CANADIAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS
$4 March 2019 www.csc.ca
DREAM JOB
C. Kim Miles Takes on
csc, mysc
The View from Her • Remembering Stewart Aziz
A publication of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers
FEATURES – VOLUME 10, NO. 10 MARCH 2019 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.
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 have no political or union affiliation.
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Credit: Universal Pictures
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.
Dream Job: C. Kim Miles csc, mysc Takes on Welcome to Marwen By Fanen Chiahemen
The CSC is a not-for-profit organization run by volunteer board members of the society. Thank you to our sponsors for their continued support.
CORPORATE SPONSORS
The View from Her By Joan Hutton csc and Olya Glotka
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Credit: John Narvali
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Remembering Stewart Aziz
COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 2 4 6 8 10 12 34 36 Cover
From the Editor-In-Chief From the President In the News On Set CSC Member Spotlight – Paul Steinberg csc CSC Specialty Awards 2019 Tech Column Production Notes/Calendar Steve Carell and Merritt Wever in Welcome To Marwen Credit: Ed Araquel/Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures.
Canadian Cinematographer March 2019 Vol. 10, No. 10 EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joan Hutton csc EDITOR EMERITUS Donald Angus EXECUTIVE OFFICER Susan Saranchuk, susans@csc.ca EDITOR Fanen Chiahemen, editor@csc.ca COPY EDITOR Patty Guyader ART DIRECTION Berkeley Stat House WEBSITE www.csc.ca ADVERTISING SALES Guido Kondruss, gkondruss@rogers.com CSC BOARD OF DIRECTORS Serge Desrosiers csc Zoe Dirse csc Phil Earnshaw csc Carlos Esteves csc Joan Hutton csc Bruno Philip csc Joe Sunday PhD George Willis csc, sasc CSC EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT George Willis csc, sasc PAST PRESIDENT, ADVISOR Joan Hutton csc VICE PRESIDENTS Carlos Esteves csc, Toronto Bruno Philip csc, Montreal MEMBERSHIP CHAIRS Arthur Cooper csc Zoe Dirse csc EDUCATION CHAIRS Carlos Esteves csc George Willis csc, sasc AWARDS CHAIR Arthur Cooper csc DIGITAL PORTALS Carolyn Wong (Content Manager) RELATIONSHIPS Gaston Bernier OFFICE / MEMBERSHIP / SUBSCRIPTIONS 131–3085 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.
ISSN 1918-8781 Canadian Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 40013776 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses 131–3085 Kingston Road Toronto M1M 1P1 THE CANADIAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS IS A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION.
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FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joan Hutton csc
T
his month holds a special meaning for many women the world over. March 8 is International Women’s Day, which has become synonymous with equality and opportunity for women. Women’s Day is
recognized to a greater or lesser extent, depending where one lives. In Canada, it’s not accorded statutory holiday status, but it is recognized by many people of both sexes in several different ways. For some it is a day of protest, while for others it is a time for reflection to celebrate all the wonderful and strong women who have endured so much and pushed so hard to bring us to this point in 2019. By no means is the struggle for women’s rights and equality completed. In many areas and places throughout the world it is only beginning. This year, I chose to celebrate International Women’s Day through a collaborative project with filmmaker Olya Glotka, by interviewing and recording the women cinematographers of the CSC. Our reasoning for this project was to hear their thoughts, their struggles and their views on our profession and industry. The interviews will be uploaded onto the CSC website in increments throughout the year. In this issue of Canadian Cinematographer, we’ve taken excerpts from our conversations with these women and compiled them into an article called The View from Her. It’s a fascinating read because of the similarities and differences. To put this project into perspective, there were only 23 female DPs in the CSC. With the membership of the CSC hovering between 550 to 600 cinematographers, these women represent roughly only 5 per cent of our total. Yes, that percentage is seemingly paltry, but it’s actually a very mighty number. In the past 10 years, the number of women cinematographers has grown six-fold in a profession that has been traditionally dominated by men. However, the number of women choosing cinematography as a career has been growing and will continue to grow in our society and industry. The CSC has never been about parity. It is all about craft, excellence and equality. CSC women have proven over and over that they are professional cinematographers to the core. We have the technical skills, the creative acumen, and the drive that has earned us the right to work as equals in our profession. It has also earned us the right to be seen and heard.
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FROM THE PRESIDENT George A. Willis csc, sasc
I
t was March 1967 and a song by singer Aretha Franklin hit the charts. While that smash hit may seem like a pretty benign piece of soulful fun, at the time it came out, this song had more than one meaning. However, rather than dissecting the words and associated meanings of the song, the one word that we need to remember and the way in which it connects to filmmaking is the title itself – Respect. One might argue that this has little to do with filmmaking and specifically the role that is played by the cinematographer in that art form. On the contrary, I believe that it has everything to do with it. I remember from the very first day when I began to pursue my career in filmmaking, that one word (respect) was the most important part of my vocabulary, and it still is. Respect for those from whom I learned (especially my mentors), respect for the part played by each member of the crew, respect for my peers, respect for the process, and respect for the industry, which I am still a part of. Fast-forward to today, when many of the socalled rules have changed and indeed continue to change. Some argue this is for the better, and on the other side there are those who disagree, quite possibly because they were never a part of the early days of filmmaking in so many respects. By the time this column is read, I have no doubt that a great many attitudes will have shifted regarding some aspects of the film industry. This will include the various posts on social media regarding the Oscars and the revised thinking regarding some of the categories associated with that world-famous event, especially cinematography. How can anyone conceive of the intention to exclude in any way the one person without whom a movie cannot be made – the cinematographer.
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The reality of the situation is that a producer can spend millions of dollars on a production, assemble a cast of the best actors in the business as well as contract an army of crew and other support people. But without the cinematographer, they have nothing. Just prior to the Oscars, I was invited by American Society of Cinematographers President Kees van Oostrum ASC to visit their clubhouse in Los Angeles. It is difficult to adequately express the emotions that I experienced as I entered that building, for I was surrounded by what can only be described as enormous respect for the film industry and the people in it. On every wall there are photographs large and small that feature moments from the early days of the clubhouse and the many members who have and still do pass through those welcoming doors. So many photographs of some of the movies that we have come to know as classics, showing the actors who starred in them and of course, most importantly, the cinematographers who were responsible for the spectacular visuals that they created. Such incredible memories all accompanied with great respect. This leads me once again to the Oscars, the pinnacle of success and acknowledgement in the film industry, strived for by cinematographers in particular. But now, instead of admiring their amazing talents, we are surrounded by controversy regarding those who are the creators of the outstanding visuals. There should never be anything – neither political nor financial – that stands in the way of respecting the talents of those who bring us the stories visually, for without the cinematographer, there would be no movies. This is why, especially as filmmakers and cinematographers, we need to understand the meaning of the word R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
In The News
CSC Members among CANADIAN SCREEN AWARD Nominees CSC congratulates the members who have been nominated for Canadian Screen Awards: Achievement in Cinematography: Paul Sarossy csc, asc, bsc (The Padre); Daniel Grant csc (Octavio is Dead!) Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary: Nicholas de Pencier csc (ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch) Best Cinematography in a Feature Length Documentary: Nicholas de Pencier csc (ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch) Best Photography, Drama: Daniel Villeneuve csc (Sleeper); Gavin Smith csc (Wynonna Earp – “Undo It”) and (Mary Kills People – “Ride or Die”); Dylan Macleod csc (Cardinal: Blackfly Season) Best Photography, Comedy: Gerald Packer csc (Schitt’s Creek – “Merry Christmas, Johnny Rose”); Maya Bankovic csc (Workin’ Moms – “The Sign”); Jim Westenbrink csc (Letterkenny – “We Don’t Fight at Weddings”) Best Photography, Lifestyle or Reality/Competition: Maya Bankovic csc (In The Making – “Crystal Pite”) Best Direction, Children’s or Youth: Mitchell T. Ness csc (The Next Step –“"No Shell”); John Tran csc (The Heat: A Kitchen (R)evolution) Winners will be announced at a gala on March 31.
