CANADIAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS
$4 December 2015 www.csc.ca
The Expanse
JEREMY BENNING csc
Ian Macmillan: The Plateaus Whites Student and Filmmaker Showcase
A publication of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers
FEATURES – VOLUME 7, NO. 7 DECEMBER 2015 Fostering cinematography in Canada since 1957. The Canadian Society of Cinematographers was founded by a group of Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa cameramen. Since then over 800 cinematographers and persons in associated The CSC provides tangible recognition of the common bonds that link film and digital professionals, from the aspiring student and camera assistant to the news veteran and senior director of photography. We facilitate the dissemination and
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Credit: Bruce Marshall
occupations have joined the organization.
Whites Puts Innovations on Display at Fifth Annual Student and Filmmaker Showcase
exchange of technical information and endeavor to advance the knowledge and status of our members within the industry. As an organization dedicated to furthering technical assistance, we maintain contact with non-partisan groups in our industry but have no political or union affiliation.
CORPORATE SPONSORS
Credit: Rafy/Syfy
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The Expanse: Jeremy Benning csc Goes into Deep Space By Fanen Chiahemen
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Credit: Dustin Rabin
AC Lighting Inc. All Axis Remote Camera Systems Arri Canada Ltd. Canon Canada Inc. Clairmont Camera Codes Pro Media Dazmo Camera Deluxe Toronto FUJIFILM North America Corporation FUJIFILM, Optical Devices Division Fusion Cine HangLoose Media Henry’s Camera HD Source Inspired Image Picture Company Kino Flo Kodak Canada Inc. Lee Filters Miller Camera Support Equipment Mole-Richardson Nikon Canada Inc. PS Production Services Panasonic Canada Panavision Canada REDLABdigital Rosco Canada S1 Studios Toronto SIM Digital Sony of Canada Ltd. Technicolor The Source Shop Vistek Camera Ltd. Walter Klassen FX Whites Digital Sales & Service William F. White International Inc. ZGC Inc. ZTV
Indie Music Scene Gets a Ribbing in The Plateaus By Fanen Chiahemen
COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 2 4 22 24 27 28
From the President In the News Tech Column CSC Member Spotlight - Mike McMurray csc Classifieds Productions Notes / Calendar
Cover: Jeremy Benning csc on the set of The Expanse. Credit: Rafy/Syfy
Canadian Cinematographer December 2015 Vol. 7, No. 7 CSC BOARD MEMBERS PRESIDENT George Willis csc, sasc, gawillis@sympatico.ca PAST PRESIDENT, ADVISOR Joan Hutton csc, joanhuttondesign@gmail.com VICE PRESIDENTS Ron Stannett csc, ronstannett@sympatico.ca Carlos Esteves csc, carlos@imagesound.ca TREASURER
FROM THE PRESIDENT George A. Willis csc, sasc
Joseph Sunday phd JSunday1@CreativeAffinities.com SECRETARY Antonin Lhotsky csc, alhotsky@gmail.com MEMBERSHIP CHAIR Phil Earnshaw csc, philyn@sympatico.ca EDUCATION CO-CHAIRS D. Gregor Hagey csc, gregor@dghagey.com Dylan Macleod csc, dmacleod@sympatico.ca PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAIR Bruce Marshall, brucemarshall@sympatico.ca DIRECTORS EX-OFFICIO Jeremy Benning csc, jbenning@me.com Bruno Philip csc, bphilipcsc@gmail.com Brendan Steacy csc, brendansteacy@gmail.com Carolyn Wong, CarolynWong50@gmail.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF George Willis csc, sasc EDITOR EMERITUS Donald Angus EXECUTIVE OFFICER Susan Saranchuk, admin@csc.ca EDITOR Fanen Chiahemen, editor@csc.ca COPY EDITOR Karen Longland ART DIRECTION Berkeley Stat House WEBSITE www.csc.ca ADVERTISING SALES Guido Kondruss, gkondruss@rogers.com
OFFICE / MEMBERSHIP / SUBSCRIPTIONS 131–3007 Kingston Road Toronto, Canada M1M 1P1 Tel: 416-266-0591; Fax: 416-266-3996 Email: admin@csc.ca, subscription@csc.ca Canadian Cinematographer makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information it publishes; however, it cannot be held responsible for any consequences arising from errors or omissions. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written consent of the publisher. The opinions expressed within the magazine are those of the authors and not necessarily of the publisher. Upon publication, Canadian Cinematographer acquires Canadian Serial Rights; copyright reverts to the writer after publication. Canadian Cinematographer is printed by Winnipeg Sun Commercial Print and is published 10 times a year. One-year subscriptions are available in Canada for $40.00 for individuals and $80.00 for institutions, including HST. In U.S. rates are $45.00 and $90.00 for institutions in U.S. funds. International subscriptions are $50.00 for individuals and $100.00 for institutions. Subscribe online at www.csc.ca.
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2 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
A
s cinematographers, we often refer to the “old masters” – Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Tintoretto et al, but are we really aware of the incredible talent that produced those works of art? Do we ever analyze the imagery in an attempt to almost deconstruct the painting in terms of the composition and light? It was only long after I had completed art school and entered into the world of filmmaking that I began to develop a better understanding and appreciation of the masters and the images they had created with paint. Cinematography is all about imagery, whether applied to television commercials, documentaries or in the longer format. Cinematography knows no boundaries, and proof of this is the fact that many great cinematographers are equally satisfied with applying their talents to a 30-second commercial or a full-length feature film. Therefore, just as I would analyze a work of art by one of the masters, I decided to do the same with some black-and-white movies, especially those filmed around the ‘40s and ‘50s. Of course, the decades prior to this are just as worthy of consideration, but this period suited my purposes. As I watched the various scenes unfold, there were a number of important thoughts that I needed to explore. Initially, these were directed more to the technical – an awareness for the slow ASA (ISO) of film during those days, the physical size of the cameras and grip equipment, as well as the old-style lights, fixtures with enough light output required for the slow film emulsions. And while thinking about the sheer size and weight of the camera, I looked for the camera moves, the start and stop of the tracking shots as the crews moved the heavy mass and the operator attempted to keep the moves smooth. This was the time when large friction heads were the order of the day, but larger geared heads were also employed for the heavier cameras. As we go about our business of filmmaking in the present, I believe that generally little thought is ever given to comparing how lighting was approached in the days long before Divas, Dedos and Kinos. There were the “Brutes” (carbon arcs), the Big-eye 10K, the Seniors, Juniors and Pups (English parlance), the Sky Pans and Scissor Arcs, all the way down to the Inky-Dinks. I have a particular fascination for all of the (creative and fun) names given to the equipment that is part of our everyday use, but more about that at a later date. see President page 7
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IN THE NEWS
Kodak Names Steve Bellamy President of Motion Picture and Entertainment
K
odak recently announced the appointment of Steve Bellamy as its new president of Motion Picture and Entertainment. Based in Los Angeles, Bellamy will be responsible for growing and deepening Kodak’s relationships with creative luminaries and business leaders in the entertainment industry, working on creative advocacy programs, creating partnerships and new business models, and developing Kodak-branded solutions for the entertainment industry. As a writer/director, Bellamy’s movies have won more than 40 global film festivals. He has personally won six best director awards including the Las Vegas International Film Festival. He has also spent the last six years as CEO of Action Sport Networks and will remain the chair of that business. At Kodak, Bellamy will work with Andrew Evenski, Kodak president and general manager, entertainment and commercial film, to create deeper relationships with Hollywood’s film and television studios. Both will report to Steven Overman, president of the consumer and film division
Rogers Announces Live Sports Broadcasting in 4K with HDR Rogers recently announced it is launching 4K-ready gigabit Internet speeds, a new 4K set top box, Rogers 4K TV and
the world’s largest commitment to live broadcasting in 4K with HDR. Customers will get live 4K TV broadcasts, four times the pixels of HD for higher resolution and improved motion video. Rogers will also introduce high dynamic range (HDR) – technology that produces real-life images with richer colour saturation, contrast and resolution – in April 2016 for the Blue Jays home opener. The move will allow Rogers customers to access more than 500 hours of live sports, movies and shows in 4K beginning in 2016. As well, Rogers Ignite Gigabit Internet will start to roll out this year in downtown Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, and will eventually be available in more than four million homes by the end of 2016. A new partnership with Netflix will directly connect the Rogers network to Netflix servers, and Netflix will also be available on select cable set top boxes and Android devices from Rogers.
