Canadian Cinematographer Magazine May 2020

CANADIAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS

$4 May 2020 www.csc.ca

PROJECT

BLUE BOOK

C. Kim Miles

csc, mysc

Lloyd Walton: Chasing the Muse Vancouver Creatives Workshop

A publication of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers

FEATURES – VOLUME 12, NO. 2 MAY 2020 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 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 have no political or union affiliation.

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Credit: Ed Araquel

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.

Top Secret: C. Kim Miles

csc, mysc

Sights UFOs in Project Blue Book

By Fanen Chiahemen

CORPORATE SPONSORS

Courtesy of Lloyd Walton

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True North: Lloyd Walton on Chasing the Muse

Credit: Beau Partlow and Alex Holley

AC Lighting Inc. All Axis Remote Camera Systems Arri Canada Ltd. Canon Canada Inc. Cinetx Inc. Codes Pro Media Cooke Optics Deluxe Toronto DMG Lumière FUJIFILM, North America Corporation FUJIFILM, Optical Devices Division Fusion Cine Grandé Camera Henry’s Camera HD Source Inspired Image Keslow Camera Kino Flo Lee Filters Mole-Richardson MOSS LED Inc. Nikon Canada Inc. PRG Panasonic Canada Panavision Canada Quasar Science REDLABdigital RED Rosco Canada Sigma SIM SIMMOD LENS Sony of Canada Ltd. Technically Yours Inc. Technicolor The Source Shop Urban Post Production Vistek Walter Klassen FX William F. White International Inc. Zeiss ZGC Inc. ZTV

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Vancouver Creatives Workshop

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 2 4 6 8 10 26 28

From the Editor-In-Chief From the President In the News CSC Member Spotlight – Philippe Lavalette On Set Tech Column Calendar

csc

Cover Aidan Gillen in a scene from Project Blue Book.

Credit: Ed Araquel

Canadian Cinematographer May 2020 Vol. 12, No. 2 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 PHOTO EDITOR Janek Lowe 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 Jeremy Benning csc Carlos Esteves csc Joan Hutton csc Kristin Fieldhouse Guy Godfree csc George Willis csc, sasc CSC EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT George Willis csc, sasc PAST PRESIDENT, ADVISOR Joan Hutton csc VICE PRESIDENTS Carlos Esteves csc Bruno Philip csc 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) ONLINE CONTENT COMMITTEE Jeremy Benning csc – Co-Chair Carolyn Wong – Co-Chair DIVERSITY COMMITTEE Joan Hutton csc – Co-Chair Kristin Fieldhouse – Co-Chair 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.

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FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joan Hutton csc

L

ike most everyone else in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve consigned myself to home self-isolation, leaving only to replenish supplies when necessary and for early morning walks with the dogs.

Business is conducted over the telephone, and any group meetings are via the video conferencing app Zoom.

However, something I swore I would not do, I did anyway. The lure of watching life imitating art was simply too compelling. I streamed the feature Contagion, directed and shot by Academy Award winner Steven Soderbergh. Even though the film was released nine years ago, its storyline eerily mirrors our current situation. Originating in China, a highly infectious virus that can be contracted by person-to-person contact or by touching infected surfaces rapidly spreads around the world, infecting hundreds of thousands. Large cities and areas are under lockdown, people are dying horrible deaths, and there is no known cure. As safeguards against the virus, people are social distancing, self-isolating, soap-and-water washing, using hand sanitizers, avoiding touching their faces, and wearing protective gear. It all sounds a bit too familiar, doesn’t it? However, the film does go further by depicting society erupting into looting and violence. But just as humanity is on the verge of falling deeper into a black hole, scientists develop a vaccine. The scourge was finished.

Hope and the future are delivered wrapped in a beautiful blue ribbon and an equally beautiful bow for an ending.

Our industry is awfully good at producing entertaining fictional films. But watching Contagion I didn’t feel entertained. My quest to witness life imitating art now seemed small and even disingenuous. The COVID-19 pandemic happening outside my door is not entertainment. It is a cold and chilling reality. My thoughts watching the film were overshadowed by the more than two million souls infected with COVID-19 at the time of this writing, while my heart went out to all those anguished over the loss of loved ones and friends who had succumbed to the disease.

As of this writing, it’s not exactly clear when we’ll see a discernable downturn with the spread of this hideous virus. What is clear is that we must continue to do our part with distancing and self-isolation. To all my colleagues and friends, please keep safe by following these simple rules so that we too can enjoy an ending wrapped in a beautiful blue ribbon and bow.

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Photos: Golden Gate 3D

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Full Frame Plus T2.0 Primes

“CUBA is focused on the beauty, spirit and character of this Caribbean country and its people. One of the primary stories in the film centers around a young ballerina.

I was really looking forward to using the Cookes as we knew we would be shooting on stage with challenging theatrical stage lighting, and breaking that sort of giant screen IMAX norm of not having any close-ups. That’s exactly what we did — shot some close-ups of her face, which came out beautifully.

I teamed the Cooke S7/i lenses with the ARRI ALEXA LF camera, which is a phenomenal combination.

It gives me a very cinematic and dreamy look — very smooth and gentle, but still crisp and sharp. Cooke lenses have always been very flattering with faces and people, so for the portrait-oriented sections of the film this pairing was magical.”

