Canadian Society of Cinematographers Magazine January 2016

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CANADIAN  SOCIETY  OF  CINEMATOGRAPHERS

$4 Januar y 2016 www.csc.ca

Serge Desrosiers csc Lights the Night in

Ville-Marie John Banovich csc: Wild Rockies Aaron Bernakevitch: Hello World



A publication of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers

FEATURES – VOLUME 7, NO. 8 JANUARY 2016 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 occupations have joined the organization. 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 Credit: Max Films Media Inc.

senior director of photography. We facilitate the dissemination and 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

Serge Desrosiers csc Lights the Night in Ville-Marie By Fanen Chiahemen

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have no political or union affiliation.

CORPORATE SPONSORS

Wild Rockies: John Banovich csc Loves Nature By Fanen Chiahemen

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Aaron Bernakevitch Envisions Future Family Life in Hello World

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Credit: Alsandair Toms

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 Henry’s Camera HD Source Inspired Image Picture Company Kino Flo 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. Technically Yours Inc. Technicolor The Source Shop Vistek Camera Ltd. Walter Klassen FX William F. White International Inc. ZGC Inc. ZTV

By Fanen Chiahemen

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 2 4 22 26 28 30 31 32

From the President In the News The Machine that is the CSC Tech Column Profusion CSC Member Spotlight - Alwyn Kumst csc Classifieds Productions Notes / Calendar

Cover: Actress Monica Bellucci in a still from Ville-Marie. Credit: Max Films Media Inc.


Canadian Cinematographer January 2016 Vol. 7, No. 8 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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I

t’s that time again when we usher in the new year, and while it is also the time to recap much of what has happened in the industry, I’d like to offer some input about what we can expect in the near future, especially within the CSC. Always of interest to me is the important topic of education, and the CSC has this firmly in its grasp by way of the many and varied workshops that it has to offer. If we take a moment to examine these excellent vehicles for teaching and learning, as well as imparting information, it can be seen that the workshops fill a very important role and are an essential part of what we do in the film industry. The workshops vary substantially in that they offer not only specifics from a technical standpoint but also instruction that is integral to filmmaking in general terms. Take, for example, Acting with the Camera, a workshop aimed at working actors interested in sharpening their on-camera skills, as well as understanding how different lenses are used to capture performance. Information is also given relating to lighting, dollies, etc., as well as general on-set tips, learned from the best in the industry. Other very well-attended workshops have been the Lighting Workshop and the recently added Lighting for Tabletop, which proved to be most rewarding for all, especially the instructors, for it allowed them to see just how talented some of the participants were and how they harnessed and applied their creativity. Closely allied to lighting and all that it represents are many other camera workshops. Various camera modules are offered that deal with specific cameras, including the DSLR workshop because of the enormous impact that this type of camera has on the market. Another specialized module addresses Lens Testing, which covers everything that relates to anamorphic and spherical lenses. Rounding off these workshops includes a special workshop dedicated to Advanced Post Workflow. This is critical in order to appreciate the many aspects of managing the various looks and understanding calibration for many different environments. Of course, all of this technology needs to be managed, and so there is yet another category directed at those responsible for keeping the cameras functioning at their peak performance. This workshop has been specially designed and designated as the Camera Assistant Workshop. see President page 29


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IN THE NEWS

(Daniel Grant csc), My Internship in Canada (Ronald Plante csc) and Sleeping Giant ( James Klopko). The short film O Negative, shot by CSC associate Cabot McNenly, was among the 10 films named Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival shorts for 2015. Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival celebrates and promotes contemporary Canadian cinema and raises awareness of Canadian achievements in film. The 10-day festival runs from January 8 to 17 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto.

Other Member News David Greene csc

CSC Members among ASC Award Nominees

T

he American Society of Cinematographers recently named its television nominees for the 30th Annual Outstanding Achievement Awards. Among the nominees were David Greene csc for 12 Monkeys, “Mentally Divergent” (Syfy) in the Episode of a Regular Series category, and Pierre Gill csc for Casanova (Amazon) in the Television Movie, Miniseries, or Pilot category. Winners will be announced on February 14 at the organization’s annual ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

CSC Member Projects among TIFF Canada’s Top Ten Projects shot by CSC members have been selected as 2015’s TIFF Canada’s Top Ten films, it was announced in December. Among the feature films are Closet Monster (Bobby Shore csc), Hurt (Jonathon Cliff csc and Ian Kerr csc), Into the Forest

CSC Annual General Meeting Monday, February 1, 2016 at 6:30pm Technicolor Toronto Boardroom No. 1 49 Ontario Street Following the meeting we will have a light dinner and refreshments, courtesy of the good folks at Technicolor. Great opportunity to meet and chat with your fellow cinematographers! Hope to see you there, CSC member!

Pasha Patriki csc recently launched 9 Light Entertainment, a company aimed at the development and production of quality Canadian-grown feature films. The first project of 9 Light Entertainment is the short film Dumb Luck, which is a Tom Henderson and Pasha Patriki proof of concept for a on the set of Dumb Luck. feature film of the same name, based on a book by writer Lesley Choyce. In December, the 15th Marrakech International Film Festival paid tribute to the work of Kamal Derkaoui csc and awarded him with the festival’s honorary trophy (L’Étoile d’Or).The festival also included a tribute to Canadian cinema. Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola presided over the jury of the festival’s international feature film competition. Congratulations to Dylan Macleod csc! “Best Cinematography Winner” at the 2015 Whistler Film Festival for his stunning work on the feature He Hated Pigeons, directed by Ingrid Veninger.

Dylan Macleod csc

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: Serge Desrosiers 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.

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@csc_CDN

Credits: Erin Simkin

Pierre Gill csc


Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016 •

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Serge Desrosiers csc Lights the Night in

Ville-Marie By FANEN CHIAHEMEN

C

inematographer Serge Desrosiers csc and director Guy Édoin have worked on several films together, mostly featuring rural daytime exterior landscapes in Quebec. For their latest collaboration they brought their partnership to the streets of Montreal for Ville-Marie, a feature film that interweaves the lives of an international film star – played by real-life icon Monica Bellucci – her son and an ambulance worker, all converging at a Montreal hospital. Despite the fact that most of the shooting took place in the

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city at night, Édoin and Desrosiers stuck with their tradition of shooting film. “After 20 years of experience shooting video and film, I thought we could have probably shot the feature with the ALEXA,” Desrosiers says. “But we did some tests of night sequences in Montreal in 35 mm and with the ALEXA, and we compared them at Globale Vision’s lab. And when we saw the images on 35 mm, it was obvious after 10 seconds that we would be shooting film.” Desrosiers says Édoin’s films, which all have been shot in


35 mm, have an “organic feeling” that he wanted to achieve in Ville-Marie. “The motion blur with film is so subtle and so much better to the eye than what we see with the ALEXA,” Desrosiers remarks. “And red in film is absolutely unbeatable because everything we shoot in the digital world we shoot in RAW. For sure we can add red and stuff, but it’s never the same. We spent a half hour trying to recreate the same red with the ALEXA that we got on 35 mm. After 30 minutes of colour timing, we weren’t able to have the

same red. I said, ‘Look we’ll never have that kind of time in colour timing, spending 30 minutes just for one shot,’ so we moved on. “Also, when I saw the tests, I was really flabbergasted,” Desrosiers adds. “It was a night sequence, and all the streetlights glow in the whites. That we cannot do anymore with digital unless we add a filter. And that was done organically. And it did not look like a digital picture. The whites, the luminosity, the reds, I was really impressed with this because Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016 •

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Images credited to Max Films Media Inc. except where noted

