The Expanse JEREMY BENNING - csc.ca

CANADIAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS
$4 December 2015 www.csc.ca
The Expanse
JEREMY
BENNING csc
Ian Macmillan: The Plateaus
Whites Student and Filmmaker Showcase
A publication of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers
FEATURES – VOLUME 7, NO. 7 DECEMBER 2015
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
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
6
Credit: Bruce Marshall
occupations have joined the organization.
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The Expanse: Jeremy Benning csc Goes into Deep Space By Fanen Chiahemen
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COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS
2
4
22
24
27
28
From the President
In the News
Tech Column
CSC Member Spotlight - Mike McMurray csc
Classifieds
Productions Notes / Calendar
Cover: Jeremy Benning csc on the set of The Expanse.
Credit: Rafy/Syfy
Canadian Cinematographer
December 2015 Vol. 7, No. 7
CSC BOARD MEMBERS
PRESIDENT
George Willis csc, sasc, [email protected]
PAST PRESIDENT, ADVISOR
Joan Hutton csc, [email protected]
VICE PRESIDENTS
Ron Stannett csc, [email protected]
Carlos Esteves csc, [email protected]
TREASURER
FROM
THE
PRESIDENT
George A. Willis csc, sasc
Joseph Sunday phd
[email protected]
SECRETARY
Antonin Lhotsky csc, [email protected]
MEMBERSHIP CHAIR
Phil Earnshaw csc, [email protected]
EDUCATION CO-CHAIRS
D. Gregor Hagey csc, [email protected]
Dylan Macleod csc, [email protected]
PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAIR
Bruce Marshall, [email protected]
DIRECTORS EX-OFFICIO
Jeremy Benning csc, [email protected]
Bruno Philip csc, [email protected]
Brendan Steacy csc, [email protected]
Carolyn Wong, [email protected]
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF George Willis csc, sasc
EDITOR EMERITUS Donald Angus
EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Susan Saranchuk, [email protected]
EDITOR Fanen Chiahemen, [email protected]
COPY EDITOR Karen Longland
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2 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
A
s cinematographers, we often refer to the “old masters” –
Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Tintoretto et al, but are we
really aware of the incredible talent that produced those works of
art? Do we ever analyze the imagery in an attempt to almost deconstruct
the painting in terms of the composition and light?
It was only long after I had completed art school and entered into the
world of filmmaking that I began to develop a better understanding and
appreciation of the masters and the images they had created with paint.
Cinematography is all about imagery, whether applied to television commercials, documentaries or in the longer format. Cinematography knows
no boundaries, and proof of this is the fact that many great cinematographers are equally satisfied with applying their talents to a 30-second commercial or a full-length feature film.
Therefore, just as I would analyze a work of art by one of the masters, I decided to do the same with some black-and-white movies, especially those
filmed around the ‘40s and ‘50s. Of course, the decades prior to this are just
as worthy of consideration, but this period suited my purposes.
As I watched the various scenes unfold, there were a number of important
thoughts that I needed to explore. Initially, these were directed more to the
technical – an awareness for the slow ASA (ISO) of film during those days,
the physical size of the cameras and grip equipment, as well as the old-style
lights, fixtures with enough light output required for the slow film emulsions. And while thinking about the sheer size and weight of the camera,
I looked for the camera moves, the start and stop of the tracking shots as
the crews moved the heavy mass and the operator attempted to keep the
moves smooth. This was the time when large friction heads were the
order of the day, but larger geared heads were also employed for the heavier
cameras.
As we go about our business of filmmaking in the present, I believe
that generally little thought is ever given to comparing how lighting was
approached in the days long before Divas, Dedos and Kinos. There were
the “Brutes” (carbon arcs), the Big-eye 10K, the Seniors, Juniors and Pups
(English parlance), the Sky Pans and Scissor Arcs, all the way down to the
Inky-Dinks. I have a particular fascination for all of the (creative and fun)
names given to the equipment that is part of our everyday use, but more
about that at a later date.
see President page 7
STILL
+
MOTION
TORONTO
MONTREAL
STUDIO
+
LOCATION
S1 Studios Toronto: Van Packages,
Camera Support & Para Reflectors
Shooting in Toronto, Montreal or Halifax? Look no further than S1.
With a full suite of still and motion services, we meet the specialty equipment and van services needs of smaller productions both in
studio and on location. A range of van services for simple deliveries or more complex location packages is available, and our facilities
are strategically located on the east side of downtown Toronto.