CSC Members’ Projects Win at DGC Awards The Directors Guild of Canada handed out 19 awards in late October honouring the best work created by its members this past year. Projects shot by CSC members were among the winners, including the series Open Heart, shot by Mitchell Ness csc, which won for Best Television Series – Family, while Schitt’s Creek, shot by Gerald Packer csc, won in the Best Television Series – Comedy category. A complete list of winners is available at the DGC website dgc.ca.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The CSC Awards Gala will be held at the Arcadian Court in Toronto on April 2, 2016. Award entry forms are available online at csc.ca. The entry deadline is January 31, 2016.
Write to Us
www.csc.ca Connect online with the CSC
Instagram DP of the month: Jeremy Benning csc @canadiancinematographer
Canadian Cinematographer welcomes feedback, comments and questions about the magazine and its contents. Please send your letters to editor@csc.ca. Letters may be edited for clarity and space.
Hi George, I wanted to thank you for the great message in the recent issue of Canadian Cinematographer. Funny enough, this morning a director I worked with last year for next to nothing called me and wanted me to bring my RED EPIC and myself to set for $450. Luckily I read your article last night, and have had a pretty good year so I was able to tell him that with a rate like [that] he clearly doesn’t value me or my work. On to bigger and
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better things. Thanks for the extra confidence. Scott McIntyre, Affiliate Member Hi Scott, Many thanks for your feedback. I am pleased that this resonated with you, as I believe this is a scenario that is happening more and more in the industry. It is only by acknowledging and addressing this issue that we may see change taking place. All the best, George Willis csc, sasc
@csc_CDN
The CSC welcomes Henry’s as its newest sponsor. Henry’s has been a been a presence on the Canadian photographic landscape since the 1950’s when it first focused on selling cameras. Today, Henry’s is a leading digital and photographic retailer, with an expanding cinematography division. henrys.com
Thomas Billingsley, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) No Men Beyond This Point (feature), TIFF 2015
James Klopko, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) Sleeping Giant (feature), TIFF 2015 Best Canadian First Feature Film; Calgary International Film Festival; Cinéfest Sudbury; Athens International Film Festival nomination for Best Feature; Special Mention at Reykjavik International Film Festival; Zurich Festival nomination, Golden Eye; winner Best Canadian Film at Vancouver International Film Festival, September 2015; Ghent International Film Festival nomination, Best Film; Festival du Nouveau Cinema, Montreal; Mumbai Film Festival; Busan International Film Festival
Christine Buijs, AFFILIATE CSC (Writer/Director) Divorce Photographer (short), Calgary International Film Festival, September 2015; San Jose International Film Festival, October 2015
Douglas Koch CSC (DP/Camera Operator) It’s Not You (short), TIFF 2015; (DP) Sensitive Skin (series, Season 1), International Emmy Awards Nominee, November 2015
Stephen Chung, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) Beyond the Horizon (short), TIFF 2015
Philip Lanyon, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) The Orchard (short), Vancouver International Film Festival, September 2015; Atlantic Film Festival, September 2015
Yves Bélanger CSC (DP) Demolition (feature), TIFF 2015 Gala Presentation; (DP) Brooklyn (feature), TIFF 2015 Special Presentation Kris Belchevski, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) Dredger (short), TIFF 2015
Steve Cosens CSC (DP) Born to Be Blue (feature), TIFF 2015 Richard Ciupka CSC (DP) Nouvelle Adresse (series), Gémeaux Awards, 17 nominations and six awards including Best Cinematography on a TV Drama Series, September 2015 Jonathon Cliff CSC, Ian Kerr CSC, Chris Romeike (DPs) Hurt (feature), TIFF 2015 Platform Prize; Vancouver International Film Festival, September 2015 Dean Cundey CSC, ASC (DP) The Girl in the Photographs (feature), TIFF 2015 Michael Jari Davidson, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) Heir (short), Toronto After Dark Film Festival, October 2015; (DP) Save Yourself (feature), NYC Horror Film Festival, November 2015
J.P. Locherer CSC (2nd Unit DP) Forsaken (feature),TIFF 2015 Gala Presentation Dylan Macleod CSC (DP) He Hated Pigeons (feature), St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, October 2015 Ian Macmillan, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) Benjamin (short), TIFF 2015 Adam Marsden CSC (DP) River (feature), TIFF 2015, Cinéfest Sudbury, September 2015 Cabot Mcnenly, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) O Negative (short), TIFF 2015
Reuben Denty, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) Undercover High (series), International Emmy Award nomination, November 2015
Rene Ohashi CSC, ASC (DP) Forsaken (feature) TIFF 2015 Gala Presentation; Cinéfest Sudbury, September 2015
Nicholas De Pencier CSC (DP) Al Purdy Was Here (documentary), TIFF 2015
Cem Ozkilicci, AFFILIATE CSC (Colourist), The Wave (feature), TIFF 2015
Serge Desrosier CSC (DP) Ville-Marie (feature), TIFF 2015
Pasha Patriki CSC (DP) Gridlocked (feature), Fantastic Fest, Austin, Texas, September 2015; Toronto After Dark Festival, October 2015
Guy Godfree CSC (DP) Boxing (short), TIFF 2015; Vancouver International Film Festival, September 2015; (DP) Natasha (feature), Atlantic Film Festival, Cinéfest Sudbury 2015 Daniel Grant CSC (DP) Into the Forest (feature), TIFF 2015 D. Gregor Hagey CSC (DP) How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town (feature), Atlantic Film Festival, Halifax; Cinefest, Sudbury; Calgary International Film Festival, September 2015; Edmonton International Film Festival, October 2015; Grand River Film Festival, Cambridge, November 2015; (DP) Portal to Hell (short), TIFF 2015; Atlantic Film Festival; Cinefest, Sudbury; Fantastic Fest, Austin, TX, September 2015; SITGES Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, October 2015; Toronto After Dark Film Festival; Celluloid Screams, Sheffield Horror Film Festival, UK; Edmonton, Dedfest: International Genre Film Festival, October 2015; Leeds International Film Festival Fanomenon Night of the Dead 15, UK, November 2015 Bruce William Harper, AFFILIATE c (Cinematographer) Charlie (short), Fright Night Theatre Film Festival, October 2015; (Cinematographer) Chasing Valentine (feature), Orlando Film Festival, October 2015; International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema Milan, nominations include Best Cinematography, November 2015; (Cinematographer) Dead Air (short), Hamilton Film Festival; Grand River Film Festival, November 2015; (Cinematographer) Late Night Double Feature (feature), Buffalo Dreams Film Festival, November 2015 Karim Hussain CSC (DP) Beeba Boys (feature), TIFF 2015 Gala Presentation; (DP) Hyena Road (feature), TIFF 2015 Gala Presentation Karl Janisse, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) The Hexecutioners (feature), Toronto After Dark Film Festival, October 2015 Norayr Kasper CSC (DP) Hellions (feature), TIFF 2015
AWARDS / FESTIVALS / NOMINATIONS
Maya Bankovic, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) The Rainbow Kid (feature), TIFF 2015; (DP) World Famous Gopher Hole Museum (short), TIFF 2015
Andre Pienaar CSC, SASC (DP) Len and Company (feature), TIFF 2015 Special Presentation Ronald Plante CSC (DP) The Kind Words (feature), TIFF 2015; (DP) My Internship In Canada (feature), TIFF 2015 Brad Rushing CSC (DP) Pony (short), Boston Film Festival; Rome International Film Festival (Georgia); Bali International Film Festival; Hollywood Film Festival, September, 2015; Long Beach Indie International Film Festival; Cape Cod International Film Festival; NYC International Film Festival; First Glance Film Festival (Philadelphia); Lady Filmmakers Film Festival, October 2015; Milan International Festival of World Cinema; Napa Valley Film Festival, November 2015; Beloit International Film Festival, February 2016 Paul Sarossy CSC, ASC, BSC (DP) Remember (feature), TIFF 2015 Gala Presentation Bobby Shore CSC (DP) Closet Monster (feature), TIFF 2015; (DP) Boy (short), TIFF 2015; (DP) Invention (documentary), TIFF 2015 Bradley Stuckel, ASSOCIATE CSC (Cinematographer) Empyrean (feature), Calgary International Film Festival, October 2015 Vic Sarin CSC (DP) The Boy From Geita (feature documentary), Directors Guild of Canada nomination; special United Nations screening; theatrical opening in NYC; TIFF screening and meet DP and director, October 2015 Brendan Steacy CSC (DP) Never Happened (Short), TIFF 2015; (DP) Coconut Hero (feature), Zurich International Film Festival, September 2015 Othello Ubalde, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) The Interior (feature), Calgary International Film Festival Discovery Award nominee, September 2015; Saskatoon Fantastic Film Festival; Telluride Horror Show Festival, Colorado; Best Cinematography, Toronto After Dark Festival, October 2015
Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
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Credit: Courtesy of William F. White
Above: Attendees watch a demonstration. Opposite page clockwise from top left: George Willis csc, sasc gives a speech. Gear on display.
