A 'wonderful' pre-dawn landscape was painted oo the studio wall at Magders. Nicholas directed eye lights at this painting to create reflections on the cars, giving the illusion that it was an exterior shot At one time there were 40 cars in the studio and these were lit by only one 8 k HMI and approximately 20 eye lights. Surprisingly, the dramatic look was achieved with this small amount of light At the disposal of Nicholas was the Pan Arri camera with Panavision Primo lenses and a Chapman crane complete with all the "toys". According to Nicholas, the Primo lenses were fantastic. They rendered pictures that were crisp and virtually free of abberations with excellent edge to edge focus. The crew worked in the studio for three days, a day or two outside and a couple of evenings on the final shot where the cars came over the hill. This last set up involved two crews and 50 cars, all of which were driven by P.A.s not by stunt drivers. Thanks to the excellent work by the A.D.s a potential disaster was avoided. It is interesting to note that the Partners Film Company shot the set-up described above, even though Directors was the producer of all three 'Landscape' commercials. On the day the location was surveyed, the sun was shining gloriously just what the script called for. However, when the crews arrived it was hot and humid and the sun barely managed to penetrate the thick haze. There was hardly a shadow. Fortunately, Nicholas was able to find the right graduated filter which added contrast and enhanced the dramaticimpactofthe scene. The resulting footage exceeded even his expectations! Nicholas was very pleased when the esc recognized the craftsmanship in the flagship Chrysler Landscape spot at the 1989 CSC Awards. "It was very nice of the CSC to recognize the 'Landscape' commercials as being good enough to win the award for Best Cinematography. It may sound
Of the three commercials, "Landscape", "Autobahn" and "Pillar of Salt", "Landscape" is by far the best. It is a montage of beautiful and dramatic shots cutto music and sound effects with the precision of a well-conducted symphony. Tranquil images of a fawn, morning dew falling off a leaf, close-up of hands on a steering wheel and tall grass blowing in the breeze arejuxtaposed and shattered by a stampede of running feet in army boots. A flock of birds take to the air, the seatbelt is fastened and the car speeds off in a cloud of dust. Over the hills come two rows of cars and a voice says, "Chrysler: changing the landscape".
Photo courtesy of the Directors Film Company.
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