Peter Chang, Director, Cinematographer “The lenses were very sharp, something extremely important at the resolutions and IMAX screens we are shooting for, while maintaining a creamy bokeh and very pleasant roll off. What I loved most about

shooting the Cooke S7/i lenses is the familiarity that they gave me. I’ve shot on Cooke lenses for years, starting with the Speed Panchro, then the S4/i lenses and most recently a lot with the new Cooke Anamorphic/i SF (Special Flair). Cooke lenses have always been a go-to for me. On CUBA I had the pleasure to shoot on the ALEXA LF in full frame for the first time, and the fact that the Cooke S7/i lenses maintained the ‘Cooke Look’ that I have grown accustomed to over the years was great — but on this new full frame camera system, it was a real treat.”

Justin Henning, Cinematographer

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FROM THE PRESIDENT George A. Willis csc, sasc

I

’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of inspiration – the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative. Trying to remain positive at a time when everything is in such turmoil is extremely difficult, unfortunately more so for some than others. As we spend every day in isolation, it is difficult to accept a situation completely unknown to us before. However, this can also be seen as a great opportunity and a learning curve. While this might sound strange, I am reminded of the saying, “necessity is the mother of invention,” and it is interesting to see so many creative posts on social media.

Even in this time of adversity, it is so rewarding to find that so many people have a sense of humour. One of the Readers Digest articles that I always enjoyed was entitled, “Laughter is the best medicine” – so true!

I think about the parents who have the task of retaining their sense of humour while attending to the myriad demands made by children who have little understanding of the predicament and the challenges their parents are facing on a daily basis. I also like to think that this situation will acknowledge the hard work that partners do in order to cope with the situation while their significant other is working in the film industry. Entertaining children has its own challenges and this is where inspiration finds its place in a family. Sometimes inspiration comes in a variety of forms, such as discovering a new hobby or taking a hobby in a different direction. Exploring one’s creative side (and I truly believe that we all have one) and discovering a talent that we never knew we had is most rewarding. The important part of this is being able to inspire the kids.

But what about the many people in our industry who, like so many others, are cooped up and counting the days when some normalcy is returned after this devastating blow was dealt, forcing the industry to shut down? Nobody has any answer to this, and all we can do is wait until this event is best forgotten. But is that really what needs to be done, to forget something that we can actually learn from? I would suggest that we must use this as a learning curve so that we don’t continue to make negative choices.

I refer of course to the unrealistically punishing hours that the film industry has been experiencing for so long. When it comes to the working conditions, we have to pay attention to what we believe might happen after this pandemic is all over.

Maybe this last paragraph can put things in perspective – what can be more inspirational than listening to so many people banging pots and pans in recognition of all the incredible frontline workers? These are the folks who care for others while leaving themselves vulnerable. On a few occasions, I’ve leaned out of our condo window and done the same. And that is the result of inspiration.

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In The News Coronavirus Suspends Film, TV Productions Nationwide

Coronavirus Suspends Film, TV Productions Nationwide

Canada’s television and film industry came to a standstill as a result of the new coronavirus outbreak, with many productions postponing or cancelling shoots, according to media reports. The CW’s Riverdale, which is shot in Vancouver, was the first production to temporarily shut down production. Other suspended projects include the series Wynonna Earp, which is shot in Calgary, as well as the series Departure, and director Guillermo del Toro’s latest feature Nightmare Alley, both shot in Toronto. Companies like Netflix and Warner Bros. Television Group also shut down productions across North America, impacting hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue.

Canada’s television and film industry came to a standstill as a result of the new coronavirus outbreak, with many productions postponing or cancelling shoots. The CW’s Riverdale, which is shot in Vancouver, was the first production to temporarily shut down production. Other suspended projects include the series Wynonna Earp, which is shot in Calgary, as well as the series Departure, and director Guillermo del Toro’s latest feature Nightmare Alley, both shot in Toronto.

Companies like Netflix and Warner Bros. Television Group also shut down productions across North America, impacting hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue.

Netflix Announces Coronavirus Relief Fund In late March, Netflix announced it was establishing a US$100 million fund to support workers in the creative industry impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with most of the assistance going towards supporting the hardest hit workers on the company’s productions around the world. Out of those funds, the streaming company said it will donate CAD$1.5 million to The AFC and Fondation des Artistes. In addition, Netflix said it will give $1 million each to the SAG-AFTRA Covid-19 Disaster Fund, the Motion Picture and Television Fund and the Actors Fund Emergency Assistance in the United States.

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Jill MacLauchlan Named ICG 669 2020 Women in Entertainment Honouree The CSC congratulates affiliate member and ICG 669 member Jill MacLauchlan on being named the 2020 Women in Entertainment Honouree recipient by the union in March.

An ICG 669 camera operator/cinematographer, MacLauchlan is a veteran professional with more than 100 film credits and 35 years of experience. MacLauchlan was a pioneer of women entering the camera department, being a role model, and paving the way for the next generation of filmmakers. A past member of the Executive Board of IATSE 667 and ICG 669, MacLauchlan was instrumental in creating the IATSE 667 Camera Trainee Program and created the ICG669 Program template.

Shaw Communications Founder JR Shaw Dies Shaw Communications founder and former CEO JR Shaw died March 23 at the age of 85, the company announced. Shaw founded Capital Cable Television Co. Ltd., a start-up cable provider, in 1996

to offer people more choice and greater access to TV content.

The company built a substantial radio and television broadcasting group that was eventually spun out as a separate public company, Corus Entertainment. For more than 50 years, Shaw established himself as a network builder, growing Shaw Communications Inc. into one of Canada’s leading connectivity providers, serving upwards of 7 million subscribers with cable, Internet, voice, satellite and wireless services. He stepped down as CEO of Shaw Communications in 1998 when his eldest son, the late Jim Shaw, took over. Current CEO Brad Shaw began in the role in 2010. JR Shaw, remained active in the company he built, serving as executive chairman. In accordance with the company’s succession plan, Brad Shaw will assume the role of executive chair on an interim basis in addition to his role as CEO.

