CANADIAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS
$4 September 2018 www.csc.ca
BlacK kKlansman Chayse Irvin csc
TEAMS UP WITH SPIKE LEE
Nicholas de Pencier csc The Anthropocene Project
A publication of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers
12
FEATURES – VOLUME 10, NO. 4 SEPTEMBER 2018 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.
Credit: David Lee / Focus Features
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.
BlacKkKlansman: Chayse Irvin csc Teams Up with Spike Lee 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.
AC Lighting Inc. All Axis Remote Camera Systems Applied Electronics Limited Arri Canada Ltd. Canon Canada Inc. Codes Pro Media Cooke Optics Dazmo Camera Deluxe Toronto DMG Lumière FUJIFILM, North America Corporation FUJIFILM, Optical Devices Division Fusion Cine Henry’s Camera HD Source Inspired Image Picture Company Keslow Camera Kino Flo Lee Filters Mole-Richardson MOSS LED Inc. Nikon Canada Inc. PRG Panasonic Canada Panavision Canada REDLABdigital RED Digital Cinema Red Square Motion Rosco Canada S1 Studios Toronto Sigma SIM SIMMOD LENS Sony of Canada Ltd. Technically Yours Inc. Technicolor The Source Shop Urban Post Production Vistek Camera Ltd. Walter Klassen FX William F. White International Inc. Zeiss ZGC Inc. ZTV
Credit: Photo courtesy of TJ Watt
CORPORATE SPONSORS
20
Anthropocene: To the Ends of the Earth with Nicholas de Pencier csc By Fanen Chiahemen
Annual General Meeting 2018
30
COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 2 4 7 8 10 28 36 Cover
From the Editor-In-Chief In the News In Memoriam: Sandi Lamey On Set CSC Member Spotlight – Brad Rushing csc Dispatch from Serge Desrosiers csc Production Notes/Calendar John David Washington stars as Ron Stallworth and Laura Harrier as Patrice in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman. Credit: David Lee / Focus Features
Canadian Cinematographer September 2018 Vol. 10, No. 4 EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joan Hutton csc EDITOR EMERITUS Donald Angus EXECUTIVE OFFICER Susan Saranchuk, admin@csc.ca EDITOR Fanen Chiahemen, editor@csc.ca COPY EDITOR Karen Longland ART DIRECTION Berkeley Stat House WEBSITE www.csc.ca ADVERTISING SALES Guido Kondruss, gkondruss@rogers.com EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER Bruce Marshall, brucemarshall@sympatico.ca CSC BOARD OF DIRECTORS Phil Earnshaw csc Carlos Esteves csc Joan Hutton csc Antonin Lhotsky csc Bruno Philip csc Joseph 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 CHAIRS Andre Pienaar csc, sasc Samy Inayeh csc PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAIR Bruce Marshall 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.
2 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joan Hutton csc
I
admit it. I do love Netflix. I hopped aboard that train early, when the Internet provider began streaming content in 2011. It was reasonably priced, there were scads of interesting movies and television series, and above all, it was a new platform where our industry could present its labours. I found this all very exciting, but I soon realized there was much more. Netflix was an industry disrupter. Significant in those nascent years was the ability of subscribers to access any Netflix streaming through VPNs (virtual private networks) regardless of geo-boundaries. This was great for consumers who could tap unrestricted into a vast cache of programming anywhere in the world. But it was not so great for producers, who held international or country-specific licensing agreements. They objected loudly, and quite rightly so, because unrestricted streaming was cutting into their profits. In response, Netflix built digital walls around countries where it operated, and subscribers could no longer border hop. Because of this, or perhaps in spite of this, Netflix began producing its own programing. No licencing agreements necessary. Netflix shows could be streamed by subscribers anywhere in the world. At first there were only a few shows, inconsequential to the ruling production establishment. Then Netflix made House of Cards, which exploded in streaming land. It was award-winning, critically acclaimed and wildly popular. But more importantly, a new production world order began to take shape. Fast forward to summer 2018. An article in The Economist dropped my jaw. Netflix was no longer simply a streaming company with a robust producing arm, it was a global superpower. This year alone, Netflix is spending $12 billion to $13 billion on production, dwarfing the combined spending of HBO and the BBC on programming (minus sports). Netflix will deliver 82 features to its viewers, far outstripping the output by Hollywood studios. The closest rival is Warner Brothers, with 25 titles. Netflix is producing or acquiring 700 new television shows and is actively producing programming in 21 countries, including Canada, which gets a $500 million shot in the arm. The Toronto International Film Festival for the first time has chosen a Netflix movie The Outlaw King for its big screen gala opener on September 6. With a global subscription base of 124 million worldwide and growing by millions monthly, it’s projected that Netflix could be spending $22.5 billion annually on content by 2022. That would place Netflix within touching distance of the total amount currently spent on entertainment by all U.S. networks and cable providers combined. Numerous companies from Amazon to Disney have entered or are about to enter the streaming race, which is good. But they’re going to need some awfully long legs to catch Netflix.
The Broncolor Para Series
Briese? Schmiese. Try a Broncolor Para.
Next time you want to rent a parabolic reflector like a Briese, think of renting a Broncolor Para.
We are also an authorized Canadian dealer for Broncolor Continuous Light.
Visit us at s1group.ca, or contact us directly at 416.466.3024 or bookings@s1group.ca to set up a parabolic reflector demo.
LIGHTING GRIP ELECTRICAL PRODUCTION RENTALS CAMERA SUPPORT EXPENDABLES VAN & TRUCK PACKAGES
Equipment & Services for Print & Motion
Credit: Courtesy of Sim
In The News From left: Sim President and CEO James Haggarty, company founder Rob Sim, asc Events Coordinator and Awards Ceremony Producer Patty Armacost and ASC President Kees van Oostrum.
Sim and ASC Announce Partnership In June, Sim announced a major 30-year sponsorship with the American Society of Cinematographers with increased programming and resources to support the community for the long term. As part of the relationship, the ASC Clubhouse courtyard will now be renamed Sim Plaza. Sim will also expand its involvement with the ASC Master Classes, SimLabs, and conferences and seminars in Hollywood and beyond, as well as host a celebration of the ASC’s 100th anniversary in 2019 at Sim’s Hollywood location.
Sim Makes Film Sustainability Milestone with Clean Energy Portable Electric, manufacturer of clean energy power stations, delivered a nine-strong fleet of lithium-ion battery power stations to Sim in a move to increase sustainability in film. Sim aims to decrease the environmental impact of the film industry across BC, reducing GHG emissions, noise and local pollution through the addition of revolutionary clean energy VOLTstackTM power stations to their traditional generator fleet. Designed to significantly improve workflow while providing productions with instant, zero emissions power, the VOLTstackTM 2k and 5k power stations mark the first entry of clean energy into the film industry.
MIX Technology Takes 2018 Cine Gear Expo Technical Award MIX technology from DMG Lumière by Rosco took top prize in the Lighting Technology: Lights category at this year’s Cine Gear Expo in June. MIX technology combines true Rosco colour with a portable and durable LED fixture, allowing the user freedom when creating their own unique colours. Created by technicians to improve workflow on set, the myMIX app gives its users full control. Also, with a library of Rosco gel colours, it permits technicians to mix, save and share colours with colleagues. Users can also capture a colour with a mobile phone or tablet camera and send the
4 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
captured colour to the light. MIX is scheduled to be initially available in the SL1 and MINI fixture formats, with MAXI MIX to be showcased at IBC this month.