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O
n October 3, more than 200 students and emerging filmmakers visited William F. White Centre in Toronto for an opportunity to interact with the latest state-of-the-art movie-making technologies and innovations. The event featured a speech by Whites’ Chairman/CEO Paul Bronfman, and the lineup of guest speakers included Academy Award winner and Kino Flo inventor Frieder Hochheim, along with Project Manager Luke Van Osch and Creative
Credits: Bruce Marshall
Director Stefan Grambart from the recent Emmy-winning studio Secret Location. In addition, George Willis csc, sasc and Jaimy Warner, executive director of Raindance Canada, each delivered speeches about crafting images for the screen and how to use social media to raise attention for your film, respectively. Unmanned Cinema’s drones also showcased the latest breakthroughs in aerial cinematography, and guests were able to test out the drones via computer-generated simulation. Whites’ Remote Heads and Cranes department was also on display, with looming Technocranes outfitted with cameras to afford emerging filmmakers the chance to experience what it’s like to be behind
the lens. As well, the Whites Interactive Viral Van was parked nearby to demonstrate how filmmakers on a tight budget can combine both production value and mobility with an impressive package. The event also featured an interactive dolly display set-up, with a Sony F3 Full-HD camera pointing to a collection of illuminated jewels, encouraging guests to get a hands-on experience, while Whites employees demonstrated how gels can create distinct moods and atmospheres. Throughout the day, students were given an exclusive 10 per cent discount at The Store @ Whites, while getting a firsthand glimpse at the latest in GoPro camera technology.
President from page 2 So with all of these large lamps and the obvious heat output associated with them, it must have been rather difficult to get through a busy day, compounded by the fact that there was a dress protocol – many directors of photography, as well as some of the crew, wore collar and tie. However, as to the imagery, I enjoy the wide master shots where the true artistry begins for the cinematographer, not only the specific composition but also the way in which the actor’s movements and positions are defined and accentuated by the light and shadow within that composition. Also, the subtle manner in which a light source is suggested and how a flag or cutter is used to add further dramatic effect. Another observation is the fact that scenes are allowed to play out and that the frenetic cutting and editing seems to be generally avoided. Classic over-shoulder shots and reverse angles add to the storytelling, and when it comes time for the “glamour” shot, well, no self-respecting movie would be complete without the leading lady having the quintessential “B-glass” added to the lens. Sometimes visually, it can be fairly jarring, but that was the way it was done and many of the same leading ladies knew just where the key light would be placed. In fact, they insisted upon it because they understood the value of the glamour shot. Do we always have to move the camera? I wondered about this because so often on a set I have heard those very words. I draw a comparison with live theatre for there is nothing to move except our eyes, and we allow the story to unfold as the actors move about the stage, which is their frame. I am of the opinion that it takes far more talent and knowledge to construct a scene with careful composition, where actors are allowed to move (within a frame) and in so doing create more of an uninterrupted flow, as opposed to many shots being cobbled together, and possibly in so doing, detract from actually allowing that same story to unfold at its own pace. Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
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The Ex Jeremy Benning
Goes into deep space
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csc
xpanse T
he Expanse, the small screen’s latest big-budget sci-fi offering, is based on a series of novels by the same name – penned under the moniker James S. A. Corey – by writing duo Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. The 10-episode space opera – airing weekly on SyFy (United States), Space (Canada) and Netflix (all other regions) as of this month – is set 250 years in the future where humanity has colonized the solar system, and the plot line follows a police detective and the executive officer of an ice freighter through a maze of secrets and conspiracies that threaten the human race. There is a missing young woman at the centre of the drama, as well as the mystery of an abandoned, derelict spaceship. Meanwhile, interplanetary political frictions and pseudo-racial tensions between those born on Earth and Mars and those born on the outer planets (citizens of the asteroid belt, called Belters) play out as war brews. “Take all the politics we have now and just advance it to that point,” series cinematographer Jeremy Benning csc explains. “There are people who have lived on one-sixth gravity so their bodies are different. The solar system is divided into people that live on these asteroid colonies, Jupiter, Mars, the moon and Earth.” By FANEN CHIAHEMEN Photos by RAFY/SYFY Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
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Expansive Sets
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ne of the biggest television series ever to shoot in Toronto, the first season of The Expanse required up to 70,000 square feet of soundstage space at Pinewood Studios. Instead of being cluttered with movie lights and cables, the set, dressed like a futuristic apparatus, looked more like a grown-up’s playground, featuring navigation decks, touch screens, control panels, hi-tech padded seats, and a ladderlike staircase leading from one level to the next. It was indeed the scale of the show that Benning was most excited about when he signed on to shoot The Expanse. “There were a lot of worlds,” he says. “The worlds are all very different. There’s the Earth look, there’s the space look, there’s the asteroid colony look. They all are different, and they’re all different ages. Even though we’re in the future, some of it’s old future, some of it’s new future. To me that was the exciting part. How do we create all these different looks?” Benning and his crew had an almost unheard-of eight weeks of preproduction because of the number of sets required, virtually all of which had to be practically lit. “We had to know how we were going to light them while we were building the sets, because [the set builders] had to accommodate where the lights were going to go as we were designing them,” he says.
Lighting the Ship
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Jeremy Benning csc (right) watches a set-up. Middle and bottom: The Slingshot/MoVI combo in action.