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Global TV App Launches New All-In-One Streaming Experience In early March, Corus Entertainment unveiled its new Global TV App, an all-in-one streaming experience allowing Canadians to access the country’s top networks, news and shows live and on demand. The App features full seasons and live streams from Food Network Canada, HGTV Canada, W Network, HISTORY, Showcase, and Slice, and launches in Canada as the first streaming product to provide Canadians with free, 24/7 access to local and national news feeds from Global News.

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Courtesy of the Ottawa Film Office.

Councillors Approve $40-million Loan for Ottawa Studio

In March, the City of Ottawa’s Finance and Economic Development Committee approved a $40 million loan to the Ottawa Film Office to build a new sound stage campus and creative hub. The facility, which will be run by Toronto’s TriBro Studios, is expected to create an additional 500 jobs in Ottawa’s screen-based industries, as well as 500 construction jobs, in the first few years. The facility will feature four 20,000-squarefoot sound stages, 25,000 square feet of carpentry and art department space, 25,000 square feet of production office space, and between 100,000 and 200,000 square feet of long-term tenant office space.

Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020 •

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CSC Member Spotlight – qui dure trois ans - les professeurs vous mettent en lien avec des professionnels, d’anciens élèves, avec qui vous partagez des affinités… Et c’est parti!

How did you get started in the business?

Credit: Courtesy of Philippe Lavalette csc

When you come from nowhere, it’s hard to integrate the filmmaking family.

So, for me, the solution was school, more specifically Paris’ Ecole nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière; it got my foot in the door and was a formidable occasion to meet professionals. At the conclusion of the three-year school term, teachers put me in touch with previous students who had succeeded in the film industry, and the rest is history.

Qui ont été vos mentors ou vos professeurs?

Philippe Lavalette csc Quels films ou quelles œuvres ont suscité chez vous une forte impression?

Très spontanément, je dirais «Uccellacci e uccellini» («Des oiseaux petits et gros») de Pasolini. Un vrai choc émotif comme on peut en vivre à l’adolescence.

Et la conviction soudaine que je voulais faire ce métier. Par ailleurs, j’ai toujours eu un véritable intérêt pour la cinématographie des pays de l’est (Hongrie et Pologne en particulier) où le langage filmique se distingue des normes établies par Hollywood.

What films or other works of art have made the biggest impression on you?

It wasn’t a spark, it was a flash of

8 • Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020

lightning that hit me when, as an adolescent, I saw Pasolini’s Uccellacci e uccellini (The Hawks and the Sparrows).

It was a revelation that set the stage for the inevitability of my future career in filmmaking, but not any filmmaking.

Since early times, I favoured the film language of Eastern European cinema –Hungarian and Polish in particular – and stayed away from the standards established by Hollywood productions.

Comment avez-vous commencé dans ce métier?

Quelle est la clé pour accéder à ce métier quand vous ne connaissez personne? C’est l’école « Louis Lumière » à Paris qui m’a mis le pied à l’étrier. Ça a été l’occasion formidable de rencontrer des professionnels. À la sortie de l’école

En abordant ce métier, on cherche un modèle. Je me suis rapproché de cinéastes plutôt marginaux et avantgardistes, pas nécessairement conformes à l’idée du cinéma standard. Citons Ulysse Laugier et Patrick Bokanowski.

Who were your mentors or teachers?

At first, as a greener than green filmmaker, I searched for a mentor, a model. Instinctively, I was attracted by the work of such cinematographers as Ulysse Laugier and Patrick Bokanowski, marginal and bold filmmakers who did not really abide by the rules of standard cinematography.

Quels directeurs photo vous inspirent?

Très spontanément, pour son inventivité et sa liberté de création, Sławomir Idziak qui a signé par exemple «Tu ne tueras point» et «La double vie de Véronique» de Krzysztof Kieślowski. Pour la splendeur des Noirs et Blancs : Henri Alekan. Pour la finesse des ambiances lumineuses: Philippe Rousselot AFC, ASC. Et, bien sûr, Michel Brault, incontournable.

What cinematographers inspire you?

The first name that comes to mind is Sławomir Idziak for his inventiveness and his freedom of creation as brilliantly demonstrated in A Short Film About Killing (1988) and Krzysztof Kieślowski’s The Double Life of Veronique (1991). Other distinctive names I might highlight are Henri Alekan, for the sheer splendour of his black-and-white work; Philippe Rousselot AFC, ASC, for the finesse of his luminous atmospheres; and, of course, Michel Brault, the inescapable artist of the image.

Citez quelques moment clés de votre parcours :

«L’Ange» de Patrick Bokanowski (caméra d’or Cannes, 1982), «Inch’Allah» de Anaïs BarbeauLavalette, «De mémoire de chats, les ruelles» de Manon Barbeau, «Visionnaires» de Carlos Ferrand.

Name some of your professional highlights.

I’m particularly fond of my work on Patrick Bokanowski’s L’Ange (Caméra d’or Cannes, 1982), Carlos Ferrand’s Visionnaires (1988), Manon Barbeau’s De mémoire de chats - Les ruelles (2004), and Anaïs BarbeauLavalette’s Inch’Allah (2012).

Quel est votre souvenir le plus mémorable sur un plateau?