Still from Ville-Marie


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Credit: Marlène Gélineau Payette

I thought today everything is settled and we can have everything looking like film.” In an age where shooting on film is a rare privilege, Desrosiers did have to make some compromises. “Every feature film is a give and give situation,” the cinematographer says. “We had to give something to make it work, and I had to give up 4-perf for 3-perf so the producers were able to at least gain 25 per cent of budget because film is expensive.” Desrosiers captured Ville-Marie on an Arricam supplied by Vision Globale with Kodak 5219 film stock, and shooting 3-perf also allowed him to use spherical Master Primes, which can open up at T1.3. “They were the best lenses for every night situation,” he says. “Anamorphic prime lenses are very expensive even though they open up around 2.9, and seriously, I think the best choice for us was to keep it spherical so that we would have access to everything in the spherical world. Because if we needed 100 mm it was easy; if we wanted a periscope we could have had it easily. So the trade-off was to go with 3-perf and spherical so we could keep the budget down on the camera rental, lenses rental and also on the film stock.” Using a film stock with 500 ASA meant that on night shoots Desrosiers could complement street lighting with lights brought in from cranes in order to see the action. His arsenal included 18Ks and Kinos on cranes, as well as EPC Par Cans to add punch light into the trees. He adds that he used a sodium filter when lighting the trees, which imbued the night sequences with a reddish-brown look. One of the challenges on Ville-Marie was that the storyline involves a film shoot, and Édoin wanted a distinct look between the film he was making and the film within the film. “The sequences in the movie within the movie were more like an American-style movie with big backlights, big rays, bluish lit with a lot of tungsten, oranges,” Desrosiers says. Those scenes, he says, were shot in a studio dressed with a 1950s “glorified look, with three-point lighting on the actors. We were going back to the old school there. We had two Christie projectors projecting a winter landscape on the background wall. We used a lot of projectors in the studio, which looks a bit awkward but actually suits the film. Because we wanted it to look like it was lit that way for a purpose. And it looks like an old film or TV show.” In the studio, Desrosiers employed simple 1K and 2K lights to light the actors, as well as plenty of Kino Celebs, which in three-point lighting adds just a little bit of detail, he says. The film within the film also needed “lightning strikes, rain in the windows, and lots of artifacts or accessories that would make it look like an old film, but by contrast the lighting of Ville-Marie was so simple,” Desrosiers says. “The lighting style is so natural you can’t even say where the light is coming from. That’s what I was trying to do because for me it’s a poetic film, and we were lucky enough to shoot film, which made it look as natural as possible.”

Top: DP Serge Desrosiers csc with actress Monica Bellucci. Middle: Actress Monica Bellucci in a still from Ville-Marie.


Top: A night shoot on the streets of Montreal. Bottom: The film within a film.

For example, sequences in the hospital, Desrosiers explains, were lit with just the neon lights overhead and some LED lighting strips that he installed behind the handrails in the corridors. “They don’t do much for lighting purposes, but they just bring these lines of infinity on the corridor which was really beautiful,” he says. For the actors, shooting in 35 mm was a welcome change that brought tranquility to the set, Desrosiers says. “What it does is it gives them the latitude of working and rehearsing their roles. And then they work more with the director because we don’t shoot the rehearsal like we do when shooting video. It gives them more time to work on their roles, and there is something about when we say, ‘Rolling,’ and then you hear the camera, everyone is just on. The actors know we will not be able to shoot this take 25 times because there is not much film stock. “My electrics also need to be on,” he continues. “I tell them that I don’t want to see cables on the ground because we don’t want to have to erase them, as we’re shooting film. Even the hair and makeup artist Djina Caron would come to the camera and look through the viewfinder because we basically had a video assist. So everyone is more alert when we shoot film, and this is what we felt when doing the test. And everyone was so happy to shoot film.” Things got “a bit complicated,” Desrosiers notes, when it came to watching dailies, which would be ready at least two days after shooting. “That’s where shooting digital is very important in those instances,” he says. “But you just have to use your experience. I would say my light meter is my life in shooting film, because there is no way without my light meter I can do this.” He also has a lot of confidence in Édoin, who he says gives him 100 per cent creative latitude. “I’m always there to challenge him and say, ‘Was this what you were really trying to say when you first wrote the script?’ I’m always there as a guardian angel to make sure that he’s actually following what he wanted to do. For 10 years I’ve been challenging him to make sure he doesn’t forget what he was trying to say.” Still, Desrosiers acknowledges that Ville-Marie is probably the last feature they will shoot on film. “Right now there are two labs available in North America, one in Montreal – Vision Globale – and Photokem in Los Angeles. If they shut down Montreal, I don’t know a lot of producers that will want to send the film to L.A. to get processed, developed and transferred afterwards by plane,” he says. “So I guess soon, just like there will always be records – people like to listen to music on records because of the sonority that it has; it has basically full range – I guess film will also be like that. There will always be the vintage filmmakers wanting to shoot film because of what film was and what film is, but my great disappointment is that we’ll lose one of the best mediums we’ll ever have, which I would say is film.” Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016 •

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Wild Rockies

John Banovich csc Loves Nature

J

ohn Banovich csc first fell in love with working on nature projects when he covered the 1993 Clayoquot protests – one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in Canadian history that saw various environmental groups and members of the public rally against the industrial logging of the temperate rainforest in Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia. As Banovich recalls, “People came in from all over the world to chain themselves to trees, people were spiking trees, people were getting injured on both sides. It was a really unique moment in Canadian history, and for me it was the moment when my career as a wildlife filmmaker began, and I’ve been doing it ever since.” His latest project is a documentary series for Love Nature channel called Wild Rockies, which he also directs and produces, and which has taken him to some of Canada’s remotest locations, enduring blazing heat, snow, ice, hail, and torrential downpours, as well as dozens of insects, to capture wild animals in their natural habitat. He shared his adventures with Canadian Cinematographer during a recent break from shooting.

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By FANEN CHIAHEMEN


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Credit: Alsandair Toms

John Banovich csc on location in Alberta.

Canadian Cinematographer: Can you describe your approach to this wildlife series? John Banovich csc: It combines classic wildlife shooting with classic storytelling. We’re not shooting any of the content EPK; none of this is reality TV style. It is in fact actually a cinema show. The look I was trying to go for was telling a really powerful visual story. Here is the massiveness of what Canada is. Let’s narrow down on that mountain range and talk about that specific animal. For example, here is the snowy mountain goat; look at this beautiful animal, and maybe you’ve driven by it without realizing it was there 500 feet above you. So we start with a massive wide shot and move into something a little more localized to the range. Look at what it’s feeding on and sleeping in and the social activity between different members of that community. Now let’s change the lens and go to an extremely long lens on a geared head somewhere on a crazy angled slope and try to get into a single tight shot of the animal. CC: What’s unique about this show? JB: It’s all true 4K, which fed into the look we were going for. Whether it’s on the drones or on the ground or even our POV cameras, everything is true 4K. Also, some of the gear we’re using and the way we’re approaching wildlife from planes, drones, boats, canoes, rafts or 4-wheeling into some fairly intense areas with quads, it’s a very in-the-field type of show. I always make reference to the proverbial epic panorama shot in Dances with Wolves where we see the herd of buffalo come over the hill, and it opens up to this huge range, which becomes a massive shot. It’s an old reference by today’s standards, but it’s that type of beautiful imagery we really want to engage our audience with, and true 4K is the only way to do that. CC: Can you talk about your gear? JB: I already have an F55, but we also had to get our hands on the Sony a7S with the Odyssey 7Q+ recorder. Most of our days on the shoot are 16 or 18 hours, some are beyond 21 hours. Some days we’ll go to bed at 1 a.m. and be back up at 4. So they’re very long days, and in order to shoot in low light effectively, the Sony a7S was a very powerful tool combined with the 7Q+. Those two together yielded amazing results. Beyond that it’s a matter of getting the right filters, making sure everything is connecting together and we can compact the system to make it universal so the lenses are being used on more than one camera body efficiently. CC: What lenses are you using? JB: Very few lenses I have for this type of work are off the shelf. Most are custom built or modified. You need the focal length and speed, and you also need to keep the lenses at a reasonable rate and size. The custom lenses came from Otto Nemenz, Century and Duclos Lenses, all based in Los Angeles. Everything from 10 mm to 1,000 mm. There’s a huge cost associated to some of these because they’re not