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fter reading the scripts and collaborating with production designer Seth Reed, the lighting team had to determine how to approach practical lighting within the sets. As gaffer Michael Galbraith explains, “It was not like we had large windows to bring light in from. Our ship interiors had to be self-lit from ship practicals and monitors and work station screens. So the number one challenge was simply physical space.” The set-up required light sources that would be bright enough to attain decent exposure for both normal and highspeed shooting, and also be able to change colour and density instantly depending on what was going on in the storyline at any given time. LED lighting was the obvious choice, Galbraith says. “We could get them in small spaces, we could control the colour and density and we could control their behaviour such as flashing on and off, or cycling around a room in a certain pattern, and all this could be done without gelling anything. We could control it all off our GrandMA lighting console and we were able to recall any look we wanted at any time because we saved each look according to slate number and set description,” he says. Specialty lighting company LiteGear, based in Burbank, California, provided the production with its product LiteRibbon, an LED ribbon mounted to a flexible adhesive that can be cut to length. “We had a bunch of 2-inch wide, 1/8-inch thick aluminum strips in various lengths made up, and adhered our ribbon
Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
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to it in a double wide configuration. I went with the double wide because I wanted to be sure that we had enough light to shoot 120 frames,” Galbraith says. “I don’t know how many hundreds of feet,” were needed, Benning says, “but we needed a lot of it. It ended up being a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of it that we had to buy because it’s consumable; you can’t rent it because you’re cutting it up.” Most of the LEDs they installed were of the RGBA (red, green, blue, amber) variety, Galbraith says. “We wanted to be able to create any colour Jeremy wanted. The quality of the light was perfect for our spaceship environment.” Although they knew going in that high-speed shooting was necessary not only for the ribbon but for all the other LEDbased products, they found that the LiteGear dimmers only went up to 60 frames. “My lighting console operators Andrew Read and Ken Wiebe started working out a dimming system whereby we could shoot 120 frames without any unwanted effects from the LED strips,” Galbraith explains. “They ended up designing and building what we call ‘pro speed’ dimmers. In a nutshell, the LiteGear dimmers supplied the ribbon with a 5,000 hertz frequency, but Andrew’s design incorporated a frequency of 20,000 hertz. This made all the difference in terms of our frame rate capabilities. The other big difference between the LiteGear dimmers and the pro speeds is the kind of control you have over the ribbon. The LiteGear dimmers do not have finite control over colour or density shifts, whereas the pro speeds have very precise control over colour and density.” Galbraith also got Mississauga-based fabrication shop Sheridan Metal Products to make speed rings so the lighting crew could put LEDs into some Chimeras lanterns owned by Benning. “So basically, we just had a little pancake lantern or a little small strip that we could use like a small eye light or whatever. It was all battery powered so we didn’t have to plug anything in and it had its own little dimmer [so] you could dim it up and down,” Benning says. Other creative ways the crew used LEDs included procuring some aluminum boxes of various sizes, similar to exit signs in buildings, which they installed LED RGBA ribbon or RGB ribbon into and outfitted with sheets of plastic honeycomb grid. They called the contraptions “honeycomb lights” or “sweet lights,” Benning says. The boxes could be painted any colour and tucked into corners of the set where other lights couldn’t be placed. “We could make the colour we wanted, the brightness we wanted, but on camera it looks like part of the set, you don’t think it’s film light, but it’s actually lighting the shot. It looks like part of the ship, but it’s fully controllable RGBA lighting,” Benning says. The team also employed numerous LED stage lighting products made by Chroma-Q, which were supplied by PRG Toronto.
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As well, because spaceships don’t have windows in the world of The Expanse, lighting techniques like simulating sunlight streaming through windows would not work, so LED lights controlled with wireless DMX were sometimes fitted into helmets worn by the actors to light scenes in which the characters found themselves in darkness, for instance when the ship’s power went out. Or sometimes actors would hold small strips of interactive light in their hands. Benning suggests the lighting techniques used on The Expanse helped create texture and enhance the sense of place. “I think it makes it feel more real because the lighting is very ambient,” he says. “You sense that as people move through space they move in and out of pools, interacting directly with the lights that are around them, whether it’s monitors on the wall or the lights that are built into the control surfaces. You can see the source of light hitting the actors. It sort of tells you that it’s a real space. It doesn’t look like those lights that are somewhere magically above.”
The Floating Camera
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hen it came to camera movement, Terry McDonough, who directed the first and last two episodes of Season 1 of The Expanse, expressed a desire to go beyond Steadicam and handheld movement that is typically used on television shows. Moreover, the confined spaces of the set also presented a few obstacles for the crew. “We had a lot of rigged-in chairs and display monitors that would have been very difficult and time-consuming to move,” camera operator Angelo Colavecchia says. McDonough had done his homework on brushless gimbals and felt it would bring a new visual language to the show. Benning, who was familiar with the MoVI M15 camera stabilizer, suggested it be employed on The Expanse shoot. Not only did it offer alternative camera movement, but it also provided the flexibility for the crew to get the camera around the set pieces efficiently. “If you’re in a spaceship and you want to be able to move from up there to down here, that’s the only way to really do it. And with the MoVI we could kind of go anywhere with it. The mobility was great, and we could put it in places you couldn’t get a Steadicam normally,” Benning says. And because “you can’t put an ALEXA on a MoVI, and we really didn’t want to get into having two different camera systems,” the crew opted to shoot with the RED EPIC, the cinematographer says, adding that “from an ergonomic standpoint, knowing how our set size constraints would be, the carbon fibre DRAGON was the best option for us.” Benning also points out that “because of the weight of the rig kitted with the RED DRAGON and accessories, you can’t really hold this thing in your arms without some kind of support for more than a few minutes.” The solution was to use the MoVI with the Slingshot, the gimbal support sys-
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tem developed by Ray Dumas csc and designed by Walter Klassen. Using Klassen’s FX Back mount carbon fibre Steadicam vest technology, along with a system of pulleys and support bands, the Slingshot is an ergonomic system that allows the operator to take longer shots while achieving a full range of motion (See “From Frustration to Fruition: The Slingshot Story,” May 2015). Klassen had also built a three-axis set of precision hand wheels that work wirelessly with the gimbal to give full control to a second operator. “That allowed us to remotely operate, tilt and pan the MoVI while it was on the Slingshot,” Colavecchia says. While Colavecchia operated the wheels, B camera operator Jason Vieira was on the Slingshot/MoVI combo, and together they were able to finesse shots they wouldn’t otherwise have been able to get.
Stills from The Expanse.
“A lot of the stuff we were doing where we would go high to low, Jason could not always see the monitor. We were doing a lot of 360 moves, and we just found that with the wheels remotely operated it allowed us to be a lot more precise as opposed to just pointing the MoVI in a particular direction. We were actually able to precisely operate and get the shots the DP and director were happy with,” Colavecchia says. “We did one shot in particular where we were on a Martian spaceship and we started the shot probably 13 or 14 feet off the ground,” he recalls. “We came through a porthole following our actor and we had the MoVI tied off to a rope. Once we got the camera into the spaceship part of the set, our key grip Richard Emerson unhooked it once it was lowered, Jason Vieira picked it up, while I was still operating from the
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remote area from the wheels. Once he picked the camera up off the rope, he could take it to where there were probably 12 or 14 dead bodies strewn all over the ship and he essentially glided it over the top of them, and at the end of the shot he looked back down the hallway we had just come. The shot itself was pretty incredible. You think, ‘Was that a CG shot or an actual live shot?’ And for that reason we stuck with the MoVI. There was no other way of doing that shot.” Benning observes, “It was kind of like having a Technocrane on legs or a Russian arm on legs. You could go anywhere with it. You could have the lens inches off the ground; you could lift it to 10 feet in the air. And the sense of movement you get, because it’s very stable and it’s going anywhere, you kind of get the sense that the camera is floating anywhere it wants to go. You couldn’t really get that same look with a Steadicam I don’t think.” Benning says he does not know of any other television show using the Slingshot/MoVI combo the way it was used on The Expanse, which also enabled the production to create a signature look for the show. To further establish the look, Benning says he rated the DRAGON at 800 ISO for virtually the entire shoot, and used Cooke 5/i Prime Lenses where possible in order to “take the edge of the ‘sci-fi-ness’ off it, so it’s not so super clinical. Because we wanted it to have some grit to it; we didn’t want it to feel super clean and spacey. It’s kind of like a working class science fiction show; these are miners and oil freighter workers.” The Cookes were too heavy for the MoVI, however, so when on the gimbal he used the Leica Summilux. His widest lens was the 12 mm Master Prime, which he supplemented with a 14 mm Master Prime in some instances. “Sometimes we were in these tiny little spaces and we needed to get back far enough, and not every wall was wild,” he says. “We also didn’t want to get into the habit of pulling the walls out and always going back so you still feel like the camera’s outside the space; we wanted it to feel like you were in there with them as opposed to magically back from far looking in. We did occasionally pull walls out just to make it easier to work, but if we could, we tried to keep the camera inside the space, and if we had to go wider then we’d go wider on the lens.” Working on a large-scale show like The Expanse may be daunting, but it’s even more rewarding, Benning maintains. “Every day we would do something different and cool that made it worth it. The best part was being able to have everybody sitting at the monitors, and we could all look at it, and everyone was excited about what we were doing every day. And having the guys who wrote the books there. Ty pretty much sat next to me almost the whole time in my tent,” he says. A podcast of the complete interview with Jeremy Benning csc on The Expanse is available at csc.ca.