RED Digital Cinema Simplifies Its Portfolio to One DSMC2 Brain with Three Sensor Options RED Digital Cinema in late May announced its camera lineup will be modified to include one DSMC2 camera BRAIN with three sensor options – MONSTRO 8K VV, HELIUM 8K S35 and GEMINI 5K S35. The single DSMC2 camera BRAIN
In The News
includes high-end frame rates and data rates regardless of the sensor chosen and, in addition to this new value, the streamlined approach will result in a price reduction compared to RED’s previous camera lineup. The DSMC2 camera BRAIN is capable of up to 60 frames per second at 8K, offers 300 MB/s data transfer speeds and simultaneous recording of REDCODE® RAW and Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD/HR. RED will begin to phase out offering new sales of its EPIC-W and WEAPON camera BRAINs immediately. In addition to the changes to the camera lineup, RED will also begin offering new upgrade paths for customers looking to move from older RED camera systems or from one sensor to another.
Cooke Optics Acquired by Caledonia Investments Cooke Optics in July announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the company by Caledonia Investments plc, a self-managed investment trust. The current Cooke Optics management team, including Les Zellan (chairman), Robert Howard (chief executive officer) and Alan Merrills (chief operating officer), remain in place, and day-to-day activities at the Leicester-based company will continue unchanged.
Pablo Rodriguez Replaces Mélanie Joly as Heritage Minister Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in July announced changes to the Ministry and welcomed new members to Cabinet, including the appointment of Montreal MP Pablo Rodriguez as Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism, taking over from Mélanie Joly, who is now Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and la Francophonie. Rodriguez previously served as Chief Government Whip, as well as Critic for Culture, Official Languages, Economic Development, Public Works and Government
6 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
Services, and La Francophonie from 2004 to 2011.
Producer Kevin Tierney Dead at 67 Veteran producer Kevin Tierney, best known for producing and co-writing the 2006 bilingual hit comedy Bon Cop, Bad Cop, died on May 12 at the age of 67 after a three-year battle with cancer. Born and raised in Montreal, Tierney often used humour to explore Quebec’s linguistic divide in this work, as in 2006’s Bon Cop, Bad Cop, which won the 2006 Genie Award for Best Picture and became the top-grossing Canadian film of all time. His other films include the Gemini-nominated Choice: The Henry Morgentaler Story, the Gemini Awardwinning One Dead Indian and The Trotsky, a coming-of-age movie directed by the filmmaker’s son, Jacob Tierney. An active member of the film and TV community, Tierney served as a board member of the Canadian Media Producers Association from 1995 to 1997 and again from 2000 to 2007. Tierney was a member of the Boards of the Canadian Film and Television Producers Association, and Montreal’s Cine Gael Irish Film festival. He also served as President of the Board of the Cinematheque Québecoise, served as vice-chair of cinema for the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and was given a producer’s award from the Canadian Film and Television Production Association in 2009. He is survived by his wife Terry, and his children Jacob and Brigid.
B.C. Producer Arvi Liimatainen Dead at 68 B.C.-based producer Arvi Liimatainen died on May 19 at the age of 68 following a battle with cancer. Over a period of 40 years, Liimatainen worked in film and television production as a studio technician, writer, broadcaster, story editor, film critic, production manager, direc-
tor, producer and executive producer. He was part of the Gemini-winning team behind the Vancouver-shot Da Vinci’s Inquest, and also produced Medicine River, Legend of the Ruby Silver, Jake and the Kid and most recently the CBC drama The Romeo Section. His feature film credits include Cowboys Don’t Cry, Bye Bye Blues and Marine Life. Liimatainen served on the Executive of the Alberta Motion Picture Industries Association, the board of the National Screen Institute-Canada and the Banff International Television Festival, for which he was the chairman for two years. During his career, he received Gemini Awards, Alberta Film Awards, Cable ACE Awards and British Columbia Leos. He was born in Jyvaskyla, Finland, on August 31, 1949, and is survived by his wife, Sarah; daughter Anja (Kris) and grandson Otto; brother Paul (Sherry); sister Doris; niece Danielle (Nolan); nephew John (Kristen); and cousins Kaapro (Marketta), Maarit ( Janne), Maarku (Ida), Kaisa (Keijo), Maija (Hannu), and their children.
DGC Names Dave Forget National Executive Director The Directors Guild of Canada in June announced the appointment of Dave Forget as the new National Executive Director of the DGC, effective July 1. Dave Forget takes on this new role building on a nearly 40-year career in film and television. Forget first joined the Guild in 2015, following a 14-year career with Telefilm where he held various management roles, including his last in which he held responsibility for the organization’s business affairs as the director, Business Affairs and Certification. Prior to working at Telefilm, Forget held various management positions in more than 20 years in film distribution, including at Red Sky Entertainment, 20th Century Fox and Alliance Atlantis Releasing. Outgoing National Executive Director Brian Baker will take on the role of Senior Advisor based out of the Guild’s Montreal office.
In Memoriam
Sandi Lamey 1981-2018
C
amera assistant Sandi Lee Lamey passed away on Saturday, May 12 in Toronto at the age of 37 after a courageous two-and-a-half-year journey with metastatic breast cancer (mBC). Originally from Kingsville, Nova Scotia, Sandi was born on March 16, 1981. She was a
graduate of University of Kings College and Sheridan College. Her creative talents led her on a career path that included writing for The Reporter in Port Hawkesbury as a journalist and working as assistant editor on many popular television shows, such as Amazing Race Canada, Colin and Justin’s Home Heist and Canada’s Worst Driver. Sandi lived life on her own terms. With a lust for travel, strong will and fierce independence, she sold everything she owned and moved across the world to live in New Zealand. It was there that she met the love of her life and together they explored many continents. Ron Stannett csc met Sandi and her good friend Sarah Mulholland when he took over teaching a course at Sheridan College for Richard Leitermen csc, who had become unwell. “These two girls were like sisters, joined at the hip. They made my nervous task much simpler,” Ron recalls. “Both Sandi and Sarah went on to chase their dreams in film. Sandi, I’m sad to say, was taken too young, too soon. Sarah, who gained her assistants’ rights, went on to marry and have children of her own. I was invited to the wedding. Sandi was there; it was beautiful. Sarah has been there for Sandi all the way and has done something that has touched my heart for Sandi. With the support of her loved ones, she has gone back into the film industry to train as a Steadicam operator, not only for herself but for her friend Sandi. I know she will be great. I know her mate Sandi will be spurring her on.” Although Sandi was a private person, she bravely shared her story and educated people around the world about living with mBC through her blog, A Journey of Another Kind. She also shared her story as part of a 2016 national campaign called “It’s About mBC Time” to raise awareness about metastatic breast cancer: “I’m still working now, but I’m not worried about my career or anything like that, it’s working to have a job and to feel normal,” she wrote. “I don’t want mBC to completely overshadow every aspect of my life. You start thinking about all the things you want to accomplish. We travel whenever we can, whenever there’s a break in treatment, and I spend more time with the people I love. I’m living each day as it comes.” Sandi is survived by her husband, Mauricio Rodriguez; her parents, Alex and Carmel Lamey; her sister, Lorie (Darrin) Campbell; and her beloved cat, Kiwi. Sandi leaves behind many aunts, uncles, cousins and special friends, both in Toronto and Nova Scotia.
Courtesy of Ron Stannett csc
Sandi Lamey (left) with her friend Sarah Mulholland.
Credit: David Doldersum
On Set
Credit: Nicolas Frichot
Associate member Ryan Knight shooting the series Old Friends New Lies.
Credit: Carl Lessard
Bruno Philip csc with first AD France Boudreault on the set of La chambre noire.
Credit: Shady Hanna
(From left to right) Alison Midstokke, Cindy Nicholsen, E.R. Ruiz and cinematographer Claudine Sauvé on the set of the upcoming feature Happy Face, directed by Alexandre Franchi.
Credit: Sherien Barsoum
Above: Associate member Mat Barkley on location in Hamilton shooting the New Survival music video for director Chris Brown and Ellevator. Left: Alan Poon csc shooting the short doc Ride for Promise.