Credit: Chris Kielesinki

John Banovich csc (right) with camera assistant Alsandair Toms.

mass-produced, they’re one-offs. In some cases, they’ll take an already pre-designed lens, say a Canon lens, take it all apart and throw away the body to build a new body around it. They’ll add a cine aperture to it, and a harness or mounting brackets to suit our application. One of the big issues is the lenses are in large cases, so transport is a big challenge for sure with the size and the weight of them all. CC: What kind of locations are you shooting in? JB: It’s essentially the Rocky Mountains, so we’re travelling literally from the Montana border all the way over to the Yukon and out to the Pacific Ocean. We were also in Alberta and part of the Northwest Territories. The majority of large animals in Canada are out West so in order to get access to these animals it requires us to be in remote areas, and there is a fair bit of travel to get there. The logistics are insane when it comes to the weather. We’ve been filming in snow and ice, sub-zero temperatures, 40-degree temperatures, even semiarid areas with cacti and rattlesnakes. So it’s very extreme; you can be in a torrential downpour and you’re out for a whole day stuck in a blind, waiting for animals, bored out of your mind, and it’s all part of the job. But I’m certainly not complaining. CC: What is most perilous to your equipment? JB: Rain is really bad. Getting water into gear sucks and sometimes you simply can’t avoid it. Cold conditions are

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hard on the gear as well; batteries do not last, solid state drives don’t like to work in the minus 40 temperatures. But blazing heat is bad as well because where there is blazing heat there is a semi-arid area full of dirt and dust, which is horrible when it gets inside lenses. There goes the quality of the images and here comes a very expensive maintenance call. So trying to reduce this is challenging because sometimes the animal is there and the moment is now. You don’t have time to set up all your rain covers or dust proofing, you just have to shoot. CC: What is most challenging for you and your crew? JB: The bugs. The bugs are so bad— we’ve got mosquitoes, noseums, gnats, horseflies, red flies, hornets, black wasps, and they all want a piece of you. And they don’t come at you one or two at a time, they come at you by the dozen. You learn to block it out. For example, we had five moose in one small lake, two were young females playing and the other two were trying to chase a fifth moose away because they were trying to get the attention of the males. So it’s a very rare shot, it’s late at night and the bugs are all over us. You can feel them, you’re itchy and bleeding all over, but you have to block it out because this shot is so perfect. The moose are on the edge of this lake in the reeds, eating, playing, frolicking and chasing each other around. That kind of footage doesn’t just happen. I also have a secret formula I use for bug repellent.


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A day in the life of a wildlife shoot

W

e’re up at 4 a.m. and we’re having breakfast on the road – coffee and a bagel or whatever you had last night a few hours earlier. We load the gear in as efficiently and quickly as we can, my camera assistant and I and sometimes a sound guy. We get in the vehicles and we’re off to a location we know there is a specific animal we’re looking for. We get there and the animal is already there, so we don’t have time to set up a blind or anything, so this gives us five to 10 minutes. I’m now shooting, and my assistant is running off and grabbing more lenses because we’re not going to stay on one lens for very long. Our sound guy is running around trying to connect to the camera and get audio. Then the morning sun comes up and the bugs start in on us, and now we’re trying to battle those guys. We get the shot and we’re really happy. Then we’re off to the next animal and I see something moving on the side of the road. We hop out and the guys start building the camera or the drone. I’m going to run into the bush and start tracking this animal. So I grab the gun, get my bear spray and off I go again. I don’t have any way of communicating with them other than walkie-talkies that are only good for a short distance in this kind of terrain. So I’m alone in the bush and I see fresh bear droppings.

That’s not good because it means there is a grizzly around somewhere, so that’s a bit of a concern. Now there is a big brown cloud coming, and it’s rain. I don’t have my rain gear, so now I’m soaking wet. I’ve got my little camera with me, like the Sony a7S, for example, so I’ve got to try to cover that up. I take off my shirt or my jacket, whatever I can, and I protect the camera. So I’m walking around essentially half naked, getting wet, but I keep the camera dry because the camera has to be dry at all costs. Then a cool little moment comes out of nowhere where this badger comes over to say hi. I decide to film the badger. Meanwhile the guys are back twiddling their thumbs going, “What happened to John? Is he dead? Is he coming back?” Then I come out of bush and we go, “What are we going to do for lunch?” We’re about three hours’ drive from anywhere that serves any kind of food. We’ve got a couple of granola bars and some trail mix and water, so that’s lunch. Next we’ve got to grab some scenics, so we’ve got to climb up that mountain road there onto this old communications train and go up the Northern Rockies. We stop and grab a few beautiful images. Two hours later we finally reach our destination, a little narrow road, and crap, there’s

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CC: Is there a lot of competition in this line of work? JB: There’s not a lot of competition, to be honest. There are a few guys who do exactly what I do, who are good at it, and I respect them, but it’s not like they are the director, DP and the producer trying to do a feature film. This type of work is very specialized. And there are guys that come into this and they realize, “I can make three times the money working on a feature as a DP, five times as a director, 10 times as a producer. Why am I doing this? The gear’s getting busted and damaged, and I’m having a miserable time away from my family.” There are lots of reasons for people not to want to do this. You have to be one of those types of people that loves it, and I love it. You really need to have the knowledge and experience, and you have to be driven by that love and passion. CC: The same goes for your crew, I imagine. JB: Yes, like my camera assistants Alsandair Toms and Chris Corpuz. Al was born in a small community in northern B.C. He’s familiar with the terrain; he’s spent his whole life out there. He’s not just a camera assistant, he’s a solid bushman. Chris is a military man with a background in location sound. He has experience in harsh conditions so he can tolerate bugs and tough weather. He’s ready to hike through the bush with any gear, any time. Many guys say they are, and then they get out there and things change dramatically. They will last one shoot if that. Very few of them are hard core. Some come to the wilderness with an unrealistic preconception. They romanticize what’s going to happen. They have this idea there’s going to be a herd of moose – which is a farce onto itself, there’s no such thing as a herd of moose – that will come roaming through a grassy field at sunset, and these grizzly bears are going to chase after them, as cougars leap over the rocks and intercept them to harvest the young calves. Most of the time when those magical moments do happen, it requires a lot of travel, suffering and misery to get there. There are rockslides and mudslides that wipe out the road and you’re stuck on the other side without any communication because cell service is extremely limited where we go. There are bear charges and female sow moose charges; there are rattlesnakes and wolverines, trees that fall down because they’re frozen or because they’re old. There’s equipment failures, and you’re stranded with limited supplies and not enough food or clothing or heat. Sometimes you can go eight or nine hours without eating, and the sleep isn’t consistent and you’re sleeping in tents or in the back of the truck. These guys are willing to put up with it, and that’s what I need, people who are hard core, who aren’t there because they want to have a cushy job and make top dollar. This isn’t the right job for those types. CC: So what do you love about it? JB: The simple fact of the matter is I love the adventure. I am absolutely proud of what we have to offer as a country – our glaciers, our rivers, our grasslands, our bison, our national


