ICG Magazine - October 2021 - Product Guide by ICG Magazine

ICG MAGAZINE

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Contents PRODUCT GUIDE October 2021 / Vol. 92 No. 09

DEPARTMENTS first look ................ 18 replay ................ 20 refraction ................ 24 exposure ................ 28 production credits ................ 100 stop motion .............. 110

SPECIAL 2021 Product Guide ...... 78

FEATURE 01

CLIMATE CHANGE Greig Fraser, ACS, ASC, explores strange new worlds for Denis Villeneuve’s newest incarnation of Frank Herbert’s celebrated novel, Dune.

FEATURE 02 MOB MENTALITY Kramer Morgenthau, ASC, takes The Sopranos back in time for the longanticipated prequel, The Many Saints of Newark.

FEATURE 03 LOST AND FOUND Brandon Trost and his Atlanta-based Guild team go searching “for forever” in the screen adaptation of the Tony-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen.

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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 Greg Gayne Kevin Martin Valentina Valentini

ACCOUNTING Glenn Berger Dominique Ibarra

October 2021 vol. 92 no. 09

Local

600

International Cinematographers Guild

IATSE Local 600 NATIONAL PRESIDENT John Lindley, ASC VICE PRESIDENT Dejan Georgevich, ASC 1ST NATIONAL VICE PRESIDENT Christy Fiers 2ND NATIONAL VICE PRESIDENT Baird Steptoe NATIONAL SECRETARY-TREASURER Stephen Wong NATIONAL ASSISTANT SECRETARY-TREASURER Jamie Silverstein NATIONAL SERGEANT-AT-ARMS Deborah Lipman NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Rebecca Rhine ASSOCIATE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Chaim Kantor

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE

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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. ICG (ISSN 1527-6007) Ten issues published annually by The International Cinematographers Guild 7755 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, CA, 90046, U.S.A. Periodical postage paid at Los Angeles, California. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ICG 7755 Sunset Boulevard Hollywood, California 90046 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 The International Cinematographers Guild Magazine has been published monthly since 1929. International Cinematographers Guild Magazine is a registered trademark.

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Photo by Sara Terry

wide angle

ypically, our October issue has been dedicated to the image pipeline and the fluid connection between the set and postproduction. But with the advent of COVID-19 and the continual re-shuffling of inperson events, we moved our 2021 Product Guide to this space, ostensibly to coincide with events like NAB and Cine Gear Expo, the former of which was canceled as an in-person gathering, the latter moving indoors to the cavernous Los Angeles Convention Center and held a week before this writing. That meant re-imagining this Product Guide, in a technology sector besieged by a COVIDslowed pipeline, would be challenging. The problem was not one of innovation – vendors have been creative as ever in responding to the needs of union film workers – but supply. Going from prototype to on-set reliability can’t happen if there are no parts, chips or new glass. The solution was to have ICG Staff Writer Pauline Rogers (who oversees our monthly Gear Guide department) build a bridge among all our traditional categories – Capture, Lighting, Support, Display and Workflow – into one article (page 78). Augmented with industry profiles –including wireless guru Greg Smokler, 8K expert Chris Chinnock, International Cinema Lighting Society (ICLS) co-founder Jeff Murrell, and Actress/Director/Writer Sophie Savides talking about TCS’ new re-housing of a personal set of Baltar lenses used by her late father, Clio-winner Harris Savides, ASC – this Product Guide is a highly informative journalistic pivot, reflecting what has become almost two full years of industry transformation. Not that October is short on innovation. Our cover story is Denis Villeneuve’s new version of the sprawling Frank Herbert novel Dune (page 32), shot by Oscar-nominee and Emmy-winner Greig Fraser, ACS, ASC [ICG Magazine February/March 2020]. The last time ICG Magazine covered Villeneuve was for the visual triumph that was Blade Runner 2049 [ICG Magazine October 2017], for which Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC, was awarded his first Oscar

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after being nominated 12 previous times. And while Dune is filled with the kind of stunning visual effects expected from its source material, it’s the in-camera visuals (and spectacular practical location work) that raise the bar. With seven months alone spent on conceptual art, Production Designer Patrice Vermette was able to create detailed 3D models, as well as on-set physical volumes to help Fraser visualize what VFX extensions would ultimately look like. “We built these pieces in appropriate colors from flat fabric that Greig could light through,” Vermette described. “If there were supposed to be beams extending up out of frame, we built those from fabric as well, to create a light/shadow aspect. This element would still need to be clad in post, but if the camera tilted up, it would again see correct color and texture.” Second Unit Director of Photography Katelin Arizmendi [ICG Magazine January 2020] says Dune’s aesthetic of experimentation was handed down from Villeneuve and Fraser. “We got to spend six hours breaking mirrors and cutting up weird gels to get this unusual light spilling in and across the wall,” Arizmendi recalled about a shot requiring refracted light through a window. Similarly, Aerial Director of Photography Dylan Goss, who worked on Blade Runner 2049, used a military helicopter to capture footage in Jordan’s skies. “I had some free mission days, where I could go off and hunt stuff, liberty afforded me by Denis’ faith,” Goss shared. “We found some unique formations in these desert canyons that were thousands of meters high – actual monoliths – that Denis liked.” ICG members don’t necessarily need an epic canvas like Dune to innovate. Director of Photography Brandon Trost, featured in our story on Dear Evan Hansen (page 64), had a unique workflow to help bring the hit Broadway play to the screen. “Our mandate was to find a way for the audience to experience these songs and feelings as if they were in the room next to the actors,” Trost described. “We had to dig into the script to find the cornerstone of each lyric and pick up mid-scene and make it become musical dialog.” To acheive that, Producer Marc Platt and Director Stephen Chbosky had all of the songs recorded live in the room, take after take, with earwigs synced to a live pianist to follow the actors’ timing. “When you see these scenes, you can feel the immediacy that this style gives,” Trost added. “Any imperfection or a note that is slightly swallowed because of the emotional content sets the stage for that intimate experience.”

CONTRIBUTORS

Greg Gayne STOP MOTION “I love being a still photographer on sets and getting to collaborate with my IA brothers and sisters daily. I’m so appreciative of the unforgettable experiences and everything else that this industry and our union has afforded me. #IASOLIDARITY”

Kevin Martin Climate Change, Exposure “I’m in the small minority of avid Dune readers who regularly enjoys the David Lynch adaptation, shot by Freddie Francis, BSC. But Denis Villeneuve’s new take on novelist Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic promises to resonate more fully, not just with the book’s Messianic themes, but also with its prescient views on the relationship between man and the environment. Greig Fraser [ACS, ASC] has captured life amid the sands of Arrakis using methodologies a whole world apart from the virtual StageCraft he employed on The Mandalorian – the trailer alone promises dazzling results.”

ICG MAGAZINE

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David Geffner Executive Editor

Email: david@icgmagazine.com

Cover photo by Chiabella James

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H A N S E N

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FIRST LOOK

Sam Petrov DIGITAL IMAGING TECHNICIAN BY PAULINE ROGERS // PHOTO BY TOBIN YELLAND

Although the Sony Handycam was a part of his life literally since the day he was born, it wasn’t until his early elementary school years in Richfield, MN, that DIT Sam Petrov considered being on the other side of the camera. “Getting a glimpse of creating something rather than just documenting life was a new pivot for me that I grew to enjoy,” he recalls. For years and several generations of cameras, Petrov utilized Windows Movie Maker, creating basic photo slideshows and video sequences. “I outgrew these tools fast and moved on to Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro X,” he recounts. “I asked my

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teachers if I could create a theme-song parody of the opening credits of CSI: NY. Then came opening credits for The Mod Squad and Hogan’s Heroes. In high school, I did ‘Tassel’ for the series Castle.” People responded, and Petrov started freelancing. He also kept studying. He describes himself as a “die-hard autodidact” who thrives on absorbing information and skills – at his own pace. Or as he puts it: “I want to learn exactly what I want to learn rather than learning something for the sake of having a checkmark or certificate,” Such an approach was tailor-made for the

educational website Lynda.com, where Petrov would “sit for hours” basking in the instruction of tutorial videos that ranged from hardware and cameras to software and DaVinci Resolve. He credits an art teacher and his family for pushing him into the movie business – and a commitment to the labor movement and the humanitarian side of the business, which “puts people ahead of profits.” In 2017 it was time for a life change, so he moved to L.A. with no work lined up. He wanted to be a DIT. “I sat down with every DIT who would give me the time of day and grilled them on how they did

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things: what hardware and software they used, soft skills, set politics, and anything else I could fathom.” But DIT work didn’t just happen. Petrov’s entry came through editorial, “which I milked for many years in the commercial and social media promo world,” he adds. “And then I discovered color grading, also on Lynda.com.” But the ergonomics of sitting in a dark room and being away from people wasn’t a good fit. “I found my home as a DIT because it was one of the few roles on set that would allow me to fully utilize years of self-taught training.” Petrov’s first paid job as a DIT was a music video. His first union job was on a promo shoot for A Wrinkle in Time – after he paid his initiation fee.

His favorite, so far, has been McMilllions, a job Local 600 DIT Emilie Collier made happen. “We filmed at numerous abandoned locations and had permission to wander around deserted places, which was one of my favorite things about that job,” Petrov recalls. For McMillions, Petrov oversaw data wrangling and transcodes as he QC’d footage. Today, Petrov has refined his cart to fit his personality. “I’m not the most technical DIT,” he shares. “But I care about delivering a great experience on set, and part of that is making a cart that appears approachable alongside a human being – me – who is affable,” he describes. “I emphasize letting all distractions melt away so we can focus

on screens, which are our primary tools. I have managed to entirely black out my cart in the name of simplicity and professionalism. And I have hidden or internalized all wires.” His cart has all the standard equipment for multi-camera live-grading. Ever the experimenter, Petrov is exploring new materials like carbon fiber and customized objects using 3D printing, and he is “just tinkering with SDI and DC cable lengths to make sure everything looks clean and organized,” he concludes. “All these things are undergirded by technical know-how, but for me, the skills are a means to an end. Making a professional and high-quality spot for myself, the DP, and any other relevant parties to stake out on the set is always the end goal.”

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PROD U C T GUIDE PRODUCT GUIDE

REPLAY

The Chi BY PAULINE ROGERS PHOTOS BY ELIZABETH SISSON / SHOWTIME

A lot changed for Season 4 of Showtime’s The Chi, most notably with the Chicago-based show’s image pipeline. It began with a virtual Google meeting between Director of Photography Diego Rosenblatt – moving between his home-base in Uruguay and a location in Brazil – Light Iron Colorist Katie Jordan in Los Angeles, and Co-Executive Producer/Producing Director Gandja Monteiro, and the desire to make the show more cinematic: to lean into the use of visual storytelling, to not be afraid of darkness. The virtual meetings were productive – by now, everyone in the industry had become used to that

workflow. As Monteiro explains, the discussions were “what we thought about color contrast, rendering of skin tones in a way that felt authentic and would honor the different complexions of the actors, their specific textures and glow. The desire was to make everyone look as if his or her character is servicing the story, but also to realistically showcase our incredible cast. We talked a lot about how we rendered blacks and blues. I fell in love with the contrast between blues and teals and our actors’ skin tones.” This new approach would be much more visually exciting, reflecting the many moods of The Chi’s different storylines. It would

also be, as Rosenblatt shares, the first time he would shoot and color-correct at the same time. “That meant it was extremely important that Gandja, Katie, and I were on the same page,” he offers. The first step was for Rosenblatt to gather a series of stills to share with the team. “I always request high-resolution stills, so I can test and color-correct by myself on my MacBook Pro,” he continues. “This is important because I can have an accurate feeling of how the specific file behaves and how far I can push it in the grade. My MacBook also serves as a reference – since this is a TV show, I knew most people would watch it on smart TVs, (cont'd on page 22)

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PROD U C T GUIDE PRODUCT GUIDE

REPLAY

cell phones, or computers. In the end, it had to look good on most average devices.” Jordan says the Google meeting gave her a clear picture of what the new look was going to be. “Once we had that look dialed in, which happened pretty quickly,” she recounts, “I planned to spend two days [Thursday and Friday] going through an episode by myself, and then we would render in SDR and put it up on Frame IO. Over the weekend Diego and Gandja could watch the episode when they had time, and pass on specific notes with timecode. “For me, the hardest thing with remote workflows is trusting the monitor setup on the other end because it’s out of my control,” continues Jordan, who would go through the notes received and have a live remote session on Monday with

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Montero and Rosenblatt. “We would collaborate using Sohonet’s ClearView Flex.”

Monteiro and Rosenblatt viewed Jordan’s work across a range of devices, including supplied iPads from Production and a 55-inch LG monitor that Light Iron provided, calibrated for The Chi’s production office in Chicago. “Monitor calibration is critical in all color-grading suites, and by extension for viewing remote grading,” Jordan adds. “Through calibration, we can ensure any creative choices such as cooler versus warmer or brighter versus darker will be consistent across all viewing devices.” The range of visuals in Season 4 of The Chi travel from intimate to complex – so having

everyone dialed into the same look was key. One of the most challenging scenes comes in Episode 5, “a big beautiful gala sequence in a ballroom that we cut to throughout the episode,” Jordan recounts. “It had to feel rich and luxurious while still keeping it dark with cooler tones. Our conversations were about the cool tones in the dailies, which became our starting point. Once we were all on the same page, I could balance everything and elevate it.” Rosenblatt says it was important, in this gala sequence, for him to create two different worlds that ran parallel to each other. “There is the gala itself and the story with Gemma, Jake, and Kevin backstage in the hotel. We decided to go for a warm palette for the gala and a colder look for the backstage.”

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LOCAL 600 CREW How did The Chi’s visual team adjust to the new normal of remote color correction (which was already becoming prevalent pre-COVID and then was radically accelerated by the pandemic)? For Rosenblatt, it wasn’t a huge reach to maintain consistent control of the visuals, once he felt confident that the equipment quality was equal across the board. For Jordan, if the tools are calibrated correctly and the trust is there, she is comfortable with the quality of the workflow. “Although,” she admits, “I prefer sessions with everyone in the same room – done safely – once we begin the long road of series production.” Monteiro describes the remote setup as better than it’s ever been. “It gave me and Diego, who was shooting every episode, the opportunity to look at things and not

be left in the dark. Sometimes you don’t know if you’re just looking at frames and not seeing it in real-time. Sometimes we just did it on the iPad. Whatever was available to us at the moment. But, overall, the interface itself is very helpful. “I think remote is a great solution for working in different cities where you’re distant from the colorist,” Monteiro concludes. “Especially for a show like The Chi, where we were color-correcting as we were shooting, and there was a hard deadline for release. But, when it comes down to it, there’s nothing like being in the room with the colorist, and all of us being able to connect with the different vocabularies of the filmmakers – DP, director, colorist, et cetera. Just the energy of being in the same place can bring some very interesting work and approaches.”

Director of Photography Diego Rosenblatt A-Camera Operator David Sammons, SOC A-Camera 1st AC Alan Dembek A-Camera 2nd AC Michael Gleeson B-Camera Operator Jordan Keslow B-Camera 1st AC Kathryn Moss B-Camera 2nd AC Elaisa Vargas Loader Derek Ashbaugh Utility Emily Lazlo Still Photographer Elizabeth Sisson

PROD U C T GUIDE PRODUCT GUIDE

REFRACTION

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Paul Kobelja BY PAULINE ROGERS PHOTO COURTESY OF CARSTAGE

My fascination with lighting has always followed the “enhance the natural, eschew the theatrical” path, largely due to the limited budgets from my initial working days. In the early 1990s, I was a Chicago-based cinematographer taking on everything from features to music videos. In the rough-and-tumble world of independent filmmaking, “What if?” is an oft-asked question when determining how to expose your director’s vision with a fraction of that vision’s actual budget. I quickly learned how to maximize what nature was already doing (the “when God is your gaffer” methodology) and how to enhance that with the few tools a Midwestern independent production could afford. The right tool (the perfect light), in the right place, at the right time, can be the element that lifts the quality of the whole. While teaching Advanced Cinematography, Lighting, and Image Design at Columbia College in Chicago, I found myself passing those methods along to students, not as a creative philosophy, but as a necessity that would allow them to keep working until their experience could command larger budgets. I wanted them to be working on filling the gaps in what the world had to offer while also developing their encyclopedia of natural world imagery (urban, suburban, rural, etc.) so that when it came time to recreate that world in the black box of a sound stage, they could easily deconstruct a memory and rebuild it artificially. My interest in pushing the limits of lighting technology began when I became rental manager at Luminys (aka Lightning Strikes). The Luminys team was a crack squad of mad geniuses doing things with daylight-balanced light sources that nobody was attempting to recreate. I was fortunate enough to join them just as they were introducing the industry to the Softsun lights. Imagine a

daylight-color-temperature fixture producing 50,000 watts from a single fully dimmable lamp without color shift. For the first time, with Softsun, I felt a skilled cinematographer could make a run at reproducing natural sunlight. A move to Production Resource Group forced a recalibration of my thinking regarding the value of theatrical solutions. My mandate was to engage the industry to promote live entertainment technology as an effective component of motion picture production. While many manufacturers were attempting to solve the suitable-LED-spotsource equation, I was pushed towards more esoteric suggestions and fell into the potential of stackable LED display technology. The first use of a large-scale LED system on a movie set as an environmental replacement for an actual location was deployed by Harris Savides, ASC on the 2007 film Zodiac. By today’s standards, the technology used was crude, but the concept was revolutionary – capture the location as a filmed plate, bring it back to the stage and replay it on an LED surface to create the reflections expected on a car moving through an urban environment. This simple concept brought traditional rear-screen projection into the threedimensional environment that normally sits in front of that screen. What if this method could be refined, simplified and reproduced using the emerging LED display technology that companies like Element Labs and Barco were developing? In 2010, I presented our earliest version of this concept at Cine Gear Expo, dubbed “digital poor man’s process” – and it was a showstopper. Although small and crude, with content utilized from a rock-and-roll media server, its potential was immediately understood. It is a well-known,

understated fact: show a filmmaker something that inspires new ideas, and they get excited. We had some early success with “out of the car” applications of the technology with J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek and Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2. In the case of the former, it was a small scenic element at the back of a bar after a fight scene involving a young James T. Kirk. I believe this was the first use of an LED display screen as a scenic element in a major motion picture. The latter was a far more expanded version of the same concept when we installed a 35-by-70-foot screen for all the trade show scenes with Iron Man and his antagonists. In both instances, the case was made that LED display systems could (and should) evolve into large-scale environmental lighting solutions. My first real test of a large-scale environmental solution happened on Oblivion [ICG Magazine April 2013], where we surrounded an entire set with an edge-blended projected image measuring 35 by 570 feet. We had some distance to go, but the early steps successfully showed what we could do. Soon after that, I became vice president at DPS, handling their motion picture division, where I decided that building upon the early successes of LED technology was a priority. We rolled out the complete Enhanced Environment concept that expands the concept behind Vehicular Amplification (car work) to also include Set Extension and Immersive Dioramic Effects. Our proposal to the industry was that we could reproduce both the environment and its interactive lighting – all from the same source. The proposal was met with some reluctance, but shortly after presenting it, I had the opportunity to apply my knowledge to both Murder on the Orient Express and Joker.