Brendan Steacy c s c , a s c Nominated for IMAGO International Cinematography Award
Credit: John Narvali
The CSC congratulates Brendan Steacy csc, asc on his nomination for an IMAGO International Cinematography Award in the Television Drama Category for his work on Alias Grace. Steacy was nominated alongside András Nagy HSC (Eternal Winter) and Thomas W. Kiennast aac (Maximilian). The awards will be presented on March 16 in Belgrade, Serbia.
Antonin Lhotsky csc Retires from Board The CSC would like to thank retiring board member Antonin Lhotsky csc for his years of service. Lhotsky has been a member of the CSC since 1969. He served as recording secretary on the CSC Executive and later the Board of Directors from 2004 to 2018. He still actively participates on CSC
full member selection juries and awards juries. Lhotsky was the recipient of the CSC President’s Award in 2014 for outstanding service to the Society.
William F. White’s Paul Roscorla Steps Down as EVP William F. White recently announced that Paul Roscorla is stepping down as EVP and COO. Roscorla will continue on at the company as an executive consultant and will provide mentorship and strategic guidance. Roscorla, who has worked at WFW some 40 years, was previously VP of sales and marketing at WFW Vancouver. He was promoted to EVP and COO in 2011 and was responsible for overseeing company operations nationwide. Garin Josey, who joined WFW Vancouver in 2000, will be taking over Roscorla’s post as EVP and COO.
Cinematographer François Protat Dies François Protat, who was a member of IATSE Local 667 for almost 30 years as a director of photography, died on January 18. His cinematography credits include Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and Weekend at Bernie’s (1985). He was
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considered one of Quebec’s top cinematographers in the ‘80s and ‘90s and won the 1986 Genie Award for Best Achievement in Cinematography for the feature Joshua Then and Now.
Documentary Filmmaker Pepita Ferrari Dies at 66 Documentary filmmaker, producer and author Pepita Ferrari died on December 30 at the age of 66. Ferrari was past executive director and board member with the Documentary Organization of Canada. In 1994, she directed and coproduced her first documentary at the NFB, By Woman’s Hand, and three years later, she directed another NFB documentary on women trailblazers, The Petticoat Expeditions. Her most ambitious work with the NFB was the 2008 landmark web and film project Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary, which was nominated for Best Arts Documentary Program or Series at the Gemini Awards.
Netflix Considering Toronto Production Facility, Media Reports Media reports in January stated that Netflix is consider-
ing building a major studio in Toronto. Mayor John Tory said the streaming giant has been in talks with him and with the industry about creating a hub in the city, according to CBC News. Netflix announced plans in September 2017 to spend $500 million over five years on Canadian productions.
Transport Canada Unveils New Drone Safety Regulations Transport Canada in early January announced new drone safety regulations to take effect on June 1. The new rules apply to all drone pilots flying drones between 250 grams and 25 kilograms that are operated within the drone pilot’s visual-line-of-sight, regardless of whether the drone is flown for recreation, work or research. The final regulations introduce two main categories of drone operation: basic and advanced. The categories are based on distance from bystanders and airspace rules. Both categories have their own set of rules. Only drone pilots who need to fly a drone outside the rules for basic or advanced operations will need to apply for a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) before they fly.
MAYA Bankovic csc
TODD M.Duym csc
Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019 •
ELIE Smolkin csc
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New Accredited Members
Credit: Olivia Dudley
Credit: Woodrow Thompson
The CSC congratulates the following members on receiving full csc accreditation
Credit: Krystle Merrow
Credit: Homonylo Seaton.
Associate member Dale Sood shooting on the short film Night Shoot, starring Sheila McCarthy and Gordon Pinsent.
Credit: Jose Escamilla
Amy Belling csc with DIT Luke Campbell on the set of the Disney and Freeform TV movie Ghosting in Vancouver.
Credit: Theresa Bennett
Left to right: Grzegorz Braun (director), Stan Barua csc (DP) and Witold Rosowski (sound recordist) on the set of the film Gietrzwald 1877 in Guatemala.
Credit: Patrice Lapointe
Serge Desrosiers csc in Montreal in October 2018 shooting the movie Sisterhood from Incendo, working with the ARRI Mini and the 75-400 from Fujinon. Associate member Justin Black (left) on the set of short film Terminally in Love, using a helmet-mounted Mimic unit to remote operate a POV camera worn by actor Maccie Paquette (centre). Sound supervisor Evan Jerred image right.
Pasha Patriki csc on a freezing location in Manitoba during the promo shoot for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Credit: Edwin Lau
Scott McClellan and 2nd AC Shane Pikelin (right) in Acerenza, Italy, shooting the feature film From the Vine Came The Grape.
Credit: Charles Wahl
On Set
DP Sarah Thomas Moffat eyeing the details while crew adjust on the set of Liam and May.
ACCEPTANCES / AWARDS / NOMINATIONS / Justin Black, associate member (cinematographer and co-director) Terminally in Love (short film), nominated: Best Cinematography, Oslo Independent Film Festival, Oslo, Norway, November 17, 2018; accepted: Cinequest Film Festival, San Jose, California, March 5 to March 17; accepted: St. Louis International Film Festival, St. Louis, Missouri, November 11, 2018 Michael Jari Davidson, associate member (cinematographer) HANG UP! (short), nominated: Best Short and Best Psychological Horror Short, Indie Horror Online Skulle Awards, Hamilton,
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Ontario, February 11; (cinematographer) SuperGrid (feature), Official Selection: Starburst International Film Festival, Manchester, UK, March 15, Nicholas de Pencier csc (DP) Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (feature documentary), international premiere: Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, January 25; European premiere: Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin, February 13
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CSC Member Spotlight
encouraged me to always work harder. Name some of your professional highlights.
I’ve been on the top of a skyscraper that could only be accessed by a swing stage with Cory Joseph of the Raptors as he took free throws on a net on an adjacent building, worked for the Rolling Stones twice, shot in the pitlane of several Formula 1 races and have worked at both the Prime Minister's residences – Meech Lake and 24 Sussex Drive. This is the greatest job ever, in the history of ever. What is one of your most memorable moments on set?
The opportunity to work on the Rush R40 concert film was a dream come true. I almost didn’t take the job as I had thirdrow centre floor seats, but the production manager then offered, “How about I move you three rows closer?” I spent two nights riding a dolly at the edge of the stage while singing myself hoarse. What do you like best about what you do?
Paul Steinberg csc
It is the sense of camaraderie with the entire crew. There are light days and heavy days, but we’re always in it together.
What films or other works of art have made the biggest impression on you?
What do you like least about what you do?
The music video “One” by Metallica, shot and directed by Bill Pope ASC, completely melted my 17-year-old brain when it came out in ‘89. There was nothing else like it at the time. It was the first time I realized that there was someone behind the camera making decisions apart from the mainstream, and that had a profound effect on me. How did you get started in the business?
I literally begged my way into a co-op placement at community cable while in high school. My job was just typing envelopes, but it got me in the door. I’d bring a thermos of coffee in late at night and teach myself how to use the equipment by reading the manuals.
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Who have been your mentors or teachers?