Je pense au dernier film d’Anna Karina, icône absolue de la Nouvelle vague.

Elle vient tourner son deuxième film au Québec. Et chaque jour, elle raconte avec gourmandise une nouvelle anecdote.

Par exemple, comment Jean-Luc Godard a réussi à convaincre Brigitte Bardot à jouer dans son prochain film.

Et Anna raconte : Bardot et Godard sont ensemble à une table ronde à une télévision de grande écoute. Godard lui propose un rôle : Si je fais le tour de cette table, les pieds en l’air, ma cigarette au bec, accepterez-vous? Éclat de rire : comment un intellectuel fluet comme lui pourrait-

il faire une chose pareille? Brigitte Bardot accepte le pari. Godard s’exécute… et réussit. Bardot ignorait qu’il était aussi athlète. Bonne perdante, elle jouera le premier rôle dans «le Mépris »!

What is one of your most memorable moments on set?

Anna Karina’s latest film comes to mind. When she came to shoot in Quebec for the second time, she was a New Wave icon who loved to tell anecdotes, and she did so with gusto. I’ll always remember her story of Jean-Luc Godard and Brigitte Bardot who, in the early 1960s, were guests of a TV show.

Taking advantage of the stage, Godard made a bet with the incomparable French star. If he could walk on his hands around the table, feet in the air, cigarette in his mouth, would she accept the first role in his next movie?

The bet actually resulted in Bardot being the star of Contempt, released in 1963. The consummate actress had not known that Godard had been an athlete, lost her bet, and won a major role.

Que préférez-vous dans votre métier?

Avant le tournage, le découpage me passionne. J’adore discuter du sens profond d’un mouvement de caméra par exemple. J’adore aussi parler de lumière, même s’il est parfois difficile de trouver les mots justes. On m’a déjà demandé de créer une lumière « humide » (!) en évoquant, non pas le ruissellement des gouttes mais plutôt la sensation de moiteur crée par l’humidité. Ça m’a beaucoup orienté…

What do you like best about what you do?

Before filming, technical editing and storyboarding fascinates to no end. I love to discuss the merits and the true meaning of a specific camera movement. I love to exchange ideas about lighting, which is a difficult subject to carry in words. I’ve been asked once to “create humid lighting,”

not by showing the runoff of drops, but by creating the feeling of dampness caused by humidity. Sometimes light requirements can be a little arcane.

Et qu’est-ce que vous aimez le moins?

Tourner un plan en extérieur à 3 heures du matin, au mois de janvier, quand c’est nuit noire et qu’il fait moins 30 degrés.

What do you like least about what you do?

Well, happiness is definitely not having to shoot at three in the morning outside in minus 30 temperature, with a blizzard wildly blizzarding.

Quelle a été selon vous l’invention la plus marquante dans ce métier?

Depuis 1895, les inventions se succèdent et modifient notre métier.

Mais c’est du côté de l’éclairage que tout a basculé en moins d’une génération.

Quand on pense qu’il fallait – dans les années 70 – trois à quatre machinistes pour un seul arc! En ce sens, la souplesse des LED est merveilleuse.

What do you think has been the greatest invention in your craft?

Since 1895, inventions kept rolling madly, and deeply changed the way we work. Mostly, I’d say that in less than a generation, lighting has experienced nothing less than a revolution. In the 1970s, three, even four machinists were required to operate a single electric arc, while now, LEDs make the job magnificently simple and adaptable.

Comment peut-on suivre votre parcours?

Mon site web : philippelavalette.com

How can others follow your work?

Consult my website at philippelavalette.com

Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020 •

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Credit: Charmaine Kachibaia

On Set

Credit: Grace Pan

Credit: Andrew Stretch

Associate member Issah Shah shooting an IDRF Ramadan Campaign in Istanbul, Turkey.

Associate Member Liam Higgins on set for Nobis Apparel for their SS2020 campaign.

10 • Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020

C camera operator J.P. Locherer csc (right) on the set of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3.

Canadian Cinematographer - February 2020 •

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C. Kim Miles

csc, mysc

UFOs

Sights

in

PROJECT

BLUE BOOK T

he historical drama series Project Blue Book, created

by David O’Leary, executive produced by Robert Zemeckis and co-produced by the History Channel and A&E Studios, is based on the real-life series of studies of unidentified flying objects that the United States Air Force conducted from the late ‘40s to the late ‘60s. Aidan Gillen plays Dr. J. Allen Hynek, a skeptical astrophysics professor and the chief scientific advisor to the project, while Michael Malarkey plays Captain Michael Quinn, the decorated Second World War veteran who is selected to run the project and partner with Hynek to investigate sightings and unexplained phenomena.

12 • Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020

“

The initial pitch was to imagine The X-Files meets Mad Men, and that was the tagline we stuck to.

Actor Ian Tracey in the “The Flatwoods Monster.”

Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020 •

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We wanted above all to just be honest to the look of the ‘50s, but with a modern touch, and to be as honest as possible with the lighting and embrace environments and use them to motivate what we were doing lighting-wise so that when we were doing visual effects stuff, the honesty of the photography helped make the visual effects feel more real and not too stylized.

By Fanen Chiahemen • Photographs Ed Araquel

P

hotography of the 10-episode series, which premiered in January 2019, was handled mostly by C. Kim Miles csc, mysc, who shot the first six episodes, with cinematographer Ken Krawczyk taking over Episodes Seven and Eight while Miles prepped the final two. At the 34th annual American Society of Cinematographers Awards, held in late January of this year, Miles took home the award in the Episode of a Series for Commercial Television category for his work on the second episode, “The Flatwoods Monster.”