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REFRACTION

Since the 2007 epiphany of Harris Savides, ASC, and David Fincher’s Zodiac, captured reality (via filmed plates) has been used in tandem with large-scale image surfaces (LED and projection) to bring an in-camera environmental reality to stage-based scenes and lighting. Movies such as Iron Man 2, Oblivion, Tomorrowland, Murder on the Orient Express, and others were able to create an in-camera realism for staged sets that was previously impossible. In 2021 my partners and I started Carstage at our flagship stage in Long Island City, New York. This practical solution for virtual vehicle process work uses all the methods and technical solutions that have been refined over the past 13 years, applied to a permanent virtual environment facility. It is designed as an entry point for the much larger

picture production following paths forged and refined by artists at the vanguard of new technologies. We should acknowledge, however, that the motion picture industry is famously conservative about adopting new technologies, making it an overwhelmingly meticulous process designed to minimize the types of errors that can end careers and shutter businesses. This is born of necessity. The flipside of this is the rare emergence of technology with so much promise that the zeal for its adoption pushes the rhetoric far ahead of the industry’s practiced care. We are in the middle of one of those periods now. When considering the promise of integrating game-engine digital technology to environmental lighting and content systems (LED, projection, etc.), we need to remain

digital facsimile (rendered environments). In the most basic comparison (cost), the game-engine environments are considerably more expensive to create than a photographed plate. Couple that with some of the technical issues still plaguing these new technologies (frame lag and color correction come to mind), and it becomes clear that the newly coined term “virtual production” still applies only to those lucky enough to afford it – creatively and financially. For the rest of us, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

broadcast and streaming production community wanting access to these emerging 21st-century technical trends. We are entering a new reality with motion

clear-eyed about what those systems can do now and what we hope they can do later. To gain access to parallax tracking (an elegant illusion), one needs only to forgo captured reality (filmed plates) for

service into VER’s extensive offerings. In 2021, Kobjela co-founded and became CEO of Carstage, the New York-based, state-of-the-art LED stage, purpose-built for virtual vehicle process work.

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After the Motion Picture Division of DPS was purchased by VER, DPS Vice-President Paul Kobjela, a 30-year veteran of the motion picture industry, integrated the Enhanced Environment

A Quantum Leap

cineolighting.com/Q2

RE GION A L S P GUIDE OT LIGH T PRODUCT

EXPOSURE

Hans Zimmer COMPOSER DUNE BY KEVIN H. MARTIN PHOTO COURTESY OF JEP CELEBRITY PHOTOS

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EXPOSURE

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Hans Zimmer’s body of work is among the most adulated of any contemporary film composer. With credits encompassing virtually every cinematic genre and employing compositions embracing both traditional and electronic arrangements, Zimmer’s aural footprint on film music is undeniable and expansive. Though perhaps best known for scoring tentpole franchises that include Kung Fu Panda and The Dark Knight trilogies along with several Pirates of the Caribbean entries, the Oscar-, Golden Globe-, and Grammy-winner has also provided music for more intimate dramas, including As Good as it Gets, Rain Man and Driving Miss Daisy. Zimmer’s background in sound design sets him apart from many other established composers. Having a foot in both worlds may have perhaps facilitated the marriage between the sound department and film music, which might otherwise fall prey to an uncollaborative sense of competition. With more than 100 scores to his credit, Zimmer’s ability to collaborate with and deliver the goods for filmmakers is reflected by his multiple assignments for Christopher Nolan, Ron Howard, Guy Ritchie, Ridley Scott, and most recently, Denis Villeneuve, for whom he scored Blade Runner 2049 before folding space for Arrakis on Dune. ICG writer Kevin Martin tuned into Zimmer’s busy musical life during a phone conversation with the composer from the Venice Film Festival. ICG: Dune, in all its iterations, holds a lot of meaning for so many people. Did the weight of that history offer a different kind of challenge from other films you’ve scored? Zimmer: I don’t know that “challenge” is the right word when we’re speaking about a love affair. I loved the book as a teen, and it stayed with me. A few years ago, I was going on holiday and picked up a copy of the book at an airport as a gift for my son, but then opened up to page one and got hooked again – I never gave it to him! It was a miserable holiday for everyone except me because I was by the pool rereading Dune. [Laughs.] So, when Denis, who is such a kind man, asked me if I had heard of Herbert’s novel, I was super-enthusiastic with my response. Had you seen the Lynch version or the miniseries? I have been questioned about why I never saw the David Lynch version, and the fact is that I had my own in-head images of Dune that didn’t correspond with how that was getting done. Denis, who is a friend and brother, envisioned this with imagery that coincided with my own. Our conversations revolved around what the book meant to each of us, so our points of view about

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the film and its subtext meant we were on the same page right from the start. I’ve read reports that for Dune you wanted to create a soundscape that reflected an otherworldly notion of music. I always wondered why – with movies set in a galaxy far, far away – you still heard cellos and trumpets. My thought was that the one aspect of music that would remain a constant was the human voice. Our sonic world for Dune used that as a base; while it also included electronics, we had many new kinds of sounds that were achieved organically. The musician and sculptor Chaz Metz has some nefarious contacts at Boeing and Lockheed [laughs]. He gets a hold of these crazy metals you’ve never heard of, then builds instruments from them, and those become a big aspect of our sound palette. Then, when we used traditional instruments, it was in an untraditional way – for example, we’d put the cello through a resonator. Is that level of experimentation typical in your experience? Dune lends itself to experimentation. No, that’s not quite right – I’d say it mandates experimentation. Every project does that to a degree, but I think this music is fairly provocative. I started developing a palette of sounds before ever starting to write the score. It was before COVID when I had all my singers in, and we were doing experimentation, well before Denis and Greig [Fraser] started shooting. It was more a game than a challenge. The operative word in music is “play,” and it was an opportunity to approach this tremendous project – tremendous in scope as well as ambition – with a sense of playfulness. And, in its own way, COVID was curiously liberating, because it wasn’t about deciding whether we should record the score in Los Angeles or London. All these wonderful musicians the world over couldn’t go on tour and were suddenly now available. It did mean my sleep patterns were seriously disturbed because we’d have people in all these time zones from Vienna to New York and the west coast. That made things … interesting [laughs].

You’ve created three separate scores for different aspects of the Dune project. How did that come about? In addition to the film itself, there is a separate score accompanying the book – The Art and Soul of Dune – plus ninety minutes of demos and ideas that I called my sketchbook; though I should have called it my sandbox, which would have been more appropriate given the subject matter. The sounds I created to accompany the book are designed to enhance the reading experience by making it more immersive, almost as if grains of the desert sand were falling past the reader. The overall aural experience has to involve the sound department as well as music. How does that interface happen? We’re building an entire sonic world from scratch. Every detail, every grain of sand, has to come from somewhere. I became a composer by accident. I was mainly a sound designer, the “synth guy” in London for orchestra sessions. There was a kind of German stereotype: you know, “His name is Zimmer. He must do the electronics! Here’s a synthesizer; go make it work!” [laughter]. [Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor] Theo Green and [Supervising Sound Editor] Mark Mangini are both musicians I’ve known for forever. So even though there were ideas I had that could have been considered a matter of stepping on Sound’s toes, they and I knew it was all in service to the film. And they in turn created musical atmospheres that certainly could be considered to have encroached on my duties, but it was again all to aid the story and Denis’ vision. When you first viewed a cut of the film, what kind of feeling did you get from Greig’s work shooting it? Well, it was beautifully shot, and what I found remarkable was how faithful the images were to the incredible artwork developed during prep. I believe Denis brought together a team that not only was capable of carrying out his vision, but also very much wanted the chance to do so. Denis, editor Joe Walker and I were a real team. I’ve known Joe since all the way back to 1988.

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Can you talk about what kinds of things spark your collaboration with a filmmaker when embarking on a new project? After getting input from the filmmaker and an idea about the intentions for a project, the joy comes in the “how” of building each new musical world. I find the project itself will speak to you. One thing I learned early on from a good director was the need to engage in different things of interest. Some people are surprised when I go from a big Bruckheimer film to 12 Years a Slave – and you can trust me when I say they weren’t hoping to do a sequel! People talk about The Dark Knight as a big Hollywood spectacle; but my take was, “This is a dark psychological study.” So where does Dune fit into that equation? I tell people Dune isn’t a science-fiction movie, even though it obviously is. But because it is so much more and so much else, and because it is precisely at this point when words fail me, I have to resort to music to express myself properly and to be fully understood. For me, it is the hardest movie to talk about. There are so many layers to be peeled back and investigated for the full dramatic effect to be achieved. It’s not just a messianic story.

Ultimately, it is a human condition story. What Herbert was telling us with the book’s ecological message is now coming to roost for all of us. We are truly living in biblical times, but these events we’re experiencing have been anticipated, actually predicted by science for a very long time, and it all seems like a metaphor for days of future past. Top Gun: Maverick, whose release has been long-delayed by COVID, is a follow-up to a 1980s icon, not just in pop culture but also with very identifiable musical motifs. For that, I do employ Harold [Faltermeyer]’s theme from the original film, but I also had the idea of using fragments of original cues and then turning them on their heads. Whether or not people recognize those bits will be of some interest to me; but most importantly, they gave me a starting-off point, and what better basis than to draw on the original film’s DNA? Also, since I had worked a lot with [Top Gun director] Tony Scott, I would be wondering about whether he would like a particular sound as I worked. It was important that I didn’t betray him, as we were friends who went through a lot together. I still miss Tony so very much.

Another project with enormous history is the new James Bond film No Time to Die. With so much of that franchise’s heritage linked to the distinctive sound of John Barry’s music, did you feel a need to tie things back into his work during 007’s first quarter-century of screen adventures? I came to this from having known John Barry and also the group of musicians who played those cues for many years. Honoring the legacy of his work and the films themselves was important to me. Then I got on the telephone to call guitarist Johnny Marr, with whom I’d worked in the past on projects, including Inception, to ask him, “What is the one guitar part worth playing in movies?” His answer was Bond [The James Bond Theme]. So, we were in agreement about how to go about this [Steve Mazzaro provided additional scoring for this film as well as for Dune], with the guitar becoming an important aspect once more, and that tied things back to John’s work, which often featured the great Vic Flick on guitar. Vic may have played on more hits than just about anyone ever. Perhaps the most amazing part of the experience so far, however, is that [singer] Billie Eilish got a Grammy for a movie that nobody has even seen yet!

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Climate

Change GREIG FRASER, ACS, ASC, EXPLORES STRANGE NEW WORLDS FOR DENIS VILLENEUVE’S NEWEST INCARNATION OF FRANK HERBERT’S CELEBRATED NOVEL, DUNE. BY KEVIN H. MARTIN PHOTOS BY CHIABELLA JAMES

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Classics of sci-fi literature have proven to be challenging source material when it comes to film adaptations. In the case of Frank Herbert’s Dune, an interplanetary adventure that delved into nascent ecological concerns while offering a study of Messiahdom, the 1965 novel drew considerable Hollywood interest, fueled further by the pop-culture fervor for Herbert’s sequels. After false starts with some notable filmmakers, the project fell to David Lynch. Released in 1984, the visually striking adaptation (shot by Freddie Francis, BSC) failed to thrill movie audiences or Herbert devotees. A 2001 miniseries (shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC), while more faithful to the novel, suffered from budgetary considerations that kept it largely stagebound.

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D enis Villeneuve, a fan of the book since his teens, eagerly seized the reins for this new incarnation, which covers roughly the first half of the novel. Villeneuve re-teamed with several past collaborators, including Editor Joe Walker, Production Designer Patrice Vermette, Special Effects Supervisor Gerd Nefzer and VFX Supervisor Paul Lambert. Joining them was Oscar-nominee Greig Fraser, ACS, ASC, who had filmed his share of desert worlds for Disney’s The Mandalorian [ICG Magazine April 2020], though those employed virtual production instead of the extensive location work utilized for Dune. “Through CG, worlds can be created

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infinitely large in scale, but we always tried to look for the best ways to service the story,” Fraser relates, “The novel by its very nature was a very complex beast, one that caused problems with past attempts to make Dune, along with the variety of environments mandated.” Fraser s ays he was impressed by the result s achieved from the Villeneuve/Vermette team-up for Arrival (shot

by Bradford Young, ASC) on a relatively modest budget. For Dune, Vermette enjoyed a lengthy prep that enabled him to work out the visual details of the many planets and vessels as well as the lifeforms populating them. “Denis offers his collaborators freedom in making their contributions, so there’s never a feeling of constraint when it comes to voicing an idea,” Vermette shares. “After I showed him some early material based on the script draft, he shared some of his scribbles, and it was clear we were on the same page, architecturally speaking. We were both striving to achieve a feeling with our imagery, something like Richard Avedon’s black-and-white photography inspires in a viewer.” In fact, a full seven months were spent on conceptual artwork. “We start with a sketch and then a 3D model,” Vermette continues. “Even in wireframe form, I’m already asking where

the light is coming from. With the model, it is easy to zoom-in to view details. I also orbit around the model to find interesting angles, which is going to be significant on set later, since everybody can see which angles look best and plan accordingly.” Early concept art revealed the differences between the harsh desert dune world of Arrakis and Caladan, home planet to the Atreides clan, including young Paul (Timothée Chalamet.) “Portraying differences in culture is achieved through economics and landscapes,” Vermette adds. “Caladan is a blue and green world, a planet of water and island cliffsides, where there is always mist.” Vermette’s architecture

for the city of Arrakeen is designed to look as though the structures could withstand 800 km/hour winds. Somewhat utilitarian in appearance, the city buildings were inspired to a degree by the look of WWII bunkers – about as removed from the moist comfort of Caladan as one could imagine. “Normally the artwork is used to get the conversation going,” Fraser describes. “But this was so precise and wonderful that my main challenge was to honor those designs and intentions. I took massive inspiration for the lighting from the conceptual art, attempting to recreate what was on paper in a way that would be achievable on set.”

The level of preplanning allowed department heads, including Nefzer, to organize teams with great efficiency. “If there isn’t enough prep time, you inevitably face compromises, and often things won’t work as well as when you have time to plan things out,” he says. “But with Denis, everybody knows what is needed well in advance of shooting. That’s not to say he doesn’t have on-set inspirations; but I had an on-set crew taking care of everyday work, in addition to specialist groups handling flying rigs and pyro, so if Denis decides to add steam or drifting dust to a scene, we can often devise an on-the-spot practical solution. And there’s

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always the option to handle it later through visual effects.” VFX supervisor Paul Lambert, who shared an Oscar with Nefzer for Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 [ICG Magazine October 2017], agrees with Fraser about the usefulness of comprehensive artwork. “My collaboration with Greig was one of the most critical associations on this film,” he states. “Since we knew what the background would be and how the lighting was going to bake in, we met every day during preproduction to produce some inspired ideas. For example, we put a sand-colored screen on our backlot in Budapest. Everything on the planet was going to be that color, so our light hitting the screen would reflect an appropriate hue, instead of blue or green screen where you’ve

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got the wrong values. By inverting the sand screen in post, Double Negative could still do matte extractions, as the sand-colored screens effectively became blue-colored screens but without the limitations of having shot blue screen on set.” Fraser’s camera testing ranged from 35and 65mm film to the large-format ALEXA 65. Fotokem DI Colorist Dave Cole remembers that “the grit and sand seemed rife with problems for shooting 65mm. We thought 35mm would win out, but for desert scenes, the stock was too grainy, given we intended to do a lot of IMAX work.” (Along with Top Gun: Maverick, Dune was among the first films to shoot with IMAX certification.) Other factors mitigated against celluloid. “For Denis, film felt too nostalgic, almost like

telling the story while in the past, and this story is set in the future,” Fraser notes. “I’ve shot ALEXA since Zero Dark Thirty, so we went with the LF and Mini, which responded well in both extremes of climate: the desert scenes shot in Jordan and Abu Dhabi as well as the very wet Norway shoot for Caladan. The LF also let me go up to ASA 2000 without any noise issues.” Camera prep was at Panavision Woodland Hills, where Dan Sasaki performed his typical wonders in refining lenses to fit production’s needs. Panavision H-series and Ultra Vista lenses were used on both ALEXAs throughout. Given the title planet’s arid conditions, the filmmakers avoided saturated colors and a classic blue sky/yellow soil palette. “Denis wanted a bleached-out look, so Dave built us

a LUT that gave us a white-sky desert,” Fraser elaborates. “We tried a straight bleach bypass, but that was too much like Jarhead [shot by Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC], which wasn’t quite where we wanted to be.” Cole recalls that Fraser came up with a still image that all parties accepted as a look for the desert, one using highlights from the bleachbypass LUT, combined with a different look in the shadows. “Our modified skip-bleach look’s customization was done to keep the low end from getting too contrasty,” Cole shares. “If you’re on the driest planet in the universe, unprotected, you will die – and quickly, before there’s a chance to run into sandworm creatures or anything else.” Interiors used a separate LUT. “The day interiors are lit by sunlight pouring in through massive slits. As

a viewer, you will ‘iris open’ on these interiors, but then upon cutting outside, you again feel the burn and heat of the ferocious sun on this bleak planet.” While VFX would create set extensions to extend vast interiors, the art department helped Fraser by creating volumes on set that suggested what was to be added later. “We built these pieces in appropriate colors from flat fabric that Greig could light through,” Vermette describes. “If there were supposed to be beams extending up out of frame, we built those from fabric as well, to create a light/ shadow aspect. This element would still need to be clad in post, but if the camera tilted up, it would again see correct color and texture.”

Fraser cites the ingenious design of the Budapest stages, which were built out of concrete, with speedrail rigging extending to their exteriors. “That is what allowed us to build this outdoor stage,” he explains, “which was like a huge silo, topped with a star-shaped gobo that let us light with the actual sun. We could never have found a big enough light to illuminate down to the floor. My assistant, Nicholas Turner, and I had done light studies so we knew when the sun would be in the right position to achieve this series of shots. We scaled it so the amount of sunlight admitted matched what the theoretical ceiling would be, at 200 feet in height, even though ours was only 40 feet above the ground.” Ideally, Fraser adds, the gobo would have been a proper rigid structure. “But there was

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no infrastructure to achieve such scale,” he continues. “Instead, the Budapest riggers used lines so it could be let out like a sail. The wind was a problem, but we were able to keep it taut most of the time. To succeed, the gobo required successful collaboration between the art and electrical departments.” Transforming the Origo Film Studios backlot into a match for the deep desert required an exhaustive search for the proper shade of reddish-brown Jordanian dust that was also safe for cast and crew. Save for the large-scale action scenes, Dune was primarily shot single camera. “There’s virtually nothing in the way of unmotivated camera movement,” Fraser shares. “All of the camera motion is quite considered, so we’re moving with the characters as they proceed through their environment.” Fraser operated A-Camera himself, often using a “fantastic” KFD Aurora remote head that let him sit beside Villeneuve during scenes. Camera Operator/Steadicam Operator Bela Trutz, SOC, came on during the Jordan shoot. “On location, lots of the sequences were handheld, as well as many with crane and dolly,” Trutz recalls. “The few times on Steadicam were a challenge using the ALEXA LT studio body, but doable. The second unit was more like a splinter, shooting sequences at different times of the day for the best lighting setup, [and] I did join them on a couple of occasions.”

ABOVE LEFT: GREIG FRASER, ACS, ASC (L) AND DENIS VILLENEUVE ON LOCATION IN JORDAN. BOTTOM LEFT: FRASER NOTES THAT VILLENEUVE “WANTED A BLEACHEDOUT LOOK, SO [COLORIST] DAVE [COLE] BUILT US A LUT THAT GAVE US A WHITESKY DESERT. WE TRIED A STRAIGHT BLEACH BYPASS, BUT THAT WAS TOO MUCH LIKE JARHEAD, WHICH WASN’T QUITE WHERE WE WANTED TO BE.”