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Credit: Alsandair Toms

Credit: Kevin Hemmingson

Top: John Banovich csc gets a shot. Right: John Banovich csc (right) with Kevin Hemmingson setting up audio. Bottom: A buck moose.

erosion. We’ve got to get through this. Let’s get the winch out and run some cable so we don’t go over this 300, 400 foot drop and die. Everybody gets out of the vehicle to be safe and I drive to keep the winch taut. So away we go down the trail, and what an amazing view – we can see glaciers all the way to the Yukon. And for a moment your fur stands up on your skin. You get a twitch and your body just freaks out because it’s almost too much to absorb it’s so beautiful. And then we remember we’ve got to go back to the lake where we saw lots of moose droppings. So now we’re

zipping back down and we come across a place that sells coffee so we grab a couple. We set up our gear for the moose and then we wait and wait and wait. Four, five hours go by and we see one moose in there gorging away, and oh, crap the battery is dying, we have to grab another battery. Or we’re low on cards or we need filters because the light’s changing. And then someone says, “Hey, John, by the way, I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s 11 o’clock at night and the sun’s still up.” And I say, “Oh great we’ve got lots of daylight still. We’ve got to keep filming.”

16 • Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016

parks. We have got incredible legacy to offer, incredible heritage that I think many Canadians either don’t engage with or don’t take the time to explore, and part of the purpose of the show is to expose them to it and show this is what Canada has. I try to encourage everyone to get off the couch and get in to our country. The city is a safe place to be, but challenge yourself. Go find out what’s beyond the Starbucks on the corner. I’ve got two little kids now, and I want to create a legacy for them. Hopefully, this will still exist when they get older, but if it doesn’t, this is left behind. So a show like this is much more than a job, it is a part of who I am. I get to put a lot of me personally into the show. CC: What is the most dangerous situation you’ve encountered? JB: We were just on the edge of Jasper Park and we had gone into the bush looking for some grizzly bears. We were pretty convinced we’d found a trail and that the grizzlies were following. Well, one came right alongside of us, and you almost go into shock because you’re not expecting to see this grizzly 30, 40 feet from you. This young male grizzly was looking pretty upset about us being in his domain. We just stood still and didn’t move – their eyesight’s horrible – hoping the wind wasn’t going to change because it was blowing against us not from behind us, and we just quietly backed away and tried to blend in as much as we could until he lost interest. We didn’t get that shot.



Aaron Bernakevitch

Envisions Future Family Life in

S

ometime in the not-too-distant future, a bereaved father and son engage an android, provided by Social Services, to assist with household tasks. With the dynamic between father and son strained to say the least – the loss of his mother has left the boy withdrawn, while his father exhibits increasingly violent tendencies – the son begins to foster a bond with the android, despite his father insisting that it “has no feelings.” Meanwhile, the seemingly impartial robot quietly observes the deteriorating relationship between father and son and intervenes just before the tension boils over.

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Hello World By FANEN CHIAHEMEN

That’s the story that plays out in Hello World, a short film by Calgary-based filmmaker Olaf Blomerus that explores the theme of human interaction with androids. “I wanted to try and humanize technology and bring a closer connection because I think it’s going to be very important in the future as it expects to grow sporadically,” Blomerus says. “And I think the foundation of the information you put into society and the way you portray it is very important, and if the only thing people ever see is The Terminator then that’s what everyone is going to think it is when it comes down the


Credits: Derek Heisler

Above: Actor Robert Sainsbury served as a stand-in for the robot. Top right: Actor Eric Nyland, who plays the father, prepares to shoot a scene. Bottom right: Cast and crew set up for a scene in Hello World.

pipeline, but if we try to humanize it more and put more of our characteristics into it then that way we can make it a beneficial thing for society.” To help craft his images, Blomerus turned to associate CSC Aaron Bernakevitch, “one of the best local cinematographers we have,” the director says Blomerus has a background in photography and is used to handling his own cinematography, but he says having Bernakevitch on board allowed them to “collaborate on a different level.” The two went over the script and then discussed the colour, style and visual approach to Hello World, deciding that they wanted a controlled, calculated camera for most of the shoot, transitioning to handheld shooting near the end of the story as things get more animated and tense. After extensive tests with the RED EPIC, the Canon D500 and Sony F5, Blomerus and Bernakevitch decided the F5

was the camera best suited for the project, primarily because of its low-light capabilities and because “we really liked how skin tones looked on the F5,” Bernakevitch says. He adds that the Camera Store’s Jordan Drake helped supply the production with the camera, while V- Strategies donated their Sony AXS-R5 4K Raw recorder. “The 4K recorder was pivotal because we wanted the larger acquisition,” Bernakevitch says. “We were shooting visual effects and needed a bigger image than 1920 by 1080, so the 4K recorder was a must. We recorded on the camera in Slog-2 and rated it at a base ISO rating of 2000 for the entire project. For filtration we used the Hollywood Black Magic filter. We kept to the subtler strengths of 1/8 and1/4. I find Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016 •

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The android bonds with a bereaved son.

the stronger strengths a bit extreme when projected in the theatre. The HBM filters produce a pleasing roll-off into the highlights while still preserving rich black, and I wanted the shadows not to wash out and also maintain contrast.” His lens package consisted of Red Pro Primes – 25, 35, 50, 85 and 100 mm, all T-stop 1.8. “I think they are very underrated lenses for what they cost and what images they can produce,” the cinematographer says. “We wanted a really shallow depth of field look, but we still had to maintain image sharpness, and what I like about Red Primes is that on the lower F stops, they’re quite sharp, and we definitely needed sharpness for the visual effects to work.” The story plays out in a family home at various hours of the day and night, and Bernakevitch says for lighting the crew had a fairly small kit from William F. White, consisting of housepowered HMIs – mainly 1.2s – as well as smaller tungsten units, such as 100-, 200-, 600- or 1000-watt Fresnel lights. “The majority of the film uses controlled soft light, and to produce this effect quickly I had a light modifier called Lighttools 4x4 50 degree SEC,” Bernakevitch recalls. “It’s a soft grid 2 inches wide, and it goes in front of a diffusion frame. They make several different angles and sizes which produce a different amount of spread. The effect is you get a really nice soft controlled light with not a lot of spill. We really wanted beautiful controlled soft light on the actors, but didn’t want to fill in the background. Lighttools was definitely our go-to on most setups as I really wanted to maintain the contrast of the scene.” Bernakevitch explains that the soft light with minimal spill look worked for the dark aesthetic they were going for. “We definitely wanted to play with light and dark to help accentuate the loneliness with the missing component of mother,” he says. Because the production was shooting in an interior location