Left: Macmillan preps a shot. Right: Stills from The Plateaus
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By FANEN CHIAHEMEN Photos by DUSTIN RABIN
he Plateaus is a CBC.ca comedy series parodying one Montreal musical group’s struggle to stay relevant in a cut-throat industry. The 10-episode series follows a fictional band by the name of The Plateaus left to fend for themselves after their lead singer’s untimely death in a freak accident. Meanwhile, the band is threatened by a “secret society” that controls the release and distribution of popular music
under the record label Sonic Vision. The Plateaus, created by and starring Schitt’s Creek’s Annie Murphy along with actors/ writers Matt Raudsepp and Kyle Gatehouse, may be a smallscreen send-up of the indie music scene, but it features popular homegrown talents like Jay Baruchel and Elisha Cuthbert, as well as cameos by the likes of Kevin McDonald (Kids in the Hall), musicians Sam Roberts and Fred Penner, and George Stroumboulopoulos. Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
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“The scripts are very comedic and funny and almost otherworldly, but we wanted to maintain a realistic look to the project,” series cinematographer and associate CSC Ian Macmillan says. “But also there is this kind of dark underworld that happens inside the project that deserves something a bit more fantastical,” he adds. “For the Sonic Vision, which is the secret label, we wanted to do something a bit more on the edge, so we looked at films like Eyes Wide Shut, which has a secret society element to it, and used that as a jumping off point.
Macmillan shoots The Plateaus co-creator and actress Annie Murphy.
“We decided to shoot the whole show on sticks and dolly, which meant we could use the ALEXA and AMIRA, and we were given an incredible package from SIM,” Macmillan continues. “Craig Milne worked very closely with us, and we ended up shooting A cam on the ALEXA and B cam on the AMIRA. For lenses we had a set of Cooke S4 Panchros and an Angénieux 25-250.” He adds, “Our colorist AJ McLauchlin at Redlab did an incredible job matching between the two cameras and the mix of lenses.” Macmillan also highlights the camera department, which he says had a unique challenge on The Plateaus. “Even though we were a two-camera project, we were only able to budget for camera assistants for A camera for the length of the show,” he explains. “On the days where we knew we would need a
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second operator we would bring one in. These included [associate CSC] Scott MacLellan, Rob Walsh, Sam Lewis and Alysia Galbreath. My A camera first, Josh Macdonald, would stay with me, and the A camera second, Shimon Nelson, would pull focus on the second camera. But every day we would build both cameras, mainly because we were often flipping between our Primes and a 25-250 Angénieux zoom. The build time was long enough when swapping the lenses; we preferred to have one camera built on Primes and one on the zoom every morning, whether we were planning on bringing it out or not. It meant a lot of hustle from the guys, but it was ready to go every day.” When it came to lighting, the production’s rule was to maintain an even exposure inside while keeping everything dark. “We didn’t want this to be a bright comedy. It’s not always the happiest story for sure,” Macmillan says. “I think the best example of the lighting we were going for is Girls on HBO where they use window motivation and practical motivation and just let that settle softly into the space and not force the exposure inside the space. They light the space instead of the face. “So on The Plateaus we let our actors come in and out of darkness or in and out of more moody areas without calling too much attention to it and without being dramatic about it. It’s a very softly lit film. Every light in this film is put through some kind of a diffusion or bounce; there’s no hard light in the project at all.” The point of shooting this way, Macmillan says, is that it aided in grounding the storyline in reality. “It made you feel like a space that you could be in,” he says. “And I think that it’s kind of a nice contrast with the content of the project too, which is a little fantastical and off the wall, and as long as it feels like a room that you could be in or a situation you could find yourself in visually, I think there is more willingness to accept how wild the script is.” The crew also used a lot of practical lighting, with rice paper balls and tungsten bulbs acting as pracitcals, which they would augment with gelled Kinos through diffusion. Friend and fellow cinematographer Bobby Shore csc loaned Macmillan a couple of LINESTRA lamps, which Macmillan says are “like a Kino tube with a 4-foot tungsten filament inside. I really fell in love with those as a practical motivation. It’s great because it’s a 4-foot tube, but you can put it on a dimmer and it’s really warm and really soft. It has a really nice short throw so it wouldn’t affect the rooms as much.” The Plateaus’ jam space is in the basement of their partment, therefore many scenes were shot in practical basement sets for both day and night. With the location having 6-foot ceilings, the crew could only shoot one direction at a time, despite being a two-camera show. “In order to just get a natural ambient amount of light in that space, we bounced a 1.8 HMI in the far corner of the
room, which is the corner that just never ends up on camera,” Macmillan says. “And we would put that through another 8x8 full grid that was taped onto the ceiling, and kind of move the camera around inside the space to not create too much shadow, or we would operate from the monitor to make it so we weren’t obstructing that light source as much as possible. “And then on the flip, we would turn around and use the door – we’d leave the door open and shoot a lamp through the door and essentially do the same thing but with direct light through an 8x8 grid, and then we’d use 1.2s and Kinos inside the window wells just to maintain that window-based motivation,” he adds. To help create depth, Macmillan and crew also used Christmas lights as practicals. “The white walls of the basement were tough to make pop nicely in our camera sometimes, and I think that we wanted to make it feel like a safe place and kind of let there be a little bit of sparkle in the basement too. And we let it fall soft and had a little bit of that specular highlight stuff going on in the background,” the cinematographer says. For the most part, The Plateaus has a cool, natural look, but in scenes that involve the secret society, the look is warmer, featuring mostly tungsten lights and diffusion on the lens, and Macmillan says he applied different looks to provide easy orientation for viewers, as each episode is only 10 minutes long. “I think being a web series, the attention span might not be there to realize where you are quickly if someone’s just watching something online, so it’s a way of saying, ‘Here we are in this other place,’ and we tried to use warmth whenever we were in a location being run, whether you knew it or not, by the secret society. So as the show progresses you meet more and more characters that are part of the secret society and we just incorporated warmth into each of their scenes,” he says. “On the camera end, in front of the lens we had varying degrees of Soft/FX filters throughout the show,” he continues. “We used thicker grades of Soft/FX from a half to a one to even a two in the secret society world, then in the ‘real world’ we used quarters to a maximum of a one, but there was a Soft/FX on the lens 95 per cent of the time. It helped us soften the edges of the Cookes, which are really sharp lenses, and make it feel a little softer in general and more natural. For this project, it works and helps sell that soft fantastical feel to the real world we wanted to have.” Although the crew carefully scouted the more than 40 locations required for the show, once or twice the production had to change locations at the last minute and Macmillan was forced to improvise his lighting. For example, in one instance, the crew were expecting to shoot in a location that could provide them with a warm, tungsten look. “But we get there, and there was a bunch of windows that there
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Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
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was no way we would be able to control. They were just too high,” the cinematographer recalls. “We ended up having to change everything from tungsten to daylight to compete with the ambience that we were getting from those windows because there was no way that we were going to be able to manage the contrast between the two, and so it was a little bit of a last-second decision to change all of our fixtures for daylight. But we made it work; we ended up building two really large 12x12 flags high up into the ceiling on a post rig that was rigged on the floor so that we could kill all the spill from these windows and keep it as dark and contrasty as possible.” What put the crew most to the test was the amount of material they had to cover in a limited amount of time, because, Macmillan says, they approached the project not as a web series but as an “aggressive feature,” requiring a 20-day schedule to get through more than 100 pages of script. “The schedule was never slow moving, but it meant that we had to be a welloiled machine right out of the gates. I really have to hand it to the camera, grip and electric team for making those days possible,” Macmillan says, adding that the grip department was run by key grip Miles Barnes, and the lighting department by gaffer Cody Larocque. Maintaining that web series are no longer “just this thing you throw together with your buddies,” Macmillan says the show “needed to have a quality and confidence so that it would belong with everything else that you watch on TV or in the movie theatre. “I like being a part of this new breed of storytellers that are putting together feature scripts broken into chapters, so it’s more like a serial than a series,” he adds. “The web is the larg-
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est distribution system in the world, and I think you have to go into it thinking it can be seen by a large audience and you should go in trying to tell the story the way you would if you were shooting for television or the big screen.”