Miles says the consistent look of the period show was born out of a directive from O’Leary and co-executive producer Sean Jablonski. “The initial pitch was to imagine The X-Files meets Mad Men, and that was the sort of tagline we stuck to,” Miles says. “We wanted above all to just be honest to the look of the ‘50s, but with a modern touch, and to be as honest as possible with the lighting and embrace environments and use them to motivate what we were doing lightingwise so that when we were doing visual effects stuff, the honesty of the photography helped make the visual effects feel more real and not too stylized.”

Production designer Ross Dempster was instrumental in achieving that vision, Miles says. “He brought a very grounded sensibility to the design of the show in terms of sets and costumes. We were already telling a story that involves UFOs, and there’s a certain suspension of disbelief with that, so we wanted to keep the rest of it grounded, and in Ross’s textures and colours there are a lot of earth tones, a lot of stuff drawn from midcentury architecture, mid-century furnishings that grounded our characters and locations.

14 • Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020

“So there are a lot of colour choices in terms of the contemporary worlds that the characters inhabit, which were these pastels and earth tones, and then our artificial lighting – and by that I mean mostly what we did at night – was a blend of introducing sodium lighting for streetlights and mercury vapour lighting, and fluorescent lights, which were brand new back in the ‘50s,” Miles explains. “Our choices were mainly to bring a sense of depth at night. The moonlight colour that gaffer Burton Kuchera and I developed was a cyan and blue over tungsten, so it had a cool but slightly green look to it that contrasts nicely against the warm tones of the sodium streetlights or a mercury vapour streetlight. And the greens and blues tend to allow you to hide a lot of things in the darkness, which we were interested in because one of the things we wanted to avoid was being too on the nose with the visual effects and spoon feeding the audience too much information. Something that always compels me is framing and lighting shots in a way that forces the audience to draw some of their own conclusions and to participate in the telling of the story.”

Miles opted to shoot Project Blue Book with the ARRI ALEXA XT, “which is a platform that I trust and use almost exclusively because I know what I’m going to get with it; I know how far I can push it and what I can do to it in post to push it one way or the other towards the look of the show,” he says.

“For lenses we looked at Cookes, Master Primes, all sorts of stuff, and we ended up selecting Leica Summilux Primes because of the particularly interesting way they flare when there’s a specular light in the frame,” the DP states. “They have a unique almost futuristic lenticular flare

Below: L-R: 1st AC Aaron Haesler, C. Kim Miles csc, mysc and A Camera Operator Daryl Hartwell. Right: A cam on Libra head and SuperTechno 50 with B cam on Arrihead and dolly in Season One, Episode 1 “The Fuller Dogfight.”

Aidan Gillen in Season One's “Operation Paperclip.”

Ksenia Solo in Season One, Episode 4, “Operation Paperclip.”

Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020 •

15

(L-R) Aiden Gillen and Michael Malarkey in “The Washington Merry-Go-Round.”

characteristic throughout the range of lenses that was really interesting to me, and you can see that from time to time in the show. They’re also particularly good with skin tones and portraiture photography on the longer lenses.”

A big lighting setup in “The Flatwoods Monster” episode involved a nighttime forest fire sequence, which was shot in Langley, B.C., at a place called Emerald Springs, “an up-and-coming golf course that has a bunch of forested areas that we could shoot in,” Miles says. “In the shot where we see the family at the top of the hill and then we turn around and look over their shoulders at the blazing forest down below them, that was all shot practically. Visual effects helped to build the fire, but Burton lit that place with two Starlights and two 120-foot Condors just spread out all around us. We had elements of interactive fire light that we pushed up in the trees in the surrounding area to create the look of the fire, and in doing so we got to pick our gel colours that we wanted to represent the colour of the fire so that that information could be used by visual effects to motivate colourizing the fire on their end. We just put a bunch of Mini Brutes and Maxi Brutes that were arranged in various positions down at the valley pointing up at the trees, and we had everything on dimmer boards and on iPads to create the flickering fire effect for visual effects to key off of.”

Later when Hynek and Quinn arrive in the town to investigate the cause of the mysterious fireball in the woods, they find the family who witnessed it cowering in the dark basement of their house. “I personally was driven by wanting to keep it really hon-

16 • Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020

est to what light sources there would be at the time, and I also wanted to keep it dark and mysterious and keep the audience nervous about what they were about to experience,” Miles says of his approach to the scene, which was shot in an old farmhouse. “So the first thing we did was push a little bit of artificial light through the windows down into the basement. I think we had a couple of M40s outside each of the windows, just adding a little splash of daylight into the room in places that we wanted to look. And then we had the lantern that Hynek carries downstairs delivered to the rigging electrics from the props department, and we augmented the light that the lantern was making by fixing LED strips to the off-camera side of the lens to light faces behind it. That way we were able to enter an environment that was lit entirely from the outside that was pretty dark and spooky, and then have a little space around our actors who were holding the lantern so that you could just see what was happening in their faces, but the light would fall off three feet away from them and fall to darkness.”

A scene in a crowded speakeasy was also shot in a basement but with a different approach. “We shot that at an old mental hospital called Riverview,” Miles explains. “It was actually shot in this little basement area that is typically used for dungeons and catacombs, but Ross had the vision to dress this underground space and make it into something much different from anything that had ever been done there before and embrace lots of colour.

There are lots of ambers and purples and very rich textures and colours. Lighting-wise we embraced that and warmed up a lot of

our stuff and made sure that faces were lit in a really flattering way. In an environment like that, I’ll try to drive everything that I can with practicals and then only augment the practicals around actors’ faces when we need to treat them in a little bit more flattering light than practicals sometimes afford.”