20 • Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016

with low ceilings, Bernakevitch favoured using long flops 1x3s “to have a long thin flag that you place above any frames without taking up too much space inside,” he says. He also rented some 4x4 bleached Muslin from William F. White. “I love how the Muslin produces a uniform fill without adding too much warmth,” Bernakevitch says. “It was important that we keep our actors filled in with cooler light, as I wanted the practical lamps in the shot to feel warmer than the light we had on our talent.” Practicals played a large role in the lighting, he adds. “We have a practical source in almost every major setting.” The cinematographer describes a creative lighting setup he used in a scene in which the father dozes in the darkened living room, appearing to be lit only by the flickering television lights. Instead of using a traditional approach of tungsten units on dimmers or flicker boxes, the crew created an animated gif file which they synced on two laptops to mimic the flicker of TV lights. Camera movement on Hello World was approached in a classical fashion, focusing on slow dolly movements and strong composition, “which helped sustain a feeling of suspense,” Bernakevitch says. “We wanted an almost painterly approach with slow camera movements and lock offs,” he says. One scene that stands out for Bernakevitch was the climax of the film, which depicts the father and son arguing in the presence of the robot. The camera pushes past the boy and his father but stays on the robot throughout the scene. “The yelling escalates and there is some suggestion of violence, but it’s all on the robot. The suspense is created through the camera movement and the way it pushes in, leaving the viewer’s imagination to fill in the blank,” Bernakevitch says. The production’s grip package also included a PeeWee dolly, which was necessary for the visual effects. “A lot of the visual effects needed to be calculated with regards to the


height of the camera, the tilt of the camera and the eye line. The PeeWee is a fantastic tool to get the camera to 36 inches or 40 inches, or however high you need it, in a pinch,” Bernakevitch says. “There were also a few designed camera movements where the PeeWee paid off huge. In one scene in the bedroom the android is interacting with old photographs on the dresser, and you’ve got a nice straight drop down move onto the dresser revealing a photo of the boy’s mother.” During the shoot, actor Robert Sainsbury served as a stand-in for the robot so that the other two actors could interact with him, but the stand-in was also necessary for framing, Bernakevitch says. In the scenes involving the robot, lighting and look development artist Joey Camacho shot 360 HDRI lighting domes – assembled with PTGui Pro – that captured the lighting from the set to be used later on the modelled android in order to integrate it into the scene, Bernakevitch says. “The surface of the robot is metallic and our actors are soft flesh, so I was really thinking about specular highlights and how the sheen on the robot would come out because we had no previs software on the day,” Bernakevitch recalls. “We’d done a few tests and had a sense of the shape and colour and texture of the robot. So it was about really putting some thought into how the reflection and specular highlights would play out once the final image was put together.” The final effect was rendered and composited using a combination of Maya and Nuke, he explains. “Olaf and the post team did a spectacular job of recreating the lighting on the robot and I think it shows in the film,” Bernakevitch says. “That’s why the visual effects look so great; it’s really down to the lighting on the robot and the integration of those characters through the scene.” Hello World was financed through Telus’ Storyhive funding programme, and last year, the AMPIA (Alberta Motion Picture Association) gave the short film five nominations and two awards, including Best Cinematographer for a drama under 30 minutes, as well as Best Visual Effects (awarded to Blomerus and Camacho). The film also won the 2015 Enbridge Alberta Spirit Award at the Calgary International Film Festival. “For me when a project does really well it’s not just because of the cinematography or the production design,” Bernakevitch says. “To be perceived as a great project everything has to be at that high mark, and if one thing supersedes everything, or one thing is below everything, it kind of takes away from the overall presence of a film. What I really love about Hello World is that everything is at a top level and hitting the highest stride possible. I love the music, I love the framing, I love the wardrobe. I think all those components aid in making Hello World the marvellous project that it is.”

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Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016 •

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The Machine that is the CSC By GEORGE A. WILLIS csc, sasc

M

achine? I thought that the CSC is a society,” you say. Exactly, the CSC is a society but it works like a machine. And anyone who understands machinery will know what makes a machine work and what allows it to run smoothly. Now, if this is a little too removed from reality, try this: the CSC is an organization (machine) that functions by way of its moving parts (executive) and needs a lot of lubrication (money) in order for it to run efficiently. But another huge component is missing – the fuel (members) because this gets the machine going and keeps it moving. However, there’s still one more part that is needed, the driver (administration). Quite possibly this is a reasonably simplified description of the CSC, and even though it might make sense, I would like to expand on the reality of the CSC, its brand, and above all, its value. During various conversations over the years, when discussing the CSC with prospective members, the following question always seems to find its way into the mix: “If I join the CSC, what do I get out of it?” My answer has always been the same. “You get out of it what you put into it.” That response usually elicits a somewhat puzzled look followed by the words, “What do you mean? What can I put into it?” That’s the question that I hope will be asked because it gives me the opportunity to respond. This might be the time and place to first clarify these, as well as many other questions that relate to the CSC, for the benefit of all. But first I would like you to take a moment to study the illustration that accompanies this article, for it is more than just a series of boxes linked by lines; this is the machine that is the CSC. The Canadian Society of Cinematographers is an organization of like-minded individuals who are committed to pursuing and carrying out the mandate of the society, which is “to promote and foster the art of cinematography.” The CSC is an extremely well-run society with an administration headed up by Susan Saranchuk and Karen Longland. These two ladies are responsible for the day-to-day needs of the society. This is far more complex than it sounds. They are the foundation of the society, and everything is run by them, as well as past them. They are the front line for the society, and without them the CSC machine would grind to a halt. The word “lubrication” (money) has been mentioned, and I choose to make this the next important point. The society would not run well without the financial contributions so necessary for maintaining the machine. Our funding is obtained primarily via two revenue sources – the membership and our sponsors. I cannot stress enough

22 • Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016

how important it is for members to pay their dues on time each and every year. This is absolutely crucial in order for the society to operate efficiently as well as effectively. I urge all members to be conscious of the very important part they play. Each of you is a crucial piece in the CSC machine and only through your continued support can we move ahead with our initiatives. Without this lubrication, the CSC machine begins to grind and sputter. By helping your organization, you are helping yourselves. Without our sponsors and their loyalty there would be no effective CSC. We would exist primarily in name only. These companies and corporations provide our society with much of the financial resources that allow us to provide for our membership and our goals. While never expecting anything in return for their sponsorship, we know that any interest shown to them by the CSC and its membership is rewarded by their continued allegiance to our society. Besides financially, sponsors contribute to the CSC in many other ways, and the following are just a few examples: w Providing screening facilities and necessary equipment for screening the entries for accreditation and the awards w Transferring and editing of materials for screening at the CSC Awards Gala w Providing door prizes at events such as the Awards Gala w Donating studio space and other venues for our various workshops w Supplying camera and lighting equipment for use in our Camera, Lighting and other workshops w Providing promotional and practical user materials in some of our workshops Our sponsors are the backbone of our society and are always ready to offer assistance and comply with our requests wherever possible. They are deeply appreciated. One more revenue source that we have come to rely on are the popular CSC workshops. Over the years, we have offered many different workshops and we are constantly revising and improving the methods we use to make them more effective and relevant professional learning opportunities. More workshops are being added to our roster as the need for information continues to grow within our industry. I would like to spend a moment to describe what goes into running a workshop. I do believe that very little is understood when it comes to just how much participation is required and I am not referring to those who attend. I refer specifically to those who organize and participate in running the various workshops.