Mr. Macpherson was my Grade 11 photography teacher, and Roland Borchert was my co-op supervisor at Scarborough Cable 10. They were both so incredibly selfless with their time and really encouraged me when I was just a no-future kid from a small town. When I was 19, I edited a music video that a young Doug Koch csc had shot on spec, if memory serves me correctly. Riding the TTC all-night Steeles bus with him following after-hours editing sessions at the post facility really made an impression on me. I recognized that these folks who are shooting such incredible work, well, those opportunities didn’t just fall out of the sky. They earned them by riding many a proverbial – or in Doug’s case, literal – all-night buses to supervise and edit projects they’d shot on spec. That
I’m certainly not the first person to mention the punishing hours. It’s the one thing that really sucks the fun out of the job. The silver lining is that everything else in your life seems super-easy after a couple of 15-hour overnights. What do you think has been the greatest invention (related to your craft)?
The grip department. Nothing else has such influence over the images we capture or how smoothly the day runs regardless of how much money, time and equipment you have (or don’t have). How can others follow your work?
At @paulsteinberg on Instagram and paulsteinberg.tv.
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CSC AWARDS 2019
CSC SPECIALTY AWARDS 2019 The 2019 Masters Award Winner
Nicolas Bolduc csc
“For outstanding contribution to the art of cinematography.”
Credit: Marlène Gélineau Payette
This is an extremely exclusive honour for directors of photography who are not only at the top of their profession but have also become leaders of the cinematic art form through their masterful skills and ingenuity. Bolduc embodies these ideals by continually striving to be different, stepping out of his comfort zone to reinvent his cinematography with each new project. He’s worked with the who’s who of Quebec’s directorial talent, such as Denis Villeneuve (Enemy), François Girard (Hochelaga, Terre des Âmes), Philippe Falardeau (Chuck) and Kim Nguyen (The Hummingbird Project). Bolduc’s cinematography throughout his career has always stirred much attention here in Canada and internationally. His impeccable visual sense was never more evident than in his haunting images in the movie War Witch about child soldiers in Africa. The film itself garnered an Academy Award nomination, while Bolduc picked up a prestigious Golden Frog award from the Camerimage Film Festival. He’s also won five CSC Awards and three Canadian Screen Awards for cinematography achievements. The 2019 President’s Award Winner
Ernie Kestler
Ernie Kestler began his career as a camera assistant before becoming a cinematographer and has been a CSC member for a remarkable 43 years. Always generous with his time, Kestler’s main efforts with the CSC have focused on education where his skills and knowledge have had a significant impact organizing the Society’s workshops and instructing. Kestler served diligently as the CSC Education Chair and Co-chair for 10 years from 2004 to 2014, an incredible record for that demanding post, hallmarking Kestler’s passion for education, cinematography and the CSC. Today, Kestler continues to coordinate CSC workshops and is a member of both the CSC Education Committee and the President’s Committee. Kestler has a master’s degree in Documentary Media from Ryerson University and is based out of Toronto as a director of photography.
Credit: Chris Donovan
“For extraordinary service to the Canadian Society of Cinematographers.”
The 2019 Bill Hilson Award Winner
“For outstanding service contributing to the development of the motion picture industry.” Toronto-based SideFX opened its doors in 1987, and since then has become a world leader in the development of visual effects and 3D animation, whose software has proven to be a gamechanger for screen-based industries. Its procedural node technology called Houdini provides simulation tools to VFX artists, allowing them to create highly realistic visual effects, which has added a whole new
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dimension to modern filmmaking and transformed an industry. Houdini excels in its depiction of lifelike movement involving the flow of water, natural disasters and an array of magical feats. Where pyrotechnics once imitated explosions, Houdini software is now that master of illusions, blowing up all manner of things ever so more realistically. By making the impossible shot possible,
Houdini has become an industry standard, with its applications evident in many of today’s television shows, such as Vikings, blockbuster films like Black Panther and the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water. Also based in Los Angeles, SideFX has been recognized four times for its technology by the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences, including the Academy’s prestigious Award of Merit.
CSC at the 14th Annual SIM Technology Showcase
Photos by: Elana Emer
January 24, 2019, Toronto
Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019 •
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DREAM JOB
C. Kim Miles csc, mysc Takes on
Welcome to MARWEN 14 • Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019
Credit: Universal Pictures
W
By Fanen Chiahemen
elcome to Marwen is the latest feature from Oscarwinning director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, The Polar Express, Cast Away) that tells the true story of Mark Hogancamp (played by Steve Carell), an illustrator who, after surviving a vicious hate-motivated assault, creates a one-sixth-scale Second World War–era Belgian town in his yard to be photographed as an outlet to help him heal. Leslie Mann, Janelle Monáe, Diane Kruger, Gwendoline Christie, Eiza González and Merritt Wever play some of the women that Hogancamp recreates into dolls to populate the miniature town, which he christens “Marwen.” Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019 •
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Zemeckis turned to C. Kim Miles csc, mysc to bring the visuals to life after noticing the cinematographer’s work on the Warner Brothers’ superhero series The Flash, a show the director’s children watch avidly, according to Zemeckis’ long-time producer Steve Starkey, who called Miles to discuss and ultimately offer him the job. “This was a dream come true,” Miles says. “If you’d asked me to pick a director, anyone in the world to work with, Bob would be one of the first people, if not the first, because his mastery of shot design and storytelling have always motivated my own choices. So this was all just a crazy series of coincidences. Needless to say, his kids got quite a care package from The Flash.” Miles says in early discussions, Zemeckis did not have a finite pre-existing vision for the film but was very collaborative and open to his input. “My initial instincts were that Mark Hogancamp’s real world and imaginary world needed to be different photographically,” Miles says. “Because of the situation with the trauma that he had been through and the somewhat bleak existence that he now led, the real world needed to be a more honest, more raw environment, something that didn’t go out of its way to be pretty or to look like a Hollywood movie. It needed to feel more like a documentary, more like Marwencol [a 2010 documentary by Jeff Malmberg about Hogancamp and his miniature town]. His doll world needed to be nostalgic, hopeful, warm and welcoming. So we decided to embrace an honest, raw look for the real world stuff, and then to take inspiration from Kodachrome slides and some early Technicolor colour photography from back in the ‘40s and ‘50s to inspire the doll world.” Miles worked with Technicolor senior colourist Maxine Gervais (The Mule, Black Panther) right from preproduction to help distinguish the two worlds. “We did a previsualization session where we would test material and establish the doll world and the regular world, and we created LUTs for Kim to be able to use on set,” Gervais recalls. “We didn’t want to go too extreme but just enough so that in the dailies we’d be able to see the difference between the two worlds already. And it would also be helpful for the visual effects to have that starting point.”
From top: Steve Carell as Mark Hogancamp and Leslie Mann as his love interest Nicol. Eiza González (Carlala) in a scene with Carell. Zemeckis and DP C. Kim Miles csc, mysc on the set of Welcome to Marwen.
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“If you’d asked me to pick a director, anyone in the world to work with, Bob would be one of the first people, if not the first, because his mastery of shot design and storytelling have always motivated my own choices.”
Photos these pages credit: Ed Araquel/Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures.