Second unit Director of Photography Katelin Arizmendi’s credits reflect her experience in the indie sector [ICG Magazine January 2020], and she readily admits, “I didn’t know much about second unit, though the idea of working closely with Greig and Denis to ensure the shoot stayed cohesive throughout was appealing. Greig gave me a lot of freedom to go after whatever looked interesting when shooting pickups.” One example was “over the Duke’s back that could be done using a body double,” Arizmendi describes, “and Denis wanted to capture a unique refracted light coming through the window. We got to spend six hours breaking mirrors and cutting up weird gels to get this unusual light spilling in and across the

wall. Then I got to shoot some 16mm footage while in Jordan. Paul views a documentary about Arrakis, and my stuff – mostly long-lens views of Fremen in the desert – after being pushed two stops, was used as the projected image.” Arizmendi says there was previsualization for scenes featuring VFX and crowds, “and enhancing explosion scenes was a lot of fun for me and my gaffer. Using [Chroma-Q] Studio Forces and a dimmer board let us refine interactivity motivated by the blasts. There were huge softboxes up above when pyro was involved, so we could dial everything up and allow the explosions to expose correctly instead of blowing out the image.” Shots of the aerial craft [mock-up] blowing up were reset for multiple explosions, because, as Nefzer describes, “we created fireballs instead of blowing the ships up for real, and then the ships were added in CG. We did some blasts on the ground, with others up on scaffolds as if the ships were flying by and could reset quickly for additional takes.” Nefzer faced an elaborate challenge for a scene when Paul and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) crash-land in the deep desert, just before their close encounters with a huge sandworm and Fremen natives. “We built a special sled rig because Denis wanted to see the approach and impact from within the cockpit,” Nefzer continues. “The challenge with towing this thing through impact was that real sand would be too heavy, so we used a kind of wheat called spelt. We put a plow with steel sheets on the ship’s front that guided the spelt dust over the cockpit. We had seventy meters to get up to speed – 50 to 60 kilometers per hour for the crash, and the ship, after leaving our sled, traveled 150 feet through our sandpit.” Other full-sized mockups, built in the U.K. and disassembled and shipped to the location, were also facilitated by Nefzer and BGI. A combination of gimbals and cranes allowed the craft – “ornithopters” in Dune vernacular – to move on multiple axes, and a landing ramp was made practical through hydraulics. Fraser, a recent convert to RGB LED tech, relied extensively on Digital Sputniks and Creamsource units to create “headlights” for aircraft.

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“DUNE ISN’T JUST A COMINGOF-AGE STORY; IT’S FOR PEOPLE EVERYWHERE WHO WANT TO DEAL WITH THESE WORLD-CHANGING EVENTS.” PRODUCTION DESIGNER PATRICE VERMETTE

“Being able to refine color on-stage instead of just in the grade is very helpful,” Fraser notes. “We could put them on scaffolding or hang them off cranes; the arrival of Reverend Mother (Charlotte Rampling) was a moment we wanted to dramatize with lighting emanating from her ship, which was achieved with Sputniks.” The other flying component fell to Aerial Director of Photography Dylan Goss, a veteran of two past Villeneuve films. “Greig’s dailies were truly memorable, in the best sense of the word,” Goss recounts. “His choices were so daring, with respect to the number of inky blacks and also the use of short-focus. We wanted to be in that same world with him visually, so we used heavy ND and Greig’s regular prime focal lengths.” Working with aerial coordinator Cliff Fleming and camera tech Eric Dvorsky, who saw to the K1 Shotover system provided by Team5 Aerial Systems, Goss flew a military helicopter in Jordan (private aircraft are not permitted), often using the same technique employed on Blade Runner 2049, where he shot copter-to-copter for scenes that would later have VFX ships replacing the practical aircraft. As Goss describes the challenging workflow: “When the instruction is that you follow a ship swooping by and darting down, it’s pretty hard to figure out where to shoot

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and for how long if you just have an empty frame. Our proxies were MD-500s, small fivebladed copters that already look a little like insects, and a lot like the film’s ornithopters. We spent some time building lighting rigs with cross beams on the proxy, which is a great in-camera way to get the right interactives; you’d see the mushrooming dust effect during a descent.” Besides working to a shot list, Goss would occasionally get “free mission” days. “That meant I could go off and hunt stuff, a liberty afforded me by Denis’ faith,” Goss emphasizes. “He liked some unique formations we happened to fly over – in those desert canyons, there were formations thousands of meters high, actual monoliths.” There was also a multi-camera array assembled and flown when shooting in Abu Dhabi, facilitating background imagery for cockpit scenes, operated through a Semote wireless camera menu control. After an abortive attempt to shoot Norway-for-Caladan during an unusually warm summer, Goss returned in fall. “In terms of embracing atmospherics, the ‘put your money where your mouth is’ moment came in Norway,” he declares. “Caladan is extremely verdant, so it was more than just filming water – we needed to feel a constant surrounding mist as well as rain. So, we flew with a rain spinner on the K1 – water with a side of water!”

While in-camera was always the goal, Dune still relied upon extensive VFX, which were based on live-action aspects whenever possible. One example is when Paul is pursued by a hunter-seeker device sent to eliminate him and hides within a holograph of vegetation. “We devised a technique that allowed us to track the actor on set,” Lambert recalls. “Knowing where he would be in the physical space, we used a projector to put a slice of this holographic bush onto him. The projector updated that image with each subsequent frame as he walked through it. Projecting real lighting onto Paul worked out well, and while there were CG aspects to the shot, the lighting and interaction were real and integrated perfectly.” What would Dune be without the planet’s most famous inhabitants, the huge sandworms living in the ground? “There isn’t much existing reference for things that big disturbing sand,” Lambert admits. “I did request that Production detonate some explosions in the desert to get a real-life reference but given that we were shooting in the Middle East, that kind of thing could be mistaken for an attack and was frowned upon!” Consequently, procedurally based simulations were used to generate the wake of the worm and much of its interactions. Once the film was in post, Fraser cut

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together a color bible with the assistant editor, including a wide and close view from each scene. “That ensured we wouldn’t need to make a lot of changes in the final grade,” he states. Cole had done the majority of his past work on Lustre but here he used Da Vinci’s Resolve. “We include Arrakis’ two moons in the sky,” Cole notes, “which are small, but in some night scenes, they register sufficiently that you will see multiple shadows. A lot of the end of the movie takes place in dark conditions, but you can still see everything. There was intense rotoscoping needed to ensure you could see eyes and faces. We rode a very fine line between pre-dawn darkness and the point after the sun rises. It’s not a sci-fi lit thing, with lurid neon, but instead, like just about everything on this, was very well thought-out, like the changes in aspect ratio; something over half of the movie is 1.43, including the whole last stretch of the movie.” There was one new step added to postproduction, an innovation that first occurred to Fraser while shooting Vice. “I thought that after the DI, we could spin the final out to film before scanning neg back in,” he says. “The idea was to see if that got us back some of the intrinsic beauty of film, specifically its contrast range and how it

exposes highlights. We discovered that it also served to take the digital edge off the bright sun highlights.” Cole and Fraser had tried the approach before on a music video. “We found shooting to a digital negative that has the exposure level of 1 ASA, like a dupe stock and with the smallest possible amount of grain, was very similar to what true 15-perf, originated-onfilm looked like when you put them up on IMAX screens,” the colorist reveals. “It wasn’t about grain per se, but all the aspects that one might describe as film artifacts: interlayer halation, the nonlinearity of density across the frame and even allowing some dust to come through. The weave, blur, and slight density breathing of film – the latter is something we had tried emulating digitally – were organic qualities that in the past we did everything possible to mitigate against, but here we were trying to bring them to the fore since they don’t exist in digital. They added a sense of life, especially in the 1:1.43 aspect ratio, and that includes the many VFX shots, which, while they were the best I’ve ever seen, still benefited from this.” Posting Dune at FotoKem – a film lab still prospering in the digital era – was key to working out those methodologies. “We’d

take it as far along in the DI as possible, then scan out to film and match it back,” Cole adds. “The negative was not a printing stock. It was a nonprintable digital negative, optimized for this specific process, and used as a data storage device. Scanning it back in afterward used scientific procedural processes to bring the image back into ARRI’s Log-C world. I had to employ the same lookup tables used for the creative DI. This also accounts for all the film quirks, and matches that procedurally; and I’d do a trim pass after that, just for a final polish, the last two percent.” In addition to at least one follow-up feature, Villeneuve has a spinoff TV series being developed based on other Herbert material, and Vermette is already enthusiastically developing concepts for Dune, Part 2, which will include the material covered in Herbert’s first novel. “The book was just so prescient and so accurate in presenting questions we now face every day in this century,” Vermette states. “Good sci-fi resonates because it is about us. If we want to have a better world tomorrow, we had better keep thinking about these aspects. Dune isn’t just a coming-of-age story; it’s for people everywhere who want to deal with these world-changing events.”

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LOCAL 600 CREW Director of Photography Greig Fraser, ACS, ASC 2nd Unit Director of Photography Katelin Arizmendi Aerial Director of Photography Dylan Goss Operator/Steadicam Operator Bela Trutz, SOC K1 Technician Eric Dvorsky Still Photographer Chiabella James

FRASER’S CAMERA TESTING RANGED FROM 35 AND 65MM FILM TO THE LARGE-FORMAT ALEXA 65, BUT “THE GRIT AND SAND SEEMED RIFE WITH PROBLEMS FOR SHOOTING 65MM,” COLORIST DAVE COLE RECALLS. “WE THOUGHT 35MM WOULD WIN OUT, BUT FOR DESERT SCENES, THE STOCK WAS TOO GRAINY, GIVEN WE INTENDED TO DO A LOT OF IMAX WORK.” PRODUCT GUIDE

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THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK PRODUCT GUIDE

mentality KRAMER MORGENTHAU, ASC, TAKES THE SOPRANOS BACK IN TIME FOR THE LONG-ANTICIPATED PREQUEL, THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK. BY VALENTINA VALENTINI

PHOTOS BY BARRY WETCHER, SMPSP

ony Soprano was a man of few words. His hefty presence and broody energy were signs enough to alert anyone in his orbit that this was a man who didn’t need to say much to get what he wanted. In a similar fashion – but with considerably less anger – Director of Photography Kramer Morgenthau, ASC, and Director Alan Taylor didn’t require lengthy conversations in preparing to shoot The Many Saints of Newark, a feature prequel to The Sopranos, the HBO series created by David Chase that earned 21 Primetime Emmy Awards, among many other honors. “ T h e re ’s [ m u c h ] t h at go e s unspoken,” says Morgenthau, pointing to his and Taylor ’s collaboration over the last decade on Game of Thrones, Terminator Genisys, and Thor: The Dark World, among others. “I understand Alan’s cinematic style and can anticipate where he wants to go. I give him reference stills, and he shoots a tremendous number of stills himself during location scouting. Alan comes to the table knowing how he wants to shoot a scene from a camera and lighting perspective. So, it’s an easy working relationship.” Taylor, who began directing The Sopranos with episode six of Season 1, and then went on to direct dozens of Game of Thrones episodes, gave Morgenthau the nickname “Lord of Light” when they worked on Thrones because it’s a mastery Taylor admits that he rarely comes across. And

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once Chase decided he was not going to direct Newark, selecting Taylor to take the helm, it was in the hands of two men with a long history of creative collaboration. Or as Chase (a man of few words himself ) puts it: “My feeling was that Alan should have a completely free choice [with the look].” Written by Lawrence Konner and Chase, The Many Saints of Newark dives into the formative years of Tony Soprano, one of the first anti-heroes to grace the small screen, a character who paved the way for the Walter Whites and Marty Byrdes later on. And though Gandolfini’s son, Michael, plays the teenage Tony deftly and with much care, the movie is centered on Tony’s uncle, Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), backdropped by the 1967 Newark race riots. It was Dickie who ran the family business in the 1960s

and ’70s until his untimely death (which factored into Tony’s decision to skip college and take over operations in New Jersey). Though there may not be as much teen Tony as fans may have hoped, the film is a thoughtful meditation on isolation – from oneself, one’s dreams, one’s family, and even one’s community. Says Morgenthau: “There’s an existential undertone to the movie that David Chase has explored throughout his career.” To highlight that isolation, Morgenthau and Taylor would often have a single character standing alone in silhouette, in the center of the frame. For example, just before we meet young Tony, there’s a moment when Dickie is sandwiched between two houses, silhouetted, alone; towards the end of the film, there’s the image of Tony in the diner, standing at the door and looking out, hoping that Dickie’s going to show up. Morgenthau chose ARRI Alexa LF (the mini LF wasn’t yet available and the studio LF was hard to procure due to its popularity), paired with Panavision T-Series anamorphics, custom-tuned by Dan Sasaki. The T-series provided fall-off around the edges and a natural vignetting when expanded for the large sensor, as well as a shallower depth of field to better isolate the characters from their environments. Morgenthau says they helped create a cinematic approach that delineated

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“ WHEN I THINK OF THAT PERIOD, IT’S ALWAYS THOSE 1964 WORLD’S FAIR POSTCARDS – WHERE THE COLORS ARE VIBRANT BUT WITH A SOFT, ALMOST POWDERY FEEL.” DIGITAL IMAGING TECHNICIAN MATTHEW SELKIRK

between the TV show and the film, though the launching point for the look was the HBO series. “It was a classically photographed series,” describes Morgenthau, who calls himself “the new guy on the block” compared to Taylor, Chase, and Production Designer Bob Shaw. “The show didn’t use a ton of coverage, and the camera rarely moved unless a character was moving,” he adds. “There were a lot of wide angles, but they were often close and intimate; it felt like classic cinema influenced by John Ford. It wasn’t self-conscious filmmaking.” With those thoughts as a launching point, helped along by the skills of A-Camera/ Steadicam Operator Mike Heathcote, SOC, Morgenthau brought in references and a modern approach to the period that would emphasize the emotion and pathos of the characters. The Yards and American Gangster, both shot by the late Harris Savides, ASC, were influential, because, as Morgenthau recounts, “Harris’ top lighting felt atmospheric rather than deliberate.” Morgenthau also referenced the work of Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, in the Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis. That film’s 1960’s approach to color featured velvety blacks that helped to create an atmosphere around its characters. And because The Many Saints of Newark is set in 1967 and 1971, Morgenthau wanted to find a color approach that was appropriate to the time. “Even though they’re only four years apart, the characters in 1967 act and feel much more like they’re still in the 1950s,” he continues. “By the time all the social change begins in Newark in the late sixties, that feeling and style evolve into the 1971 period – a lot looser with more of a muted pastel approach.” Digital Imaging Technician Matthew Selkirk adds, “When I think of that period, it’s always those 1964 World’s Fair postcards – where the colors are vibrant but with a soft, almost powdery feel. In a perfect world, every shot would look like that, and I think we achieved it through the vast majority

of the film; the highlights hold in that very Ektachrome-y, 1960s kind of way.” In fact, Selkirk created two LUTs to achieve that goal: an Ektachrome and Kodachrome emulation. The Ektachrome LUT was a film emulation Selkirk developed a few years prior. He then shifted it to round out the highlights and make it work for Morgenthau’s lighting style: bringing up even more of the Ektachrome look, making the cyan bolder. The Kodachrome LUT was built off the Ektachrome, keeping that contrast curve but shifting everything neutral and desaturating the overall look to move away from the Ektachrome. “I do feel like it tracked through the entirety of the shoot,” Selkirk shares. “But that is entirely due to Kramer and me being on the same page with getting this film to feel of its time and a bit gritty. I often have a conversation with DPs where we say, ‘Nobody will ever let you go farther after the fact.’ What you see on set is what people fall in love with because it’s their emotional relevance to the show that gets paired to whatever you see on screen later. That means, if you want to do a big look as we did on Newark, you have to go as far as you’re willing to go on set until somebody says to pull it back.” In The Many Saints of Newark, we meet younger versions of The Sopranos favorites, Pauli (Billy Magnussen), Junior (Corey Stoll), Silvio (John Magaro), and more, so Morgenthau wanted to pay homage to the original show but still make sure the film had its own essence. “It is very much a prequel and a break from the show,” he describes, “but it was important to honor what came before.” That meant having Heathcote use a similar straightforward cinematic language without much camera movement. Morgenthau says he also looked for architectural “Easter eggs,” like a bridge in New Jersey from the series. Overall, locations were mainly industrial and working-class – “the descendants of the North

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“ IT IS VERY MUCH A PREQUEL AND A BREAK FROM THE SHOW... BUT IT WAS IMPORTANT TO HONOR WHAT CAME BEFORE.” KRAMER MORGANTHAU, ASC

ward of Newark,” as Morgenthau describes. “David [Chase’s] stroke of genius was to take the classic gangster movie, put it on the small screen, and make it contemporary,” Taylor describes. “Here, we’re putting it on the big screen and making it period. So, if you’re going to undo two of the things that were signatures on The Sopranos, you have to make sure that in every other way, you’re hanging on to the heart of the [show]. In terms of the look, there are a handful of things that are very Sopranos – these bold, tableau compositions; the way the cameras moved forcefully but not in too arty a way, the top lighting, low cameras, wide angles. I think Kramer recognized that as a part of the show’s vocabulary that would transpose well to the big screen. It’s funny because one of the predictors of the TV show was that [it] was more cinematic than most TV shows had been at the time. So, it was sort of already offering a cinematic language to draw from.” Shaw, who designed all of the series except for Season 1, dug into his family photos to gain inspiration. He was, as he describes, “the stealth Italian guy on set,” with his mother’s family having a similar socioeconomic path as the fictional Sopranos’, but in Philadelphia. Shaw’s memories, faded yet still full of color, provided his design framework. “Because this script is period, it automatically took on a different look,” he recalls. “It’s the same world, but different. They still lived in Newark, and that is one of the things that David Chase said he was interested in exploring – where the

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family came from. It’s an earlier step in the assimilation of the Italian-American population, very different to the suburban world they’d later inhabit.” For the back room at Satriale’s, Shaw recreated a popular set from the series – familiar but, again, different. It was mainly achieved by removing layers of clutter that would have accumulated in the decades between the series and the film. The kitchen remained mostly the same, with a large, communal table, but the tablecloth, which was vinyl in the series, was cloth in the film – a subtle difference. The furniture pieces were also different, yet with that same feel of being cast off. “The interior of the Silhouette club was one of my favorite sets,” Shaw continues. “It involved a major transformation of a real location, the Danish Athletic Club of NY in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I thought that the set should be an imitation-Rat Pack club. The key to finding the look was, frankly, a lessthan-stellar painting of a Venetian canal that I had seen years ago. It had bold black brushwork and a limited palette and was in a late 1950s style. “We created a series of similar paintings for the walls of the club’s dining room,” he continues. “There was flocked wallpaper with a black pattern on a gray background – bolder or more colorful flocked wallpaper would have been a camp stereotype of Italian and we wanted to avoid that at all costs and to make sure that the environment was masculine. We built in a lot of lighting features, such as the large circular drums on the ceiling of the

dining area. Ideally, the viewer could look at the room and smell the cigarette smoke.” Because of the attention to detail by Shaw, Morgenthau, and Chief Lighting Technician Sean Sheridan, Supervising Colorist Peter Doyle (with Postworks, NY) says the look was nearly complete when it came time for the DI. “The production design was so perfect,” Doyle recounts, “and with Kramer’s lighting that was so sympathetic to that design, the camera had already recorded a very considered color palette. It felt more like grading an old-school film, where it was ‘all in the negative,’ as we used to say. I didn’t consider it color grading – it was more of an interpretation.” Doyle worked with Morgenthau’s strong cinematic aesthetics, which Doyle felt carried the kinds of retro themes that one would expect to see on a large screen, rather than via streaming or TV, while also drawing on the styles of cinema at that time. This latter point is where Doyle focused his work: treat the image to make it feel as if it’s of its time, but with a modern interpretation. “Nowadays,” adds Doyle, who graded many of the Harry Potter films, as well as one of The Many Saints of Newark’s references, Inside Llewyn Davis, “shooting a period film with modern cameras creates a dichotomy. You don’t have film float or artifacts; and because we’ve all become accustomed to streaming content, we’ve forgotten what a real film print looks like. I’m going to guess we made our last film print for distribution

DIRECTOR ALAN TAYLOR (WITH SCARF) DUBBED DP KRAMER MORGENTHAU (BOTTOM ON DOLLY) “THE LORD OF LIGHT,” AFTER WORKING TOGETHER ON GAME OF THRONES. ““I UNDERSTAND ALAN’S CINEMATIC STYLE AND CAN ANTICIPATE WHERE HE WANTS TO GO,” MORGENTHAU DESCRIBES OF THEIR DECADE-PLUS WORKING RELATIONSHIP.