ACCEPTANCES / AWARDS / NOMINATIONS / Todd M. Duym, associate member (Cinematographer) Dawn (short doc), won Leo Award, May 26, Vancouver
CSC AT TIFF 2018
Michael Jari Davidson, associate member (Director of Photography) Hang Up! (short), accepted, FilmQuest, September 7 to 15, 2018, Provo, Utah
GALA PRESENTATIONS Alar Kivilo csc, asc, The Land of Steady Habits
Catherine Lutes csc, Mouthpiece (dir. Patricia Rozema) Van Royko csc, The Fall of the American Empire
(dir. Nicole Holofcener)
(dir. Denys Arcand)
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS Kris Belchevski, The Weekend (dir. Stella Meghie) Nicolas Bolduc csc, The Hummingbird Project
DISCOVERY Stirling Bancroft csc, Freaks (dir. Zach Lipovsky, Adam Stein) Catherine Lutes csc, Firecrackers (dir. Jasmin Mozaffari)
(dir. Kim Nguyen)
Nicholas de Pencier csc, Anthropocene (dir. Jennifer Baichwal)
Guy Godfree csc, Giant Little Ones (dir. Keith Behrman) Douglas Koch csc, Through Black Spruce (dir. Don McKellar)
8 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA Luc Montpellier csc, Splinters (dir. Thom Fitzgerald) SHORT CUTS Nicolas Bolduc csc, Paseo (dir. Matthew Hannam) Catherine Lutes csc, Exit (dir. Claire Edmondson)
SPECIAL EVENTS TIFF DOCS Goh Iromoto (et al.), Sharkwater Extinction Maya Bankovic, What is Democracy? (dir. Astra Taylor) (dir. Rob Stewart) John Minh Tran csc, Carmine Street Guitars (dir. Ron Mann) A complete list will be published in the October issue of Canadian Cinematographer after all the films have been announced.
Canadian Cinematographer - March 2018 •
9
What films or other works of art have made the biggest impression on you?
Before I became a filmmaker, I was a student of fine art, and many of the artists, whose work I studied influenced my own. One in particular whose fantastic imagery inspired me is Hieronymus Bosch. Another is Edvard Munch. With respect to films, I remember being mesmerized by the eerie and frightening images of Nosferatu on television as a child, a movie which remains evocative for me today. I love the characters, thrills and gritty realism of Ridley Scott’s Alien, which is my favourite film. I also love the beautiful, painterly qualities of many of the French movies I have seen, like Jean de Florette, Camille Claudel, The City of Lost Children and Queen Margot. How did you get started in the business?
When I was in art school, a filmmaking major asked for an artist to volunteer to draw cels for an animated film. I eagerly accepted and when I saw my artwork in motion I was spellbound! I began volunteering on other student movie shoots, helping out in any way I could. My first feature was a low-budget 16 mm indie where I got to work in a variety of positions in the sound, lighting and camera departments. I even helped out with some assistant editing on a KEM flatbed. During that first experience, I decided I wanted to be a cinematographer, so I began working as a camera assistant on indie projects and
10 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
commercials and also as a camera operator for live events like sports and concerts. Who have been your mentors or teachers?
In college I studied film history and animation history with Dr. Raymond Fielding, who had worked as VP for Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope. He is a gifted instructor and was largely responsible for my exposure to and love of the history of cinema. Patrick Coakley, who I had taken some media classes with in art school, became a supporter in my early years as a filmmaker. As a young cinematographer, I was fortunate to receive priceless advice from people like Steven Poster asc, Roy H. Wagner asc, Allen Daviau asc and Robert Primes asc. Each of them was so generous in taking time out to speak with me and share their wisdom. I will always be grateful for that and have paid it forward by sharing my knowledge, experience and support with young filmmakers for many years now.
What is one of your most memorable moments on set?
Some of my most memorable experiences have been working in exotic and interesting places like Brazil, Thailand, Colombia, Australia, Spain and, just this year, China. A recent feature project was Doolittle’s Heroes, a WWII-era film about the 1942 Doolittle Raid. We shot on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in original, restored B-25 bombers and in actual locations where some of the events of the story took place. It is a powerful and inspiring movie that has been a privilege to be a part of.
What do you like best about what you do?
I love helping to evoke and modulate a world the characters inhabit to tell their story which complements and amplifies that experience for the audience. What do you like least about what you do?
The unpredictable, fickle nature of work in our business.
What do you think has been the greatest invention (related to your craft)?
Caleb Deschanel asc; Fritz Arno Wagner; Darius Khondji asc, afc; Roger Deakins asc, bsc; and Vittorio Storaro asc, aic are a few among many.
Obviously, the original motion picture film cameras were the greatest invention because without them the business would not have existed to develop and become what it is today. I think the greatest modern invention are the excellent digital cinematography cameras we have to work with.
Name some of your professional highlights.
How can others follow your work?
What cinematographers inspire you?
I have photographed award-winning feature films, such as Cook County and
My website is BradRushing.com and I have a public profile on Facebook.
Credit: Chad Eicher
CSC Member Spotlight
Brad Rushing csc
I am very excited about recent projects, like Doolittle’s Heroes and Sanitatum. I have shot many memorable commercials for brands like British Telecom, Disney, McDonald’s, SC Johnson and Vodafone, and music videos for artists including Britney Spears, Eminem, Placebo and Moby. I have won an MTV Video Music Award and a CSC Award for my music video cinematography.
AIM HIGH. SHOOT HIGHER
Photo by MILKOVÍ, Unsplash
The PXW-FS5M2K now offers more creativity with FS RAW output capability and continuous Full HD 120fps out of the box. 4K60p/50p recording at RAW quality, and a stunning 120fps (4sec) HFR in 4K resolution. Try it out at select Henry’s locations.
Credit: David Lee / Focus Features
B Spike Lee and Adam Driver on the set of Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman.
12 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
BlacKkKlansman, the latest feature from provocateur director Spike Lee, tells the strangebut-true story of Ron Stallworth, a black police officer who in the early 1970s infiltrated the ranks of the Ku Klux Klan, even becoming the head of a local chapter. In the film, John David Washington plays Stallworth – Colorado Springs Police Department’s first black officer – who pulls off the deception by convincing KKK Grand Wizard David Duke (Topher Grace) over the phone that he is white, while fellow officer Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), who is Jewish, acts as Stallworth’s stand-in at Klan meetings. The movie premiered earlier this year in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, going on to win the festival’s prestigious Grand Prix award.
BlacK kKlansman Chayse Irvin csc Teams Up with Spike Lee By Fanen Chiahemen
We were just like a jazz band. Spike was Miles Davis, I was John Coltrane, and the production designer was Cannonball. We’re all just making an album on the set of the session, so the construction of it is more about being present and in the moment and trusting each other and reacting to things that you experience.
Lee reached out to New York-based Chayse Irvin csc to shoot the project after seeing the music film Process that the DP had shot in 2017. Irvin suggests his mash-up style, which he also brought to the shoot of Beyoncé’s 2016 film Lemonade, appealed to what Lee had in mind for BlacKkKlansman. “The only conversation Spike and I had was the idea of mixing different formats,” Irvin says. “It’s something that I’ve done a lot in previous work, and I think he really liked that. I just bring to the table every single camera and lens option available, and I allow the process to grow from within itself and the experience of digesting and absorbing all the images from the testing period informs all those choices.” As a result, BlacKkKlansman’s visual style is what Irvin describes as “very much an expression of jazz. I view it more like music,” he says. “That was our approach; we were just like a
jazz band. Spike was Miles Davis, I was John Coltrane, and the production designer was Cannonball [Adderley.] We’re all just making an album on the set of the session, so the construction of it is more about being present and in the moment and trusting each other and reacting to things that you experience.” Shooting began in October 2017, with Ossining, New York, selected as the main location. “It just had a very old city centre and it resembled Colorado Springs, and it was also within the requirements of shuttling the crew up there and not having to put people up, so it was kind of a perfect setting for us,” Irvin says. After Irvin’s extensive testing in preproduction, the decision was made to shoot BlacKkKlansman on film. “When I started screening the tests, I was really moved by the images that were created using a Panaflasher 3, which is a newer flashing product from Panavision, and the 35 mm with the flashing just beCanadian Cinematographer - September 2018 •
13
John David Washington stars as Ron Stallworth in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, a Focus Features release.