Actors Leslie Mann and Steve Carell shoot a scene in the motion capture stage. Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019 •
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Preproduction on Welcome to Marwen was an extensive process, stretching over about 11 weeks, Miles says. “Most of the time in prep was spent trying to iron out the physical approach we needed to take in terms of photographing the doll world,” he recalls. “One of the things that was very important to Bob early on was to avoid slipping into the uncanny valley in which audiences have a really hard time connecting emotionally with fully computer-generated characters.” Zemeckis therefore ruled out traditional motion capture – or mocap – techniques combined with fully digitally-generated facial features to bring the dolls to life. Instead, visual effects supervisor Kevin Baillie of Atomic Fiction (now Method Studios) developed a virtual production process that allowed them to fuse mocap CG dolls with live action footage of the real actors’ faces. (See sidebar). “It’s never been done before,” Miles remarks. “It meant lighting the actors, introducing motioncapture-traceable cameras, dollies, cranes and whatnot into the motion capture stage, and blocking scenes within the motion capture stage so that the characters’ actions would be honest and true to the physical environment they were going to be put into in the digital world.” All of the lighting design within the mocap stage had been predetermined in an extensive preproduction process that involved previsualizing all the virtual environments and lighting scenes digitally in a 3D environment created by Profile Studios and a specially-developed iPad application that allowed Miles to determine key, fill and environmental lighting well ahead of actual photography. The main question then became how to light the actors, Miles says. “When we’re working in the motion capture stage, which
is this 60 by 40 by 30-foot cube, that space necessarily has to be just flat grey; their suits have to be flat grey in contrast to the tracking markers so that the motion capture cameras have the best chance to capture as much data as possible,” the DP explains. “So we had to cater to the motion capture cameras’ need for blankness in terms of how the set looks. But we wanted to light their faces dramatically. And because the motion capture cameras work by interpreting infrared information, any time we put our motion picture lighting into the sets to light their faces, if we used too much of it, it would overpower the infrared information on the motion capture cameras and result in them getting nothing, so we had to adapt our lighting to reduced levels and use different types of lighting fixtures to allow us to light their faces without upsetting the motion capture cameras. “For years Mark Hogancamp shot on film and he never shot indoors because he didn’t know how to light scenes to be photographed indoors,” Miles says. “So he shot everything outdoors during the day, and then someone gave him a digital camera and he discovered, ‘Hey, if I’m inside and I turn the lights on in the
“When we were putting this movie together, we realized early on that we needed to shoot full-scale actors and make them feel like they were one-sixth scale dolls. So everything we knew about miniature photography we had to flip on its back and shoot the other way around.”
T
he CG dolls in Welcome to Marwen were brought to life by visual effects supervisor Kevin Baillie and the team at Atomic Fiction (now Method Studios), who developed a virtual production workflow to film and then transpose the faces of the actors onto the dolls, paying special attention to the actors’ eyes and mouths. “We stumbled upon this method that hadn’t really been used in film before where we motion captured the
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Courtesy of Method Studios
The Dolls of Marwen
bodies and the cameras,” Baillie says. “So as a result of that, the dolls that are moving around are all CGI, they’re all digitally rendered, and the worlds that they’re in are digitally rendered, but the faces of the dolls – the eyes and the mouths specifically – are actual footage that we’re filming on stage that we’re fusing with this underlying layer of computergenerated dolls.” To achieve the effect, lightweight digital
counterparts of the practical town and dolls were built and ported into the gaming tool Unreal Engine. The actors were then captured in a dedicated motion capture volume in Vancouver by Profile Studios, where they were lit as though being filmed for a real shot and captured with the same ARRI ALEXA 65s used for the live-action portions of the film. In this motion capture volume, the actors were affixed with tracking markers, with dozens of
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be is what dooms studio ‘exteriors’ into looking artificial,” Miles continues. “So you need to basically turn the ceiling of the studio into a giant soft daylight source – bigger than production is ever willing to believe – and then add to that what you need in terms of hard sunlight from the setting sun or from the morning sun or whatever so that it all works together to emulate what happens in real life when you’re standing outside.” They also made sure to introduce what Miles calls “a little bit of chaos” into every lighting setup. “Imagine, for example, you’re shooting on location out in the daylight and it’s a sunny afternoon. There’s always some element of the lighting that you can’t control because you’re shooting outside,” he explains. “No matter how big the budget or how much equipment you have, there’s always something you wish you had more control over. And that’s what makes shooting outdoors look honest and look real. So when we were lighting the stages on Marwen, we would introduce a streak of sun that was a little bit too bright or a shad-
“If you put story first no matter what, it’ll always work out for the best. If you treat everyone around you with respect and collaboration, you get 150 per cent back. When you trust people’s instincts and take suggestions from them and collaborate with them, you’re giving them ownership of the show, and when you give people ownership you get so much more because they are invested.”
Courtesy of Method Studios
kitchen or put a bundle of Christmas lights next to my dolls, I can shoot them inside.’ So we took a lot of cues from him. For example, if he lit a still photo with a bundle of Christmas lights, we would do the same thing. While Hogancamp was shooting one-sixth scale dolls with a bunch of Christmas lights, we were challenged with shooting full-size humans that are meant to be one-sixth scale dolls lit by Christmas lights. We had to therefore scale up our ‘Christmas lights’ so that they were the same size relative to the humans that his bundles of lights were to the onesixth scale dolls. So we had things like 20 by 20, and 12 by 12foot frames strung with hundreds of bare bulbs to emulate giant bundles of Christmas lights.” Trying to shoot the exteriors of Hogancamp’s real world was another issue. “Bob Zemeckis isn’t a huge fan of shooting outdoors in the elements because you lose control over the weather and you’re at the mercy of any number of things from airplanes flying overhead to clouds and rain, especially in Vancouver,” Miles explains. “Bob’s preference is to shoot everything on stage and composite all the backgrounds. So our challenge now was to photograph Mark’s real world in a way that was completely artificial because we had to create all of the lighting for it, but do so in a way that looked raw and honest and almost like a documentary. So Stefan Dechant, our incredible production designer, built this amazing exterior set on stage. We had Mark’s trailer, his backyard, [his love interest] Nicol’s house across the street, and the little village of Marwen. “The big challenge on stage when you’re shooting daytime exteriors is to light them in such a way that it doesn’t look like it was shot on stage, and the big solution is always to have a lot of sky light. Underestimating how large and soft that source has to
The progression from actor to doll of Steve Carell, who plays Mark Hogancamp. little infrared motion capture cameras recording the tracking markers to capture movement information. “So that once they’re in the computer-generated world, the visual effects team has information that tells them where the characters are moving and how
20 • Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019
they’re behaving and so on,” Miles explains. Using the live-action footage and the motioncaptured bodies, the visual effects team could then project the actors’ faces onto their CG doll counterparts. Miles was able to pre-light all of the mocap
scenes before shooting anything on stage via a custom iPad application and engineering via Unreal Engine. “We actually created a version of Marwen in a video game engine, which allowed Kim to pre-light all of the imaginary world scenes before we shot a single frame
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21
CANADIAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS PRESENTS
THE 62 CSC AWARDS GALA nd
with host
Sheila McCarthy
SATURDAY MARCH 23, 2019 RECEPTION 5:30pm Arcadian Court 401 Bay Street, 8th Floor Toronto Ontario Canada Parking at City Hall
Tickets csc.ca/cscawards
of footage on the motion capture stage. We spent about two weeks pre-lighting the whole thing, and then when we got to the motion capture stage, we were able to use this great looking video game-quality version of Marwen to visualize what our cameras were seeing,” Baillie explains. “So on one monitor we would have the scenes from the ALEXA 65s that Kim was shooting with, and on the monitor right below that, there would be this video view into what the final shot was going to look like. So we were able to see how shadows fall and to make sure that the way that we’re lighting the mocap scenes physically is actually going to look good at the end of the day once we put it into the actual Marwen environment. So it was pretty cool.” Baillie and his team were nominated in the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature category at the 2019 Visual Effects Society Awards for Welcome to Marwen, while Miles was nominated in the Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project category. •
Credit: Ed Araquel/Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures.
Zemeckis and Carell discuss a scene.
Miles describes working with Zemeckis as “a master class in filmmaking” that left the DP with some valuable insights: “If you put story first no matter what, it’ll always work out for the best. If you treat everyone around you with respect and collaboration, you get 150 per cent back. When you trust people’s instincts and take suggestions from them and collaborate with them, you’re giving them ownership of the show, and when you give people ownership you get so much more because they are invested,” Miles says. “To work with some of the best filmmakers in the world was truly a dream come true for a simple Malaysian boy.”