Canadian Cinematographer - October 2015 •

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workshop with appropriate photos alongwith the cost, As an example, let’s take a look at a two-day weekend date andother details Lighting Workshop. The following list will give an idea regarding the complexities, as well enormous amount w The CSC administration sends out promotional ANADIAN OCIETY OFas theINEMATOGRAPHERS materials to advertise the workshop of time and manpower it takes: w Education committee members begin the process of w The CSC Executive meets to discuss the general idea and equipment acquisition, and equipment lists are given the approach to the workshop to the various sponsors participating in the workshop w A PDF is produced describing the contents of the

C

S

C

Organizational Structure Chart

Executive Assistant

Copy ED

ADMIN

Editor

Art

EXECUTIVE

Past President

Marketing Sales

Public Relations

Sponsor Events

Advisor

President Vice President All Executive members available for various committees and or events

Vice President

Treasurer

CSC web portal

Secretary Membership Chair

Membership Chair

Education Chair

Education Chair

Wisdom Series

Workshops location setup

workshops promotion

guest speaker research

Non/Dir. Board

event promotion

Non/Dir. Board

venue

Non/Dir. Board

event presenter

Non/Dir. Board

pickup/return

manuals

evening organizers

Non/Dir. Board

lighting/grip

presentation power point

freelance crew hire

registration

instructors camera kit

Non/Dir. Board

CSC

Organizational Structure Chart 24 • Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016

actors

sponsor handouts meals


w Instructors’ teaching aids, such as reference materials, photos, excerpts and graphs are combined into a workshop manual w From this manual, a teaching agenda or schedule is created on PowerPoint for use by the instructor w Relevant materials are obtained from the various sponsors participating in the workshop, for example, Lee Filters and Rosco swatch books w Participant materials such as journals, pens and gel cutters are acquired w The day before the course, three people are needed to assemble all sets and put other peripherals in place w Lunches and edibles are arranged w Additional personnel, as required, are booked for the workshop w During the workshop, various groups light and shoot footage w At the end of each day, the footage is screened and discussed with the instructors w Pre-printed questionnaire forms are given to the participants in order to obtain comments and/or suggestions regarding the workshop w Questionnaire information is tabulated and entered into a spreadsheet w At the completion of the workshop, two people are needed to dismantle and store the set w The administration does a preliminary accounting of expenses, followed by a final accounting to determine if a surplus exists All in all, and as with many workshops and events, there is always the issue of obtaining volunteers to administer, as well as take part in running the show. Mounting a workshop is nothing short of a production and we all know what that entails. Although plans are in the works to significantly expand our workshops, I fear that we might not be able to realize this effort as effectively as intended, for there is a reality attached to our intentions and planning. We need your help! The challenge is how to make the CSC membership understand the importance of these workshops and what to do in order to obtain more volunteers from the CSC membership. There is a small group of people who are prepared to give their time and expertise over and over again, but these same dedicated individuals cannot be expected to always be the ones to volunteer, giving their all on a continued basis. As members of the CSC, we should be able to understand the meaning of commitment to the society, as well as the rewards of participating in various events. There is without doubt a real and tremendous feeling of satisfaction that comes with the realization that one has given of one’s time and expertise to a worthy cause through the sharing of one’s knowledge and experience. We request feedback after a workshop and the general consensus is always positive. That

itself is the reward for our commitment. Moreover, the CSC workshops have become more and more significant not only as a potential source of income but also as a way of raising and extending the CSC brand. It would be remiss of me not to mention the CSC Awards Gala, if for no other reason than to acknowledge and underscore the huge undertaking by the CSC administration. This undisputed highlight of the year is an event requiring organizational skills of mammoth proportions. An entire page would be necessary to list the myriad of requirements necessary to effectively ensure a successful outcome of this event. The 58th CSC Annual Awards Gala was a resounding success, and by all accounts, has caused the bar to be raised significantly. And while we can offer applause and accolades for the success, the fact remains that the next Gala will take just as much, if not more, planning and expertise to meet the challenge. There is no doubt in my mind that this next expectation will be achieved, but the same set of circumstances will prevail regarding volunteers, or the lack thereof. Hopefully, this will change. In light of all this, maybe the thing to do is to remember that famous (paraphrased) quotation: “Ask not what the CSC can do for you, but what you can do for the CSC.” This is the basis on which the society is run. As you read these words, try to think about how you can effectively contribute to the machine that is the CSC.

Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016 •

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Credit: Simon Evers

TECH COLUMN

Is Your iPhone Ready for Your Close-Up – or Wide Shot?

T

here’s been a huge buzz around the launch of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus and not just because it’s the latest and greatest from the Apple lineup with its cult-like following. It’s the photographic upgrades that have

26 • Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016

captured attention, such as a front-facing 5 Mpixel Facetime HD sensor camera with a 12 Mpixel iSight sensor in the rear-facing camera. Behind all this is the A9 Apple Image Signal Processor which has accelerated

performance of the cameras. There’s a complex explanation of how that works from Apple engineers which translates as: faster, cleaner, smoother and less noise. Bottom line: video captures up to 4K at 30 fps while 1080p is captured at 30 and 60 fps. Which brings up the question: why would a mobile device which is ostensibly used by the masses to post selfies and what they had for lunch need the hyper-crisp reality of 4K? Both Facebook and YouTube aren’t capable of running 4K clips and the upload process strips out quality. Even sharing peer-to-peer becomes problematic because of the file sizes. The answer is because Apple can, Apple does. Clearly, Apple is talking directly to filmmakers and potential filmmakers given the burgeoning wave of peripherals available: lenses from Olloclip and Moon Dog Labs, EnCinema adaptors that allow SLR lenses to be fitted, similar offerings from Turtleback, rigs from Camlite and Owle and editing software. Which leads to the neverending conversations among cinematographers: can you shoot a money job on an iPhone? And the answer is: Yes, no and why? Yes, the iPhone has already proved itself as a viable storytelling tool. There’s even competition not just between films, but also sites. Check out the features online at the upstart iPhone Film Festival site (www.iphoneff.com) and the Original iPhone Film Festival (iphonefilmmaker.com). Tangerine (youtu.be/ALSwWTb88ZU) directed by Sean Baker drew raves at Sundance and was shot entirely on an iPhone 5s. Cinematographer Luc Montpellier csc – no slouch with any technology over the last 21 years – notes we had the same debate when RED first appeared, then Blackmagic and then GoPro. Really it’s no different that whether back in the day we shot on Super 8, 16, 35 or 70 mm, each technology has its benefits and each will bring something to how the story is told. Of course, story always trumps


technology. At least it should. We caught up with Montpellier in Chicago where he’s DP on a Showtime production using ARRI ALEXA Minis, the superlight carbon fibre box which is adding a different dimension to the impressive ARRI lineup. “I shot a feature in Montreal using iPhones in 2013 called Happy Slapping,” he says. “I didn’t really have a lot to shoot. We put the iPhones in the actor’s hands and they shot it. I just gave them direction for the most part.” The point, he says, wasn’t to prove the iPhone as a viable capture tool. It was integral to the story which was about a group of five teens randomly “happy slapping” strangers and posting their iPhone captured antics on a website to gain notoriety. The iPhone and social media were at the heart of the story around which the characters move, just as The Blair Witch Project – something Happy Slapping has been favourably compared to – used 16 mm because it was part of the story. “The camp which thinks everything has to be on a professional camera is really missing the point about what we’re

street level show so I got some vintage lenses from Panasonic from the 1960s. The glass is all good, just reset into contemporary housings and they’re great for the assistants to work with and they flare in a certain way and they give you that edge, that look.” As such, he says, putting a powerful creative tool in the hands of more people to tell more stories is part of the democratization of art and creativity. “It’s just one tool,” he says. “You still have to make decisions about the lighting, the framing, all those things.” Even when working with the bigger cameras, Montpellier says he sets up his Sony A7s to grab shots in parallel and the quality is almost indiscernible. Ultimately, it’s what happens in post that will have the final say. A few frames here from a GoPro or an iPhone can work if the editing touch is right and adds to the story’s perspective. “It’s just a tool in the toolbox, whether it’s a couple of cutaways or the whole show,” Montpellier says. “Captain America and the Avengers were using Blackmagics as crash cams and no one says anything. I’ve always been annoyed by the debate

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supposed to be doing as cinematographers, which is to find the right palette whether its an AR16 or an iPhone,” Montpellier says. “That’s the core of what we do as a DP, is to find that language with the director. I’m using the ALEXA Mini which is a handheld but I don’t like modern lenses because they’re too sharp and real. This is a

over this. It should be about creativity. You have to get in the mindset of how these devices are set up and embrace how they photograph and use them.”