came really emotional to me,” he says. “Those images became hypnotic and beautiful, and to me that’s actually one of the most important things in my approach to shooting anything, is that it accesses the spectator’s unconscious more so than their conscious. So I talked to Spike about shooting on 35 mm, and Kodak got involved – they had just opened a lab in New York, and once I heard that, it just felt like there were all these signs saying it was possible and it wasn’t going be too extraneous on the production. “Spike was so happy. He couldn’t remember the last time he shot on film. He got so excited about it,” Irvin recalls. “On a daily basis, he was talking about how awesome it was to shoot film. He was like, ‘I love it, this is me again.’ So he embraced the idea, and it was really Kodak, Company 3 and EFILM all coming together with Panavision to make 35 mm possible. All these companies just gave and gave to the film. They’re entirely the reason it is what it is now.” Irvin ended up shooting with Panavision PVintage lenses and Panavision Millennium XL2 cameras for A and B shooting. He would also exclusively operate his own Arricam LT as a C camera when a third camera was needed. As well, he flew in an Aaton Penelope belonging to a friend from Stockholm, which he used for interior car work. “It’s really difficult operating handheld in cars because the camera needs to be really small. Not just skinny and short, it has to be the right length, as well,” he says. “The Aaton Penelope is just the best camera I’ve ever used in car interiors because it’s a very thin camera, and the way it reloads,
14 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
the threading happens in the magazine, so you just click the mag on, you don’t have to rethread it. And it has onboard batteries.” He used Zeiss Standard Speeds with the Penelope. “They’re one of my favourite vintage lenses; they’re very small. It’s not a highspeed lens, but it still works for most situations and it’s really just a tiny optical housing, so it was great,” he says. When it came to lighting, the DP says the locations they were shooting in informed his approach. “Usually I let the spaces tell me how they’re going to be lit,” he explains. “If I see a lot of windows, I’ll know that I’m going to be using some big sources from far away, and I’ll light the scenes using that. And if I’m in interiors, I like to use top lighting and rig single sources or multiple sources, like arrays of LEDs. I only usually use LEDs close to the actors. I try to operate all my LEDs wirelessly through a RatPac system so that once the actor’s on set there’s no flying in a ladder or tweaking the angle of something. I can open up my iPad or iPhone and just log on to the network and adjust the intensity exactly the tenth of a stop that I need for the shot and the colour temperature. It’s just been a great tool for me, and also I think it shows respect to the people in front of the camera.” Cinelease provided most of the HMIs, SkyPanels and incandescent light fixtures, but Irvin also owns LiteGear he’s been collecting over the years. “I handcrafted a lot of, like, 4’ by 2’ panels that just have LiteGear ribbon taped onto the top of it. They’re so lightweight that they float before they fall,” he says. “They’re great tools because on location a lot of times I’ll just tape or Velcro one of these sources to a ceiling. Most times I
Director of Photography Chayse Irvin csc on the set of BlacKkKlansman.
don’t just use one, I’ll use several and I’ll make a 4x4 or a 6x4 source and I’ll do a teaser around it. And a lot of the time I don’t diffuse it. I think that’s something that a lot of DPs and gaffers do, but I actually really love the quality of the LEDs because what ends up happening is if you space the LEDs apart perfectly, they cancel the other shadow out, and it creates this kind of texture, especially on African American skin. It’s really rich and it just pulls the depth out of skin tones.” Although Lee usually shoots with two cameras, Irvin says he personally prefers the single-camera approach. “I pay a lot of attention to composition, and with two cameras it’s a compromise, and the lighting and the composition can be a real challenge,” he says. “Then I started really thinking about it, and it seemed like a challenge that I had accumulated enough experience to take on.
Spike was so happy. He couldn’t remember the last time he shot on film. He got so excited about it. On a daily basis, he was talking about how awesome it was to shoot film. He was like, ‘I love it, this is me again.‘
So we had an A and B operator – Ricardo Sarmiento was on A camera and Kerwin DeVonish was on B camera – and these two operators have been working with Spike for many, many years. I really got along with them, and they got it. “I had a conversation with Spike early on that I really wanted to take some risks on the film,” Irvin continues. “Because the biggest danger that I see in two-camera shooting is you fall into this really formulaic form of coverage and composition, and you end up boxing yourself into corners. Whereas I talked with Spike early on about using the A camera to take massive risks on each scene. Like maybe we’d shoot it at a different frame rate or a different shutter speed, or we’d put the camera on the ground and crop people or compose the shot in a different way. We would try to contrast the coverage as much as possible. We would compose one character from a low angle and the other character from a high angle to really give a particular style to it; it was sort of arbitrary in its idea, but I think it’s what keeps it really honest and fresh.” In post, Irvin worked with Tom Poole, who he says is “probably one of the best colourists in the world if not the best, and he brought us into Company 3 and just gave us five-star treatment and all the time we needed to finish and to make all the tweaks.” Irvin was also grateful for the creative freedom he got from Lee, both during production and in post. “He has amazing reverence for cinematography, and he treated me with the utmost respect,” the DP recalls. Having grown up watching movies like Clockers and 25th Hour, Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018 •
15
The Cooke Look
®
One Look. All Speeds
PanchroI Classic Primes From T2.2 Modern redesign of the vintage Speed Panchro. New focal lengths added.
AnamorphicI Primes and AnamorphicI SF “Special Flair” T2.3 True front anamorphic
S7I Primes T2.0 Shoot 35/Super 35mm, Full Frame and beyond! New focal lengths added. PL and LPL mounts interchangeable.
AnamorphicI Zooms 35–140mm T3.1 45–450mm T4.5 True front anamorphic
S4I Primes & Zoom T2.0 Eighteen focal lengths
MINI
S4I Primes
T2.8 S4 quality in a smaller, lighter weight package
5I Primes T1.4 Fast All lenses equipped with I Technology for lens metadata capture
cookeoptics.com British Optical Innovation and Quality Since 1893.
T: +44 (0)116 264 0700
Canada, South America, USA: T: +1-973-335-4460
(l-r.) Director Spike Lee, actors Topher Grace and Adam Driver on the set of Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman.
“The story was of my father’s generation. My father’s a black man from America, and he moved to Canada in the ‘70s and met my mother, who’s Canadian. His version of America that he abandoned, at least in part because of racism, was embodied in this film. I was just amazed I had this opportunity to create something for him and honour him.” John David Washington stars as Ron Stallworth in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman.
Irvin says he has long been a fan of Lee’s, but it wasn’t until he shot BlacKkKlansman that the DP understood what is behind much of the director’s success. “I’d never worked with a director of his experience before,” Irvin says. “And he taught me so much about collaboration. That’s the lesson I learned from him. It wasn’t necessarily a filmmaking thing; it wasn’t a technique or a tool or a shot or a way to work with actors. It was none of that. It was strictly life shit. He has people on his crew that are PAs that have been working with him for 25 years. There’s no filmmaker out there that has that much compassion and admiration and respect for his crew. It’s like these people are his children. I’ve worked with filmmakers who treat the industry in a very professional way; Spike keeps it personal. And I think that’s really special. So I think the greatest lesson that
he taught me was the way he works with the people that he surrounds himself with.” Irvin also discovered, partway through the BlacKkKlansman shoot, that the film had personal resonance for him. “At first, I didn’t know what the film meant to me, it wasn’t that apparent,” he says. “But as I started shooting the film, I’ve sort of seen my father in it. And the story was of my father’s generation. My father’s a black man from America, and he moved to Canada in the ‘70s and met my mother, who’s Canadian. His version of America that he abandoned, at least in part because of racism, was embodied in this film. My dad’s getting old, his health is fading, his memory is fading, and I was just amazed I had this opportunity to create something for him and honour him.” Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018 •
17
• The most qualified personnel, high-end technical facilities and state-of-the-ar t equipment readily available from coast-to-coast • An extensive after-hours support network dedicated to troubleshooting or problem-solving • Ultra High Definition (UHD), 4K-8K and Large Format cameras available for rental • 35MM, Spherical, Anamorphic and Large Format optics at the ready
14 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
Canadian Cinematographer - June 2018 •
17
Anthropocene To the Ends of the Earth with
Nicholas de Pencier csc By Fanen Chiahemen
20 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018 •
21
All photos: Courtesy of Anthropocene Films Inc. Š 2018
Nicholas de Pencier csc filming tetrapods along the coast of Dongying, China.