Courtesy of Method Studios
ow that fell across an actor in a way that wasn’t how you’d do it if it was perfect in order to try to make it breathe and give some life to the lighting so that it didn’t feel like it was shot to perfection on the stage.” Welcome to Marwen was shot on the ARRI ALEXA 65, with the prime 65 lens package, as well as some Vintage 65 lenses. “The reason we went large format was primarily because of the dolls and how we needed to photograph them,” Miles explains. “When you’re shooting footage in miniature – for example, if we were back in London in 1975 shooting the Millennium Falcon model on stage for Star Wars – there are practices and methodologies that we would employ to shoot the miniatures so that they felt full scale. You over-crank the cameras, you change the lensing and so on so that the little tiny models feel like giant ships. When we were putting this movie together, we realized early on that we needed to do the exact opposite. We needed to shoot full-scale actors and make them feel like they were one-sixth scale dolls. So everything we knew about miniature photography we had to flip on its back and shoot the other way around. When you look at miniature photography, let’s say photographs of dolls or toys, for example, everything is at such close range to the camera that the depth of field is much more pronounced; the falloff in focus is much more pronounced because you’re working at closer focal distances, and that’s just the physics of lensing – the closer things are to the camera, the less depth of field there is. So we needed to be able to mimic that in a scaled-up way, and the quickest way to a shallower depth of field is to increase the size of the capture surface that you’re shooting on, so the ALEXA 65 was the largest capture surface we could find without having to build our own cameras.”
Visual effects brings the doll version of Leslie Mann (Nicol) to life. Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019 •
23
The View from Her By Joan Hutton csc and Olya Glotka
24 â&#x20AC;˘ Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019
O
ur industry has changed drastically in the last 40 years, no question about it. So have the experiences of women cinematographers. Or have they? This project is an exploration of that question. I entered the cinematography field 40 years after my partner in this venture, Joan Hutton csc. When she began, she saw a very different industry than I have. For many years, Joan was the sole woman out in the field, striving to become a cinematographer. In contrast, when I, as a self-taught emerging filmmaker, walk onto a set there are 20 to 30 per cent women in sight in various departments. We did the math and had to admit that although the number of women cinematographers has increased, it hovers only around the 5 per cent level. So we turned to the women of the CSC membership who stuck it out to record their views and perspectives to see what’s changed if anything at all. With International Women’s Day this month, we thought it only fitting to share in this issue of the magazine some of what was said in our interviews by a group of what I found to be amazing women. – Olya Glotka
of an openness towards “taking a risk” on newer cinematographers, and especially towards hiring cinematographers or other crew members for projects outside the scope of their previous experiences. Jericca Cleland csc As a cinematographer, I see my role as enabling and supporting the director in enhancing his or her story and style through every aspect of the frame and camera/lighting, carrying that intention through, and ensuring everyone on my crew understands and further enables that. I’m not sure how on-the-radar it is for girls. Boys tend to see action films, for example, and then want to make them on their own, and eventually decide to go to film school. In live-action, the practice of cinematography is very physical, technical and male-dominated, which can intimidate some women.
Credit: Jordan Masciangelo
could all continue working on projects we find meaningful and not feel the need to highlight our gender as a qualifier.
Maya Bankovic csc There is pressure associated with running large sets and delegating tasks to crews. Many young women have expressed to me their anxiety about this part of the job. What I tell them is that it’s important to remember that the director selected you for a reason. I would love for the discussions around women in film to eventually lead to normalizing our place here. I fear that emerging woman-identifying cinematographers are focusing on barriers more than some of us were at their stage due to the emphasis there is on the lack of us these days. What would be great is if we
Amy Belling csc For me, cinema is magic. Films should have a cohesive visual language that marries cinematography, production design, costume design, performance, hair, makeup, wardrobe all into one believable universe. There are more women in the camera department than when I started, and more female/diverse cinematographers, as well as more female/diverse directors and creators in general, which is great! Personally, I’d love to see more
Kim Derko csc As a cinematographer, I take somebody else’s story, concept or idea and I have to fight to fulfill their idea of what this concept would look like. I think there is almost a false sense of, “Oh, everything is equal. And it’s all-encompassing, and women have every opportunity.” But the percentages are still very low. And really I think the world has to help. It’s not just the little women’s club that has to fight their way out of this egg shell. The whole world has to help with that. And it’s not just for women, it’s for everyone. “I would love for the discussions around women in film to eventually lead to normalizing our place here.” – Maya Bankovic csc Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019 •
25
Zoe Dirse csc When I first started I was shocked by how few of us were there. And that was late 1970s. I thought, “Well, by the time I’m 50 there should be 50 per cent women shooting.” Well, as we know, that’s not the case at all. I mean the percentages are slightly higher. The obstacle for women is that there are not many role models. Women need to look up to other women. Also, the industry is not very conducive to women having a family. The glass ceiling is very high. And I think all those things hold some women back.
Credit: Johnny CY Lam
Kristin Fieldhouse I see my role as a chameleon – I’m there to serve the story, the director and the production through visual storytelling, providing technical knowledge and practical problem-solving, and effective management. Advancements in technology and access give us greater opportunity for experimentation and alternative methods of storytelling, whilst opening up the traditional role of cinematography to a more diverse collective of voices and perspectives. Challenges come to us at different moments to help propel us.
Alysha Galbreath I think my biggest struggle personally is impostor syndrome. Am I good enough to be doing this? Do I know enough? And I think what also feeds into that is as a woman it’s very difficult to be in this industry that’s still very much a boys’ club where we still get ignored at trade shows, we still get told our work is “pretty.” One of the main things that I think stops women from becoming cinematographers is access to gear, encouragement to play with gear, to really get into the menus, play with lenses and then the environments that we’re working in, which is the most important. As a woman, I’ve thought a lot about what if I did have children, and the single answer is that I could not work the way I work now. I just don’t see a solution there.
“To date I’ve never had a female mentor in cinematography, but I know we’re creating an environment where one day I can be that for the next generation of women.” – Tess Girard
26 • Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019
Tess Girard When I was at York, there were only a handful of males in the program. It was mostly young women. When I left university, that ratio of women to men reversed, and that’s when the impostor syndrome crept in. Cinematography is
a very technical vocation, and women are often not encouraged to pursue technological careers from a young age. This is changing. Now more than ever, I’m so aware of the social and industrial structures that foster insecurities like this in women, and it’s been incredible that lately women have opened up to each other about issues that we used to keep very private for fear of appearing “weak.” To date I’ve never had a female mentor in cinematography, but I know we’re creating an environment where one day I can be that for the next generation of women. Olya Glotka My role as a cinematographer is to observe life. I have a lot of life experience. I have travelled to 20 countries and lived in five. My co-worker, a male cinematographer recently fought me to prove that there is no glass ceiling in the film industry, and women have as many opportunities as men, they just don’t want it. And you know what, I couldn’t really disagree with him. Yes, young women do not even try because for the last generations everything was against them. Schools teaching them how to sew instead of build. Adults complimenting girls on their looks and boys on their smarts. We’ve gone so far, we are doing so much better now, but there is still so much damage to undo. Nyssa Glück I would like to be seen as just a “cinematographer” not a “female cinematographer.” My sensibilities have been molded by my unique upbringing, one that saw me move every few years around the US and Europe. It is an upbringing that forces one to be malleable, curious, and able to adjust on the flip of a dime. I believe that I listen more and am more open to ideas, which enables me to provide the best images I can to a project. I refuse to not make images that are perfect for the project at hand. It’s also part of my sensitivity. I want to make sure that those perfect images reflect those dreamed up in the director’s head as best as I can. I see my role as the gateway to the images inside a director’s brain.
