER, ALEJANDRO LAZARE

DIGITAL IMAGING TECHS: TIFFANY ARMOUR-TEJADA, NATHANIEL SPIVEY

LOADERS: NAJOOD ALTERKAWI, TOM FOY, JAMAR OLIVE, SAM SHOEMAKER

STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: MICHAEL GREENBERG, ALYSSA LONGCHAMP

REMOTE BROADCASTING, INC.

“THE GOLDBERGS" SEASON 10

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JASON BLOUNT

OPERATORS: SCOTT BROWNER, NATE HAVENS

ASSISTANTS: TRACY DAVEY, GRETCHEN HATZ, GARY WEBSTER, TOMMY IZUMI

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: KEVIN MILLS

LOADER: DILSHAN HERATH

REUNION 2017, LLC

“THE CONNERS” SEASON 5

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DONALD A. MORGAN, ASC

OPERATORS: RANDY BAER, JOHN DECHENE, VITO GIAMBALVO, JOHN BOYD

ASSISTANT: MARIANNE FRANCO

CAMERA UTILITIES: JOHN WEISS, ADAN TORRES

VIDEO CONTROLLER: VON THOMAS

SAD CLOWN PRODUCTIONS

“CALL ME KAT”

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PATTI LEE, ASC, ANTAR ABDERRAHMAN

OPERATORS: MARIANNE FRANCO, BRAD GRIMMET, JOHN DECHENE, CHUN MING HUANG

ASSISTANTS: BRAD TRAVER, KENNETH WILLIAMS, ROBYN LINK

STEADICAM OPERATOR: BRAD GRIMMET

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: CLIFF JONES

CAMERA UTILITY: MATT FISHER

DIGITAL UTILITY: JOSE GOMEZ

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: LISA ROSE

SALT SPRING MEDIA, INC.

“SEVERANCE” SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JESSICA LEE GAGNE

OPERATORS: PETER AGLIATA, RACHEL LEVINE, SCOTT MCGUIRE, NADINE MARTINEZ, ALAN MEHLBRECH

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: LUKE TAYLOR

LOADERS: DEVEREUX ELMES, AMELIA SUMMAR

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: JON PACK

PUBICIST: PEGGY MULLOY

SHOWTIME

“BILLIONS” SEASON 7

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JOSEPH GALLAGHER, GIORGIO SCALI, BRAD SMITH

OPERATORS: ALAN PIERCE, NICOLA BENIZZI

ASSISTANTS: GRAHAM BURT, LEONARDO GOMEZ, KELLON INNOCENT, SEAN MCNAMARA

LOADER: HUSSEIN FARRAJ

STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: PATRICK HARBRON, WILLIAM DOUGLAS MEILS

SONY PICTURES TELEVISION

“JEOPARDY!” SEASON 36

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JEFF ENGEL

OPERATORS: DIANE L. FARRELL, SOC, MIKE TRIBBLE, JEFF SCHUSTER, L. DAVID IRETE

JIB ARM OPERATOR: MARC HUNTER

HEAD UTILITY: TINO MARQUEZ

CAMERA UTILITY: RAY THOMPSON

VIDEO CONTROLLER: JEFF MESSENGER

VIDEO UTILITIES: MICHAEL CORWIN, JEFF KLIMUCK

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: CAROL KAELSON

“WHEEL OF FORTUNE”

SEASON 37

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JEFF ENGEL

OPERATORS: DIANE L. FARRELL, SOC, L.DAVID IRETE, RAY GONZALES, MIKE TRIBBLE

HEAD UTILITY: TINO MARQUEZ

CAMERA UTILITY: RAY THOMPSON

VIDEO CONTROLLER: JEFF MESSENGER

VIDEO UTILITIES: MICHAEL CORWIN, JEFF KLIMUCK

JIB ARM OPERATOR: STEVE SIMMONS

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: CAROL KAELSON

STALWART PRODUCTIONS, LLC

“INVITATION TO A BONFIRE" SEASON 1

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KATE REID

OPERATORS: DENNIS DWYER, JOHN GARRETT

ASSISTANTS: ZACK SHULTZ, TALIA KROHMAL, DEAN EGAN, RICHELLE TOPPING

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: KEENAN KIMETTO

LOADER: GABRIELLA PEZZELLI

STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: ROBERT CLARK

“FEAR THE WALKING DEAD” SEASON 8

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JAN RICHTER-FRIIS, DFF, DAVID MORRISON