T
he Anthropocene Project is the latest multi-disciplinary body of work from photographer Edward Burtynsky, and filmmakers Nicholas de Pencier csc and Jennifer Baichwal. It includes a feature documentary, a major travelling museum exhibition, a book and an interactive educational website. The project is based on the research of an international group of scientists (called the Anthropocene Working Group) working to officially change the name of the present geological epoch from Holocene to Anthropocene – the “Human Epoch.” This name change—a controversial proposition that has stirred international debate—would represent a formal recognition and acknowledgement of what Burtynsky, de Pencier and Baichwal call the “human signature” on the planet.
As a key component of the project, beginning this fall, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa will mount simultaneous exhibitions of The Anthropocene Project, in collaboration with Fonazione MAST in Bologna, Italy, where the show will travel in the spring of 2019. The feature documentary and book are being released alongside the exhibition. In addition to Burtynsky’s photographs, the exhibition will feature several large-scale murals with augmented reality experiences and video installations. One such installation, for example, is a 4K video projection of the world’s longest railway tunnel (57km) running through the Swiss Alps. Other subjects include extinction portraits, technofossil environments and industrial processes. Anthropocene, the documentary film component of this latest project, is the third in the collective’s trilogy of films — preceded by Manufactured Landscapes (2006) and Watermark (2013) – aimed at highlighting humanity’s collective impact on the planet. Anthropocene follows the Anthropocene Working Group’s research into lasting human changes to the earth’s system, both positive and negative. As with their previous feature documentaries, de Pencier and his colleagues travelled all over the world to capture their footage. “With all these projects, there is a huge amount of research beforehand, and in visual research especially,” de Pencier explains. “We basically put all of the Anthropocene Working Group scientists’ categories on a corkboard wall and started just pulling images off the Internet about places that would represent those. And then you go through a selection process, and there were months of trying to find places that satisfied the rubric of yes, that fits right into the category and has real visual interest, and if you peel back the onion layers, there’s more there. It’s not just a pretty picture, there’s a story behind it or some sort of resonance.” Over a period of four years, they travelled to “every continent except Antarctica,” de Pencier says. “We’ve been in some amazing places. Russia was a new one where we spent a month between Norilsk, the biggest metal mine in the world, and Berezniki in the Ural Mountains. It was really interesting; it was
22 • Canadian Cinematographer -
September 2018
crazy. There are these psychedelic potash mines in the mountains in Siberia that we went to just because they were so cool. The patterns that the boring machines leave after they’ve carved out the potash are just beautiful crazy patterns, so that’s more the aesthetic of the art side that draws you to that location.” De Pencier also got to venture into new media technologies by incorporating virtual reality and augmented reality into the documentary. For VR, they used a range of GoPro-based cameras rigged together, he says. “Everything from two GoPros back to back with super fish eye lenses to four GoPro rigs to six and eight GoPro rigs,” he explains.
Jennifer Baichwal (l), Nicholas de Pencier csc (c), Edward Burtynsky (r) and drone pilot Mike Reid on location at Hambach Lignite Mine in Germany. Below: Nicholas de Pencier csc capturing a bucket-wheel excavator at work in Hambach, Germany.
The team also managed to get their hands on Google’s first stereoscopic 360 VR system, Google Jump, a 360-degree 3D camera system that creates images for VR devices. The Jump camera rig includes 16 separate GoPro cameras, using the HERO 4 module. “Google has a big interest in all these emerging technologies,” de Pencier says. “We were one of the first hundred to get this. We convinced them that our project was worthy. It’s fairly sophisticated in terms of how they built it. The most interesting thing about it is that when we do just a normal four-GoPro rig or eight-GoPro rig for VR, to be looking all around we stitch it ourselves and make it all as seamless as possible. But for the Jump system, Google has also worked out algorithms for the stereoscopy. You send them all of your footage, and they crunch it and stitch it and send it back with a lot of very interesting depth added to the image.” De Pencier is particularly excited about venturing into augmented reality (AR). “If you had asked me even two years ago, I would have said the VR would be the biggest thrust of the new media, whereas now I think it’s going to be the AR. That’s the stuff we’re most excited about. The AR is like brand new; I don’t think anybody’s seen that before,” he says. AR is based on mixing real and virtual environments to enhance one’s perception of reality. While VR traditionally offers an
“If we can shift people’s consciousness by taking them to places that they’re often somehow responsible for but don’t usually see, then I think we’ve done our part. We’re doing our part to help solve some of these environmental issues. Hopefully, we’ll have some kind of transformation for the better for some of the things that are becoming crises on our planet.”
Elephant Tusk Burn, Nairobi National Park, Kenya.
Bagger 291, Hambach Lignite Mine, Germany.
Gotthard Base Tunnel, Gotthard, Switzerland. Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018 •
23
inside-looking-out perspective, AR (known as photogrammetry) allows viewers to move around an object, as a kind of virtual sculpture, in space. AR, de Pencier explains, is created by stitching together still images into a three-dimensional object. The Anthropocene team has helped to build an app, called AVARA, that allows a viewer to see a 3D image through a smart phone or a tablet. “And when you move your tablet, you can move all around the image,” he explains. “I think what’s going to be a strong example is the elephant tusk burn in Nairobi.” He’s referring to the largest ivory burn in history, which took place on April 30, 2016, in Kenya’s Nairobi National Park. The burn of more than one hundred tons or ivory aimed to halt all trade in ivory and the almost certain resulting extinction of elephants in the next 25 years. “The Kenyan government had been stockpiling for decades confiscated elephant tusks from poachers with a street value of $100 million,” de Pencier says. “The decline in elephant populations is a huge problem that they’re trying to deal with. And this was their answer – ‘Let’s burn it all. Let’s invite all the media; let’s invite heads of state from other African countries who are facing these same dilemmas and lets make a big statement to the poachers that there is no market for ivory.’ So they piled all these things up, and we took 3,000 DSLR high-resolution stills from every angle. We covered it as much as we could, and then just as you can stitch two-dimensional photographs to have a bigger composite and the software finds the
Nicholas de Pencier csc filming at Growing Underground in London, UK.
24 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
“If you had asked me even two years ago, I would have said the VR would be the biggest thrust of the new media, whereas now I think it’s going to be the AR. That’s the stuff we’re most excited about. The AR is like brand new; I don’t think anybody’s seen that before.”
Shaking things up since 1990
Proudly celebrating our first year servicing Canada!