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Credit: Jon Simonassi
Pauline Heaton csc I think the support for women needs to start with a safe and a respectful environment to work in. I also think that there needs to be support when support is needed in every aspect of the job. The camera department is a team and should always work together as a team. Without this support, women cannot focus on the task at hand. Like all camera people who are training to be cinematographers, they need to learn and improve and cannot if their gender limits their ability to work in a safe environment, be treated with respect in that environment and assisted when they need support from their team.
Joan Hutton csc When I started in 1974, there were simply no women at all in the camera department. I was the only one in Toronto. And there was so much attention focused on me, because I was a woman and they didn’t think that I would be able to do the job and they were just waiting for me to fail. I wish I was given the advice to push harder, to make your own opportunities, don’t wait around for anyone to notice
28 • Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019
Credit: Emma Higgins
Credit: Wendy D Photography
you. I think women are socialized not to make waves, to be calm and quiet in the background, to be helpers and supporters. And I think we need to be a little bit more like men and be a little bit more aggressive about going after what we want.
Christina Ienna Cinematography is an incredibly challenging career for anyone pursuing it. You are a head of a department, a technician and a creative. Being responsible for executing a director’s vision involves building collaborative relationships, which can be tough. There is also the reoccurring struggle of finding balance outside of work and growing creatively in such a highly demanding job. Cinematography was not a department I was encouraged to pursue in school. I also did not have any female role models in that position to look up to at the time. Throughout my career, it was made clear that being a woman slowed my progress on many occasions, but I have also had a few advantages as of late for the same reason.
“I wish I was given the advice to push harder, to make your own opportunities, don’t wait around for anyone to notice you.” – Joan Hutton csc
Catherine Lutes csc When I started, I never considered the gender element of it at all. I never thought about how there weren’t many female cinematographers. For some reason, it just wasn’t on my radar. When I started to think of it more recently, I realized that there were very few women DPs out there, and so, potentially, it’s hard to become something when you don’t see it before you, and that can be a big factor. People have started to consider that female cinematographers could do big jobs. There were many years that didn’t even feel like a possibility and that I would have to only play within a certain level, but in the last few years, it seems people are opening their minds to it.
Kelly Mason As a woman, especially now, it is important that we recognize our feminine role in the workplace, as well as society. I believe we are born with specific paths that our soul has chosen to take, and if the path is meant to be, we will succeed in the chosen career, like cinematography. Women also stop because they feel they have to choose
Morgana McKenzie There are so many different ways that you can capture a moment. My focus in working alongside the director is to find the best way to capture those moments. I’m very open-minded about the creative process. I don’t believe in right or wrong solutions. The relationship between myself and the director is just as important to me as the project. I’d like to teach young women that this can be a career, and that it already is for so many women. I’d like to see more outreach to young women specifically, to provide them with opportunities to experience a camera as a storytelling tool and see a cinematography career as something that is available to them.
Sarah Moffat My biggest struggle has been the gender struggle. I teach a lot of workshops, and what I see in those programs across Canada is that when it gets to the handson things, it’s the males that tend to dominate the room and the females stand back and it is harder for them, even physically (not just mentally) to get in and have confidence to stand there and touch the things the guys are touching. You have to make an affirmative decision for yourself. How bad do you want it? And if you want it bad enough, you will stick it out and ride the waves that come. And there are terrible tsunamis that come in this industry, but sticking it out is probably the one thing that will get you through everything. Nathalie Moliavko-Visotzky csc I see my role as an ally to the director, understanding her or his vision, infusing or creating the atmosphere with light and the image that will best express the essence of the story. I started as a trainee with Glen MacPherson csc, asc, who was second AC at that time. I have been through the traditional path, second AC, then first AC, camera operator and DP on short films, documentaries before working on feature films. I haven’t had to struggle. Maybe because ambition is not a priority for me. The only struggle I can think of is to get the same salary as a male DP.
“I’d like to teach young women that this can be a career, and that it already is for so many women. I’d like to see more outreach to young women specifically, to provide them with opportunities to experience a camera as a storytelling tool and see a cinematography career as something that is available to them.” – Morgana McKenzie
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Credit: Michael Barker
Iris Ng csc Right now it seems that my struggles centre around managing time so I can be as present as I’d like to be as a cinematographer on each project I work on, and also be present in other parts of life. A lot of aspects around being a female cinematographer seem paradoxical or unattainable, and there hasn’t been enough visibility of women talking about these issues for other women to feel like there’s a place for them in the industry. I’d like to see us detach ourselves from the exploitative/ objectifying gaze, and for media makers to take responsibility for the way we depict people. I’ve seen this evolve, but I think we can work to further expand our perspectives by being more conscious and by the avoiding of “othering.”
Credit: Benoit Bureau
Credit: Alysha Galbreath
Credit: Dale Sood
between career and being a mother. This is not true. However, I believe that a woman must prioritize her life choices carefully and realize that children need a mother at home, especially in the early years. This is the hardest, most important and fulfilling job for a woman. Then cinematography becomes more of a joy and a privilege.
Geneviève Perron csc Every time I begin a project, I feel like a total impostor, like I know nothing. And then I remember Vilmos Zsigmond asc, hsc saying the exact same thing, and I relax a little. I always try to find the right sensibility for the project. In my opinion,
Sama Waham A good cinematographer is someone who is adaptable, someone who never stops learning and upgrading their knowledge. And they are not afraid of redefining boundaries and rules, including their own. I’d like to think that I bring a lot of passion, commitment and courage. Like for many independent filmmakers, funding and distributing becomes harder every day. And like many women, it always feels like you have to prove yourself, you always have to go an extra mile to justify your actions.
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Claudine Sauvé csc When I started university in the communications program, I wanted to be a journalist. Then I decided I would tell stories with images instead of words. I shot a lot of short films, but also many documentaries at the beginning of my career. I travelled, learned more and more about life, attentive listening, empathy and intuition. I think I became a better person and a better DP while shooting with women in Algeria, blacklisted sailors in the Philippines, cargo inspectors in South Africa, doctors in Haiti, lobster fishermen on Entry Island... Our job is to realize a director’s vision as it shapes slowly into our brain, our soul and sometimes becomes magical on set when we open the door to the unexpected.
Credit: Cathy Wong
Credit: Catherine Beauchamp
every project needs its own. It is all a question of getting into the brain (and heart) of the director, finding common references, researching a lot. My role is to translate the vision of the director into living images. I think it is a real puzzle for any member of a family that wants to be involved in his/her art and with his/her family. And, unfortunately, women still seem to be the ones that sacrifice the professional part first.
Carolyn Wong Sometimes I think women can stop themselves if they are overthinking it. Just do it. You know you can’t expect to sit there and whine and expect to get hired. What I say to most women who start to shoot is just do the work and be strong and believe in yourself and just keep it simple. And it will come, because the work will speak for itself, especially now. Women need to be just a little bit more forward. Not in an aggressive way, but just don’t be shy.