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“ I CONJURED MEMORIES OF WHAT THE IMAGE WOULD LOOK LIKE IF KRAMER HAD SHOT ON AN ARRI 35BL FILM CAMERA AND PRINTED AT TECHNICOLOR NORTH HOLLYWOOD ON PRINTER NUMBER SEVEN.” COLORIST PETER DOYLE

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about seven years ago. So, even our memory of what a film print looks like has been changed. Audiences watching a print from the 1970s now would be shocked. They would be aware of its physicality, and that would be distracting. I feel my role on Newark was to interpret, or to position, a modern image and to make it feel as if it’s from the past, but not necessarily do a true retro piece.” One of those retro-adjacent feelings viewers will notice is due to Doyle’s carefully textured application of a grain emulation. He says he “conjured memories” of what the image would look like if Morgenthau had shot on an ARRI 35BL film camera and printed at Technicolor North Hollywood on printer number seven. “We all had a good feel for what that would look like,” Doyle smiles. “We were then quite analytical to remove artifacts that we felt would have been distracting if we were making a film print, like scratches and flicker.” A different colorist had originally signed on to Newark, but due to timing changes necessitated by COVID, Doyle was brought onto the project by the studio. Morgenthau says it was kismet. “Peter’s a genius,” Morgenthau concludes. “He is a legendary

color scientist and knew immediately what we were going for. His collaboration and everyone in our little gang that came together on this film helped create a project that felt fresh but also honored its celebrated origins. Taylor says that partway through making The Many Saints of Newark, he realized it was the hardest job he’s ever done, tied, perhaps, with once being a server in a Manhattan restaurant. He says it was “the many pressures of not wanting to disappoint” Sopranos fans, of translating a masterful TV show into a cinematic experience, of taking a contemporary story and making it period while carrying the same tone and themes, and, ultimately, living up to Chase’s vision. The director says Chase’s work “isn’t the stuff of typical gangster fare,” reaching heights of a tonal duality and nuanced themes that few have replicated. “There’s a dreamy quality [to Chase’s work],” Taylor concludes. “A kind of surreal, absurd quality. And it’s not a technical term, but there’s an oomph to [the show], a forward drive, not arty, balletic moves. We wanted to bring that same graphic clarity and punch to the movie.”

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LOCAL 600 CREW Director of Photography Kramer Morgenthau, ASC A-Camera Operator/Steadicam Mike Heathcote, SOC A-Camera 1st AC Craig Pressgrove A-Camera 2nd AC Marc Loforte B-Camera Operator Julian Delacruz B-Camera 1st AC Pedro Corcega B-Camera 2nd AC Matthew Montalto DIT Matt Selkirk Loader Amber Mathes Digital Utility Demi Robert Still Photographer Barry Wetcher, SMPSP

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FEATURE 03 // DEA

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AR EVAN HANSEN

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lost

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BRANDON TROST, AND HIS ATLANTA-BASED GUILD TEAM, GO SEARCHING “FOR FOREVER” IN THE SCREEN ADAPTATION OF THE TONY-WINNING MUSICAL, DEAR EVAN HANSEN. BY PAULINE ROGERS

PHOTOS BY ERIKA DOSS

at The Music Box Theatre in December 2016. At the 71st Tony Awards, this comingof-age musical was nominated for nine awards, winning six, including Best Actor, Best Featured Actress, Best Musical, and Best Score. Upon winning, Platt became the youngest actor to ever win the “Leading Role in a Musical” award for a solo performance. Late last month, Universal Pictures released the film adaptation, which features a mix of talented Hollywood actors and the original Broadway cast. To bring Evan’s story to the screen, Universal turned to producer Marc Platt, whose Broadway credits include such TonyAward-winning shows as Wicked and The Band’s Visit as well as Academy Award nominations for Bridge of Spies, La La Land, and The Trial of the Chicago 7. Platt (who is Ben’s father) co-produced the film version of Dear Evan Hansen with Adam Siegel, and they brought o n D irec to r S te ph e n Chbosky, whose credits include Wonder and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Siegel and Chobsky then selected Guild Director of Photography Brandon Trost [ICG Magazine September 2020]; as well as Oscar-, Grammy-, and TonyAward-winning lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, whose work includes La La Land and The Greatest Showman. The task of bringing a story about “the lies we tell ourselves and what we tell other people, and how, when the truth comes out, there is a revelation to it all” is a daunting one, admits Chbosky. As Platt adds, “adapting what works on stage is very different” than what plays on the screen. So they took the stage play apart, looking for the core of each beat in the story and how it would translate to the screen. “There were powerful stage moments with characters in pools of light, representing places in their lives,” Chbosky continues, “and we discussed finding a film equivalent.” There are moments of intimacy where a skilled Broadway performer can pull a stage audience into emotional intimacy. But how would that emotion play with a face in the lens? Then there were the elements of what Chbosky terms “a musical with a small ‘m.’” Never, for a moment, could they allow the audience to feel, “This is dialog, and this is a song.” The team worked line-by-line to find bridges, where the tempo of the words could slide into song. “We were looking for subtext,

W hen we first meet Evan Hansen (Ben Platt, reprising his Tony-, Emmy-, and GrammyAward-winning role), the high-schooler is caught in those oh-so-awkward years between childhood and adulthood. Working with a therapist to overcome his severe social anxiety, each morning he’s tasked with writing a letter to himself detailing how good the day will be. When another alienated young man, Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan), commits suicide, Connor’s parents find one of Evan’s letters in their son’s belongings. Convinced the two were friends, they become desperate for more details about their son’s life. Unable to convince them the two were strangers, Evan slips into a falsehood that expands, creating a relationship with Connor that masks his own alienation. Dear Evan Hansen premiered at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. in July 2015, before moving off-Broadway to the Second Stage Theatre, and eventually opening on Broadway

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“ANY IMPERFECTION OR A NOTE THAT IS SLIGHTLY SWALLOWED BECAUSE OF THE EMOTIONAL CONTENT SETS THE STAGE FOR THAT INTIMATE EXPERIENCE.” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY BRANDON TROST

a rise in emotion and intensity,” says Chbosky. “It wasn’t just about the actor’s emotional moments; it was also where Brandon could blend the camera with that emotion into a seamless experience.” Trost says reading the script was a unique experience, “because it was sent to me along with the soundtrack from the Broadway show, which I played as I read [the script]. Our mandate was to find a way for the audience to experience these songs and feelings as if they were in the room next to the actors. We all began to dig into the script, and as Marc said, find the cornerstone of each lyric and pick up mid-scene and make it become musical dialog.” To achieve that goal, all of the songs were recorded live in the room, take after take, with earwigs synced to a live pianist to follow the actors’ timing. “When you see these scenes, you can feel the immediacy that this style gives,” Trost adds. “Any imperfection or a note that is slightly swallowed because of the emotional content sets the stage for that intimate experience.” Such an approach to capture meant lighting was more about the absence of light. “Stephen didn’t want anything to get in the

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way of the connection between the audience and the performances,” Trost describes. “Tragedy and anxiety often feel like the bedrocks of this movie, despite the lighter moments, and Stephen knew how easy it is to lean into those darker tones to support the drama. He wanted every moment of the film to feel like everything was going to be okay.” That meant lighting would be generally motivated by practicals or the illusion that the light was coming from a practical source. Or, as Trost puts it: “We chose to light spaces and environments as much as possible so that the actors could exist within these sets without tweaking between setups. We leaned on the Art Department to provide us with lots of sources to support the naturalistic look, and Beth Mickle, our production designer, was always up to the task. So much of the film takes place in homes and bedrooms, and in a high school, so we spent a lot of time adjusting light bulbs and tubes.” Trost assembled a crew in Atlanta, where he says Dear Evan Hansen was “Universal’s very first feature to come back into production domestically from the COVID shutdown, which meant, fortunately for me, there were a lot of great crews available. There was anxiety going back to set, but the protective measures imposed to keep everyone safe

ensured our team was excited about the project. A-Camera/Steadicam Operator Chris McGuire [SOC] and A-Camera Dolly Grip Lea E. Miller were two key members I relied on heavily for maintaining the emotional thread of the movie. Since we were aiming for such a specific style that wanted to follow the motion, as opposed to leading it, so much of our work was about subtlety, particularly for the musical sequences. “Oftentimes, scenes might have a more traditional approach to start, and then, as the song began, we would induce some movement into the scene,” Trost continues. “Since all of the actors were singing along with music in their earwigs, Chris and Lea could follow the same cue while listening to their Comteks. Sometimes I would have the music department add pieces of the music to the cues to assist with the timing of certain camera moves.” Trost opted to shoot with the RED Monstro and Panavision Primo 70 Series lenses, with custom augmentation from Dan Sasaki. “He augmented the optics in the P70 lenses to create a softer look, even softer than the Primo Artiste lenses,” Trost explains. “Dan introduced a gentler roll-off to soften any digital harshness and added edge artifacts to create a less flat field. He also treated the

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TROST SAYS, “SO MUCH OF THE FILM TAKES PLACE IN HOMES AND BEDROOMS, AND IN A HIGH SCHOOL, WE SPENT A LOT OF TIME ADJUSTING LIGHT BULBS AND TUBES.”

element coatings so that they would be more vulnerable to flares, and the blacks would get a bit contaminated. Dan replicated this same customization from a set of lenses he previously designed for me for Can You Ever Forgive Me?” As for shooting at the height of the pandemic, support equipment was key in maintaining a safe distance between crew and actors. “We had traditional Steadicam,” McGuire recounts. “But the use of a remote head like the Mo-Sye L40 helped keep the distance between crew and actors, who couldn’t wear PPE while we rolled cameras. There was also the ShotSaver dolly for Rickshaw use. And the Hustler for hard mount work.” Another element was the choice of locations. “To be honest, I don’t think all of the

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locations were exactly the ones we wanted,” Trost admits. “Many were chosen for specific ventilation issues or just permission in general. When we did find locations that could fit our needs, I made sure my lighting designs were as contained as possible so that we would have fewer tweaks between setups. We wanted to keep as many people off the set as possible when the actors were around. Despite all the challenges COVID provided, we needed to stay on track for our naturalistic look.” Trost’s efforts pay off in the opening song, “Waving Through the Window,” which sets the tone for the rest of the film. The scene was one of the few that was boarded because each moment had to connect specifically from one to the next on very precise lyrics. “The sequence starts to build as Evan gets to the high school, where his anxiety ramps up throughout the song,” Trost recalls. “We used

practicals for all of this work, the hallways, and into the gym. The great thing about shooting in the halls was the uniform drop ceiling, so we were able to add fluorescent fixtures wherever there was a dark spot. “Gaffer Dale Fowler found a clever way to blend them in with the rest of the lights so they could be filmed from any direction,” Trost continues. “The gym was all practical as well, but we augmented the gym lights to soften things a bit. I knew we would see every direction, even up at the ceiling, so I couldn’t hang any space lights in place of the large industrial-style lights that are so common in gyms. And the practical light was still harsher than I was hoping for, so I asked Key Grip Kurt Kornemann to design a diffusion bag to cover each fixture tightly and tie-off at the top of the large glass bezel. We effectively turned each of the big industrial lights into a large China ball,

ON BEING THE FIRST FEATURE UNIVERSAL PUT INTO PRODUCTION WITH THE NEWLY-CREATED COVID-19 SAFETY PROTOCOLS, DP BRANDON TROST (ABOVE) SAYS: “THERE WAS ANXIETY GOING BACK TO SET, BUT THE PROTECTIVE MEASURES IMPOSED TO KEEP EVERYONE SAFE ENSURED OUR TEAM WAS EXCITED ABOUT THE PROJECT.

and since the bags fit tightly enough around the glass, I could film the fixtures as if they were regular gym lights. Not to mention that the quality of light was so much better.” Much of the film features McGuire on Steadicam following Evan and his POV. Trost describes a shot in the school hallway where “the camera rushes around Evan quickly, which we did from a very small circular track. We used this to disorient Evan and the audience as he’s lost in the crowd. The effect was continued into the gym, where again he’s surrounded by a swarm of students, but we circle him with several different cuts and longer lenses to ramp-up this feeling. For the big finish, we have a very fast pull-back from Evan from a crane that reveals the entire space, leaving Evan as a small figure lost in the sea of kids. We were always trying to match our visuals to the way Evan was feeling within

all of the songs, and this sequence beautifully sets up that perspective.” Once Evan embraces the lie he’s created, he asks his friend, Jared Kalwani (Nik Dodani), to help him compose fake e-mail correspondence between him and Connor. Trost recounts that “with each new lie, a new vignette is shown in the song with mostly a series of one-take verses and choruses. We worked backward from Jamaica Craft’s wonderful choreography. Each beat was rehearsed and tweaked and rehearsed until we all felt it was achievable in one take, and we built our shot design around them.” There are several different locations featured throughout this song, but all had to blend with camera movement to feel like one sequence. Whether it was an elaborate

Steadicam move or a coordinated Technocrane shot, the camera was always moving. “We even have a moment with Evan and Connor driving on a go-kart track for which we shot from an E-car with a Libra head,” Trost recalls. “Ben had to free-drive the cart while singing, and then on cue, Nik had to swerve into his cart from off screen, also while singing, and the timing had to be perfect! The final shot is a one-take crane move while Evan and Connor are dancing on a “Dance Dance Revolution” game. The environment here is an arcade, so we leaned into the practical elements from the game housings, and we used colorful and active lighting. We rigged SkyPanels S60s to the ceiling and cycled through a lot of saturated colors to keep the arcade playfulness alive throughout the scene.” The most impactful scene with multiple

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FOR A CLIMACTIC MUSIC-DRIVEN SCENE WITH PLATT IN THE FOREST, TROST SAYS “WE HAD TO KNOW THE MUSIC BEFOREHAND AND MEMORIZE THESE BEATS TO NOT MAKE ANY MISTAKES, SPECIFICALLY TO PRESERVE WHAT WE KNEW WOULD BE LIMITED TAKES.”

characters is “For Forever,” revealing how much a screen adaptation is often different from its stage original. Desperate for stories that will keep Connor alive, the Murphy family invites Evan to dinner, where he intends to finally tell them the truth. But things change as the conversation plays out around the dinner table. “It starts as a dramatic scene – a grieving family with a mother desperate for anything about her son. She won’t let go,” explains Marc Platt. “We turned the dining room into a stage,” adds Chbosky. “The concept was to start on one side of the table and end in a perfect mirror of the same. It’s how we show Evan has come to dinner to tell the truth, but ends up leaving clinging onto the lie.” Evan feels drawn to the parents’ pain and recalls an experience that happened to him, but now with elements of Connor. “It

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almost begins in dialog, with notes attached to the words,” recalls Platt. “It’s subtle and gentle, with Brandon allowing the camera to tell the story of a kid getting caught up in his imagination.” As Connor’s family is pulled into Evan’s musical retelling, Trost echoes the building music/action with camera movement. When Evan rises from the table and starts to move, Trost bathes the room in warmer tones, as the camera undergoes a subtle shift. “The change in lighting was motivated by Evan’s blocking,” Trost explains. “He moves from the dining room table, which was lit with a practical chandelier flanked by low-profile LiteMats hung flush to the ceiling, to a new position by the window, which adds a warmer window light tone to his face. We wanted to connect his real experience in the forest to this new fantasy that now includes Connor,

and the real trees we can see from within the dining room. I had hard ND6 gels mounted to the outside of every window in the house to help the exterior light always feel as if it were a little later in the day than it was to push for an afternoon/early evening light. “There’s a wonderful moment near the end of the scene when Evan is standing by the windows,” Trost continues. “In his fantasy, Evan is lying on the ground of the forest after a fall from the tree, only now Connor has come to help him up. We see Evan’s POV looking up at Connor, which was shot near sunset and has a golden edge. To connect this moment with reality, we catch Evan in extreme close-up imagining the moment. We were on a wider, 50-millimeter lens, but very close to his face, and wide open. While still in close-up, we boom down and reveal a bright lens flare added through the window with a narrow Jo-

Leko. The intention was for that same sunlight to come across Evan as he’s imagining the scene in the forest, to connect reality to the fantasy as we then see Evan and Connor walk off together toward the sunset. I thought this small detail connected the moment very well.” One of the most challenging scenes for the Guild camera team, and star Ben Platt, is a sequence showing Evan running through the woods – giving vent to his anxiety – that ends with him collapsing at the foot of a tree; the same tree he “fell” out of; only, in the true darkness of the story, we learn he threw himself out of the tree. “It’s where Evan confronts himself, retraces his steps, and deals with the lies we tell ourselves and other people – and what happens when the truth comes out,” Chbosky repeats.

It’s the emotional climax of the story, and Platt wanted to shoot the hero single first, knowing he could go as big as possible as the following scenes would not feature his voice as much “It’s an internal moment that has to play like a big crescendo,” Trost explains. “And that big feeling would largely come from Ben’s performance. The scene is set under a canopy of trees, and we decided to keep it simple – the only lighting is a distant bounce from two large HMI lights, some negative fill, and a flyswatter overhead, outside the canopy, to eliminate any light from dappling onto Ben.” The scene was shot from a crane to move with Platt wherever he went, adding small adjustments into each movement of the song as he sang. “We used the camera to blend different moments during the scene to create a feeling that flows with the song,” Trost adds. “Full shot to medium, then into a dramatic

close-up, with a quick drop to the ground when Ben hits the climactic note. We had to know the music beforehand and memorize these beats to not make any mistakes, specifically to preserve what we knew would be limited takes.” Trost says Platt’s performance in this scene is so strong, singing through tears in the middle of an emotional breakdown, “that our own anxieties were very high to get the shot right,” he smiles. “Thankfully, Chris and Lea nailed it every time. “Watching that performance live just took my breath away,” he concludes. “I’ve never shot anything like it. Right after Stephen called cut, there was a general silence as we’d wait to know from Ben that he was okay. The silence was broken by Sound Mixer Michael B. Koff, who said over a loud open Comtek, “Holy shit, this is gonna be a good movie.”