Vancouver 1225 Keith Rd E #2
www.keslowcamera.com
North Vancouver, BC V7J 1J3 (604) 984-4563
Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018 •
21
Toronto 16 Overlea Blvd Toronto, ON M4H 1A4
19
Canadian Cinematographer -Ph March 2018 • (416) 467-1700
Edward Burtynsky (l), Nicholas de Pencier csc (c), and Mike Reid (r) preparing a drone to capture the historic ivory burn in Nairobi National Park, Kenya.
edges and the commonalities and stiches them together, supercomputers and quite rarefied software can now do that with three-dimensional objects. So basically, you put all those 3,000 photographs in a blender that’s software, and with varying degrees and some massaging it creates this three-dimensional file. And it’s incredibly detailed because those stills are super high resolution, and we have this beautifully nuanced, detailed virtual representation of that pile of tusks. And it was burned the next day, right? It doesn’t exist anymore. It’s freighted with all of the issues of species extinction and world economic development issues. And so it’s a really interesting document because it’s so visceral. “So in the AGO or the National Gallery if you bring your own device and you’ve pre-downloaded our app – and there will be iPads there as well that you can use – you’ll be able to look through your iPad, and the museum space will still be there and the people will still be there, but in the middle of it will be this virtual sculpture almost like a hologram, and you can walk right up to it and read the writing on the tusks and see the nicks and everything,” he continues. “Or you can stand way back and see the whole pile, and it’s like it’s there in your device, you can take a picture with your friend, you can take a selfie with it. So it’s almost a holographic image or virtual sculpture; it’s a sculpture that doesn’t exist in the material world,
26 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
yet in the device you can appreciate it, so that’s kind of our vanguard technology.” Viewers will be able to get close enough to read the classification information on each tusk and also experience the pile’s actual scale—over 10 feet high and 20 feet across, he adds. Despite the new technologies employed in the project, de Pencier stresses that “there won’t be a lot of science in the movie; just enough to know why you’re visiting some of these places or looking at some of these scenes. But it’s basically a framework to make an environmental art documentary. We knew it would follow the same philosophy of [our] filmmaking, that it would be experiential, and it wouldn’t be so didactic. This might end up being the most abstract of the three [documentaries] possibly, but at the same time, we also decided that it should have these other vectors coming out of it.” De Pencier concedes that it may be a long time before the project’s end goal is fulfilled. “When we originally started, we thought the Anthropocene Working Group would force a vote and that would actually be something we would film and have as a narrative thread. We were totally naïve – geologists move super slowly, and I think it actually will be ratified, but who knows when,” he says. “There’s lots of resistance within the community because they say we’ve never named an epoch that’s really about ourselves. They say it’s highly political, and
why don’t you just let it be a cultural term like ‘The Renaissance.’ They say, ‘How can we define it while we’re in it? That would be for someone in the future to decide maybe.’ But the scientists who are part of the group – and I think more and more of these scientists – are saying it’s an airtight argument and, absolutely, by all the metrics that we use all the time to do this, it ticks all the boxes, so we should do it. Plus – and this is where the politics comes in – Rome is burning, there’s a lot of serious environmental issues, and are we just going to stand on the sidelines and not draw attention to this? So they have to be willing to take the heat if they do ratify it and every textbook in the world becomes obsolete the next day. That’ll be a big press event. But in terms of our ambitions for the project, if we can shift people’s consciousness by taking them to places that they’re often somehow responsible for but don’t usually see, then I think we’ve done our part. We’re doing our part to help solve some of these environmental issues. Hopefully, we’ll have some kind of transformation for the better for some of the things that are becoming crises on our planet.” Anthropocene will run at the AGO and NGC simultaneously from September 2018 through early 2019. The documentary will open theatrically in select cities across Canada on October 5, 2018, and then play on various streaming services, the Bell network of stations and TVO.
I AM THE BIG PICTURE
KRISTIAN BOGNER CAPTURES 8K ULTRA HD TIME-LAPSE WITH THE NIKON D850. Render jaw-dropping 8K time-lapse movies by shooting sequences of up to 9,999 full-size stills, using Silent Live View Mode. Using the D850‘s Interval Timer Mode allows you to capture over 8K-size images with exquisite detail for time-lapse movie* creation. And with no shutter vibration, your sequences will be tack-sharp. To find out more about the D850, visit Nikon.ca. *Requires 3rd party software.
To view Kristian‘s time-lapses visit KristianBogner.com
dispatch from
Serge Desrosiers
csc
3rd ASC International Cinematography Summit Los Angeles, June 4 – 7, 2018 Hosted by Suki Medencevic a sc
Serge Desrosiers csc
w Topics of discussion: The new DXL2 from Panavision, the new Samsung cinema screen, a lot of HDR… w Highlights: Watching Dunkirk (an analogue film printed in IMAX) in the Universal IMAX theatre with DP Hoyte van Hoytema asc, fsf, nsc, director Chris Nolan and producer Emma Thomas. w Biggest impression: 80 cinematographers reunited at the ASC Clubhouse for four days, a total DP immersion.
Producer Emma Thomas, director Christopher Nolan and DP Hoyte van Hoytema asc, fsf, nsc.
Kino Flo President Frieder Hochheim and Serge Desrosiers csc.
Attendees gather for refreshments
Patty Armacost, Delphine Figueras and host Suki Medencevic asc.
DP Adriano Goldman asc, abc (left) with moderator, discussing the Netflix series The Crown.
Photos by Serge Desrosiers csc
ASC President Kees Van Oostrum and Curtis Clark asc.
Conference at the clubhouse.
28 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018 •
25
CSC Reports from the
Annual General Meeting 2018 for the year 2017
PRESIDENT’S REPORT THE HQ At various times during the year, many discussions took place regarding the space that the CSC occupies within the William F. White premises. The re-organization of the space (formerly referred to as “The Clubhouse”) has begun and we are now moving ahead with plans for the future. While attending to this huge undertaking, we have come across many important items and a great number of documents that we deem crucial to the history and legacy of the Society. We are attempting to deal with this as expeditiously as possible, however, it will require a lot of input from members of the Society to correctly manage the contents. Ernie Kestler and Andrew Richardson are also part of this undertaking. We have just formed a new “Heritage and Archives committee” to officially deal with the historic value of the Society and the “Brand,” and we will be posting news and a development strategy in due course. ROY TASH PHOTOGRAPHS The Roy Tash project now been
30 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
completed. Carlos [Esteves csc] has finished the very time-consuming work of retouching the photographs, and the framed Roy Tash photographs have now been mounted on the wall in “HQ .” CSC MUSEUM The ongoing process of adding to the collection continues to be relevant. After several conversations with RED CAMERA in 2017, we received the donation of a (special) RED camera and another donation of the (special) 3D Rig from ARRI Canada. We are preparing for the latest donation in the form of a Fries camera system. CSC PIN The new pin has now been manufactured and delivered. I took 60 of these to the IMAGO conference in October 2017 to further promote the importance of our Brand as well as to reaffirm our ongoing commitment to IMAGO. The pins were extremely well-received, and this has proved how much value and recognition can be attached to the Brand via such a small but extremely valuable item.
IMAGO During September 2017, I was asked by the president of IMAGO to be a juror in the feature film category of the inaugural IMAGO Awards. I consider this to have been an honour and was pleased that I could contribute on behalf of our Society. Carlos Esteves csc prepared several PowerPoint documents, which I took with me to the IMAGO conference as part of our continued commitment to the IMAGO Education Committee, of which I am a member. The IMAGO conference (IAGA) took place in Helsinki, Finland on October 26 through 29, 2017. SPONSORS I would like to acknowledge the pivotal role that all our sponsors play as they continue to support the Society in so many ways. The Society could not function without their continued generosity and commitment and this is what allows us to propel the Society forward. It is also an important factor as we seek many new initiatives to build upon our Brand as well as develop new strategies for the future of the Society.
ADMINISTRATION AND MEMBERSHIP We all recognize and acknowledge that the Society cannot function without the passion and dedication of so many of its members and we are extremely grateful for their efforts. But I would like to offer special thanks to the Society’s executive officer, Susan Saranchuk and her assistant, Karen Longland. My thanks also go to Sydney Kondruss and Guido Kondruss. It is largely due to all your efforts that the Society is moving ahead at an unprecedented rate, and the CSC is very grateful to all of you for your unwavering dedication, commitment, support and passion. George Willis csc, sasc President VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT AGM REPORT DESIGN The recommendation of designing an AGM report was taken in 2016. Like all AGM reports, the CSC wanted to contain all of the year-end reports in one easy-to-read document. This will continue for future AGM reports, making it easier for our members to access all of the relevant information for a given year.