Composition and framing were critical to creating suspense, Miles says. “We used lens height to help guide the audience’s experience of each scene and the characters within it. Daryl Hartwell was our A camera operator on the show who’s been doing A camera for me for a number of years now. He’s got a great storytelling sensibility about him; he’s always on top of what it is that we’re trying to tell. Using low angles is something that allows us to show off practical locations that we’re shooting in; you’d never be able to get down low and really wide in a studio environment without getting into a huge visual effects situation. So in some ways, being low and wide gives us a sense of space and a sense of worldliness and allows the show to breathe a little bit.”

Predominantly fixing the camera onto a stabilized Libra head on the dolly allowed them to efficiently create complicated camera moves. “We were able to do 15-point or 20-point camera moves inside practical locations or inside sets without having to build great big sections of dance floor or lay down great big sections of track because the stabilized head absorbs a lot of the imperfections in the floor that the dolly’s rolling over,” Miles states. “So it essentially gives a lot of advantage in terms of speed; we’re able to set shots up and do more elaborate setups than we could otherwise do with more conventional means. It’s definitely a more expensive way to do it, but it gives us a real nice advantage in terms of shot design.”

How much the second camera is used on the two-camera show “comes down to the director and their sensibiltiies,” Miles maintains. “If we have a more theatrical-minded director, then we tend to be more of a single-camera show, and the B camera runs off and does inserts or establishing shots and that sort of thing. If it’s a more TV-centric director, then we tend to use the B camera a lot more because they’re more driven by watching lots and lots of coverage.”

On set DIT Ryan McGregor was also a critical part of the team, Miles says. “Ryan is a great DIT,” the DP offers. “I rely on Ryan quite a great deal to help us with the look of the show.

There are times when you can use image technology to help you speed up on set; sometimes you don’t need to light quite as heavily if you can open up shadows artificially in the CDLs or in the LUT, so having a DIT that’s familiar with that sort of strategizing is really helpful.”

Miles recalls that it was in fact McGregor who first texted him congratulations on his ASC Award nomination. “It’s still sinking in,” the DP says of his eventual win. “Even being nominated was so outside the box for me. I mean, the ASC is seemingly an unattainable place for me. At least that’s how I looked at it. I never imagined that anyone there would even look at my work, let alone consider it. So that was a huge surprise and a huge honour. More than anything, it’s being recognized by people that I’ve respected and looked up to my entire life.”

Ksenia Solo in Season One, Episode 4, “Operation Paperclip.”

Aidan Gillen in Season One, Episode 2, “The Fuller Dogfight.”

(L-R) Michael Malarkey, Aidan Gillen, Francesca Bianchi and Jesse Irving in Season One, Episode 3, “Lubbock Lights.”

Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020 •

17

Book cover design by Jake Walton

18 • Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020

True North

Lloyd Walton on Chasing the Muse

R

etired associate life member Lloyd Walton has worn many

hats throughout his storied life, from hockey player to pilot to

animator to award-winning director and cinematographer. At the height of his career, his major employers included the Ontario

government and the Privy Council of Canada. He also ran a small AV and

film department in the Ontario provincial government from the early 1970s to the late 1990s. Since retiring as a cinematographer, he has continued

in the creative field as a painter and writer. His latest book, Chasing the Muse: Canada, interweaves many of his life stories as he describes his

odyssey in search of Canadian history, identity and landscape. Walton

Old black-and-white CJIC television camera.

tells of his brush with the NHL, rock and roll, near death encounters while

straight into the lens and said, “I am going to be a cameraman.” his Aaton 16 mm camera in hand. He shared an excerpt from the book Everyone needs a teacher who with Canadian Cinematographer. influences their life in a meaningful way, and I have had many, including my animation teacher, Hans Excerpt from Chasing the Muse: Canada Kohlund at the Ontario College of

by Lloyd Walton Art. To hammer home a point, Hans Photos excerpted from Chasing the Muse: Canada courtesy of Lloyd Walton. would fall to the floor, roll over in a somersault, kick his legs in the air, then spring back to his feet, continu must have been eight years old when our grade three class first ing the lecture with his cigarette perched on his lips, dangling trundled upstairs to a darkened room to see a film. A rattling a gravity-defying two-inch ash. A magician always uses diverBell and Howell movie projector at the back of the room illumi- sion. Our eyes were focused on the diversion while our minds nated Canadian stories, landscapes, and peoples to an attentive absorbed his message. The week after I graduated from OCA, I audience. The logo letters “NFB” alerted my sense of patriotism, sold my animated film, Peace and Quiet to the CBC. I also met and the films stirred my sense of wanderlust. I wanted to dis- a fast-talking film distributor, a young Ivan Reitman who, in his cover this place called Canada. The National Film Board movies Yorkville office, with feet on his desk, offered to take Peace and Quiet for theatrical distribution. I delivered a print to him. I nevfelt real.

The first time I was seriously asked what I wanted to be when er heard from him again. A review in the University of Toronto’s I grew up was on a local television show, called Kiddies on Cam- Varsity magazine called Peace and Quiet “simple, controlled, and era. On my day for the show, I was impressed with another lo- very funny.” I was on my way. I was an animator.