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A-CAMERA/STEADICAM OPERATOR CHRIS MCGUIRE (ABOVE) WAS KEY TO A SPECIFIC VISUAL STYLE THAT TROST SAYS, “FOLLOWED THE MOTION” OF THE ACTORS AND THE LIVEON-SET SINGING, “AS OPPOSED TO LEADING IT.”

LOCAL 600 CREW Director of Photography Brandon Trost A-Camera Operator/Steadicam Chris McGuire, SOC A-Camera 1st AC Donal Steinberg A-Camera 2nd AC Matthew Haskins B-Camera Operator Tom Lappin, SOC B-Camera 1st AC Josh Hancher B-Camera 2nd AC Zach Junquera DIT Nick Kay Loader Caroline Oelkers Utility Samantha Gardella Still Photographer Erika Doss

A NEW HOPE: THE PANDEMIC’S IMPACT IS STILL BEING FELT ON A VARIETY OF PIPELINES – PRODUCTION, SUPPLY, PARTS, ETC. BUT DEVELOPMENT/ INNOVATION HAS NEVER BEEN HIGHER. BY PAULINE ROGERS There was some qualified hope in the air when ICG Magazine released its 2020 Product Guide last August. Despite the world’s biggest trade shows – NAB and Cine Gear among them – going virtual, production had tentatively started to resume (under strict COVID-19 safety protocols). And the new products that would have been introduced at shows like NAB managed to show up on the magazine’s radar, with creative minds ready to put them to use. But all that hopeful energy became diffused as the sustained intensity of a global pandemic forced many manufacturers to close their doors. The upside was the time to re-focus on the design and development of new technology. But, with the global supply chain hammered by COVID-19, as well as the impact on digital chipmakers, the situation appears to have worsened. As Andrew Ng at Creative Solutions explains: “Manufacturers found themselves working around the clock trying to make a new product, but finding the suppliers and sources and getting them was a challenge. Then, if they worked, they would have to be validated. With sometimes secondary choices in parts, the failure rate goes up, and the supply chain breaks down, pushing the engineers.” That meant that a great new lens, light or camera in the design phase, would not get prototyped, tested, refined, or industry-ready if vendors could not get parts. All this made a significant impact on how to present ICG Magazine’s annual Product Guide, with the result of reaching out to vendors, users, and technical gurus to see what trends are guiding the production landscape circa late 2021.

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PRODUCT GUIDE

CAPTURE

Beginning with capture, our sources were all in agreement. Each iteration of sensor technology moves filmmakers closer to more options at everlower price points, and so-called “prosumer” or lower-end cameras can now supply nearly as many creative choices as their high-priced cousins. As Illya Friedman of Hot Rod Cameras describes: “The trend is smaller, lighter, with higher performance, like RED’s KOMODO. It’s a good camera – hot because of the incredible marketing arm of RED, true. But it’s in use everywhere. We are also seeing a lot of the Sony FX6, with more features like autofocus, which can be used in motion picture production. Smaller is more popular, with the Canon C70 (used on Grace and Frankie along with the Mark II) and the ARRI MINI LF.” Michael Bravin, Director of Canon Burbank, says smaller cameras are getting closer and closer to systems like ALEXA and RED MONSTRO. “The quality in these once-lower-priced cameras is going up,” he shares, “getting closer to more expensive systems. Think Sony FX3, Blackmagic 12K as a second-unit blend, with the Canon C70 and RED KOMODO giving the VENICE, ALEXA LS and MONSTRO a run for their money.” Sources agree that it’s possible to get 80 to 90 percent of the quality for sometimes 20 percent of the price. What makes the RED KOMODO so innovative? Introduced at the end of 2020, the 6K capture rig has a breakthrough global shutter sensor (27.3 × 14.26 mm) in a small 4-cu.-in. (101.6-mm) form and weighs only 2.1 pounds. That means users get 6K resolution at 40 fps, 6K WS at 50 fps and 4K at 60 fps. There is a phase-detect-based autofocus control on the integrated color LED touchscreen display that simplifies monitoring and menu navigation. Look for lens and support manufacturers going back to the drawing board to create KOMODO-specific tools. Another new system worth paying attention to is Canon’s XF605 4K UHD camcorder (releasing mid-October), which features a 1-in. sensor and record capabilities of 4K/60p/4.2 2/10-bit/HDR video to dual-onboard SD card slots. Equipped with Canon’s Dual Pixel CMOS AF1, the XF605 achieves high-speed and high accuracy focusing. It is the first of the XF-series models to include Eye Detection AF (autofocus) and improved face and head detection. The video transmission tool makes it ideal for broadcast journalists. Panasonic has also been busy, with three

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RED KOMODO

PRODUCT GUIDE

REHOUSING A MASTER’S LEGACY: HARRIS SAVIDES, ASC’S BALTAR LENSES

COURTESY OF WD STUDIOS

O C TOBER 2021

A piece of filmmaking history has found a home at Technological Cinevideo Services, Inc. (TCS) in New York. It is a unique set of Bausch & Lomb Baltar lenses owned and used by the late Clio-Award-winning Director of Photography Harris Savides, ASC. Known for pushing the envelope in images and technology on such modern classics as American Gangster, Zodiac and The Yards, among others, Savides also gravitated toward lenses that best represented a classic look. His “original” Baltar lenses were designed in the 1930s and used on the films Psycho and The Killing. The set of four lenses (25mm T2.8, 35mm T2.5, 50mm T2.8 and 100mm T2.5) created a unique look for many of Savides’ commercial, music video and fashion shoots. He would keep them with his personal 35mm Arriflex IIC cine camera and carry the package to the set. While many lenses from this time varied with manufacturing from lens to lens, the original Baltars displayed a consistent look from lens to lens. Uniquely, the 25mm and 50mm in this set are uncoated firstgeneration lenses from Bausch & Lomb, while the 35 mm and 100 mm have single-coated optics, just as all later Baltars were manufactured. All lenses have good sharpness and contrast, with the side lenses showing gentle fall-off. “My father was a technical and creative man,” says Savides’ daughter, Actress/Director/Writer Sophie Savides. “The Baltar lenses excited him because a foreign filmmaker he admired used them. He was also excited by the glass. It had a look that I guess he felt he couldn’t find elsewhere, and was something rare. He always intended to use them on just the right film but found they lent that different quality, especially in fashion work.” Recently, TCS co-owner Oliver Schietinger, who had a long and close relationship with Savides, approached Savides’ daughter with the idea of rehousing these unique lenses to make them available to today’s filmmakers. “My father loved working with this family-run business, and I’m grateful for Oliver’s vision,” Savides adds. “It was a natural fit.” Vintage lenses are part of TCS’ history. So, preserving a set of lenses like these for current and future generations was a passion project closely aligned with the company’s vision. Before announcing the availability of the Harris Savides Baltar lenses, the engineers at TCS had Zero Optik rehouse them to ensure they were usable for years to come. The modern rehousing gives each of the lenses a consistent 95-mm front diameter, expanded focus and iris scales, identical gear placement, bodies of aerospace aluminum and stainless-steel PL mounts. Word has spread about their availability; perhaps the most significant project to bring back the “original Baltar look” was Matthew Libatique, ASC’s choice for select shots in Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming film The Whale. “I haven’t mentioned that they are available at TCS that much, but whenever I do, everyone gets very excited; and I’ve noticed directors get very excited by the prospect of using them as well,” Savides adds. “I love that they are at TCS, and I think they will be there for a long time, allowing filmmakers to work with a piece of equipment that was so valued by my father. They get to carry on his legacy.”

PRODUCT GUIDE

PANASONIC BGH1

cameras/camcorders ready for production. Both the GH5M2 and the BGH1 are aimed at the ever-growing genre of live streaming; however, there’s another Panasonic on the block for professional shooters, the SlH, which features a newly designed 24.2-MP MOS sensor and 6K 10-bit video, including full-area 3:2 6K24p, C4K, and anamorphic modes. The Dual Native ISO offers very high sensitivity for low-light shoots while suppressing noise levels, allowing the camera to switch from a standard sensitivity to higher with almost no noise degradation.

Lenses are following camera trends, with lower-priced glass now able to capture at least 75 percent of the creative options of much more expensive glass. While perennial higher-end vendors, such as Leica, ARRI and Zeiss, are as popular as ever, often used for a specific look (think the Baltars in our sidebar), our research has come to an interesting conclusion: the most expensive are not always the most desirable. Asia-made glass and a lower-cost housing that fits the smaller cameras have each made inroads – like Tokina, which has designed a lens specifically for Blackmagic’s 8K Pocket Camera. We asked Local 600 Director of Photography Phil Holland, who recently completed an eight-camera shoot with RED KOMODO, what lenses he’s been eyeing. “There are many available and more coming,” Holland shares. “Vesper, Tokina 25-75, Fujinon MK, Canon C70, and Deio – which is close to Fujinon and gives me an interesting and different look. And, of course, Laowa’s 25-100 t2.9. I’m getting high-quality images at a price that fits the production.” President and Chief Executive of Band Pro, Amnon

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LENSES

SIGMA 150-600MM

Band, whose company is the exclusive distributor for Angénieux lenses in the Americas, says the shift to full-frame is the biggest trend in glass today. “Canon’s 25 to 250 is not full-frame but is bigger than Super 35mm when you engage the extender,” he offers. “Supreme Radiance is 12× full-frame, and every lens coming out of Sigma is now full-frame.” The company recently introduced a Type EZ series among the full array of Angénieux lenses available. These lenses fill the gap between basic still photography zooms and their high-end Optimo lenses. Two new lightweight zooms feature an innovative modular design that allows the rear lens group to be exchanged between S35mm and FF/VistaVision, giving ENG-style production the flexibility necessary for run-and-gun shooting, and also possibly the most affordable compact full-frame zoom on the market. Canon’s new 8K resolution zoom lens cements the company’s commitment to the future of ultra-high definition, especially in sports, live broadcasting, and documentary filmmaking. The fast f2.8 aperture – across the entire zoom range, which spans 16 mm at the wide end to 160mm at the telephoto end – has a zoom magnification of 10×. SIGMA is another vendor about to create a buzz with three new lenses. The 150-600mm F5-63 DG DN OS Sports lens is a highperformance telephoto zoom for full-frame

mirrorless camera systems and the first hypertelephoto from SIGMA’s Contemporary line. It is water and oil repellent with a coating on the front glass element that makes cleaning easier and is great for travel, nature and sports action shots. Just released are two new I-series fullframe mirrorless primes – the 24mm F2 DG DN I Contemporary and 90mm F2.8 DG DN I Contemporary. Offered for L-mount and Sony E-mount cameras, they feature metal barrels and lens hoods, manual aperture rings, and more. Another recently announced lens is the compact and lightweight LUMIX S 5.24mm f1.8, the third in the four S-series lenses. Designed with gimbal use in mind, the lens can suppress focus breathing and comes with micro-step aperture control for smooth exposure change. The sensor is similar in all of the S series, making it easy to exchange lenses quickly with minimum balance adjustment. Tokina is offering some camera-specific lens designs with its new 11-20mm F2.8 ATX-i lens for the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 8K Pro. It provides the look of a 20 or 24mm lens, with a Super 35 sensor you need for a wide-angle lens. The Tonika lens features the Canon EF mount, and, at 11mm, about 17.6mm at full frame, there is very little vignetting at f2.8. Another cool feature is that the zoom range and focus range are internal, which is an added plus when using remote tools like a gimbal.

LUMIX S-24MM F2 DG DN 1

PRODUCT GUIDE

NHK HITS GOLD WITH AN ALL-8K OLYMPIC BROADCAST

COURTESY OF ADOBE STOCK

O C TOBER 2021

NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, finally did what it set out to do: broadcast the 2020 Olympics (pushed to 2021 due to COVID-19) in 8K. Because NHK is a not-for-profit organization, it is bound to strict nondisclosure agreements, so such elements as strategic partnerships and even specific engineers and technology can’t be mentioned. However, NHK was happy to share steps taken toward creating a viable 8K broadcast where audiences are immersed in the project. It began with bu ilding a compatible ecosystem that included cameras, microphones, displays and more. According to the powers behind the project, the challenge was to align cameras, studios, editing rooms, a master control room, a modulator, broadcasting satellites and home receivers (demodulators). Everything had to correspond to 8K. On the broadcast side, it was to implement left-handed circularly polarized radio waves, so a parabolic antenna would be required to receive at home. (Since conventional satellite broadcasting in Japan uses only right-handed circularly polarized radio waves, it cannot be received by a traditional parabolic antenna.) This was the first Olympics since the NHK BS8K channels began full broadcast. In addition to broadcasting to individual viewers, NHK fed local stations and set up public viewing to gauge how audiences respond to 8K. Their assessment was positive – but limited. Live broadcasts of sports in 8K would allow them to fully deliver the large scope of the events and the dynamic motion of the athletes. For example, in broadcasts of team sports, individual players can be identified even when the camera is filming the entire field, making it easier for viewers to understand how the whole team is playing the match. When the camera is filming close-ups of players, details including their eye movements or perspiration can be captured clearly. NHK was sure that

home viewers would feel like they were watching the Olympics right at the venues. According to NHK, 8K is still in its early broadcast stages in Japan. In a recent story published by Chris Chinnock of the 8K Association, the United States leveraged the potential of 8K by broadcasting Japan’s feed, thanks to Intel and other partners. Chinnock notes that the HLS-formatted stream was 8K at 60 fps, 4:2:0, 10-bit, PQ HDR with HEVC encoding, with a bit rate that varied from 80 to 100 Mbps. This accomplishment is a big deal, proving that broadcast-grade 8K streaming is feasible today. Yes, these data rates are high but easily within reach of anyone with 500Mbps to 1-Gbps broadband service – capabilities that are available to many households already. This broadcast was viewed live and pre-recorded at Skirball Center for a select group of industry representatives. The consensus was that the images were sharp with detail – water droplets, uniform badges, programs and notes were all visible. So where are we with moving toward a global 8K standard? Like NHK, U.S. voices are excited about what the ultra-high-resolution format can do for viewing – particularly with live sports. But a gap has to be addressed – making the technology readily available for broadcasters and configuring whatever existing hardware is available to broadcast. And, of course, generating enough interest from end-users to invest their time, money and excitement into this new technology. One major broadcaster in Brazil, Globo, isn’t waiting. After a trial of this same content during the Olympics to its customer base, it is now turning on a regular 8K streaming option for those with 8K home displays. (You can see Chinnock’s next posting on 8kassociation.com on Brazil’s progress, a template for other countries and content producers.)

PRODUCT GUIDE

Lighting is one sector where there hasn’t been a lack of progress. Every company is turning out new LED lighting, embracing six- and even eightcolor technology. Our sources have a lot to say about what’s out there: popular BB&S for color performance, Rosco DMG for multi-color, and LitePanels aiming at news/ENG capture. Hive’s power levels are a plus. Both Quasar Science and Astera tubes are popular, depending on the price point. And slowly moving onto sets are Aladdin fabric lights. There was never going to be a lack of lighting vendors at the 2021 trade shows. Exhibitor lists and press releases were plentiful, but what’s new that can support future setups with a different workflow and offset control, as well as trends to ever-cooler, greener units? ROSCO recently introduced a brighter version of their X-Effects LED fixture. This creates dramatic effects like water, fire, aurora borealis and more, while the company’s MIXBOOK previsualization tool allows for preselection and long-distance collaboration between team members in preproduction. ROSCO’s MAXI MIX lights, which follow the trend of smaller and lighter, can be hung or controlled by fewer people, and from further away with a touch-free interface. Cush Lighting has expanded the gamut of cuttable Flex Sheets with a newer, brighter RGBTD Flex Sheet, which doubles the emitters from previous versions and a smaller cut section. They have also added a 5-color step with a 98+ TLCI rating. In addition, the sheet is 14 mm wide, so the contacts can easily be soldered. Nila’s new generation of Zaila lights will feature continuous-focus optics (a first for the company); full weatherproofing; brighter output; better color rendering; a durable, lightweight aluminum chassis and more. Their all-new Arina 400 doubles the output of the Boxer in a package that is just a little larger. Arina includes full weatherproofing, two times the Boxer light output, better color rendering, a lightweight aluminum chassis as well as a holographic film lensing system, and a built-in Chimera mount. Airstar’s Cinestar has come out with more of their balloon lighting, only this pancake-shaped light can be tripod anchored, with flexibility in mind. The fully-dimmable, easy-to-use, bi-color light features a low-profile body and extreme portability. The LED lighting pulls 850 W with a CRI of 95, weighs only 27 pounds, is flicker-free, and features a 120-degree diffusion angle. It outputs 3200K, 4400K and 5600K. Like many other companies impacted by the pandemic, FilmGear’s newest light has been delayed. When it comes to market in Q1 of 2022, look for a new and improved Power Beam. It’s Daylight up to 18 kW and tungsten up to 24 kW. The highly reflective parabolic glass mirror in the lamp head paired with an adjustable beam angle down to 0 degrees gives the light an incredible throw. Even from 328 feet, the 18 kW puts out 673 foot-candles while maintaining the beam’s 3-ft. diameter. The massive output is enough to imitate a sunlight source through foliage, with its soft edges giving a more natural look. Group them, and you

O C TOBER 2021

can fake the parallel shadows on the moon coming from the distant sun. What’s the elephant in the room when it comes to lighting? LED walls, of course. Everyone wants to dabble in virtual production, but the price point and technology are still not readily accessible. There’s a lot still to learn about LED walls, which is why we reserved that conversation for this month’s Refraction (page 24) with Paul Kobelja. His 20-plus years in the LED world speak a lot about where we were and where we are going.

LIGHTING

CUSH LIGHT FLEX SHEET PRODUCT GUIDE

GREG SMOKLER: MAN OFF A WIRE

COURTESY OF GREG SMOKLER / CREATIVE SOLUTIONS

O C TOBER 2021

Greg Smokler grew up playing in his father Peter Smokler’s documentary camera truck and schlepping cases on his dad’s film sets. For a while, he balanced a growing operating career with his interest in technology. Then, partnering with Local 600 DIT Dan Kanes, the two co-founded Paralinx, one of the original, affordable, viable wireless video solutions in the world of filmmaking. The company exploded in popularity and was acquired by the Vitec Group. Today he’s a vice president with Vitec’s Creative Solutions Cine Market Segment, responsible

is a custom-designed microprocessor designed and manufactured by Amimon for use only in Teradek devices. This technology uses an ingenious transmission scheme to send flawless video wirelessly over very long ranges with high signal integrity and, most importantly, incredibly low latency – less than one millisecond. What’s great about this technology is that it can be used without any special radio operating license, so anyone can legally operate it.

for Teradek, SmallHD and Wooden Camera. In February 2021, Smokler and Teradek won the coveted Sci-Tech Award.

so many different applications? One of the challenges we see on set today is that WiFi has become much more important and powerful with the “internet of things” reality we live in. Cameras, lighting and social media profiles need continuous WiFi, while other devices share the same frequency bandwidth. It is becoming a necessity on sets for departments and studios to coordinate their frequencies so that all the important systems can play nicely with each other.