ROY TASH This very valuable projected has now been completed. A total of 47 very large black-and-white photographers that were stored at the back of the clubhouse were photographed (the original negatives could not be located). Each digital file was carefully restored and printed in a more manageable size and framed. These photographs are now mounted on a prominent wall in our clubhouse. Also, the original digital files and workflow files are now available for CSC archives Carlos Esteves csc Vice President (Toronto) VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT In 2017, there were two “Soirée Pub CSC” events held in Montreal with a great attendance (20 to 35 people): Monday January 23 and Monday June 5 at Brasserie Le Cheval Blanc. George Willis csc, sasc. came to the latter event to present new full members with their accreditation certificates Members discussed many matters, including the representation of Quebec members in the CSC. During the year, I explored the possibility of holding some CSC
workshops in Montreal, discovering that it would require negotiation with the relevant trade associations (AQTIS and IA-667). I have established connection with the key managers at both associations and will continue communication. I also had several discussions with a potential major sponsor based in Montreal, securing an advertisement in Canadian Cinematographer during 2017 and exploring the mutual advantages for them to be an ongoing sponsor and to host CSC events. In December, Serge Desrosiers csc organized an evening at MTL Grande Studio regarding new digital tools. It was broadcast as a live event on Instagram. There have been a few events and initiatives since the end of 2017, which will be documented for next year’s AGM. Bruno Philip csc Vice President (Montreal) TREASURER’S REPORT For the CSC’s fiscal year ending 31 December 2017, the society continued to achieve an impressive annual surplus, contributing to a healthy
HQ COMMITTEE The CSC Board of Directors ratified in late 2017 the establishment of an HQ committee to pursue the marketing and the raising of funds towards the purchase of our own HQ building. The HQ committee is headed by Carlos Esteves csc and George Willis csc, sasc. This initiative will be by far the most difficult and labour-intensive project to date. The complexities faced by this committee will be large, and the volunteers that will contribute to it will have to be distinctive and specific.
We all recognize and acknowledge that the Society cannot function without the passion and dedication of so many of its members and we are extremely grateful for their efforts. George Willis csc, sasc President
Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018 •
31
aggregate accumulated surplus. A detailed accounting report is available to active CSC members on request via our Administrative Officer. This very good financial situation allows us to explore long-term initiatives that were not viable in the past. At the same time, the CSC executive is focused on protecting this unique opportunity by reviewing any proposed financial project with an assessment of its net benefit We will also continue to respect the various sources of our revenue, so that they all understand the benefits of their association with the CSC. The Treasurer welcomes all questions and comments related to financial details and status at any time during the year. Joseph Sunday Treasurer
laggards who haven’t paid their bills being removed from the active list. By the end of the year, we were down to 515 members, which is still 24 members above our 18-year average of 491. Our numbers are up across the board on social media, but that doesn’t seem to be translating to a similar hike in membership applications. We presently have 199 full members, the lowest number since 2009. In 2017, six people got full membership, which was granted to them by a diverse number of full members from across the country. They are: Jonathan Decoste csc, Vincent De Paula csc, Eric Oh csc, Evan Prosofsky csc, Chris Romeike csc and Robert Scarborough csc. Phil Earnshaw csc Membership Chair AWARD’S REPORT
MEMBERSHIP REPORT In 2017, membership numbers were down across the board, mostly due to
28 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
The 60th CSC Awards gala was held Saturday, April 1, 2017 at the Arcadian Court in Toronto. The gala event was at-
tended by 317 members, sponsors and friends. The evening commenced with opening remarks by President George Willis csc, sasc, and both Willis and Membership Co-Chair Phil Earnshaw csc presented full membership certificates to the 2017 new accredited members. Willis then introduced the host, actor Patrick McKenna. Brandon Cooper of William F. White gave a congratulatory speech to the nominees. This was the sixth year that the gala was streamed on the Internet. The decisions regarding the awards are made by the Awards Committee There were 215 entries in 2017. The juries were held in Toronto, mostly at the CSC Clubhouse; the categories for commercials and for theatrical features were screened at SIRT under the organization of Bert Dunk csc, asc The juries were chaired by Alwyn Kumst csc, and all processing handled by Sydney Kondruss. With the agreement of all participating jurors, some categories were judged this year by an innovatively
simplified procedure intended to encourage jurors to cast independent assessments. This process has been documented so that subsequent Awards Chairs have a reference when they decide how each category is to be judged. Alwyn Kumst csc Awards Chair PUBLIC RELATIONS REPORT I’ll start by saying there have been some pains from my perspective as the PR Chair, with the new executive structure, but late in the term, we seem to be addressing those. Throughout the year I have participated in almost all the CSC Magazine Editorial Board conference calls, from the perspective of external communication. I’ve made a few contributions on that front. I also attended many of the trade functions throughout the year to stay connected to industry partners and sponsors. In several cases, I took photographs that ended up in the magazine. These included the HD Source Open House and William F. White February Freeze. The biggest story in the PR file continues to be the growth of our social media outlets, shepherded by Carolyn Wong. My thanks to Carolyn and to all the people who have engaged with the CSC through social media. It’s a powerful medium of communication that is only getting more powerful. Prior to the CSC Awards, we sent news releases to several traditional media outlets, with some spotty reaction. This, of course, illustrates why having our own outbound communication channels to an audience we truly own is so vitally important to growing the brand awareness and brand position of the CSC. Going forward, I am hoping that in the next year the Public Relations efforts of the CSC can become more strategic. And I’m hoping the Executive Board will be able to address that issue further in the not too distant future. Bruce Marshall Public Relations Chair
DIGITAL CONTENT PORTALS REPORT This is the first report of this kind for the CSC. What has been learned is that most metrics are only available for a very limited time due to the very current attitude of social media portals. As a result, there are missing metrics for 2017. I’ve gone into some explanation to assist in further understanding the CSC’s social media portals.
most versatile lighting solution
Facebook 6,880 Members (as at May 7, 2018) 16 administrators and moderators The CSC Facebook is a Public Group page, which is different than just a Page. If we had a Page, insights could tell us more about post performances because it would be us that would be creating the post for our benefit only. It’s a much more controlled situation. For example, as a Page, if we posted about a workshop, we could select the date it was posted on and gain insights beyond what just shows on the post. In a Public Group page, members can create posts that we do not control nor edit, apart from essential admin privileges, i.e. blocking, deleting, turning on/off comments. It is unpredictable as to how engaging a member’s post will be or what it’s about. We can see on the feed how any given post is doing. The FB insights for a Public Group page are all over the place. I’m not sure right now how best to report because of this. Instagram (2017)
NEW
The original Versatile, unlike any other lighting, allowed you to bend it and shape the frame to suit your shot. Introducing the amazing new Versatile 2.0 XF. Its expanding frame easily
It continues to be an engaging platform to showcase our accredited members. 2017 was our first full year with the two-week rotation for guest hosts, who I schedule at least two months in advance. At the end of a month, I post the upcoming magazine cover and, depending on timing, sometimes a workshop post. If not, I slip it in between guests or, if I have to, during a guest host time. Unfortunately, I cannot set our IG to a “business profile,” which would
Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018 •
The world’s
33
adjusts in size and shape to hold either 2 LED tiles or up to 4 LED tiles, allowing the new Versatile to be used for virtually any application. Available in bi-colour single bright, double bright or full RGB versions, packaged in a variety of kits.