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Ian Harvey is a Toronto-based journalist who writes for a variety of publications and covers the technology sector. He welcomes feedback and eagerly solicits ideas at ian@pitbullmedia.ca

The Visual Technology People

| MISSISSAUGA | OTTAWA TORONTO Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016 • CALGARY | EDMONTON

25

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By GUIDO KONDRUSS

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found the mini is being used for TV series, commercials, features and other areas.” Two hundred ARRI ALEXA Minis have been sold since June in Canada and there is now a three-month waiting list. Francois Gauthier, director of marketing and product management, Sony Canada, says that along with the very attractive price, it’s the camera’s portability and compactness that’s creating the buzz swirling around their newly minted FS5. “It might not have all the features of the FS7, but I can put the FS5 into my briefcase and carry it easily through an airport without having to present it as a video camera,” Gauthier says. “I can keep it by me all the time, ready to go, like a consumer

“No,” came the response from Rich Rothbard, marketing manager for Elite Brands, the owners of Rokinon lenses. “It’s all metal with precision crafting.” ProFusion 2015 was the first showing for XEEN prime cine lenses in Canada. An offshoot of the popular Rokinon lenses, Rothbard says that their new XEEN line is a market disruptor. “They have basically the optical and physical attributes and countenances that are equal to the more well-known and established cine lenses,” Rothbard continued. ”Plus, they have super tight colour matching and proprietary XEEN multi-coating, all at a very low cost with a remarkable three-year warranty.” While not exactly budget lenses at just under $3,500 a pop, they’re not exactly

Credit: Carolyn Wong

C

anada’s top imaging tradeshow is often touted by attendees as a saner and more compact version of the colossal shows south of the border and in Europe. With over one hundred exhibitors and dozens of presentations throughout its twoday run, ProFusion 2015 served up a delicious array of new toys to touch and try out, some for the very first time in Canada. Of course the Canadian Society of Cinematographers was there with an exhibit, handing out hundreds of issues of Canadian Cinematographer magazine as calling cards, signing new CSC members and participants for its various workshops. The CSC also produced a demonstration highlighting the Slingshot camera rig which was designed by Ray Dumas csc and developed by Canadian company Walter Klassen FX. You can read about the amazing Slingshot story in the May 2015 issue of Canadian Cinematographer. The demo of incredibly clean Slingshot moves and mesmerizing sweeps was led by the formidable DP Jeremy Benning csc with camera operator and CSC associate member Justin Beattie. You might say that ProFusion 2015 was the year of the mini. Both Sony, with its new FS5, and ARRI with its ALEXA Mini and were front and centre, tapping into what’s become a hot market for small cameras. Sebastien Laffoux, technical sales manager, Eastern Regions for ARRI Canada, says their mini has touched a need in the film community that has surpassed their wildest expectations. “Our purpose with the mini is to comply with requirements for gimbals and drones,” Laffoux says. “But one thing that we’ve learned, we can’t tell people what to do with our cameras, they decide what to do with them. We

Jeremy Benning csc on left with camera-op Justin Beattie and the Slingshot

camera and never miss an unexpected shot by having to retrieve gear from the office or wherever.” When I picked up the XEEN 85 mm lens from the demo table, it almost flew over my shoulder into the next booth. I was expecting something much heavier. “Are these plastic?” I asked.

bank breaking either. This, together with mostly positive performance reviews for the XEEN line, Rokinon may well have a winner on its hands. Tucked in between its wildly popular Celeb LED lights at the Kino Flo booth was a Select 30 LED prototype. It’s a new lightweight fixture that features a unique


Photos credits this page: Bruce Marshall, except middle left, credit: Guido Kondruss

colour-changing capability that can easily correct camera variances with a touch of green or magenta. “It has controllability from 2,700 to 6,500 kelvin, full dimming from 0 to 100 of course,” adds Tom Jacobs, Kino Flo sales representative for Canada. “And it has wireless control through LumenRadio connectivity, so you can actually run the Select in a fairly big room from up to 300 feet away.” Kino begins manufacturing the Select 30 this month, with the smaller Select 20 to follow. Need some lighting that’s in plain sight but out of sight? Then try ProFusion newcomer, Moss LED, a Toronto-based company that specializes in flexible LED strip lighting and tape. “The advantage of our lights is that they can be put anywhere and you can mask them as anything. So if you want to make a circle illuminate and you want to make anything change colour, you can do that with our LEDs,” according to the company. “Our largest production is Big Brother Canada, where we light up a 10,000-square-foot house, entirely with our LED product. There are no traditional lighting fixtures used on set at all.” Moss LED is distributed across Canada through William F. White and is now making inroads south of the border. This is simply a small sampling of what’s to see and do at ProFusion. So, if you’ve never attended and you work in Canada’s screen based industry, you should seriously think about putting it in your calendar for 2016.

Sebastien Laffoux, Arri Canada, with Arri Alexa “Mini”

Tom Jacobs, Kino Flo, with the Select 30 LED Prototype

XEEN Lenses

Francois Gauthier, Sony Canada, showing off the FS5

Jeffrey Moss, owner, MOSS LED

President from page 2 So, all in all, we can see that these workshops are well integrated. There exists an extremely attractive opportunity for those interested in advancing their skills to sign up for whatever workshop appeals to them. The CSC is working on the new schedule of workshops for this year and we are using the previous workshops as the guide and to update any pertinent information. We are also applying

the very important feedback received from the previous participants, which allows us to be proactive in offering the best possible experience. New workshop listings are in the works and we look forward to another year where we welcome the next wave of aspiring, as well as experienced, filmmakers. And so, on behalf of the CSC, all that remains for me to do is to wish you a year filled with optimism. Good shooting. Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016 •

29


CSC MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Alwyn J. Kumst csc What films or other works of art have made the biggest impression on you? We could fill this entire magazine with just a list of films and filmmakers who inspired me. Franco Zeffirelli’s Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972), Polanski’s Tess (1979) and many others, but it was Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) that convinced me that I would like to be a cinematographer. The art of Thomas Moore was my reference for fine art. His use of central compositions in his paintings has had me break away from the classical rule of thirds very often in my work. How did you get started in the business? This is a long story. My stepfather was a large format stills photographer and in high school I worked in the studio and darkroom a lot. After school I was conscripted to the South African Navy and because of my photography experience I ended in the navy’s CCTV unit where I was given the task to replace all the old black and white Royal Navy training films from the 1950s with (at the time) current training materials. They gave me a Bolex camera, and a friend and I did everything from building our own animation stands to taking charge of submarines out in the ocean, shooting with a hand crank Bolex from a helicopter. It was awesome. After two years, my conscription ended and I started doing war documentaries in places like El Salvador, Nicaragua, Uganda, Namibia, and Angola.