Top: Cast and crew on the set of The Plateaus. Bottom: Cinematographer and associate CSC Ian Macmillan with the ARRI ALEXA.
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22 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
Credit: Courtesy of DitoGear
T
he old carnival wheel of fortune call used to go something like, “Around and around she goes, where she stops, nobody knows,” but when it comes to today’s cinematography turntable technology we know exactly where it’s going to stop. That’s because it’s going to stop wherever we want it to, thanks to those digital controls, and the DitoGear Spinn360 is a perfect example of step motor technology. Turntables are one of those studio tools that are great for getting that 360 shot of a small object or in stop motion animation, but in the analogue days it was more about trial and error in getting the spin speed right and synching up with the camera. Initially, they were often purpose-built and spun manually, but in the digital world things are much more precise. While traditionally, turntables are used for smaller objects, like fashion goods or jewelry, they can be used for anything the mind can design. The DitoGear Spinn360 boasts an impressive payload of 100 kilos, enough to put
Credit: Courtesy of OrcaVue
TECH COLUMN
Turntables Pack a Lot of High-Tech Controls
Above: The DitoGear Spinn360 Below: The OrcaVue
the talent on it and take it for a spin, if you really thought that was the shot. In reality, of course, it allows for larger and heavier static objects and the opportunity to inject some smooth and seamless animation into the shot as DitoGear’s Patryk Kizny points out in a Skpe interview from Poland where the company is based. DitoGear makes a range of gear, from gimbal stabilizers to multi-axis motioncontrolled frames to sliders, lens controls, jibs and more. Their interest in developing these products – see ditogear. com – all stems from their own work in stop motion animation and time lapse cinematography. More so, they consciously set out to drive value so they are keeping things small and direct. It means for the most part, especially in Canada, the products are available only online. “We don’t have a retail channel in Canada because the market is too small and so are we, but we’re shipping all over the world every day,” he said with some satisfaction. The Spinn360 sells for US$1,200, though it fluctuates with the U.S. dollar, and launched about a year ago. It’s an upgrade to their previous turntable and offers a digital step-motor, making much less noise with either a BD Controller or Omni Controller (which is an upgrade). It integrates with DZED System Dragonframe, the image capture software for stop motion animation, as do all DitoGear products. The turntable is literally plug and play and hefty enough at 14.6 kilos to be stable. Like the other products in their lineup, Kizny is hoping the Spinn360 also takes off. “Our gimbals have been very popular in the automotive sector and in shooting movies from cars,” he said. “We aim for something that’s affordable.” As turntable rigs get more sophisticated, the Spinn360 is just one example. OrcaVue (orcavue.com) has a different take, pun intended, to imparting a specific sense of motion into a shot. In this vision, it’s a reverse: the subject remains at their mark and the camera
rotates around them. Now that’s nothing startlingly new, but the rig they’ve designed allows from some eye-grabbing shots as you’ll see from the reels on their website. The sizzle they’re selling is to allow cinematographers to recreate the infamous bullet-time sequences from The Matrix, something that would otherwise be unaffordable to most small and mid-size productions at US$50,000 to US$200,000 a shot by the time the cast, crew and gear are rigged and ready. Simply described, the OrcaVue rig is a platform on which the subject stands. Then the camera is mounted via an arm to a turntable that spins around the subject. This generates a 360-degree view, though there’s a limit to how deep the shot can go since you don’t want the rig stepping into the frame. It is low profile enough to capture a standing subject from just above the ankles, and they’ve demo reeled some sports shots to illustrate the possibilities. It’s designed to work at 120 or 240 fps and will also work with full-on slowmotion cameras like the Phantom Miro LC320s, they say. There’s a list of recommended cameras, starting at the iPhone6 and running up to the RED SCARLET DRAGON. The OrcaVue comes in two models, the Life and the XL. At US$2,499, the Life’s payload is 350 pounds, about two people, on a 24-inch platform with a camera swing arm of 6 to 11 feet. The turntable moves at 20 to 150 revolutions per minute and will handle a camera up to about 1 lb. The XL, US$2,799, is as it sounds, bigger, with a payload up to 850 pounds on a 48-inch platform. It’s also a lot heftier at 275 pounds dead weight compared to the mere 37 pounds for the Life, and moves more slowly at 10 to 50 RPM, but it will take a camera up to 10 lbs.
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CSC MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
there! The press, accolades and celebrations were a huge pat on the back for doing something I already love to do. As well, for many years, I was the DP developing the look of most of Alliance Atlantis’ series. That is a rare opportunity I will always be grateful for.
Mike McMurray
csc
What films or other works of art have made the biggest impression on you? I have been inspired by many different films from the past and continue to find inspiration in current productions. Jordan Cronenweth’s Blade Runner or Altered States set my template for sci-fi. Claudio Miranda’s Oscar-winning Life of Pi resonates with me as the perfect marriage between CGI and live action. How did you get started in the business? My career was launched in 1974 at Toronto’s local television station, CFTO. My fascination with the medium grew during production of commercials and variety shows for the station. Moving on to pursue freelance film work afforded me the opportunity to experiment and develop my own signature lighting techniques. I cultivated a long-standing relationship with Atlantis Films (subsequently Alliance Atlantis) where I became responsible for designing the look for most of the company’s new pro-ductions. From there I accumulated credits on major projects for both U.S. and Canadian networks, airing worldwide. In addition to
24 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
cinematography, I’ve also expanded my skills into directing episodic television for Paramount/Showtime and NBC/ Universal. Who have been your mentors or teachers? Peter Edwards, supervising lighting director at CFTO, Tom Swartz at SCTV, and Robby Müller, while working on his 1987 feature film The Believers, all taught me both the handson basics of lighting, as well as specific lighting techniques. From this knowledge base I developed my own lighting style. I continue to learn from others, especially innovative gaffers.
What is one of your most memorable moments on set? I have always been of the opinion that sets do not have to be mean, miserable and stressful to get the job done right. A happy set creates many memorable moments. Anyone who has worked with me knows that some of the best moments have occurred jamming in the music room during lunch breaks on “Hawaiian Shirt Friday.” What do you like best about what you do? A film set can be a very social environment. After a while, crew, cast and producers become more like extended family. When that happens, you are creating as a team. Everyone has each other’s back. What do you like least about what you do? The hours in our industry can be brutal. When you have to go back into work later on the same day that you just wrapped on may be a reality, but it just isn’t right.
What cinematographers inspire you? I continue to be inspired by what I see on the screen. In addition to those cinematographers whose exceptional work I’ve already mentioned, I am always searching for a new look or technique. I have no qualms in calling a DP and asking how they achieved a look. Whether seasoned or new, all cinematographers have the ability to inspire.
What do you think has been the greatest invention (related to your craft)? I will only speak to what innovation has changed over my career. Both LED lighting and digital cameras have made the cinematographer’s job a lot easier. LEDs are versatile and can be used anywhere with minimal power consumption without radiating heat. Digital cameras eliminate the visual guesswork compared to film.
Name some of your professional highlights. My Emmy nomination was right up
How can others follow your work? www.mmcmurray.com Come visit me on set any time!
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Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
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Scenes from HD Source/ZTV’s Open House unveiling its newly renovated headquarters in Mississauga on October 15.