The Visual Technology People
TORONTO | MISSISSAUGA | OTTAWA CALGARY | EDMONTON
VISTEK.CA
tell us how posts are performing, give a quick contact button and enable to create promotions. In order to enable it as a business, you have to connect to a Facebook page. Because our page is a Public Group page, not just a Page, the CSC does not show up as a choice. I don’t know a way around this without creating a new CSC Facebook Page, which I don’t think we want to do. Anyhow, it’s a constant discovery of the limitations and freedoms in regards to Facebook and its relationship to Instagram and twitter. Twitter As of March 4, 2018, 704 followers and following 721. Our followers are slowly growing. But it takes consistent, smart tweeting and/or retweeting to actively try and grow it. It’s a platform that has its purpose. I have not been able to give it the love that it requires. It would be a boon to have help. By Carolyn Wong Content Manager, Digital Portals PUBLICATIONS REPORT This has been a particularly good year for Canadian Cinematographer. We’ve have had excellent feedback on our articles, Tech Column, and Editor-in-Chief column and an increase in our ad revenue. There is an average of 38,000 unique visits per month to the online publication of the magazine, which Joe Sunday posts on our website. Between the web and hard copy distribution (22,000 per year) there are about 470,000 readers of Canadian Cinematographer per annum. By year’s end, the magazine is averaging 17 ads per issue. This is four more per issue over the previous year. The magazine advertising revenue for 2017 was $90,509, with expenses totalling $69,108. The magazine advertising total has been growing yearly thanks to the work of Guido Kondruss and Susan Saranchuk, who have been meeting with sponsors and offering package deals, which include sponsorship, awards sponsorship, magazine advertising and other initiatives all for one inclusive price. This tactic has been proven to be popular with sponsors who left the magazine with the digital shift a decade ago and are now returning. Joan Hutton csc Editor-in-Chief
30 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
34 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
THE WITH FUJINON MKX CINE LENSES
Canadian Cinematographer - June 2018 •
31
DP Gordon Verheul csc (odd) & Neil Cervin csc (even)
to April 27, 2019
Vancouver
BLOOD AND TREASURE (TV series)
Camera Operator Alfonso Maiorana
to December 15
Montreal
BOYS, THE (series)
DP Jeremy Benning csc (odd episodes)
to September 25
Toronto
BURDEN OF TRUTH II (series)
DP Thom Best csc
to September 14
Winnipeg
CAVENDISH (series)
DP Cabot McNenly
to September 25
Dartmouth
CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA, THE (series)
DP Stephen Maier
to December 5
Langley
CHRISTMAS GETAWAY (TV movie)
DP/Operator Milan Podsedly csc
to September 15
Ottawa
CORONER (series)
DP Samy Inayeh csc
to November 7
Etobicoke
CREEPED OUT II (series)
DP Mitchell Ness csc
to September 14
Toronto
DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW IV (series)
DP David Geddes csc, asc (alternating episodes)
to January 24, 2019
Burnaby
DIGGSTOWN (series)
Operator Forbes MacDonald Jr
to October 15
Dartmouth
FLASH V (series)
DP Brenton Spencer csc & Alwyn J. Kumst csc (alternating episodes)
to April 19, 2019
Vancouver
GOOD WITCH, THE V (series)
DP John Berrie csc B Camera Operator Paula Tymchuk
to December 13
Toronto
GREEN HARVEST II (series)
DP Glen Keenan csc (odd) & Philip Lanyon (even) B Camera Operator J.P. Locherer csc
to November 22
Toronto
HEARTLAND XII (series)
DP Jarrett Craig
to September 28
Calgary
IN THE TALL GRASS (feature)
DP Craig Wrobleski csc B Operator/Steadicam Keith Murphy
to September 14
Toronto
iZOMBIE V (series)
DP Michael Wale csc
to February 15, 2019
North Vancouver
KASLAN PROJECT, THE (feature)
DP Brendan Uegama csc
to October 26
Burnaby
LOST IN SPACE II (series)
DP C. Kim Miles csc (alternating episodes)
to February 12, 2019
Burnaby
MAGICIANS IV (series)
DP Corey Robson (alternating episodes)
to November 9
Vancouver
MURDOCH MYSTERIES XII (series)
DP Yuri Yakubiw csc 1st Assistant Kevin Michael Leblanc Trainee Patricia Young
to November 6
Toronto
NORTHERN RESCUE (series)
DP Brett Van Dyke csc Camera Operator/Steadicam Colin Akoon
to September 18
Parry Sound
OCTOBER FACTION (series)
Data Management Technician Marc Forand B Camera Operator Perry Hoffman
to December 11
Toronto
PERCY VS. MONSANTO (feature)
DP Luc Montpellier csc Camera Operator Richard Wilmot 1st Assistant Pierre Branconnier
RANDOM ACTS OF VIOLENCE (feature)
DP Karim Hussain csc
to September 8
Toronto
RIVERDALE III (series)
DP Brendan Uegama csc
to March 30, 2019
Langley
SEE (series)
Ian Seabrook csc
Winnipeg
SNOWPIERCER I (series)
DP Thomas Burstyn csc, nzcs (alternating episodes)
to December 22
Langley
STAGE MOTHER (feature)
DP Tom Harting csc
to October 20
Halifax
SUITS VIII (series)
Camera Operator/Steadicam Michael Soos
to November 14
Toronto
SUPERGIRL IV (series)
DP Michael Storey (alternating episodes)
to May 15, 2019
Langley
SUPERNATURAL XIV (series)
DP Serge Ladouceur csc Camera Operator Brad Creasser
to March 26, 2019
Burnaby
TWILIGHT ZONE (series)
DP Craig Wrobleski csc
to December 21
North Vancouver
WHEN CALLS THE HEART VI (series)
DP Michael Balfry csc
to October 31
Burnaby
WORKIN’ MOMS III (series)
DP Maya Bankovic Camera Operator Brad Hruboska soc B Camera Operator Robert J. Barnett B Camera 1st Assistant Lori Longstaff
to November 16
Langley
WU ASSASSINS (series)
DP John Bartley csc, asc
to November 15
Vancouver
X-MEN TEEN SPIRIT (feature)
B Camera Operator
to September 18
Montreal
SEPTEMBER 6-16, Toronto International Film Festival, tiff.net 13-20, Atlantic International Film Festival, Halifax, finfestival.ca 14-18, IBC, Amsterdam, show.ibc.org 19-30, Calgary International Film Festival, calgaryfilm.com 22-24, cinec – International Trade Fair for Cine Equipment and Technology, Munich, cinec.de/en 27-Oct. 6, Edmonton International Film Festival, edmontonfilmfest.com 27-Oct. 12, Vancouver International Film Festival, viff.org 29-30 CSC Tabletop Lighting Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca 30, Screening of Firecrackers followed by Q&A with Catherine Lutes
36 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2018
csc and editor Simone Smith, The Royal Theatre, Toronto, sponsored by Urban Post OCTOBER 20-21, CSC Lighting Faces Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca 27, CSC Workflow Topics Module, Toronto, csc.ca NOVEMBER 10-17, Camerimage International Film Festival, Bydgoszcz, Poland, camerimage.pl/en 13-14, ProFusion, Toronto, profusionexpo.com 16, CSC Lens Testing Module, Toronto, csc.ca 17-18, CSC Camera Assistant Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca
Classifieds
Production Notes Calendar
ARROW (series)
EQUIPMENT FOR SALE 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 - 250721-2113 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,1-Lentequip 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.
@canadiancinematographer @csc_CDN
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.
ENLARGE YOUR VISION
Organic images filled with life and emotion ARRI’s Large Format Signature Prime lenses exemplify state-of-the-art optical precision. Designed to render organic, emotionally engaging images, they gently soften and texturize, bringing natural skin tones and creamy bokeh. Used in conjunction with ARRI’s new LPL mount, the 16 lens Signature Prime range goes from 12 mm up to 280 mm.
www.arri.com/signature
THE NEW LARGE-FORMAT CAMERA SYSTEM
VENICE Where you want to be VENICE comes equipped with a 36x24mm full-frame 6K sensor, dual ISO, enhanced colour science, and the ability to capture images in almost any format or aspect ratio, as well as the ability to use virtually any lens. As a filmmaker, Sony’s VENICE puts you in a position to capture breathtaking images with stunning lens flare, bokeh and emotional impact. Exactly where you like to be.
COMMERCIAL SOLUTIONS GROUP • Direct: 416-644-8010 • CommercialVideo@vistek.ca PHOTO | VIDEO | DIGITAL | SALES | RENTALS | SERVICE
The Visual Technology People
VISTEK.CA