OPERATORS: CHRISTIAN SATRAZEMIS, KRIS HARDY, JORDAN JONES

ASSISTANTS: JAMES SPRATTLEY, JAMES DUNHAM, TREY TWITTY, PETER JOHNSTON, ERIC LEFTRIDGE, BRODY DOCAR

STEADICAM OPERATOR: CHRISTIAN SATRAZEMIS

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: PAUL SCHILENS

LOADER: ANDREW FLORIO

CAMERA UTILITY: JEREMY HILL

UNIVERSAL

“DR. DEATH” SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: VANJA CERNJUL

OPERTORS: OLIVER CARY, MICHAEL CRAVEN

ASSISTANTS: ADRIANA BRUNETTO-LIPMAN, ELIZABETH SINGER, PATRICK BRACEY, KATIE WAALKES

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: CALEB THOMAS MURPHY LOADERS: AARON CHAMPAGNE, RAFFAELE DILULLO

“KILLING

IT” SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JUDD OVERTON

OPERATORS: PATRICK MCGINLEY, SCOTT HOFFMAN, JOSH WILLIAMSON

ASSISTANTS: BLAIR ROGERS, PETER DEPHILIPPIS, GEOFF GOODLOE, ULRIKE LAMSTER, AARON BOWEN, WILL EVANS

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: PAUL MALETICH

DIGITAL LOADER: SAM ZAPIAIN

DIGITAL UTILITY: SUZY DIETZ

WARNER BROS.

“ALL AMERICAN” SEASON 5

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ERIC LAUDADIO, ERIBERTO CORDERO

OPERATOR: DANIEL WURSCHL

ASSISTANTS: BLAKE COLLINS, GREG DELLERSON, KIRSTEN LAUBE, JESSICA PINNS

STEADICAM OPERATOR: DANIEL WURSCHL

STEADICAM ASSISTANT: GREG DELLERSON

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: URBAN OLSSON

DIGITAL UTILITY: LAVEL MO MORTON

“ALL AMERICAN HOMECOMING” SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: HANS CHARLES

OPERATORS: MICHELLE CRENSHAW, TAMMY FOUTS ASSISTANTS: ALDO PORRAS, ROB MONROY, ANDREW PORRAS, DAION CHESNEY

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: TIMOTHY GAER

DIGITAL UTILITY: MAX PEREZ

“YOUNG SHELDON” SEASON 6

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BUZZ FEITSHANS, IV OPERATORS: NEIL TOUSSAINT, AARON SCHUH ASSISTANTS: MATTHEW DEL RUTH, GRANT YELLEN, BRAD GILSON, JR., JAMES COBB

STEADICAM OPERATOR: AARON SCHUH LOADERS: BAILEY SOFTNESS, CONNER MCELROY

WONDER STREET PRODUCTIONS

“EAST

NEW YORK”

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ZEUS MORAND, JENDRA JARNAGIN

OPERATORS: JULIEN ZEITOUNI, PETER NOLAN, DAVID ISERN, ALAN JACOBSEN, LUCAS OWEN ASSISTANTS: SAMANTHA SILVER, VINCENT TUTHS, ERIKA HOULE, EVAN WALSH, MARC CHARBONNEAU, ELIZABETH CASINELLI, ANABEL CAICEDO, KYLE TERBOSS, CORY MAFFUCCI, NOLAN MALONEY, JAMES DEMETRIOU, KATHERINE RIVERA, CHRISTOPHER PATRIKIS

DIGITAL IMAGING TECHS: MATTHEW RICHARDS, JESSICA TA

LOADERS: MANUEL GARCIA, TOM FOY, ALEX LILJA, DAVID DIAZ

TECHNOCRANE TECH: JORDAN HRISTOV STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: SCOTT MCDERMOTT, PATRICK HARBRON

WOODBRIDGE PRODUCTIONS

“THE BLACKLIST” SEASON 10

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DEREK WALKER, MICHAEL O'SHEA

OPERATORS: DEVIN LADD, JAY SILVER

ASSISTANTS: MIKE GUASPARI, EDWIN HERRERA, EDGAR VELEZ, KAIH WONG

LOADERS: REMINGTON LONG, BERNARDO RUIZ POZO STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: PATRICK HARBRON, WILL HART

PARTIZAN ENTERTAINMENT

“VOLKSWAGEN”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ALEXIS ZABE OPERATOR: ROBBY HART ASSISTANTS: KARLA MARIE CHRISTENSEN, COLLEEN MLEZIVA, BAS TIELE DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: NINA CHADHA

PURSUIT OPERATOR: ROB RUBIN

HEAD TECH: ANGEL MAURICIO RODRIGUEZ

PRETTYBIRD

“FLAMING

HOT CHEETOS”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: LOGAN TRIPLETT OPERATOR: JUN LI ASSISTANTS: JOSEPH SORIA, ERIC AGUILAR, TAMARA ARROBA STEADICAM OPERATOR: JUN LI