What initially drove the need for wireless technology? Wireless technology has been around in the film industry for many years, but remote control of lenses and remote monitoring of Steadicam shots were probably the original key drivers. Before I was born, many clever technicians built wireless video and remote-control systems to solve the inevitable problem that the director would love to see a critical shot from a “wild” camera on a Steadicam or some special mounting deployment. What did Paralinx accomplish? Paralinx brought wireless video to the people. Then in neck-and-neck competition with Teradek, we made wireless video a necessity to every camera on every set. How is Teradek different? They both use the same core technology invented by Dr. Zvi Reznik and the team at Amimon, but our initial approach was different. Since Teradek was a high-tech engineering company led by such brilliant engineers as Nicol Verheem (CEO) and Dennis Scheftner (hardware designer), it delivered features that included the ability to apply a 3D LUT to the video signal. Paralinx was design-centric, which led to minimalistic approaches, such as Tomahawk. It was designed to “get out of your way,” which is an axiom about cameras that I think applies to all product design. What was the Amimon breakthrough? Amimon (now part of Teradek) has a unique and patented technology deployed in an application-specific integrated circuit. This

How has wireless technology adapted to

How did you bring your technology off set to post? During the pandemic, we worked with Larry Chernoff and his team at MTI to facilitate a remote 4K HDR color-review session for cinematographers. LA-based Local 600 DP Shana Hagan, ASC, used this system that allowed her to review realtime color sessions on an iPad that were being transmitted on a Teradek 4K encoder in Hollywood while at lunch on her set in Wilmington, North Carolina. What do you see as the next step in wireless? We are adding more connectivity on top of our wireless video signals, allowing for extended camera metadata to be captured and transmitted and cameras to be controlled remotely by a camera assistant or DIT. Rich metadata is important as camerato-cloud workflows become ubiquitous on many productions, and instant proxy files require additional metadata so remote collaborators can understand what is going on in the clip they have just received. Remote camera control is a new feature we have always wanted to include in our Bolt systems, and now it has been added in integration with SmallHD touchscreen monitors.

PRODUCT GUIDE

As Kenny can attest, the wide variety of SmallHD products used in every area of production has been enhanced by a new reference-grade 22in. 4K OLED, a hot-ticket item for DIT’s, DP’s, and colorists alike. It has virtually no image degradation at any viewing angle and provides a real-time image as vivid and pristine as a final output, whether on set or in post. The unit’s hardware design is built around the Small4K Video Processing Architecture, which provides input/output options with eight 12GSDI and two HDMI 2.0 ports, all of which enable 4K signal processing. A bonus is the unit’s light weight (with removable handle and feet), allowing for onthe-go remote access of the highest quality. As for on-camera monitors, Lilliput’s 7-inch HDMI 2×12G-SDI offers 2000-nit ultra-bright LCD’s designed for outdoor video and film shooting. The monitor has 1920×1200 Full HD native resolution, and 1200:1 high contrast supports 4K HDMI and 12G-SDI signal inputs and loop outputs. It’s possible to receive 2× 12G-SDI signals and display them at the same time through the picture-inpicture function. It also features HDMI signals up to 4K 60Hz, which is compatible with the latest DSLR cameras with HDMI 2.0 interface. A new name in the market is Portkeys, whose products are marketed as a companion with new smaller cameras. The BM5WR has been paired frequently with the RED KOMODO. Its full wireless setup and control and 2200-nit high brightness features a compact touchscreen. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Sony’s always popular 4K HDR Professional Monitor, which reveals image detail with the accuracy and integrity necessary for high-end production pressures. Sony’s flagship is the BVM-HX310 31-inch TRIMASTER HX for on-set, studio, or postproduction, including grading and CG. The PVM-X3200 32-inch TRIMASTER high-grade picture monitor incorporates a Sony-specific premium LCD panel for 100 cd/m2 luminance and color matching with the H310 master monitor, making group monitoring easy for on-set, studio

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and truck applications. The company’s PVM-X2400 24-inch is truly portable while matching the HX310 to ensure consistent color from preproduction to post. Rounding out Sony’s display family is the PVMX1800 18-inch, which gives every crewmember and post team access to the same 4K HDR image with 1,000 cd/m2 luminance, matching the BVM-HX310. ASUS has concentrated its efforts on a new editing monitor for photographers, video editors, game designers and other content creators. The ASUS Display PA32UCG-K 4K HDR IPS miniature professional monitor features a 3840×2160 4K high-resolution screen and supports 99 percent DCI-F3, 99.5 percent Adobe RGB, 100 percent sRGB, 100 percent Rec. 709, and 85 percent Rec 2020 color specifics for color-critical work. The cool ergonomic design allows for adaptation to the user’s specific needs: tilt, swivel, pivot movements and height adjustments. It boasts multiple HDR formats (Dolby Vision, HDR-10 and HLG). One final note: our sources say exercise caution when using Apple iPad Pros as monitors. No doubt they are superb for director playback, chief lighting technicians’ tweaking of remote lighting, and viewing dailies or images from afar. But when it comes to heavy lifting, there are a few problems not often publicized: forcing the iPad Pro to stay awake the whole time and processing video, for which they generally don’t have the stamina. They are great for checking dailies or conversations between departments and colorists. As with LED walls, thorough research trumps backing oneself into a corner, and finding that sustainable high quality (never mind the cost) trumps the fun of Apple’s newest toy.

DISPLAY

Display trends this year continue to emphasize 4K HDR capture as well as a return in confidence with OLED. Productions feature everything from an Apple iPad Pro to the high-end Flanders, with TVLogic and SmallHD also having a strong market presence. Popular units include Canon DP-V 2421, DP-V 3120, Sony X2400, A9G 55-inch, EIZO CG3146, Panasonic FZ1000-inch, LG CX-inch, and Vizio OLED 55-inch. Also new are display units geared toward streaming production. On the Emmy-nominated drama SWAT, now in its fifth season, Director of Photography Francis Kenny, ASC, employs a variety of monitors, depending on the application. “We have five 17-inch SmallHD monitors, two 24-inch Sony monitors, two 7-inch SmallHD monitors, and three 7-inch older SmallHD monitors,” Kenny explains. “The SmallHD 1303s are used for focus; the SmallHD 17-inch is used for script; the Sony 24-inch is for iris and the director. The SmallHD 703s are also used for focus – if needed – and in the back seat of the ‘blind drive’ vehicle. I would love to try the SmallHD monitors that have a touchscreen control for the KOMODO.”

SMALL HD OLED 22 PRODUCT GUIDE

JEFF MURRELL AND THE ICLS Jeff Murrell’s career trajectory began with his working as a grip, a best boy electric and an electrician on films like Captain Ron, True Lies, and The Indian Runner, Men in Black I and II marked the start of his involvement in franchises. In 2016 he worked on Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War as well as Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War, Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw and The Tomorrow Wars. Murrell just finished the live-action version of the animated series Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers. During the pandemic, he became involved with a group of chief lighting

where once LED’s were not that effective to where they are now the only realistic choice. Moving lights have also joined the LED engine world, offering the ability to colormix, adjust output and program a light to do any movement remotely. That’s created innumerable possibilities and is an exciting manipulation of our lighting designs.

technicians, led by Mike Bauman, who shared thoughts about lighting during the lockdown and soon developed into an association called the International Cinema Lighting Society (ICLS).

rendering. This is also a wireless datacontrolled unit that’s great for speedy operations.

How has ICLS evolved? It has grown into discussing new products, new methodologies and the pros and cons of our on-set experiences. We meet every week via Zoom, on Saturdays, where we discuss our challenges and listen to presentations by vendors. There is also an app called Discord, on which gaffers can post specific applications that each of us has implemented on set. This platform has allowed worldwide communication of the film industry’s lighting world to come together and share information. What is the biggest change impacting lighting today? The ability to manipulate color through programming on set. The many different LED products now available in our toolbox, for the most part, can match very closely to each other. Certain products claim better color rendering through the mixing of various chip configurations, but through X and Y matching with an LED color temp/meter, you can accurately balance them all together. What do you see as lighting challenges for the future? It’s all becoming more exciting due to the advancement of the LED output. The technologies allow more substitutions –

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Which lights do you see changing how chief lighting technicians work? The Creamsource Vortex8 is an LED product that is becoming very popular due to its effectiveness in high-speed lighting situations and its overall output and color

What are you consistently seeing on sets today? Enough can’t be said for the ARRI products that are so readily available industry-wide. The S30, 60, 120 and 360 and all the L-Series units are found on almost every movie set across the globe. The availability of the S60s for use in overhead light boxes, in quantities that sometimes eclipse 500 or more, has been a great approach in many lighting designs. ETC has provided a great product in the LED world with its Source Four units known as Lustrs. The sharp cuts we are all accustomed to applying to a Source Four are now full-spectrum and dimming with the Lustr. Another exciting product that has become a staple on many sets is the Astera tubes. These full-spectrum programmable LED tubes come in 2-, 4-, and 8-foot sizes and have changed our fixture world immeasurably. What used to be a fluorescent tube is now an easily rigged Astera Titan tube in its place, with full manipulation. . Where is lighting heading? The progression of all formats of our industry speaks to an exciting future, with change and challenge being present on an almost daily basis. The next time you come across an update on what’s happening in our industry from a lighting standpoint, I’m sure there will be many new things to report.

COURTESY OF JEFF MURRELL

PRODUCT GUIDE

Support is the least innovative category this year. But the trends say a lot about where the industry is with pandemic protocols and an unbelievable amount of production eating up not only the crew but also equipment. As a result, suppliers are overwhelmed. Matthews Studio Equipment (MSE) was caught in the broken pipeline. But they’ve been busy developing new tools, such as their soon-to-be available Air Climber, which positions a light or camera up to 25 feet in the air. “There’s a lot of new and interesting support in development across the board,” shares MSE President and CEO Tyler Phillips, “but one trend to watch is the resurrection of things like reflectors and different fabrics that we’ve used for decades. It makes sense. Over the past few months, our showroom has been flooded with camera team members anxious to get back into production. The issue is the need to learn the tools available, because there is so much work, grips are stretched to the max.” Heretofore, such companies as Wooden Camera, iKan and Tilta have been busy making their new tools lighting and camera agnostic. Tilta recently released Hydra Predator, which will provide a more flexible package for car-mounting camera and gimbal systems via speed rail, as well as more accurate control and ease of use with tools such as the DJI RS2. A new remotely controlled camera dolly from Opertec provides a different movement on a rail pattern, with the ability of sinking and lifting a stabilized panoramic head. Its design focuses on improved safety and an electronic monitoring system on the track. Because it’s been designed to allow for high speeds, it’s a new support for both sports and cinema, at long or short distances. Something on our radar for a while, but officially delayed due to the pandemic’s impact on the manufacturing pipeline and production, is Sony’s Airpeak S1 drone. When available, it will be the smallest drone that can carry a full-frame Sony Alpha series mirrorless camera. Capable of achieving speeds up to 55.9 mph, maximum angular velocity of 180 degrees, and attitude angle up to 55 degrees, the ARS-S1 will fly up to 22 minutes without a payload and be stable in winds up to 44.7 mph. It will have a retractable landing gear for unobstructed camera field-of-view and detachable propellers. Sony has developed stereo cameras and vision sensing processors with the original algorithm for real-time 3D awareness for the ARS-S2.

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WORKFLOW

WOODEN CAMERA ULTRA QR

Regarding workflow, the most obvious trend is that the pandemic created cloud-based solutions. Or did it? Remote workflows had been making advances before COVID-19, but the virus sped up and refined the state of “safe production.” The pandemic also made way for some “new kids” on the block. Frame.io is a major player, but Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services cloud workflows have also made huge strides in the market. As Frame.io Senior Vice President Michael Cioni describes: “All media workflows are becoming cloudbased, and it isn’t just because of COVID. It’s a natural progression as the last few decades of home viewing have demonstrated a transition from local to cloud consumption. First, there was VHS physical media, and then came increased image fidelity with laser discs, DVD’s, and Blu-ray.” Cioni notes that “next came video on demand through TiVo, and cable boxes expanded the ability to time-shift content consumption. Most recently, Netflix and other cloud-streaming apps delivered even more image fidelity – 4K, HDR – and time-shifting (bingewatching) while adding clever UI to search across the large libraries and consider powerful recommendation algorithms. A similar transition to the cloud is in effect in production and postproduction, allowing workflows to accomplish more because they are not constrained by local storage or hardware.” As COVID safety protocols became the norm, Frame.io usage soared because productions could rely on camera-to-cloud technology, leveraging LTE cell connection to deliver assets to any approved personnel seconds after a shot had been recorded. (The company was recently purchased by Adobe for $1.275 billion.) Frame.io has become more sophisticated for highend productions, now handling ProRes files in 4K HDR that include surround sound. “Remote workflows were possible before the pandemic, but they’re better and here to stay because that crisis pushed the industry to rapidly adapt to new ways of working, leveraging the many solutions that technology companies had already developed,” adds Cioni.

One of the few remote workflow challenges is getting quality imagery sent all around the world reliably. “Even around the state,” explains Goldcrest Post Managing Director Domenic Rom. “We have Clearview software to manage remote operations and Amulet Hotkey to keep our data secure, but in terms of pushing that data for clear review, VFX, remote color, and other tasks, we’re at the mercy of another tool – the cable company and available bandwidth. Moving data around Manhattan is a challenge, especially for major shows with a lot of images. At this time, we have four editors located at four different facilities. Brooklyn is a tougher environment than Pennsylvania for remote transfer. Working off-site is where the industry is going, but remote adds time – upload, download, client review and notes.” There’s also a new on-premises/remote hybrid. MTI Film in Hollywood is one brick-and-mortar vendor anxious to return to semi-normal, expanding its facility with an AVID Datacenter with more than 100 AVID workstations, using 20 Nexis SAN volumes. Editors and assistants have monitoring and thin-client hardware to work on at home. For mainstream episodic postproduction, to facilitate remote client viewing of online and color sessions, MTI is using a streaming technology known as Teradek Core. As MTI CEO Larry Chernoff explains: “We worked with Teradek on their Prism encoding and Core distribution technologies to develop an iPad app that allows the colorist to set up the iPad using standard ACES color values that match the mastering monitor in the facility. It’s a faithful reproduction of colorimetry and satisfies SDR and HDR requirements. It’s fully encrypted via a secure line and gives everyone confidence their images are safe.” As for burgeoning cloud workflows, there are elements still to be considered. The trend of sharing heavy data around the world, or around town, is here to stay. But to make that a viable solution, workflows need to consider cost, time and effort, so users are not at the mercy of one path – the cable company or telecom.

PRODUCT GUIDE

PRODUCTION CREDITS 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 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 100

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First Man / Photo by Daniel McFadden

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20TH CENTURY FOX “911” SEASON 5

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JOAQUIN SEDILLO, ASC OPERATORS: RICH STEVENS, DUANE MIELIWOCKI, SOC, DALE VANCE, JR, SOC ASSISTANTS: KENNETH LITTLE JR, CLAUDIO BANKS, ERIC GUERIN, STEPHEN FRANKLIN, MELVINA M. RAPOZO, JIHANE MRAD STEADICAM OPERATOR: DALE VANCE, JR, SOC STEADICAM ASSISTANT: MELVINA M. RAPOZO CAMERA UTILITY: PAULINA GOMEZ DIGITAL UTILITY: DUSTIN LEBOEUF

“AMERICAN HORROR STORY #B” SEASON 10 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ANDREW MITCHELL OPERATORS: CHRISTOPHER HOOD, BRIAN BERNSTEIN, MICHAEL VEJAR ASSISTANTS: PENNY SPRAGUE, SAMUEL BUTT, RYAN PILON, BEN PERRY, NATHAN LEWIS, GARY JOHNSON CAMERA UTILITY: BRANDON GUTIERREZ DIGITAL UTILITY: LAURA SPOUTZ UNDERWATER UNIT OPERATOR: DAVID WILLIAM MCDONALD ASSISTANT: SACHA RIVIERE

9/17/21 4:40 PM

“HOW I MET YOUR FATHER” SEASON 1 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: GARY BAUM, ASC OPERATORS: JAMIE HITCHCOCK, DEBORAH O’BRIEN, DAMIAN DELLA SANTINA, ALLEN MERRIWEATHER ASSISTANTS: BRADLEY TRAVER, MARK JOHNSON, ADAN TORRES CAMERA UTILITY: DAN LORENZE LOADER: KIERSTEN DIRKES DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: DEREK LANTZ VIDEO CONTROLLER: JOHN O’BRIEN

“THE DROPOUT” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: MICHELLE LAWLER OPERATORS: KENNY NIERNBERG, SHELLY GURZI ASSISTANTS: MELISSA FISHER, SHARLA CIPICCHIO, NICK CUTWAY, JOHN RONEY, ANDY KENNEDY-DERKAY STEADICAM OPERATOR: KENNY NIERNBERG DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: PETER BRUNET DIGITAL UTILITY: DANA FYTELSON, DUSTIN MCWETHY STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: BETH DUBBER

“THE BIG LEAP” SEASON 1 DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TIM GILLIS, EDUARDO MAYEN OPERTAORS: JUSTIN BROWNE, SHERRI KAUK, MADELYN MOMANO ASSISTANTS: EVAN WILHELM, MATTHEW TAYLOR, JASON BONNER, RON RUANPHAE, ALAN DEMBEK, JOSHUA SMITH STEADICAM OPERATOR: JUSTIN BROWNE

UTILITY: NATE MITTELBRUN SHOW CAM OPERATOR: DARRYL MILLER ASSISTANT: RACHEL DONOFRIE UTILITY: PATTI NOONAN STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: JEAN WHITESIDE

“THE ORVILLE” SEASON 3 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JEFF C. MYGATT OPERATORS: BILL BRUMMOND, GARY TACHELL, MICHAEL SHARP ASSISTANTS: DENNIS SEAWRIGHT, STEVEN MAGRATH, BUTCH PIERSON, DALE WHITE, DUSTIN KELLER, KYLE SAUER STEADICAM OPERATOR: BILL BRUMMOND STEADICAM ASSISTANT: DENNIS SEAWRIGHT LOADER: BROOKE MAGRATH DIGITAL UTILITY: JORDAN SCHUSTER REMOTE HEAD TECH/OPERATOR: DUSTIN KELLER

ABC SIGNATURE, LLC “QUEENS” SEASON 1

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: SIDNEY SIDELL, ASC, FERNANDO REYES-ALLENDES, AMC OPERATORS: RAMON ENGLE, BODIE ORMAN ASSISTANTS: MARY STANKIEWICZ, JASON LANCOUR, VIOLET JACKSON, SHERRY DAY, RACHEL WALDON STEADICAM OPERATOR: RAMON ENGLE STEADICAM ASSISTANT: MARY STANKIEWICZ DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: QAIS KARADSHEH LOADER: PATRICK LEONARD

OCTOBER 2021 PRODUCTION CREDITS

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ABC STUDIOS

“DOLLFACE” SEASON 2 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ANDY RYDZEWSKI OPERATOR: DANIEL FRITZ ASSISTANTS: BRYANT MARCONTEL, MELISSE SPORN, MARK QUINTOS, RAMONE DAVIS LOADER: MILANA BURDETTE DIGITAL UTILITY: TRAVIS FRANCIS

“JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!” SEASON 18 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

“OLGA DIES DREAMING” PILOT DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: OLIVER MILLAR OPERATORS: DAVID ISERN, MICHELLE MARRION ASSISTANTS: CHRISTOPHER WIEZOREK, CHRISTOPHER GLEATON, ADAM DEREZENDES, ZAKIYA LUCAS-MURRAY LOADER: DANIEL BROWN STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: VANESSA CLIFTON