30 • Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016

Who have been your mentors or teachers? Directors of photography Hugh Fowler and Digby Young, and directors Bill Faure and Annie Basson. Hugh was a particularly sensitive guy and very hard to work for. I somehow managed to work very well with and for him as a first AC and was required to sit in the edit rooms of every project we did. His lesson was storytelling. The equipment did not matter as much as the story. The right eye light at the right time could bring your audience to tears regardless of the lens or the camera. Which cinematographers inspire you? Another long list. The late John Alcott, Ghislain Cloquet, Geoffrey Unsworth, Bill Fraker and then of course Jordan Cronenweth (Blade Runner). A youngster in there would be Matthew Libatique. Name some of your professional highlights. I have no awards to show, but being called “the least bullshit DP that I have worked with” by John Landis was awesome. Also, seeing crew that have worked for me for many years take the upgrade and become something is also very special. We are so competitive and possessive of what we do yet the biggest rewards are when we share our work and our knowledge. What is one of your most memorable moments on set? Walking away from a helicopter crash

[when] I was the focus puller on a feature film called Gemini. Surviving a head-on boat crash on a series called Sea Diver and being run over by a car driven by stunt driver Zaan Wienand. I call these memorable because they ended well. Everything we do is a calculated risk. It is never the intention to hurt or injure someone or break something. But we push the envelope in our make-believe world and then we put smiles on the audience’s faces. We inspire people to go out and do things or invent things. What do you like best about what you do? The fact that every day you may apply more or less the same techniques that you may have developed and somewhat perfected over time, but yet every day is different. Every situation is different and when you have a lot of life experience your inner palate is so much bigger. Life experience makes you a better artist. What do you like least about what you do? Politics. When you do series work like I do, you don’t always get the A-list directors because before long there is an actor or an editor, or even the producers friend’s cousin, directing and very seldom do they have the chops for the task. It makes it harder to maintain the look and style of a show. What do you think has been the greatest invention (related to your craft)? Electricity. Without it we could arguably still shoot with film (which I am not nostalgic about at all) and process it, but we need to display what we do, and without electricity we would not have theatres or TV, etc. How can others follow your work? alwynkumst.com. Or just turn on your TV, there is bound to be a re-run of something on some channel. Sometimes embarrassing because it may be work you have shot 25 years ago.


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 CANON 7D package with zoom Canon 18-135mm T3.5, CANON ZOOM 75-300mm T4, CANON Battery Grip BG-E7, SMALL HD DP-4 DSLR Monitor, SHAPE Kirk Nef DSLR cage, SHAPE Hot Shoe SONY EVF Mount “L” Bracket, THINK Tank Camera Bag, VELLO intervalometer, HAMA card reader, SanDisk 16g card, 2x Canon E6 batteries + charger, Assorted cables. Hardly used. Asking $1950 OBO. Contact: jacbernier@sympatico.ca 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 $9,000 for more info and a detailed spec list please contact: Greg Biskup (647) 405-8644, greg@ biskupcine.com Canon Wide angle Lens J11A X 4.5 B4 IRSD and Canon Servo Zoom Control ZSD-300 Value 27 000$ 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 - January 2016 •

31

CLASSIFIEDS

EQUIPMENT WANTED


PRODUCTION NOTES

ARROW IV (series); DP Gordon Verheul csc; to April 27, Vancouver BATES MOTEL IV (series); DP John Bartley csc, asc; to April 4, Vancouver BETWEEN II (series); DP Boris Mojsovski csc; to March 11, Toronto THE CODE (series); DP Eric Cayla csc; DP Pierre Jodoin csc; to February 5, Toronto DARK MATTER II (series); B Camera 1st Assistant Marcel Janisse; to May 9, Toronto DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW (series); DP David Geddes csc, asc; to April 1, Burnaby THE FLASH II (series); DP Kim C. Miles csc; to April 15, Vancouver FRONTIER (series); David Herrington csc; to March 7, St. Johns THE GOOD WITCH II (series); DP John Berrie csc; B Camera Operator Paula Tymchuk; to January 29, Toronto LUCIFER (series); DP Ryan McMaster csc; DP Glen Keenan csc; January 29, Burnaby REIGN III (series); DP Paul Sarossy csc, asc, bsc; DP Michael Storey csc; B Camera/Steadicam Andris Mattis; to February 19, Toronto SECOND CHANCE AKA FRANKENSTEIN (series); B Camera Operator Ian Seabrook csc; to January 25, Burnaby SNIPPED IN THE BUD (TV movie); DP Milan Podsedly csc; B Camera 1st Assistant Lori Longstaff; to January 29, North Bay THE STANLEY DYNAMIC II (series); DP Matt Phillips csc; to April 8, Toronto THE STRAIN III (series); DP Colin Hoult csc (alternating episodes); B Camera Operator J.P. Locherer csc; to April 13, Toronto SUPERNATURAL XI (series); DP Serge Ladouceur csc; Camera Operator Brad Creasser; to April 20, Burnaby WHEN CALLS THE HEART III (series); DP Michael Balfry csc; to January 27, Burnaby WYNONNA EARP (series); DP Gavin Smith csc; to February 10, Calgary

AWARDS / FESTIVALS / NOMINATIONS Gregory Bennett, associate csc (DP) The Bad Mother (short), Winner of “Picture Perfect Award for Best Cinematography” Hamilton Film Festival, November 2015 Christine Buijs, affiliate csc (Writer/Director) Divorce Photographer (short), Whistler Film Festival, December 2015, San Jose International Film Festival, October 2015 Reuben Denty, associate csc (DP) Undercover High (series), International Emmy Award nomination, April 2016 Kristin Fieldhouse, associate csc (Cinematographer) The Girl in the Green Dress (short), Winner of “Illuminate Award” Lady Filmmakers Film Festival, Los Angeles, November 2015 Pierre Gill csc (DP) Casanova (pilot), nominated for ASC Award, Los Angeles, February 14, 2016 David Greene csc (DP) 12 Monkeys “Mentally Divergent” (series), nominated for ASC Award, Los Angeles, February 14, 2016 D. Gregor Hagey csc (DP) How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town (feature), Whistler Film Festival, December 2015; Slamdance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, January 2016; Santa Barbara Film Festival, February 2016; The Dark Stranger (feature), Winner, Best Cinematography, Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival, November 2015; Portal To Hell (short film), Best Canadian Short Film – Audience Choice Award, Toronto After Dark Film Festival, October 2015 Adam Marsden csc (DP) River (feature), Winner Best Canadian Feature, Whistler Film Festival, December 2015 Dylan Macleod csc (DP) He Hated Pigeons (feature), Winner, Best Cinematography, Whistler Film Festival, December 2015 Brad Rushing csc (DP) Pony (short), Malibu International Film Festival, Bahamas International Film Festival, December 2015 Winner: Jury Prize, Boston Film Festival; Jury Prize, Rome International Film Festival (Georgia); Jury Prize, Hollywood Film Festival, September, 2015; Jury Prize, First Glance Film Festival (Philadelphia); Artistic Director’s Choice & Best Ladies Kick Butt Film, Lady Filmmakers Film Festival, October 2015 Xiaochen Yu, associate csc (DP) The Chinese Style Harmony (short), 2nd Place in Video Art, X Florence Biennale 2015, Fortezza da Basso, Florence, October 2015

CALENDAR OF EVENTS JANUARY 21-31, Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, sundance.org 23, CSC Camera Movement Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca 30, CSC Camera Workshop for ACs and DPs – Sony F55, F5, FS7, FS5, A752, Toronto, csc.ca 31, CSC Camera Workshop for ACs and DPs – High Speed, Toronto, csc.ca 31, CSC Awards entry deadline, csc.ca FEBRUARY 1, CSC Annual General Meeting, Technicolor Toronto 9, February Freeze, William F. White, Toronto, februaryfreeze.com 5-14, Victoria Film Festival, Victoria BC, victoriafilmfestival.com 18-27, Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois, Montreal, rvcq.com

32 • Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016

20-21, CSC Lighting Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca 25-28, Kingston Canadian Film Festival, Kingston, ON, kingcanfilmfest.com 26, CSC Lens Testing Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca 27-28, CSC Camera Assistant Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca MARCH 10-20, International Film Festival on Art, Montreal, artfifa.com 12, CSC Advanced Post Workflow Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca 13, CSC Acting for the Camera Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca APRIL 2, CSC Awards, The Arcadian Court, Toronto 16-17, CSC Lighting Faces Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca


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