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Photos supplied by HD Source and Joan Hutton csc
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1. Trevor Huys, Dazmo Camera & Steve Zajaczkiwsky, HD Source / ZTV 2. Paul James 3. Paul James & Steve Zajaczkiwsky 4. Michael Losier, HD Source (Right) with guest 5. Ken Thasan, HD Source (Left) with guest 6. CSC Executive Officer Susan Saranchuck with Joan Hutton csc 7. Rob Poretti, Marvel Video 8. Sebastian Scala, Sony & Morris Heber, Praise Cathedral 9. Mitch Gross, Convergent Design & Matthew Crack, Dedolight 10. Jack Mosor, Greg Williams & Henry Pinnock, ZTV Broadcast
Edmonton Film Cooperative wants your unused Arri 35 mm camera. Do you have film cameras languishing on a shelf? Give it a new life, give it to a film coop and we will give you a healthy tax credit. Have a 35BL, a 235, a 435 gathering dust because everyone is Red cam nuts? Have other great camera accessories? Let us know, let’s make a deal. Contact Andy @rentals@fava.ca and work a great deal. SHORT-TERM ACCOMMODATION FOR RENT Visiting Vancouver for a shoot? One-bedroom condo in Kitsilano on English Bay with secure underground parking, $350 per week. Contact: Peter Benison at 604-229-0861, 604-229-0861 or peter@peterbenison.com. EQUIPMENT FOR SALE Spectra Digital Professional IV 150.00 Spectra Digital Professiomal IV “A” 200.00 Pentax Digital Spotmeter 100.00 Spectra Professional Cine 100.00 Mark IV 10/1 Directors Viewfinder 75.00 Cavision VMF Directors Viewfinder 100.00 Kino Flo Diva Lite 400 Model DIV-400 with stand and 10 tungsten spare bulbs and 4 daylight spare bulbs 350.00 12’x12’ white cotton bounce cloth 50.00 Whole package $1,000.00 Andreas Poulsson CSC apoulsson@hotmail.com 604 868 6292 Full Set of MINT Classic Soft Filters. 4x5.6 glass camera filters in all the densities- 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2. Perfect condition and all in pouches. Normally sells for $360+CDN each. All five for $ 1400 no tax/includes shipping within Canada. danny@spitfirefilms.net 604.505.1615 FOR SALE : Preston FI+Z (RF) remote follow focus package. Includes: MDR1, 2X DM1 motors(Jerry Hill style), Microforce zoom control, Iris controller, hand unit, speed booster (12v-24v)+ fast charger. Panavison, RED, Arri power cables/run cables. + brackets/ various lens gears/marking discs. ASKING $9,000 for more info and a detailed spec list please contact: Greg Biskup (647) 405-8644, greg@ biskupcine.com Cooke Speed Panchro 18mm 1.7/T2. “C” Mount, Nice condition. From United Kingdom #572079, asking $1,800.00 Barry Casson csc Office: 250-721-2113 bcasson@speakfilm.com Canon Wide angle Lens J11A X 4.5 B4 IRSD and Canon Servo Zoom Control ZSD-300 Value 27 000$ Asking only 3 000$ Elmo Suv-Cam SD ELSC5C and accessories New Value 1 200$ Asking only 100$, Anton Bauer UltraLight & Ul Soft Box Asking only 150$, Frezzi HMI Sun Gun & Frezzi Soft Box Value 1 700$ Asking only 400$, Porta Brace Rain Slicker for Pro Camcorder RS-55 like New Asking only 150$, Script Boy Wireless T.C. System needs minor repair Asking only 100$, Shure Mixer FP33 & Porta Brace audio mixer case Asking only 450$, Sony Monitor SD PVM-14N1U new Asking only 50$, 2 Camera Canon Dig Rebel 10Mp XTi, Sigma 70-300 F4-5.6 Super C-AF, 4 Canon Batteries and accessories Asking only 550$, Porta Brace monitor Case for Panasonic BT-LH910 like new Asking only 100$ andrepaul@me.com or call 514 831-8347 Panasonic AJ-HDX900P 290 drum hours, $7500.00 Canon KJ16ex7.7B IRSE lens, $5000.00 CanonJ11ex4.5B4 WRSD lens, $4500.00 Call Ian 416-725-5349 or idscott@rogers.com
Asahi Pentax spotmeter(just serviced) 425.00 Minolta Colormeter III F 750.00 Spectra Professional IV 250.00 Spectra Professional IV A 300.00 Minolta SpotmeterF(need repair) 100.00 Bernard Couture: p.bc@sympatico.ca; 514-486-2749 Professional U/W housing from renowned world leader Amphibico.2006 Sony HVR-A1U camera with 0.7x wide adapter and all accesories. 2006 AmphibicoEVO-Pro housing with .55x wide conversion and flat port. Rare model built in small quantity. Most camera functions accessible.About 60-70 dives. Complete overhaul and pressure tested by factory in 2010. 3.5’’ LCD Monitor, rebuilt in 2010. 2 compact Discovery 10W HID lamps by Amphibico with batteries and chargers. Spare o-ring for all. Soft and hard carry cases. All in good condition. E-mail or call for photos and more information. 514-941-2555, daniel@dvdp.ca Transvideo Titan HD Transmitter and Re¬ceiver kits. $3000ea. 2 for $5500. Similar in style and operation to the Boxx Meridian. 1- Angenieux 25-250 T3.9 Arri PL mount, std film gears on focus, zoom, and iris (32 pitch-mod 0.8), lens support and collar, shipping case included $2900 1Tamron 300mm F2.8 Arri bayonet mount with PL adapter, std film gear on focus (32 pitch-mod 0.8), 42mm filters: clear, 2 x 85, shipping case included $900 Contact: stephen.reizes@gmail.com Panasonic 3D Professional Full HD Video Camera (AG-3DA1) The AG-3DA1 is the world’s first professional, fullyintegrated Full HD 3D camcorder that records to SD card media. The AG-3DA1 will democratize 3D production by giving professional videographers a more affordable, flexible, reliable and easier-to-use tool for capturing immersive content as well as providing a training tool for educators. At less than 6.6 pounds, the AG-3DA1 is equipped with dual lenses and two full 1920 x 1080 2.07 megapixel 3-MOS imagers to record 1080/60i, 50i, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) and 720/60p and 50p in AVCHD. Camera is very new. Includes Kata Carrying case, 4 batteries. Asking price: $17,500 (includes tax). Will ship out of province. To view photos/questions email frank@tgtvinc.com or call 416-916-9010. Proline 17 inch Teleprompter Included is both PC AND Mac versions for our industry leading Flip-Q teleprompter software. Flip-Q automatically “Flips” the secondary output on your laptop so both the operator and talent will see perfect reading left-right text. The ProLine 17 standard LCD panels are the lightest weight, lowest profile designs in their class. In addition, they offer both VGA and composite video inputs adaptable with any computer output or application. They also offer flexible power options including 100-240V AC or external 12v DC input. Price includes Tripod attachments and Pelican carrying case. Complete tool-less set-up. Asking Price: $2,000 (includes tax) To view photos/questions email frank@tgtvinc.com or call 416-916-9010. Sony PMW-F3 with S-log firmware. Low hours, Excellent condition. Kaiser top handle, 32GB high rate card. $3500.00. Gemini 4:4:4 Solid State recorder now PRORes capable, with eSata and Thunderbolt readers, lots of accessories, case, 512GB and 3x 256GB solid state drives/ cards. Excellent condition. $3000.00 IBE-Optics HDx35 PL to B4 adapter comes with power cable and soft case. Used on F3 and Alexa for superb results. $3000.00. Willing to sell
everything as a complete package for $8500.00 Available for everything. Contact John Banovich 604-726-5646 or JohnBanovich@gmail.com Nikkor AF-S VR 500mm F 4 IS ED Lens. Super rare and very hard to find!!! Serial # 204153 Perfect condition. Not a scratch on it!!! Only one year old. Included Hard Shell Case, Lens Hood, Lens Strap, Case strap. Come with Manfrotto Carbon Fiber tripod, Jobu head and Jobu Mounting Bracket. Asking price $9000.00 gandalf-merlyn@shaw.ca, 604.566.2235 (Residence), 604.889.9515 (Mobile) Panasonic BT-S950P 16:9 / 4:3 SD Field Monitor for Sale (Excellent Condition) - $100.Portabrace included Please contact Christian at (416) 459-4895 or email cbielz@gmail.com SERVICES 20% Off to all CSC members! Looking for a Green Screen Studio? Greensuite209 is owned and operated by a CSC member, and is now offering 20% off our regular studio and equipment rental rates for all CSC members! We are a 1750 sq. ft. green screen studio in South Etobicoke just south of William F Whites. We have a 11’ X 29’ X 14’ Digicomp sloping green screen. Check us out online at www.gs209.com and contact us for any further information! email: Booking@ GS209.com. HD Source is well-known and respected for their excellent SERVICE department and truly skilled technicians. As an Authorized Sony Service Depot, HD Source professionally maintains, repairs, and performs crucial upgrades to a wide range of equipment, including HD and 4K. HD Source also proudly services Canon Cinema EOS products and Canon Broadcast lenses, and boasts an on-staff Canon-trained and experienced Lens Technician. HD Source understands how important each piece of equipment is, and will get it operating and back to you as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible. Call Alnoor at 905-890-6905, email him at alnoor. remtulla@hdsource.ca, or drop by HD Source anytime at 1670 Enterprise Rd. (Dixie & 401). HILL’S VIDEO PRODUCTIONS – BURLINGTON Looking for a unique shooting control room? Rent our 32 ft. 1981 Bus complete with control room and audio. HDSDI fiber boxes for long runs. Great for keeping warm on those multi camera shoots. www.hillsvideo.com Rob Hill – 905.335.1146 Do you travel between Toronto and Hamilton for production every day? Need a place to: screen dailies, host your production office that’s close to both? Hill’s Production Services www.hillsvideo.com. We are a full Service Production Company with cameras and edit bays for making EPKs. Some grip gear, if you find yourself in the field, short of one or two items. Hill’s also has office space and a mobile screening room. Located just off the QEW in Burlington.Check us out 905-335-1146 Ask for Rob Hill.