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What I say to most women who start to shoot is just do the work and be strong and believe in yourself and just keep it simple. And it will come, because the work will speak for itself, especially now. – Carolyn Wong Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019 •
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TORONTO | MISSISSAUGA | OTTAWA CALGARY | EDMONTON
VISTEK.CA
Obituary R
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he Canadian film and television industry recently lost one of its finest – Stewart Aziz, who died on December 20, 2018, at the age of 60, following a brief illness. Aziz served as VP, Marketing & Business Development for Keslow Camera, and was a long-time friend of the CSC, as he was to many. He was known not only for being a talented and dedicated colleague, but also for his warm and friendly disposition. “Stewart was an awesome guy. He had nothing bad to say about anybody; he was always a very positive mind, a full-of-life person,” camera assistant Christopher Raucamp, Aziz’s friend of more than 25 years, says. “It was always a joy being with him because he was always positive. You never felt down after meeting Stewart.” Born on April 27, 1958, in Toronto, Aziz attended King City Secondary School and completed film studies at Humber College. He entered the film
32 • Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019
and television industry as a camera assistant before transitioning into the business side of the industry in motion picture camera rentals with Panavision, Clairmont Camera Toronto and finally with Keslow Camera. His keen eye and focus made him both technically proficient and highly skilled as a camera assistant, while his gregarious and principled personality and in-depth knowledge of his industry made him a valuable asset in the corporate setting. “A good second assistant takes care of everything in the background. He’s dealing with the office, he’s dealing with transportation, he’s dealing with all these things, and you need the right temperament to keep everybody on your side. And he was the guy to do it. He certainly had a good sense of humour,” camera operator Brian Harper, who last worked with Aziz on the 1997 TV series Fast Track, remembers. Second assistant Bob Standish, who
Credit: John Narvali
Stewart trained on the same series, recalls: “I had the privilege of meeting Stew in 1997, as a newer member of IATSE 667. I was assigned the show Fast Track where he was the A camera first assistant. It was an exciting show, high budget and high demand, to say the least. I found that Stew had such confidence under all circumstances and was never rattled and had a tremendous sense of humour. It helped me feel comfortable as the camera trainee. I learned a tremendous amount, and the experience would guide me throughout my time in the industry. He will be missed by so many.” Affiliate CSC member Lori P. Longstaff says she would often drop into Keslow Camera to say hello to Aziz, chatting with him about the film industry and reminiscing about past adventures. “Stew was such a kind, gentle and empathetic person,” she recalls. “Admired and highly respected in the film industry. So many years of dedication, always working
I met Stew in the 1990s when we worked together on Road to Avonlea. Over the next several years of working together, I got to know and appreciate Stew more and more and we became good friends. He was an excellent first assistant cameraman, one of the best I ever worked with. He was extremely organized and reliable, instantly likable and warm-hearted. He treated everyone with respect and had a great sense of humour. I was lucky to have seen Stew a couple of months before he passed, when he and our friend and colleague Brian Harper surprised me by coming to my house with a delicious Middle Eastern lunch. We had a beautiful afternoon, reminiscing about our many years of working together, and it is a memory that I will always keep with me. Robert Saad csc
I met Stew when I was a camera trainee with IATSE 667 on a MOW back in the early ‘90s. He was a legend, one of the most respected and experienced 2nd ACs around. I was told how fortunate I was to get a trainee gig under him because he was a good teacher and I’d learn a lot. All true. As the ‘rookie kid’ on set and in the camera department, it was very good timing for me to be with Stew. He showed me patience, explained things clearly and served it all up with a healthy dose of humour, jokes and stories. He proved you can have a good time while teaching/learning. He loved his job and was a master at it. Carolyn Wong, associate member
I had the pleasure of working with Stew while he was at Clairmont Camera and then at Keslow Camera. Stew always had a smile on his face and treated every client with the same courtesy and respect, whether they were a celebrated DP or a first-time filmmaker. In fact, the way that Stew championed new filmmakers throughout his career is something that I will always remember and aspire to emulate. He didn’t do it for the potential of a future client, but rather for his passion of the art form. Stew will be greatly missed. James Piper, general manager, Keslow Camera, Toronto
The thing that always struck me about Stew was his unshakeable loyalty and his chivalry. Stew was always the first guy to pull out my chair, open a door or give me his jacket if I was cold. We talked a few times a week because we were each other’s counterparts in our respective cities and had many clients in common, and he was the person I was closest to in the company. I miss hearing him say, “Hey, pal” when I called him. I think I’ll miss that forever. Lecily Corbett, executive director of marketing, Keslow Camera, Vancouver
strategies above and beyond to help film productions run smoothly.” Aziz was well known among CSC members. He regularly attended the CSC Awards, and while he was with Panavision, he frequently presented the CSC Student Award. In addition, he would help coordinate the CSC
Stewart Aziz was a great personality, a fun guy with a great sense of humor and always looked at the positive side of every situation. He was always a very good conversationalist, willing to chat about just about anything. It would be comforting to know I was able to go up to his office late in the day and have a friendly conversation with him. Later as he moved on to Keslow Camera, I would drop by and pop into his office and chew the fat for a few minutes with him there. I will miss Stewart immensely just knowing that he’s not here with us anymore. Alan Crimi, shipper/receiving clerk, Panavision Canada
Lens Testing Workshops, generously sponsored by Keslow Camera. Aziz is survived by his wife of 33 years, Elaine; his devoted children, Neale (Haeleigh) and Grace; and his cherished granddaughter, Frances. He will be greatly missed by his loving sisters Kathy Aziz, Debra England
(Les) and Cindy Aziz (Craig Walker); his wife’s family, mother-in-law Sally Upton, and Karla Stout, Craig Stout (Suzy), Peter Upton ( Jo-Anne) and Lucy Sanford (Norman); his nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews; friends and colleagues too numerous to count and the family dog, Wylee. Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019 •
33
L
ED lighting continues to evolve, and LiteGear’s rollout of the LiteMat Spectrum illustrates the advances are more than just incremental. California-based LiteMat designs and builds LED lighting for the industry and used to call the LED LiteRibbon its “hero” product. It’s a flexible strip of lighting in several configurations from daylight to tungsten with two intensities per metre, which is perfect for things like in-car lighting or special setups. Things change quickly, however, in the technology space. “The Spectrum is going to be our new hero product for sure,” Paul Royalty, LiteGear’s vice president of sales, says. “The market demand is already overwhelming.” LiteGear is a familiar brand through its other offerings such as LiteMat S2, LiteMat+ Plus and LiteTile+ Plus. As Royalty notes, LiteMat Spectrum is the next evolution in their product line. They showed it at NAB in the spring of 2018 and would have launched last fall but for some software tweaks at the last minute. When we talked last fall, they were expecting to launch the product in 2019, coincidentally about the same time as you read this. What’s notable about LiteMat Spectrum isn’t just the full spectrum of white light and the adjustable colour correction, along with accent colour in 100 shades of saturation, but the design approach. “Everyone wants multi-colour, and that’s the trend whether they will ever use it or not, and that’s driving demand,” Royalty says. LiteGear is a company founded by lighting guys for lighting guys, and while ease of setup, comfort in handling and mounting, simple power supply and dimmer controls are all tantamount features, they haven’t forgotten the end goal, and that’s to light a set according to the DP’s demands with minimum hassle. That’s why they deliberately chose to design with the camera in mind first, rather than a human. They wanted to create adjustable LED lighting that would sync with the way
34 • Canadian Cinematographer - March 2019
LiteMat Spectrum is used in a in-car lighting setup on set.
different cameras – digital or film – saw white light, and they wanted to create a rig that would, in their words, “simplify cinematic colour mixing.” It’s a laudable goal, and to meet it they tested Spectrum with five different cameras to see that it could accurately reproduce any shade of white that each camera considers “correct.” As Royalty notes, that’s between 2,000K and 11,000K with plus or minus 8 points of tint correction covering the Planckian curve, and that’s going to be a strong selling point for the Spectrum. It’s also led to LiteGear doing some educating on colour science as the technology gets more and more precise in its ability to dial in colour, intensity, hue and saturation. The science is more and more detailed and machinedriven, and as a result, is becoming more technical and mathematical. Having come from a working background, the founders knew one of the keys to getting any new lighting system accepted would be ease of setup. The system is controlled by a proprietary PDX with a single cable carrying both power and data, further keeping things simple.