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MARGARET PARUS

RADICAL MEDIA

“HONDA”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ERIC SCHMIDT

OPERATORS: GILBERT SALAS, XAVIER HENSELMANN

ASSISTANTS: LILA BYALL, CARRIE LAZAR

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JOHN SPELLMAN

RAKISH

“KIA SELTOS”

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: MATTHIAS KOENIGWIESER, KAI SAUL

ASSISTANTS: ETHAN MCDONALD, ALAN CERTEZA, JOSEPH CANON, CHRIS MARIUS JONES

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MARSHALL HENDERSHOT

RESET CONTENT, LLC

COMMERCIALS

ANONYMOUS CONTENT

“QUVIVIQ”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: LOGAN TRIPLETT OPERATOR: JUN LI ASSISTANTS: JEANNA KIM, STEVE DOYLE, NICK MENIO, DREW BARNETT

STEADICAM OPERATOR: JUN LI DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: ZACK MARCHINSKY REMOTE HEAD TECH/OPERATOR: GABRIEL CAMACHO

HONOR SOCIETY

“CRICKET WIRELESS”

OPERATOR: JUN LI ASSISTANTS: ANDY CHEN, TRAVIS FRANCIS STEADICAM OPERATOR: JUN LI DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: WILL CHUNG

MIRADA

“COSENTYX”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PIETER VERMEER ASSISTANTS: MICAH BISAGNI, DAISY SMITH DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: BEN MOLYNEUX

MOXIE PICTURES

“ALMOND BREEZE”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ERIC SCHMIDT ASSISTANTS: LILA BYALL, GAVIN GROSSI DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JOHN SPELLMAN

O POSITIVE

“NETFLIX”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHUNGHOON CHUNG OPERATOR: JOHN PAUL MEYER

ASSISTANTS: CHRIS STRAUSER, JORDAN MARTIN

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JEFFREY WOODINGS CRANE TECHS: DAVID HAMMER, CHRIS GARCIA REMOTE HEAD TECH: DUSTIN EVANS

“ESPN”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: VINCENT VENNITTI OPERATOR: KERWIN DEVONISH ASSISTANTS: PETER MORELLO, ROBERT RAGOZZINE, NATHAN MCGARIGAL

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: ANTHONY HECHANOVA

“PFIZER”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ADAM RICHARDS ASSISTANTS: RICHARD GIOIA, JORDAN LEVIE, JEFFREY TAYLOR

DIGITAL IMAGING TECHS: JEFFREY FLOHR, JOE BELACK REMOTE HEAD TECHS: ANDREW PEISTER, PAUL BODE

RSA FILMS

“CHEVY”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ERIC SCHMIDT OPERATOR: MARK GOELLNICHT ASSISTANTS: LILA BYALL, DANIEL HANYCH, NOAH GLAZER, MARCO ESCOBEDO DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JOHN SPELLMAN

SANCTUARY

“THE FARMER'S DOG”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ALEXIS ZABE ASSISTANTS: MELISSA FISHER, JOHN RONEY DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: NINA CHADHA

SEEKER PRODUCTIONS, INC.

“ZARA WOMEN'S SS23”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIPPE LE SOURD ASSISTANTS: RICHARD GIOIA, JEFFREY TAYLOR DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JEFFREY FLOHR

SIBLING RIVALRY FILMS

“ARBY'S”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ANDREW LILIEN ASSISTANTS: NINA CHIEN, MITCH MALPICA DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: TYLER ISAACSON

THUNDER AND LIGHTNING, INC., BIG BRICK PRODUCTIONS

“HASBRO MARVEL”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BENGT JONSSON ASSISTANTS: ASA REED, EMILY KHAN DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: NICK PASQUARIELLO

VAGRANTS

“CVS HEALTH”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JON PETER ASSISTANTS: JILL TUFTS, MICHAEL TORRENT RODRIGUEZ

Sharon Rombeau

EAST

ALAN BRADEN INC.

Alan Braden

Tel: (818) 850-9398 Email: alanbradenmedia@gmail.com

William Gray

I met First AC David Eubank [who retired in 2022 after 32 years of service] on the set of The Good Lord Bird . We realized we’d both shared a lot of the same DP-AC job experiences. It was so great getting to work with the creator of the pCAM app – I’ve had a version of it since the Palm device days – and it’s always great working around AC’s who’ve lived in both the film and digital camera worlds. This image is of David changing lenses on a Panavision, in 90-plus-degree weather, in a humid Virginian barn. It was one of the most memorable production design/costume design/cast/film sets I’ve ever had the opportunity to photograph. Special thanks to Peter Deming, ASC; Chief Lighting Technician Michael LaViolette and Key Grip Paul Wilkowsky for the amazing light!