CAMERA CLASSIFIED IS A FREE SERVICE PROVIDED FOR CSC MEMBERS. For all others, there is a one-time $25 (plus GST) insertion fee. Your ad will appear here and on the CSC’s website, www.csc.ca. If you have items you would like to buy, sell or rent, please email your information to editor@csc.ca.
Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
27
CLASSIFIEDS
EQUIPMENT WANTED
PRODUCTION NOTES
12 MONKEYS II (series); DP David Greene csc; DP Boris Mojsovski csc; to December 4, Toronto ARROW IV (series); DP Gordon Verheul csc; to April 27, 2016, Vancouver BATES MOTEL IV (series); DP John Bartley csc, asc; to April 4, 2016, Vancouver THE CODE (series); DP Eric Cayla csc; DP Pierre Jodoin csc; to February 5, 2016, Toronto DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW (series); DP David Geddes csc, asc; to April 1, 2016, Burnaby FAIRYLAND (series); DP Gerald Packer csc; to December 11, Toronto THE FLASH II (series); DP Kim C. Miles csc; to April 15, 2016, Vancouver FRONTIER (series); David Herrington csc; to March 7, 2016, St. Johns THE GOOD WITCH II (series); DP John Berrie csc; B Camera Operator Paula Tymchuk; to January 29, 2016, Toronto HEARTLAND IX (series); DP Craig Wrobleski csc; B Camera Operator Jarrett Craig; to December 14, Calgary HOUDINI AND DOYLE (series); DP Stephen Reizes csc; to December 14, Toronto IZOMBIE II (series); DP Michael Wale csc; Operator/Steadicam Greg Fox; to December 18, North Vancouver LEGENDS OF TOMORROW (series); DP David Geddes csc, asc; to April 6, 2016, Burnaby LOOKINGLASS AKA FRANKENSTEIN (series); B Camera Operator Ian Seabrook csc; to January 25, 2016, Burnaby LUCIFER (series); DP Ryan McMaster csc; DP Glen Keenan csc; January 29, 2016, Burnaby MENSONGES III (series); DP Jérôme Sabourin; to December 15, Montreal THE MOBLEES II (series); DP Christopher Ball csc; to December 18, Dartmouth MINORITY REPORT (series); DP David Moxness csc, asc (alternating episodes); to December 18, North Vancouver MURDOCH MYSTERIES IX (series); DP James E. Jeffrey csc; DP Yuri Yakubiw csc; Camera Operator Brian Gedge; 1st Assistant Kevin Michael Leblanc; to December 10, Toronto THE NEXT STEP IV (series); DP Kim Derko csc; Camera Operator Brad Hruboska; to December 8, Toronto PHIL (feature); B Camera Operator Amy Belling; to December 18, Burnaby QUANTICO (series); 2nd Unit DP Robert Mattigetz csc; to December 15, Montreal REIGN III (series); DP Paul Sarossy csc, asc, bsc; DP Michael Storey csc; B Camera/Steadicam Andris Mattis; to February 19, 2016, Toronto SAVING HOPE IV (series); DP David Perrault csc; to December 10, Mississauga THE STANLEY DYNAMIC II (series); DP Matt Phillips csc; to April 8, 2016, Toronto THE STRAIN III (series); DP Colin Hoult csc (alternating episodes); B Camera Operator J.P. Locherer csc; to April 13, 2016, Toronto SUPERNATURAL XI (series); DP Serge Ladouceur csc; Camera Operator Brad Creasser; to April 20, 2016, Burnaby WHEN CALLS THE HEART III (series); DP Michael Balfry csc; to January 28, 2016, Burnaby WYNONNA EARP (series); DP Gavin Smith csc; to February 10, 2016, Calgary YAMASAKA VII (series); DP Daniel Vincelette csc; to December 11, Montreal
CALENDAR OF EVENTS DECEMBER 2-6, Whistler Film Festival, Whistler, BC, whistlerfilmfestival.com 4, CSC Lens Testing Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca/education/ 5-6, CSC Camera Assistant Workshop, csc.ca/education/ JANUARY 21-31, Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, sundance.org 31, CSC Awards entry deadline, csc.ca FEBRUARY 1, CSC Annual General Meeting, Technicolor Toronto 4, CSC Pub Night, S1 Studios, Toronto 9, February Freeze, William F. White, Toronto, februaryfreeze.com 5-14, Victoria Film Festival, Victoria BC, victoriafilmfestival.com
28 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
18-27, Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois, Montreal, rvcq.com 25-28, Kingston Canadian Film Festival, Kingston, ON, kingcanfilmfest.com MARCH 10-20, International Film Festival on Art, Montreal, artfifa.com APRIL 2, CSC Awards, The Arcadian Court, Toronto, csc.ca 28-May 8, Hot Docs, Toronto, hotdocs.ca
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Subscribe online at www.csc.ca
Control the sky.
SkyPanel: The new fully tuneable LED soft light. The ARRI SkyPanel is an exceptionally bright and versatile LED soft light. Offering tuneability from 2,800 K to 10,000 K as well as plus and minus green correction, vivid color selection and saturation adjustment using the RGBW color gamut, it can be controlled via on-board controls or remotely, and instantly, via DMX.
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Welcome to a new era of filmmaking As a filmmaker, never before has one camera manufacturer offered you such a substantial choice. No surprise, it’s Sony, the company that builds a full family of 4K capable Super 35 production cameras. Cameras that not only work together seamlessly and provide all the camera you need for any application, they come packed with unparalleled features and an attractive affordable price. There’s the FS5, Sony’s new lightweight champ perfect for handheld applications, and for attaching to lightweight gimbal stabilizers, rigs and UAVs. The FS7 – the proven production workhorse, ideal for documentary run-and-gun shooting where
PXW-FS5
its lightweight shoulder style operation is perfectly suited. And the venerable F5 and F55, Sony’s famous tried-and-true cinema production grade cameras. Of course all of these Sony workhorses provide for S-Log2 and S-Log3 operation, for capturing up to 14 stops of dynamic range, ideal for grading. And deliver universal lensing options, from Sony E-mount, to EF, PL or even B4 mounts with adapters. Your next move? Contact Vistek, talk to a Vistek video specialist who can help make your next production a Sony spectacular.
PXW-FS7
PMW-F5
PMW-F55
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