“STATION 19” SEASON 5 DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DARYN OKADA, ASC, JAYSON CROTHERS OPERATORS: RON SCHLAEGER, SOC, MARIANA ANTUÑANO, SOC, BRIAN GARBELLINI ASSISTANTS: TONY SCHULTZ, GEORGE MONTEJANO, III, WILLIAM MARTI, DUSTIN FRUGE, GREG WILLIAMS, VANESSA MOOREHOUSE STEADICAM OPERATOR: RON SCHLAEGER, SOC STEADICAM ASSISTANT: TONY SCHULTZ DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: ANDREW LEMON UTILITIES: GRANT JOHNSON, BELLA RODRIGUEZ SPLINTER UNIT DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BRIAN GARBELLINI

APPLE STUDIOS, LLC “CHILI”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KRAMER MORGENTHAU, ASC OPERATORS: MICHAEL FUCHS, SOC, JOHN GARRETT ASSISTANTS: CRAIG PRESSGROVE, DANIEL MASON, HOLLY MCCARTHY, DEAN EGAN CAMERA UTILITY: MCKENZIE RAYCROFT DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: KYO MOON LOADER: MATTIE HAMER STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: CLAIRE FOLGER

“RAYMOND AND RAY” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: IGOR JADUE-LILO OPERATORS: WILL ARNOT, MAX FISHER ASSISTANTS: LIZ SILVER, SEAN SUTPHIN,

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OCTOBER 2021 PRODUCTION CREDITS

ERIC EATON, CALEB PLUTZER STEADICAM OPERATOR: WILL ARNOT DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JOHN-MICHAEL SENG-WHEELER LOADER: DREW STORCKS DIGITAL UTILITY: PATRICK JOHNSON

“RIPPLE EFFECTS” SEASON 1 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ROBERT MCLACHLAN OPERATOR: SPENCER GILLIS ASSISTANTS: PAUL DEMARTE, EMILY LAZLO DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: FILIP DVORAK LOADER: JJ LITTLEFIELD DIGITAL UTILITY: TREVOR SNYDER

A VERY GOOD PRODUCTION, INC. & WAD PRODUCTIONS

“THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW” SEASON 19 LIGHTING DIRECTOR: TOM BECK PED OPERATORS: DAVID WEEKS, PAUL WILEMAN, TIM O’NEILL HANDHELD OPERATOR: CHIP FRASER JIB OPERATOR: DAVID RHEA STEADICAM OPERATOR: DONOVAN GILBUENA VIDEO CONTROLLER: JAMES MORAN HEAD UTILITY: CRAIG “ZZO” MARAZZO UTILITIES: ARLO GILBUENA, WALLY LANCASTER, DIEGO AVALOS

BACK STREET PRODUCTIONS, LLC

BLUE CAT PRODUCTIONS, LLC “OZARK” SEASON 4

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: SHAWN KIM, ERIC KORETZ OPERATORS: ARI ISSLER, DAVE CHAMEIDES ASSISTANTS: LIAM SINNOTT, KATE ROBERSON, CRISTIAN TROVA, MICHAEL FISHER STEADICAM OPERATOR: DAVE CHAMEIDES STEADICAM ASSISTANT: LIAM SINNOTT CAMERA UTILITY: WALKER MARKEY LOADER: TAYLOR SEAMAN

BONANZA

“KINDRED” PILOT DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ADAM NEWPORT-BERRA OPERTORS: BEN VERHULST, JANINE SIDES ASSISTANTS: LUCAS DEANS, SETH PESCHANSKY, JOSEPH SORIA, HARRY HENG DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JUSTIN STEPTOE LOADER: DEWAYNE WILLIAMS, JR. CAMERA UTILITY: EDSON REYES STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: TINA THORPE, RON JAFFE

CBS

“BULL” SEASON 6 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN ARONSON OPERATORS: ELI ARONOFF, ROMAN LUKIW ASSISTANTS: SOREN NASH, MICHAEL LOBB, TREVOR WOLFSON, NIALANEY RODRIGUEZ LOADERS: IVANA BERNAL, JONATHAN FARMER

“HUSTLE”

“CSI: VEGAS” SEASON 1

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ZAK MULLIGAN, TIM SESSLER OPERATORS: STEW CANTRELL, ARTHUR AFRICANO, CHRIS ARAN ASSISTANTS: TROY DOBBERTIN, TSYEN SHEN, MIKE TOLAND, EVE STRICKMAN, ALEC FREUND, JAMES MCCANN DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: THOMAS WONG LOADER: MADELIEINE KING, RYAN KING STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: SCOTT YAMANO

“ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT” SEASON 40 LIGHTING

BEACHWOOD SERVICES

“DAYS OF OUR LIVES” SEASON 57 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 BEACH, LLC “JULE”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRISTOPHER NORR OPERATORS: AL PIERCE, CHRIS REYNOLDS ASSISTANTS: JAMES SCHLITTENHART, JOHNNY SOUSA, BRENDAN RUSSELL STEADICAM OPERATOR: DAVID TAICHER DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: PETER SYMONOWICZ LOADER: EVA BREEN STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: LINDA KALLERUS

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TOM CAMARDA OPERATORS: KENNY BROWN, NICK FRANCO ASSISTANTS: SIMON JARVIS, CLAIRE STONE, CHRIS MACK, TIM SHERIDAN DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: GREG GABRIO CAMERA UTILITY: TYLER ERNST DIGITAL UTILITY: MORGAN KEANE STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: RON JAFFE

DESIGNER: DARREN LANGER DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KURT BRAUN OPERATORS: JAMES B. PATRICK, ALLEN VOSS, ED SARTORI, HENRY ZINMAN, BOB CAMPI, RODNEY MCMAHON, ANTHONY SALERNO JIB OPERATOR: JAIMIE CANTRELL CAMERA UTILITY: TERRY AHERN VIDEO CONTROLLERS: MIKE DOYLE, PETER STENDAL

“THE 4400” SEASON 1 DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRISTOPHER BAFFA, ASC, SCOTT THIELE OPERATORS: BLAINE BAKER, STEPHANIE DUFFORD ASSISTANTS: CORY SOLON, JOHN WATERMAN, ELLA LUBIENSKI, DILLON BORHAM STEADICAM OPERATOR: BLAINE BAKER DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: RYAN SHUCK LOADER: RINKESH PATEL DIGITAL UTILITY: NIHAL DANTLURI

“SEAL TEAM” SEASON 5 DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: J. MICHAEL MURO, ERIC LEACH OPERATORS: NATHAN STERN, JOREL O’DELL ASSISTANTS: ROGER SPAIN, PAUL TOOMEY, SCOTT O’NEIL, NOAH MURO STEADICAM OPERATOR: NATHAN STERN DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: RAUL RIVEROS LOADER: KALIA PRESCOTT STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: RON JAFFE

“THE TALK” SEASON 11 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

CALLING GRACE PRODUCTIONS, LLC “WHITE HOUSE PLUMBERS”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: STEVEN MEIZLER OPERATOR: STEPHEN CONSENTINO ASSISTANTS: CHRIS SILANO, GRAHAM BURT, TROY SOLA, MARVIN LEE LOADER: BRITTANY JELINSKI STILL PHOTOGRPAHER: PHIL CARUSO

CHARLESTOWN PRODUCTIONS, INC. “SALEM’S LOT”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DON BURGESS, ASC OPERATOR: CRAIG BAUER ASSISTANTS: TIMOTHY METIVIER, CHRISTIAN HOLLYER, JOHN MCCARTHY, MICHAEL CAHOON DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MARK GILMER LOADER: REBECCA LIGI HEAD TECH: ZACHARY JUNQUERA CRANE TECH: STEPHEN DRINON STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: JUSTIN LUBIN PUBLICIST: JAMES FERRERA

CMS PRODUCTIONS “OUT OF THE BLUE”

OPERATOR: M.D. EGAN ASSISTANTS: ADAM GONZALEZ, FELIX GIUFFRIDA, AUDREY STEVENS, DAN MERRILL, SIERRA COSSINGHAM STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: ROBERT CLARK

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“PAST LIVES” OPERATOR: DOUG DURANT ASSISTANTS: KALI RILEY, JOEL ADAM RUSSELL LOADER: NAIMA NOGUERA STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: JON PACK

“SHARPER AKA WOOHOO” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHARLOTTE BRUUS CHRISTENSEN OPERATOR: PETER AGLIATA ASSISTANTS: AURELIA WINBORN, BASIL SMITH LIZ HEDGES, TONI SHEPPARD LOADER: ANDREA ROMANSKY STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: ALISON COHEN ROSA PUBLICIST: AMY JOHNSON

COOLER WATERS PRODUCTIONS, LLC

“TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE” SEASON 1 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER MENZIES OPERATORS: GEORGE BIANCHINI, HEATHER NORTON ASSISTANTS: ROBERT MANCUSO, OLGA ABRAMSON, JUSTIN MANCUSO, ANJELA COVIAUX LOADERS: TYLER MANCUSO, CHRIS MENDEZ STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: BARBARA NITKE

DFAD

“DEAD FOR A DOLLAR”

CHERNIN ENTERTAINMENT “P-VALLEY” SEASON 2

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD VIALET, ASC, MADELINE KATE KANN OPERATORS: XAVIER THOMPSON, CHRIS FREILICH ASSISTANTS: ALAN NEWCOMB, CALLIE MOORE, BRIAN DECROCE, NUBIA RAHIM DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: CHRIS RATLEDGE LOADER: ERIN STRICKLAND UTILITY: CHANDRA SUDTELGTE

CHOICE FILM PRODUCTION “ONE DECEMBER NIGHT”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KRISTOFFER CARRILLO OPERATORS: CAMERON MITCHELL, NEAL TEN EYCK ASSISTANTS: BRYANT BAILEY, MATTHEW LYNCH, ALEJANDRO LAZARE, COURTNEY DENK DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: VINCENT CARNEVALE

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: LLOYD AHERN, ASC OPERATORS: BRIAN TAYLOR, RALPH WATSON, NICK SHUSTER, ERICK CASTILLO ASSISTANTS: DAN BAAS, NICK BIANCHI, TOM HUTCHINSON, ROYCE LEII CARREON, MATT BERBANO, STEVE WORONKO STEADICAM OPERATOR: RALPH WATSON STEADICAM ASSISTANT: NICK BIANCHI DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: ETHAN PHILLIPS

EYE PRODUCTIONS, INC. “BLUE BLOODS” SEASON 12

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DONALD THORIN OPERATORS: JIM MCCONKEY, GEOFFREY FROST ASSISTANTS: NICHOLAS DEEG, MARTIN PETERSON, KENNETH MARTELL, JONATHAN SCHAEFER LOADER: DEVERAUX ELMES

Los Angeles | Atlanta www.RFFILM.com Noodles 818-406-7102

“WALKER” SEASON 1 DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER B. KOWALSKI, IAN ELLIS OPERATORS: TIM BEAVERS, PK MUNSON, ROB MCGRATH ASSISTANTS: ROBERT RENDON, KELLY BOGDAN, THEDA CUNNINGHAM, RIGNEY SACKLEY, JACK LEWANDOWSKI, LESLIE FRID STEADICAM OPERATOR: TIM BEAVERS STEADICAM ASSISTANT: ROBERT RENDON LOADER: BRENDA SZWEJBKA DIGITAL UTILITY: EMILY BROWN, DUSTIN MILLER REMOTE HEAD TECH/OPERATOR: CHRIS SMITH STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: REBECCA BRENNEMAN

FIREFIGHT PRODUCTIONS, LLC “THE GRAY MAN”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: STEPHEN WINDON OPERATORS: GEOFF HALEY, MAURICE MCGUIRE ASSISTANTS: TAYLOR MATHESON, JEFF LORENZ, ALEXANDRA MATHESON, JERRY PATTON STEADICAM OPERATOR: GEOFF HALEY DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: CHRIS CAVANAUGH LOADER: ALEXANDRA COYLE DIGITAL UTILITY: MARSHALL HENDERSHOT PUBLICIST: NICOLA GRAYDON HARRIS EPK: SEAN RICIGLIANO

OCTOBER 2021 PRODUCTION CREDITS

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2ND UNIT DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: GREG BALDI ASSISTANTS: TULIO DUENAS, KEVIN SUN DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: NATE KALUSHNER LOADER: CRISS DAVIS

FUQUA FILMS

“THE RESIDENT” SEASON 5 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JULES LABARTHE OPERATORS: LAWRENCE KARMAN, ANDY FISHER, JESSICA HERSHATTER, JUSTIN DEGUIRE, JENNIFER RANKINE, TAYLOR CASE, CAMERON SCHWARTZ, GRACE CHAMBERS LOADER: TREY VOLPE DIGITAL UTILITY: ALEX GALVEZ STEADICAM OPERTOR: LAWRENCE KARMAN STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: GUY D’ALEMA

GIMME DAT MONEY, LLC “DESUS & MERO” SEASON 3

OPERATORS: DANIEL CARP, KATHLEEN HARRIS, MARK SPARROUGH ASSISTANT: PETER STAUBS CAMERA UTILITY: JONATHAN SCHAMANN

GRACE & FRANKIE PRODUCTIONS, LLC “GRACE & FRANKIE” SEASON 7

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: GALE TATTERSALL OPERATORS: JAY HERRON, TONY GUTIERREZ ASSISTANTS: MICHAEL ENDLER, MARK REILLY, NAOMI VILLANUEVA, RUDY PAHOYO, RENEE TREYBALL LOADER: NICOLA CARUSO

INDY ENTERTAINMENT “INDY ENTERTAINMENT”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: MOTT HUPFEL OPERATOR: SANDY HAYS ASSISTANTS: KINGSLEA BUELTEL, DAN BAAS, JANNIS SCHELENZ, ROYCE LELI STEADICAM OPERATOR: SANDY HAYS DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: LISA KONECNY DIGITAL UTILITY: NATHANIEL MARTINEZ STILL POTOGRAPHER: MIKE MORIARTIS

IRNWORKS PRODUCTIONS, INC. “BRAVE THE DARK”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JULIO MACAT, ASC ASSISTANTS: MAX MACAT, DEB PETERSON, DAVID TAYLOR DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: GRAHAM MASON LOADER: WILLIE CHING

JAX MEDIA, LLC

“PARTNER TRACK” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TOBIAS DATUM OPERATORS: REBECCA ARNDT, PATRICK MORGAN ASSISTANTS: STEPHEN KOZLOWSKI, HAFFE ACOSTA, MIKE SWEARINGEN, MARIA GONZALES

KANAN PRODUCTIONS, INC. “RAISING KANAN” SEASON 2

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: FRANCIS SPIELDENNER,

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OCTOBER 2021 PRODUCTION CREDITS

EDWARD PEI OPERATORS: PYARE FORTUNATO, GREG FINKEL ASSISTANTS: MARK FERGUSON, SUREN KARAPETYAN, TRICIA MEARS, KEITH ANDERSON DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: HUNTER FAIRSTONE LOADERS: HOLDEN HLINOMAZ, KATI PEREZ STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: CARA HOWE

LARRY’S DINER, INC.

“LARRY’S DINER” SEASON 1 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JODY LEE LIPES OPERATORS: SAM ELLISON, REBECCA RAJADNYA ASSISTANTS: ZACH RUBIN, FILIPP PENSON, TANEICE MCFADDEN, SANCHEEV RAVICHANDRAN DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: ANTHONY HECHANOVA LOADER: MICHAEL POMORSKI HEAD TECH: DEXTER KENNEDY STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: NIKO TAVERNISE

LEGENDARY TELEVISION LOVE IN COLOR, INC.

“LOVE IN COLOR AKA USCF” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: MATTHEW WISE OPERATORS: LISA SENE, JOSEPH BLODGETT ASSISTANTS: SYMON MINK, JUSTIN MARZELLA DAVID MASLYN, THUNNYAHNONDHA KAEWBAIDHOON LOADER: JOSIAH WEINHOLD STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: BRETT ROEDEL

MESQUITE PRODUCTIONS, INC.

“A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN” SEASON 1 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DAGMAR WEAVER-MADSEN OPERATORS: MICHAEL CRAVEN, JANICE MIN ASSISTANTS: ALEX CASON, DEB PETERSON, BRIAN BRESNEHAN, GABRIEL MARCHETTI DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: ZACHARY SAINZ STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: ANNE MARIE FOX

MINIM PRODUCTIONS, INC.

ASSISTANTS: LEE VICKERY, YURI INOUE, GEORGE LOOKSHIRE, NKEM UMENYI LOADERS: RAUL MARTINEZ, CONNOR LYNCH STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: WALLY MCGRADY, MIKE PARMELEE

“FBI MOST WANTED” SEASON 3 DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: WILLIAM KLAYER, LUDOVIC LITTEE OPERATORS: CHRISTOPHER MOONE, SCOTT TINSLEY ASSISTANTS: RORY HANRAHAN, JAMES DALY, CAROLYN WILLS, DANIEL PFEIFER LOADERS: JOHN CONQUY, MATT ORO STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: MARK SCHAFER

“GRAND CREW” SEASON 1 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: RICK PAGE OPERATORS: PHIL MASTRELLA, LAUREN GADD, MARQUES SMITH, SOC ASSISTANTS: JAY LEVY, NICK CUTWAY, ESTHER WOODWORTH, JENNIFER LAI, GRACE THOMAS, RIKKI JONES DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: NICK GILBERT DIGITAL UTILITY: CHRIS GRIGGS STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: ELIZABETH MORRIS

“LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME” SEASON 2 DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JIM DENAULT, JACK DONNELLY OPERATORS: JON BEATTIE, JOHN PIROZZI ASSISTANTS: JOHN OLIVERI, NICHOLAS HAHN, KEVIN HOWARD, DERRICK DAWKINS LOADERS: EVAN BREEN, PATRICK ARELLANO STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: MICHAEL PARMELEE, VIRGINIA SHERWOOD

“LAW & ORDER SVU” SEASON 23 OPERATORS: JONATHAN HERRON, JAMIE SILVERSTEIN ASSISTANTS: CHRIS DEL SORDO, MATTHEW BALZARINI, BRIAN LYNCH CAMERA UTILITY: GIANNI CARSON

“SNOWFALL” SEASON 5

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ELIOT ROCKETT, CHRISTIAN HERRERA, OPERATORS: XAVIER THOMPSON, PAULINE EDWARDS ASSISTANTS: ALEX LIM, GINA VICTORIA, PRENTICE SMITH, JOSE DE LOS ANGELES LOADER: FERNANDO ZACARIAS UTILITIES: JACQUES VINCENT, AIDAN OSTROGOVICH

“NEW AMSTERDAM” SEASON 4

NBC UNIVERSAL TELEVISION, LLC

“THIS IS US” SEASON 6

“CHICAGO MED” SEASON 7

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: FAIRES A. SEKIYA OPERATORS: JOE TOLITANO, BENJAMIN SPEK, WILLIAM NIELSEN ASSISTANTS: GEORGE OLSON, MATTHEW BROWN, MICHAEL KUBASZAK, BRIAN KILBORN, PATRICK DOOLEY, ELIJAH WILBORN LOADER: RICHARD COLMAN UTILITY: KIEN LAM