Credit: Courtesy of LiteGear
Tech Column
LiteMat Pulls Out the Stops with Spectrum
In keeping with LED lighting’s hallmark, the panels are less than an inch thick and can be ganged together to meet whatever is needed on set. They also take standard K-mounts. In the Spectrum model they’ve kept the system as lightweight as possible with a standard battery power option, as well as standard power supply. “It’s the first lighting system to be certified colour-space compliant,” Royalty says, adding that there are patents pending. “We also wanted to design a system that was camera aware, and that’s where we started. He adds that it is ITU-R Recommendation compliant and uses advanced LUTs to produce colours within the standards of Rec. 709, 2020 and DCI-P3 colour spaces, which aids postproduction workflows. It also maps to the CIE 1931 colour space standard. “It takes the guesswork out of colour mixing for digital cameras. We went out and talked to lighting people and asked them what would make their jobs easier,” he says. Ian Harvey is a journalist who has been writing about digital disruption for 20 years. He welcomes feedback and eagerly solicits subject matter ideas at ian@pitbullmedia.ca.
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Production Notes Calendar
ALTERED CARBON II (series)
DP Bernard Couture csc (alternating episodes)
to June 25
Surrey
ARROW VII (series)
DP Gordon Verheul csc (odd) & Neil Cervin csc (even)
to April 11
Vancouver
BATWOMAN (pilot)
DP Robert McLachlan csc, asc
to March 25
Burnaby
BOY 2, THE (feature)
Camera Operator Michael Soos
to March 8
Saanichton
CARDINAL: UNTIL THE NIGHT – CYCLE 4 (miniseries)
DP Steve Cosens csc Camera Operator Paula Tymchuk B Camera 1st Assistant Pierre Branconniere
to April 12
North Bay
CASTLE IN THE GROUND (feature)
DP Bobby Shore csc
to March 27
Garson
DARK ANGEL (miniseries)
DP Michael Balfry csc B Cam Operator Jillian MacLauchlan
to March 15
Burnaby
FLASH V (series)
DP Brenton Spencer csc & Alwyn J. Kumst csc (alternating episodes)
to April 19
Vancouver
GRAVITY PRODUCTIONS AKA TWILIGHT ZONE (series)
Craig Wrobleski csc
to March 8
North Vancouver
IMPULSE II (series)
DP David Greene csc, asc & Marc Laliberté (alternating episodes)
to June 14
Toronto
INK (series)
DP François Dagenais csc (alternating episodes) Camera Operator Jim Van Dijk
to April 12
Richmond
LOCKE & KEY (series)
DP Andrew (Tico) Poulakakis csc (odd episodes) & and Colin Hoult csc (even episodes) B Camera Operator Peter Sweeney
to June 19,
Toronto
MAGIC HOUR (series)
DP François Dagenais csc
to April 12
Richmond
MAGNESIUM (series)
DP George Lajtai csc
to July 16
Toronto
MARIJUANA CHRONICLES (webisodes)
DP/OP John Berrie csc
to March 18
Toronto
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE (MOW)
DP Ryan McMaster csc Camera Operator David Bercovici-Artieda
to March 12
Burnaby
NURSES (series)
DP Thom Best csc 1st Assistant Ciaran Copelin
to May 16
Mississauga
RADIO CHRISTMAS (MOW)
DP Paul Mitchnick csc
to March 17
Winnipeg
REX (series)
DP Stephen Reizes csc
to May 12
St. John’s
RIDE OR DIE (pilot)
DP Stirling Bancroft csc
to March 1
Vancouver
RIVERDALE III (series)
DP Brendan Uegama csc
to March 30
Langley
SEE (series)
B Cam Operator/2nd Unit DP Ian Seabrook csc
to March 30
Delta, B.C.
SPINNING OUT (series)
B Cam Operator Perry Hoffman
to May 1
Toronto
SUPERGIRL IV (series)
DP Michael Storey csc (alternating episodes) B Camera Operator Justin Beattie
to May 15
Langley
SUPERNATURAL XIV (series)
DP Serge Ladouceur csc Camera Operator Brad Creasser
to March 26
Burnaby
TWILIGHT ZONE (series)
DP Craig Wrobleski csc
to March 8
North Vancouver
UNTITLED HARRY & MEGHAN 2 (MOW)
DP Thomas Harting csc
to March 22
Vancouver
VAN HELSING IV (series)
DP Gerald Packer csc
to June 21
Vancouver
MARCH 2-3, CSC Lighting Faces/IATSE 669 Workshop, Vancouver, csc.ca 11, Stewart Aziz Memorial, South Pond Farms, Bethany 16, IMAGO International Awards for Cinematography, Belgrade, imagoawards.org 22-23, Italian Society of Cinematographers’ Micro Salon Rome, Rome, microsalonitalia.com 23, CSC Awards, Arcadian Court, Toronto, csc.ca
@canadiancinematographer @csc_CDN
36 • Canadian Cinematographer - March 2018
25-31, Canadian Screen Week, Toronto, academy.ca/ awards APRIL 4-6, 3rd International Conference on Teaching & Researching Cinematography, Brussels, imago.org MAY 6, CSC Annual General Meeting, Technicolor Toronto 11, Stewart Aziz Memorial, South Pond Farms, Bethany
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.
Classifieds EQUIPMENT FOR SALE ALEXA ITEMS FOR SALE Arri Alura T2.9. 18-80mm (PL Mount, Feet) CAD$20,000 OBO Arri Eyepiece Leveler (EL-3) Brand New CAD$400 OBO Arri Viewfinder Cable Medium KC151S Brand New CAD$350 OBO Please email Ian Toews csc at: ian@291filmcompany.ca Canon CN-E Prime Lenses 24mm T1.5, 35mm T1.5, 50mm T1.5 In excellent condition. EF mount, covers S35 and full frame. Asking $3400 each. Contact info@johnker.com. 35 4x5.6 Schneider filters: ND’s, color correction, diffusion, grads 2 138mm Tiffen Tobacco, Sunset grad 2 138mm Schneider Tru Pola, 85 Pola 2 138mm Schneider CU diopter #1, Cu Diopter • includes case and pouches for every filter. • Excellent condition • 4x5.6 and 138mm. clears included Today’s value in U.S. dollars $13,705 U.S. Selling price $9,500 CDN PLEASE CONTACT: Bert Tougas H: 514-634-2374 C: 514-913-2376 I have 15 - 3x3 Tiffen filters for sale - fogs, Promists Grads, 812's etc. all with cases $185.00 - contact Barry Casson csc - 250-7212113 or e-mail bcasson@speakfilm.com TIFFEN ULTRA STEADICAM , HD Ultrabrite color monitor ,HDMI Decimator 2,Iso-elastic arm, 4-24 volt batteries, 1-Pag battery charger 24v,1Lentequip battery charger 12/24v,Klassen vest and carrying bag, 1 Preston F1+Z transmitter 1 Preston MDR-1 receiver,1 Preston control, 2 motors, 2 batteries, charger, numerous Hill motor mount brackets rossette brackets and rods, 1 long dovetail plate,1 short dovetail plate, 1 docking bracket,1 fgs wheel chair/ dolly adaptor,rain cover, too many cables, hard cases and accessories to list.This rig was well maintained looks new,all it needs is a few upgrades. $ 35000.00 can 416 817 3938 or acadian@ rogers.com Rick Kearney Preston FIZ 2 kit - $5,000 2 x Arri MB-20 studio matte box - $8,000 Arri LMB-15 Clip-on matte box - $1,200 Power-Pod Classic - $5,000 Please contact Michael Balfry csc @: michaelbalfry@gmail.com for a complete list of items. Looking for a set of old, no longer used, standard legs with Mitchell base. Or any type of disused heavy camera support. This is to be used to mount a Mitchell BNCR camera in order to place it on display. Anyone with access to such a tripod or with information about one, please contact me: rawi@earthlink.net 416-691-6865
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.
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