Animation, I sadly found out, was out of vogue in the cal hero. It was Bert Luciani, the cameraman. Bert was kind and friendly to this nine-year-old. He held me up to the massive advertising industry. The secret to a successful career is to find television camera and let me look through the eyepiece. I saw something you love to do and get someone to pay you to do things in a whole new light, in black and white. I could see into it. Ontario Provincial Parks were expanding in size, and the people’s faces. When the host finally lay the big question on me, number of visitors was increasing dramatically. I was hired on a “What would you like to be when you grow up, Lloyd?” I looked two-month contract to produce automated slide shows for the on the job, new insights into Canadian history and solving a mystery with

I

Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020 •

19

Top: Biba Tharp in Natural Journey. Bottom: A voyageur brigade.

outdoor amphitheatres in the parks. I was in for a ride and I knew it; that is, if I could stay longer than two months.

Mixing my photography with good scripts, working in recording studios with actors and announcers, choosing the music and directing the mix, I was experimenting with a new medium. A lot of it was timing. I learned that I could manipulate the mood of the audience by carefully directing the performance of a narrator, selecting unusual but effective music, and mixing effects in an audio choreography. I could make people laugh, then swell with pride, then come to tears. It was a different type of cinematic language.

20 • Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020

There’s nothing like the face of an actor who, when sitting down in the recording studio to do a voice-over project for the government, discovers intelligently crafted words to play with.

One top personality from the esteemed radio station CFRB joined me to do a voice-over about the building of a voyageur canoe. He had just left the hospital before coming to the studio, resulting in him having to place an inflatable rubber doughnut on his chair. I was slightly intimidated to direct a man of his stature, but his condition caused one of the most sensitive reads I have ever heard.

Viewing the resulting production made grown men weep. It

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21

Filming the shipwreck.

won me my second award in the United States, a Gold Camera Award at the U.S. Industrial Film Festival in Chicago. My small department of two, with partner Gerry Merchant, produced about a dozen or so inexpensive animated slide films on 16 mm film before I was able to convince management to allow me to shoot an actual live-action film.

To learn the nuances of shooting live action, I spent a week at the National Film Board headquarters in Montreal, meeting with experts in every aspect of movie production. They were generous with their advice and candid in their impressions of their workplace. On one hand, I desperately wanted to work there; on the other, every member I spoke to told me that I had a good thing going in Ontario. I had a large degree of creative control, and a wide subject base. Although the grass was not necessarily greener in Montreal, I was still star-struck. One key piece of advice stood out: “Put everything you’ve got into your project. Otherwise, it’s only a film.”

Bill Mason received an Academy Award nomination for the first film he did for the NFB, Paddle to the Sea. We began a correspondence that led to him becoming a mentor. His attitude to work was infectious. “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing with enthusiasm and joy.”

Natural Journey, and its sequel, S*N*O*W, allowed me to push the tourism film genre further by injecting subliminally layered story lines in simple-yet-complex-as-you-want-to-make-it stories about an attractive woman moving farther and farther from

22 • Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020

the city, seeking something. Occasionally, danger also lurked.

To reach a floundering shipwreck on moving ice on Georgian Bay, we had to carefully dance over floating ice pans. It was also my chance to introduce ancient pictograph and petroglyph images in a respectful way.

The official academic and government position at the time stated, “At some point in the distant past, the carvers ceased coming to the site and their bright white images faded to a dull grey as knowledge of the site faded from mankind’s consciousness.” Inside, I knew that this was not true and set out on a sixteen-year odyssey to find a shaman who could read them.

Many walls would be thrown up in front of me. I would be sent down box canyons, stonewalled, stalled and stymied. As my will got stronger, I learned that with walls, you could walk around them, climb over them, or, when the magic is with you, walk right through them. Part of my teachings would be how to talk to wild animals.

I came across a cow moose sitting in the grass, dappled in the warm light of a sunny June afternoon. I put down the gear I was carrying, smiled, and said, “Hello, I’m Lloyd. I’m making a movie called Of Moose and Man. You look so beautiful sitting there.

I will just set up this low tripod called Baby Legs, mount the camera, and begin.” When I told her how beautiful she looked in the dappled light, she batted her long brown eyelashes at me.

I was on my knees panning left then right and zooming in and out until I felt that I had her covered. I opened my arms and said,

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The enigmatic petroglyphs.

A close encounter with a moose.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I’m going to make you a star.”

She awkwardly got up on her feet. I turned the camera back on. She walked slowly towards me, bent down, kissed the lens, then turned her head and slowly walked away. I think she went ahead to pass the word on to a few others, “This guy is OK. He has some contraption that won’t hurt you.” I attached the longer tripod legs as I approached a pond where a bull moose was swimming towards me. I kept the camera rolling as he slowly got out of the water and circled me to check me out. Canoeing in Algonquin Park it was as if, through some secret language, the moose had spread the word that it was Lloyd’s last shooting day for his film.

“Hey gang, it’s your last chance to star.”

Mom moose played with their kids. I filmed one female that looked like she was dangling a cigarette out of her mouth. Be-

24 • Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020

hind me, directly over my shoulder, I heard a loud “snort.” I slowly turned my head and looked up at a big black bull moose standing hip-deep in the water and breathing down my neck. A gentle puff of wind blew the canoe in a sideways motion, creating a tracking shot with the bow of the canoe and Bullwinkle moving in unison. Spread out over a year, it was only nine days of filming, but I had captured the yearly life-cycle of moose, and the body changes they go through in each season.

I was getting closer to the intimacies of nature. Northern skies kept calling. Older doors began to open. This odyssey would bring rewards and consequences unforeseen and revelatory.

Chasing the Muse: Canada is available now on Amazon and in bookstores.