“FBI” SEASON 4 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BART TAU OPERATORS: AFTON GRANT, JAMES GUCCIARDO

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ANDREW VOEGELI OPERATORS: GARETH MANWARING, PEDRO CORCEGA ASSISTANTS: JAMES MADRID, MATTHEW MONTALTO, ROBERT WRASE, BRIAN GRANT LOADERS: THOMAS FOY, PHILIP THOMPSON STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: YASU TANIDA OPERATORS: JAMES TAKATA, DANIEL COTRONEO ASSISTANTS: SEAN O’SHEA, JOE SOLARI, JEFF STEWART, TIM SHERIDAN LOADER: WADE FERRARI STEADICAM OPERATOR: JAMES TAKATA STEADICAM ASSISTANT: SEAN O’SHEA DIGITAL UTILITIES: GOBE HIRATA, ADAM GARCIA STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: RON BATZDORFF

NETFLIX PRODUCTIONS, LLC “FLORIDA MAN” SEASON 1

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ADRIAN CORREIA OPERATORS: JOHN LEHMAN, KATHLEEN HARRIS

CREW PHOTO MGM/UA FILM SHOOTING IN PITTSBURGH

ASSISTANTS: PATRICK BOROWIAK, DEREK SMITH, ROY KNAUF, DARWIN BRANDIS LOADER: JILL AUTRY DIGITAL UTILITY: PAIGE MARSICANO STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: MARK SCHAFER

“ME TIME” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ERIC ZIMMERMAN OPERATOR: KRISTY TULLY ASSISTANTS: BAIRD STEPTOE, RICHARD AVALON, AARON TICHENOR, SEATON TROTTER DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: RYAN NGUYEN CAMERA UTILITY: CHUCK ROQUE

PICROW STREAMING, INC. SPRUNG” SEASON 1

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHAD PERSONS OPERATORS: RICH SCHUTTE, BRIAN OSMOND ASSISTANTS: AMANDA ROTZLER, JOSUE LOAYZA, YEVGENIY SHRAYBER, DAN SOTAK DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: CHRIS CHARMEL

LEFT TO RIGHT,

KEVIN GALLOWAY, B CAM 2ND AC JASON CIANELLA, B CAM 1ST AC BRIAN OSMOND, A CAM OPERATOR CURTIS ABBOTT, DIT AMANDA ROTZLER, A CAM 1ST AC EMILY DEBLASI, A CAM 2ND AC RAFFAELE DILULLO, LOADER SHERYL MAIN, UNIT PUBLICIST AILEEN TAYLOR, B CAM OPERATOR TONY RIVETTI JR,. STILL PHOTOGRAPHER

LOADER: KEVIN GALLOWAY DIGITAL UTILITY: MATT BERAN STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: DENNIS MONG

PLAN B

“FATHER OF THE BRIDE” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: IGOR JADUE-LILLO OPERATORS: PATRICK ROSSEAU, STEWART SMITH ASSISTANT: JOSEPH SORIA STEADICAM OPERATOR: PATRICK ROSSEAU DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: DANIEL GARCIA STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: CLAUDETTE BARIUS, GENE PAGE

PLANE FILM PRODUCTION PR, LLC “THE PLANE”

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BRENDAN GALVIN, VERNON NOBLES OPERATORS: ERIC CATELAN, CARLOS ZAYAS, CESAR MARRERO ASSISTANTS: ABNER MEDINA, WILLIAM MONTANEZ, ANDRES VILA, ZORAIDA LUNA DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: OMAR RIVERA ABREU

HEAD LIBRA TECH: SEBASTIAN ALMEIDA STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: KENNETH REXACH

POSSIBLE PRODUCTIONS “BILLIONS” SEASON 6

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: GIORGIO SCALI, ASC, BRAD SMITH OPERATORS: JONATHAN BECK, JENNIE JEDDRY ASSISTANTS: CAI HALL, LEONARDO GOMEZ, II, PATRICK BRACEY, SEAN MCNAMARA LOADERS: DONALD GAMBLE, LYNSEY WATSON, AARON CHAMPAGNE, EVAN BREEN STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: PAUL SCHIRALDI, JEFF NEUMANN

“SUPER PUMPED” SEASON 1 DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JIM FROHNA, TREVOR FORREST OPERATORS: JODY MILLER, BRIAN PITTS, DJ HARDER ASSISTANTS: FAITH BREWER, NEO ARBOLEDA, SARA INGRAM, JENNY ROH, MELISSA FISHER,

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DAISY SMITH DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: PASQUALE PAOLO LOADER: KC LAUF DIGITAL UTILITY: SAMANTHA SCHMIEDESKAMP 2ND UNIT DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JIM FROHNA OPERATORS: REMI TOURNOIS, SHELLY GURZI ASSISTANTS: MELSSA FISHER, SHARLA CIPICCHIO, DAISY SMITH, ANDY KENNEDY-DERKAY DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: SCOTT STEPHENS LOADER: ALEX GADBERRY CAMERA UTILITY: DANA FYTELSON

PUPPPET SHOW S2, INC.

“HELPSTERS AKA UNTITLED PUPPET SHOW” SEASON 2 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: FREDERIC FASANO OPERATOR: MARK SPARROUGH ASSISTANTS: PETER WESTERVELT, ADAM MILLER, MYO CAMPBELL, CARLOS BARBOT DIGITAL UTILITY: ASA ELMFORS STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: PATRICK HARBRON

RANDOM PRODUCTIONS, LLC “WE OWN THE CITY”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: YARON ORBACH OPERATORS: PHILIP MARTINEZ, LUCAS OWEN ASSISTANTS: WARIS SUPANPONG, IAN AXILROD, RANDY SCHWARTZ, JASON HOCHREIN LOADERS: TYRA FORBES, MASHA PAVLOVA STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: PAUL SCHIRALDI

SONY

“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: GARY TAILLON 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 DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: GARY TAILLON JIB ARM OPERATOR: STEVE SIMMONS STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: CAROL KAELSON

STALWART PRODUCTIONS “61ST STREET” SEASON 2

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: GLENN BROWN, ABE MARTINEZ OPERATORS: CHRIS CUEVAS, PARRISH LEWIS, SCOTT THIELE ASSISTANTS: CHRIS WITTENBORN, HUNTER WHALEN, ERIC ARNDT, SHANNON DEWOLFE

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OCTOBER 2021 PRODUCTION CREDITS

DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: PAUL SCHILENS DIGITAL UTILITIES: MIKKI DICK, CHRIS SUMMERS STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: JAMES WASHINGTON

“FEAR THE WALKING DEAD” SEASON 7 DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: SCOTT WINIG, JAN RICHTER-FRIIS OPERATORS: CRAIG COCKERILL, KRIS HARDY ASSISTANTS: MARK BOYLE, SAM PEARCY, LOUIS WATT, DON HOWE STEADICAM OPERATOR: CRAIG COCKERILL DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JAMIE METZGER LOADER: MATT AINES DIGITAL UTILITIES: JASON HEAD, ASHLEY BJORKMAN TECHNOCRANE OPERATOR: JOE DATRI REMOTE HEAD TECH/OPERATOR: CHRIS SMITH STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: LOUIS SMITH PUBLICIST: SHARA STORCH

SUMMER 1, LLC

“THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY” SEASON 1 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BRAD SMITH OPERATORS: BO WEBB, MATTHEW DOLL ASSISTANTS: ALAN ALDRIDGE, SEAN YEAPLE, SETH LEWIS, NICK COCUZZA LOADER: CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE PUBLICIST: DANA HAWLEY

WARNER BROS

“BOB HEARTS ABISHOLA” SEASON 2 DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PATTI LEE, ASC OPERATORS: MARK DAVISON, CHRIS HINOJOSA, JON PURDY, MICHELLE CRENSHAW ASSISTANTS: JEFF JOHNSON, VITO DE PALMA, MARIANNE FRANCO, ADAN TORRES, LISA ANDERSON, ALICIA BRAUNS, LANCE MITCHELL, JORDAN HRISTOV VIDEO CONTROLLER: JOHN O’BRIEN DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: T. BRETT FEENEY STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: MICHAEL YARISH PUBLICISTS: KATHLEEN TANJI, MARC KLEIN

COMMERCIALS 1ST AVE. MACHINE

“GOOGLE HARDWARE EVENT” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: MANUEL RUIZ ASSISTANTS: PETER MORELLO, NATHAN MCGARIGAL, JORDAN LEVIE, JEFFREY TAYLOR STEADICAM OPERATOR: YOUSHENG TANG DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JEFF FLOHR

THIRSTY CAMEL PRODUCTIONS

BISCUIT

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER DEMING, ASC OPERATOR: MANOLO ROJAS ASSISTANTS: PATRICK MCARDLE, LAURA T. ROBINSON, MATT GAUMER, SYDNEY COX, BRODY DOCAR STEADICAM OPERATOR: MANOLO ROJAS STEADICAM ASSISTANT: LAURA T. ROBINSON DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: KYLE HOEKSTRA LOADER: BEN LEMONS DIGITAL UTILITY: CHRISTIAN HAWKINS STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: ERIC ZACHANOWICH PUBLICIST: PETER SILBERMANN

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

“THE MENU”

TURNER CENTER NORTH, INC. “AND JUST LIKE THAT” SEASON 1

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TIMOTHY NORMAN OPERATORS: MATTHEW PEBLER, WYLDA BAYRON ASSISTANTS: MICHAEL BURKE, ADRIANNA BRUNETTO-LIPMAN, MABEL SANTOS HAUGEN, AMBER ROSALES DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: LUKE TAYLOR LOADER: BRIAN PUCCI

UNIVERSAL TELEVISION, LLC “KENAN” SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHARLES PAPERT OPERATORS: SANTIAGO YNIGUEZ, DENIS MORAN ASSISTANTS: HEATHER LEA-LEROY, CRAIG JENNETTE, FARISAI KAMBARAMI, LANI WASSERMAN STEADICAM OPERATOR: SANTIAGO YNIGUEZ LOADER: BEN IKER CAMERA UTILITY: NAOE JARMON DIGIAL UTILITY: PHIL COSTA

“MERCEDES”

“NHTSA” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: AMADO STACHENFELD ASSISTANTS: ERICK AGUILAR, AMANDA HAMADAY DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: ISAAC GUY

BULLITT “JARED”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TAMI REIKER, ASC OPERATOR: CHRIS BOTTOMS ASSISTANTS: ERICK AGUILAR, STEVE MATTSON, AMANDA HAMADAY DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: COLIN WEINBERG

“SPRITE” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: AARON KOVALCHIK OPERATORS: CHRIS DARNELL, PARKER TOLIFSON, NATE CORNETT ASSISTANTS: LAURA GOLDBERG, REED KOPPEN, CHELI CLAYTON-SAMARAS, DAISY SMITH, ROB REAVES DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: DANIEL APPLEGATE

CAVIAR LA, LLC “PAPAYA”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KIRA KELLY, ASC OPERATOR: MICHELLE CLEMENTINE ASSISTANTS: ETHAN MCDONALD, MARIELA FERRER, JOSEPH CANON, CANDICE MARAIS, CHRIS SLANY STEADICAM OPERATOR: CHRIS CUNNINGHAM

CREW PHOTO NETFLIX - FIRST KILL

CMS

STEADICAM OPERATOR: GREG ARCH DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: BEN MOLYNEUX

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER DONAHUE ASSISTANTS: ROBERT RAGOZZINE, DAN KECK DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MARIUSZ CICHON

ELEMENT PRODUCTIONS

“COSENTYX”

COLORS

STANDING BACK ROW:

MATT HARDIN/LOADER JOSH WISENBAUGH/DIGITAL UTILITY BRIAN DOUGLAS/STILL PHOTOGRAPHER STANDING FRONT ROW:

JOSEPH FREDERICK/B OPERATOR/STEADICAM MICHAEL STUMPF/A OPERATOR/STEADICAM JAMIE FELZ/A CAMERA TECH APRIL CROWLEY/B CAMERA TECH RODELL FRANCIS/A 2ND BLAIR WINDERS/B 2ND JOE DARE/DIT

“RYOBI”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BARRY BERONA ASSISTANTS: PATRICK KELLY, MARY ANNE JANKE

“CARTIER” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL LANDIN ASSISTANTS: NICOLAS MARTIN, ALAN CERTEZA DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: DANE BREHM

DIVISION7 “XFINITY”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KAI SAUL ASSISTANTS: NICOLAS MARTIN, ALAN CERTEZA

OPERATOR: JOHN PINGRY ASSISTANTS: LILA BYALL, GAVIN GROSSI DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JOHN SPELLMAN

“VOLKSWAGEN” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ROB HAUER ASSISTANTS: LAWRENCE MONTEMAYOR, ROSE LICAVOLI DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: RAFFI VESCO

“WORKHUMAN” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BARRY BERONA ASSISTANTS: MARY ANNE JANKE, ANDREA ANGELL DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: DAVID KUDROWITZ

EPOCH FILMS “TOYOTA”

FARM LEAGUE “GARMIN”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ROB HAUER ASSISTANTS: LAWRENCE MONTEMAYOR, RYAN MURRAY DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: DANIEL WOIWODE

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ERIC SCHMIDT

HUNGRY MAN

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“AT&T” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KAI SAUL ASSISTANTS: DAVID E. THOMAS, MICHAELA ANGELIQUE DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: BEN HOPKINS

OPERATOR: MICK FROEHLICH ASSISTANTS: CHRIS TOLL, DANNY PARK, PHIL VOLKOFF DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: STEVE HARNELL

“AT&T” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KAI SAUL ASSISTANTS: NICOLAS MARTIN, ALAN CERTEZA DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: BEN HOPKINS TECHNOCRANE OPERATOR: CHRIS DICKSON TECHNOCRANE TECH: COREY KIEFER REMOTE HEAD TECH/OPERATOR: BRETT FOLK

“POINTSBET” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL BOMBELL OPERATOR: JOHN SKOTCHDOPOLE ASSISTANTS: EJ MISISCO, DOUG PRICE, GREG KURTZ, SUZY DIETZ DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MATT LOVE TECHNOCRANE OPERATOR: BRIAN MCPHERSON TECHNOCRANE TECH: HENRY FLORES REMOTE HEAD TECH/OPERATOR: BRIAN BREITHAUPT

LOVE SONG

“YOUNG LOVE” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KATE ARIZMENDI ASSISTANTS: JASMINE CHANG, MATT BOREK, ANDREW FLORIO DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: ROHAM RAHMANIAN LOADERS: VINNIE BREDEMUS, GARRY BRADLEY, ANDREW FLORIO CRANE OPERATOR: ROB RUBIN HEAD TECH: WIL ZIGNEGO PURSUIT CAMERA OPERATOR: COLLIN DAVIS

MJZ

“PUBLIX” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JESSICA LEE GAGNE

“TACO BELL” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: COLIN WATKINSON ASSISTANTS: NICOLAS MARTIN, MICHAELA ANGELIQUE DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JESSE TYLER

NIGHTCALL PRODUCTIONS, LLC “L’OREAL”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: RIEGO VAN WERSCH ASSISTANTS: NICOLAS MARTIN, ALAN CERTEZA DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: SHAWN AGUILAR

RADICAL MEDIA

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DAISY ZHOU ASSISTANTS: MATTHEW BOREK, JORGE DEVOTTO, ANNIE HIRSCHMANN STEADICAM OPERATOR: NIELS LINDELIEN DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: STAN PAIK

STATELINE FILMS “CHECKERS”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ALEJANDRO A. WILKINS ASSISTANTS: ROBBIE CORCORAN, STEVE WORONKO DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: COURTNEY GOODWIN

SUPERPRIME “MACY’S”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TIM HUDSON, ACS ASSISTANTS: ERIK STAPELFELDT, DAISY SMITH DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: SACHA RIVIERE

“AT&T”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER DONAHUE OPERATOR: BOB RAGOZZINE ASSISTANTS: DANIEL KECK, ROBERT LAU, KYLE REPKA DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JEFF FLOHR

RATTLE STICK

“AMEX VACATION STARTS NOW” DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ALEX DISENHOF OPERATOR: NIC RESTREPO ASSISTANTS: SPENCER GOODALL, MITCHELL ORCINO, ELVER HERNANDEZ DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: STUART HAMMOND TECHNOCRANE OPERATOR: JOSEPH RODMELL REMOTE HEAD TECH/OPERATOR: JAY SHEVECK

MUSIC VIDEOS BOY IN THE CASTLE “SPIRIT”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DOUG PORTER ASSISTANTS: ERICK AGUILAR, STEVE DOYLE, LEIGH STIEPEL, GERARDO LEON STEADICAM OPERATOR: GREG ARCH DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: FABRICIO DISANTO

SOMESUCH “GATORADE”

Advertisers Index COMPANY PAGE URL ARRI 101 WWW.ARRI.COM/ALEXA-MINI-LF ASTERA 17 WWW.ASTERA-LED.COM/NYX BANDPRO 112 WWW.BANDPRO.COM/BRANDS.HTML/ANGENIEUX B&H 19 WWW.THESTUDIOBH.COM ENERGACAMERIMAGE 4 WWW.ENERGACAMERIMAGE.PL CINEO LIGHTING 27 WWW.CINEOLIGHTING.COM/Q2 HPA AWARDS 111 WWW.HPAONLINE.COM ICG’S SHORT TAKE 8&9 WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/THEICGMAG/ IA SOLIDARITY 6&7 WWW.ICG600.COM IDX 31 WWW.IDXTEK.COM MILL VALLEY FF 12 WWW.MVFF.COM PANASONIC 13 SHOP.PANASONIC.COM/LUMIXGH5M2 PANAVISON 5 DXL.PANAVISION.COM RF FILM, INC. 103 WWW.RFFILM.COM SONY ELECTRONICS 15 PRO.SONY/HDCSERIES TEAM5 25 WWW.TEAM5RENTALS.COM TERADEK 2&3 SMALLHD.COM/4K

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ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES WEST COAST & CANADA ROMBEAU INC. Sharon Rombeau Tel: (818) 762-6020 Fax: (818) 760-0860 Email: sharonrombeau@gmail.com

EAST COAST & EUROPE ALAN BRADEN INC. Alan Braden Tel: (818) 850-9398 Email: alanbradenmedia@gmail.com

OCTOBER 2021 PRODUCTION CREDITS

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STOP MOTION

10.2021

Eddie “Ed” Asner NOVEMBER 15, 1929 – AUGUST 29, 2021

Greg Gayne’s image, shot on the set of the 2012 independent feature Should’ve Been Romeo, captures the larger-than-life personality that was Ed Asner. The huge, expansive smile that welcomed everyone on set; the outstretched arms, as if ready to bearhug an industry he spent his entire life embracing; the twinkle in his eyes that always seemed to tell his fellow actors and filmmakers: “We got this. And I got you.” Of course, there are the seven Primetime Emmys, making Asner the most honored male performer in the history of television, and his two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild that fuel an enviable legacy, along with a passion for social justice causes

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O C TOBER 2021 O C TOBER 2021

ranging from helping Holocaust survivors to easing the plight of undocumented migrants to bettering the lives of autistic persons. But look closer at Gayne’s photograph and you’ll also see a life dedicated to hard, honest work – toiling in a steel mill and on the assembly line at General Motors before he caught the acting bug. Asner’s alter ego, Lou Grant, a salty straight shooter with a bottomless heart, was how audiences knew him best. But the hundreds of thousands of working people in this industry will most likely point to Carl Fredricksen, from the Oscar-winning animated film, Up – a man who lived, loved, and cared about what really matters.

PRODUCT GUIDE

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