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Photos by Beau Partlow and Alex Holley

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Highlights of the workshop included an overview of capabilities, features, codecs, menus, and 6K/4K workflow, with optimization for drama, documentaries, action, specialty shooting and natural history.

The participants (L-R): Alex Holley, John Banovich csc, Siddharth Chuahan, Doug Armer, Lindsay George, Paul Engstrom, Pieter Stathis csc, Kelly Fennig, Gary Harvey, Martin Wood, Jeffery Lando, Eric Goldstein, Michael Robison, Todd Williams.

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Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020 •

25

Tech Column

S

tar Trek’s Scotty knew the problem all too well: “We dinnae have the power, Captain!” It’s a challenge familiar to those working on sets in isolated and remote locations where the budget doesn’t cover a generator or mobile battery truck. Power may in fact be the final frontier, and as cameras, monitors and lighting get smaller and less energy hungry, the timing for battery technology innovation couldn’t be more perfect.

Batteries, as we know, are heavy, have a limited recharge lifecycle, take longer than we’d like to recharge and, of course, are expensive. There’s that old joke, you can double the price of anything by adding Corvette to its application, triple it by adding marine, and quadruple it by adding film industry.

No, those Anton Bauers don’t come cheap, and that’s an issue for many small, self-funded productions and documentary makers. The long-standing issue prompted Vancouver DP Ian Kerr csc to post a

26 • Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020

picture of his own DIY Rigid battery converter, though, as he notes, it was more of a fun idea.

Sometimes innovation is an incremental step. As such, the Kessler Mag Max 3A enters the frame as a battery adapter that takes the DeWalt 20V Max and 60/20V Flex Volt batteries and outputs a regulated power stream of 14.4V 3A on a Lemo 2 pin, a 5.5 mm female connector and D-Tap connector. It’ll also accept a 5V USB to charge those all-important cell phones and other accessories.

But why DeWalt, the tool maker whose yellow-and-black handheld power tools are ubiquitous with set crews? Precisely because they are ubiquitous, and since they’re not purpose-manufactured for a small market like cinematography, they’re reasonably priced and available at the local Home Depot or Rona, not to mention as generic brands online.

“I started it as a kitchen counter project,” Director of Development & Marketing at Kessler Crane Michael Sutton says.

“Back in 2000, I saw someone had made a DeWalt adapter for an Arri SR2. The product went away, and much later, around 2011, when the DeWalt Max 20 came out, I started again. A couple of people got interested, and we decided to make it here. I travel a lot, as do many other DPs, and batteries were always an issue. In Europe, it’s different and rental houses often only have D mounts. So it was an issue when you don’t have power.”

DeWalt has consistently upped its battery game as its line of hand tools surged in sales. From the cumbersome 14/18v ni-cad of the early 2000s through the more expensive lithium-ion cells in the same form up to the current slimmer, lighter products that pack more punch in a smaller form, ranging from the 20V Max 3AH (amps/hour) to the 20V/60 9 AH and 12 AH. It’s a long slow journey of incremental advancement rather than revolutionary change, and battery density and lifecycle remain what’s called the Holy Grail of

Photos courtesy of Kessler Crane.

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sustainable energy for every application from electric vehicles through solar and wind energy storage, cell phones, laptops and, of course, cinematography.

The first production units of Kessler Crane’s adapter launched in December 2019, and interest has taken off. “It’s going viral, but we haven’t done a lot of marketing for it yet,” Sutton says. “Adam Savage of MythBusters is a DeWalt fan, and he’s actually using them on his new show. Stanley, which owns DeWalt, bought the units and is using them on their own video productions, which is kind of funny in a way.”

The unit has been licensed by DeWalt and is made in the United States and available direct or through retail partners like B&H in New York, or Vistek in Canada. It’s configured with 1/4-20 and 3/8-16 tapped and pass-through holes for attaching to a cheese plate, tripod plates, camera carts, and just about any industry standard on one-inch on centre-hole patterns. It also has a tapped hole on one end for use with accessory arms and alternative mounting.

The unit also has lightweight neodymium magnets embedded into its base, which attaches all Kessler MagLink products, such as Second Shooter motors, Second Shooter controllers or anything with steel, iron or nickel. There’s also an optional V-lock, belt clip attachment and Gold Mount Stud kit.

It’s limited to devices drawing less than three amps, which cuts out most cameras, but Kessler Crane says it will work with most video accessories such as monitors, audio recorders/mixers, DLSRs and mirrorless cameras with a regulated battery dummy, follow focus systems, wireless video transmitters and receivers, Kessler motion control systems, LED lights, etc.

The next generation will be looking at higher battery capacity, Sutton says.

“Depending on how this takes off, the next version will be a 10-amp version so you can start powering cinema cameras and power laptops on the road.”

MAY 6, CSC Full Member Spring Selection Committee, csc.ca JUNE 4-7, Cine Gear Expo, Los Angeles, cinegearexpo.com JULY 5-11, Festival Internacional de Cine de Gibara, Cuba, ficgibara.com 19-23, Siggraph, Washington, D.C., siggraph.org

AUGUST 18-20, Cine Video Television Expo, Mexico, revistapantalla.com/expo SEPTEMBER 10-20, Toronto International Film Festival, tiff.net 10-17, ICFF Manaki Brother, Bitola, Macedonia, manaki. com.mk 11-15, IBC, Amsterdam, show.ibc.org

@canadiancinematographer @csc_CDN

28 • Canadian Cinematographer - May 2020

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.

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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Looking for a set of old, no longer used, standard legs with Mitchell base. Or any type of disused heavy camera support.

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