Our clients include: ABC Disney, A&E, Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting, BBC America, Bell Media, CTV, Fox Searchlight,
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EQUIPMENT | EXPENDABLES | VAN SERVICES | PRODUCTION RENTALS | STUDIOS
S1 Studios Toronto 416.466.3024 [email protected] www.s1group.ca
IN THE NEWS
Kodak Names Steve Bellamy President
of Motion Picture and Entertainment
K
odak recently announced the appointment of
Steve Bellamy as its new president of Motion
Picture and Entertainment. Based in Los Angeles,
Bellamy will be responsible for growing and deepening
Kodak’s relationships with creative luminaries and business
leaders in the entertainment industry, working on creative
advocacy programs, creating partnerships and new business
models, and developing Kodak-branded solutions for the
entertainment industry. As a writer/director, Bellamy’s
movies have won more than 40 global film festivals. He has
personally won six best director awards including the Las
Vegas International Film Festival. He has also spent the
last six years as CEO of Action Sport Networks and will
remain the chair of that business. At Kodak, Bellamy will
work with Andrew Evenski, Kodak president and general
manager, entertainment and commercial film, to create
deeper relationships with Hollywood’s film and television
studios. Both will report to Steven Overman, president of the
consumer and film division
Rogers Announces Live Sports
Broadcasting in 4K with HDR
Rogers recently announced it is launching 4K-ready gigabit
Internet speeds, a new 4K set top box, Rogers 4K TV and
the world’s largest commitment to live broadcasting in 4K
with HDR. Customers will get live 4K TV broadcasts, four
times the pixels of HD for higher resolution and improved
motion video. Rogers will also introduce high dynamic
range (HDR) – technology that produces real-life images
with richer colour saturation, contrast and resolution – in
April 2016 for the Blue Jays home opener. The move will
allow Rogers customers to access more than 500 hours of
live sports, movies and shows in 4K beginning in 2016. As
well, Rogers Ignite Gigabit Internet will start to roll out this
year in downtown Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area,
and will eventually be available in more than four million
homes by the end of 2016. A new partnership with Netflix
will directly connect the Rogers network to Netflix servers,
and Netflix will also be available on select cable set top boxes
and Android devices from Rogers. CSC Members’ Projects Win
at DGC Awards
The Directors Guild of Canada handed out 19 awards in late
October honouring the best work created by its members this
past year. Projects shot by CSC members were among the
winners, including the series Open Heart, shot by Mitchell
Ness csc, which won for Best Television Series – Family,
while Schitt’s Creek, shot by Gerald Packer csc, won in the
Best Television Series – Comedy category. A complete list of
winners is available at the DGC website dgc.ca.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The CSC Awards Gala will be held at the Arcadian Court in Toronto on April 2, 2016. Award entry
forms are available online at csc.ca. The entry deadline is January 31, 2016.
Write to Us
www.csc.ca
Connect online with the CSC
Instagram DP of the month: Jeremy Benning csc
@canadiancinematographer
Canadian Cinematographer welcomes feedback, comments and questions about
the magazine and its contents. Please send your letters to [email protected].
Letters may be edited for clarity and space.
Hi George,
I wanted to thank you for the great
message in the recent issue of Canadian Cinematographer. Funny enough,
this morning a director I worked with
last year for next to nothing called
me and wanted me to bring my RED
EPIC and myself to set for $450.
Luckily I read your article last night,
and have had a pretty good year so I
was able to tell him that with a rate
like [that] he clearly doesn’t value
me or my work. On to bigger and
4 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
better things. Thanks for the extra
confidence.
Scott McIntyre, Affiliate Member
Hi Scott,
Many thanks for your feedback. I
am pleased that this resonated with
you, as I believe this is a scenario that
is happening more and more in the
industry. It is only by acknowledging
and addressing this issue that we may
see change taking place.
All the best,
George Willis csc, sasc
@csc_CDN
The CSC welcomes
Henry’s as its
newest sponsor.
Henry’s has been a been a presence on the
Canadian photographic landscape since
the 1950’s when it first focused on selling
cameras. Today, Henry’s is a leading digital
and photographic retailer, with an expanding
cinematography division. henrys.com
Thomas Billingsley, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) No Men Beyond This Point (feature),
TIFF 2015
James Klopko, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) Sleeping Giant (feature), TIFF 2015
Best Canadian First Feature Film; Calgary International Film Festival;
Cinéfest Sudbury; Athens International Film Festival nomination for
Best Feature; Special Mention at Reykjavik International Film Festival;
Zurich Festival nomination, Golden Eye; winner Best Canadian Film at
Vancouver International Film Festival, September 2015; Ghent International
Film Festival nomination, Best Film; Festival du Nouveau Cinema,
Montreal; Mumbai Film Festival; Busan International Film Festival
Christine Buijs, AFFILIATE CSC (Writer/Director) Divorce Photographer (short),
Calgary International Film Festival, September 2015; San
Jose International Film Festival, October 2015
Douglas Koch CSC (DP/Camera Operator) It’s Not You (short), TIFF 2015;
(DP) Sensitive Skin (series, Season 1), International Emmy Awards Nominee,
November 2015
Stephen Chung, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) Beyond the Horizon (short), TIFF 2015
Philip Lanyon, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) The Orchard (short), Vancouver International
Film Festival, September 2015; Atlantic Film Festival,
September 2015
Yves Bélanger CSC (DP) Demolition (feature), TIFF 2015 Gala Presentation;
(DP) Brooklyn (feature), TIFF 2015 Special Presentation
Kris Belchevski, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) Dredger (short), TIFF 2015
Steve Cosens CSC (DP) Born to Be Blue (feature), TIFF 2015
Richard Ciupka CSC (DP) Nouvelle Adresse (series), Gémeaux Awards, 17
nominations and six awards including Best Cinematography on a TV Drama
Series, September 2015
Jonathon Cliff CSC, Ian Kerr CSC, Chris Romeike (DPs) Hurt (feature), TIFF
2015 Platform Prize; Vancouver International Film Festival, September 2015
Dean Cundey CSC, ASC (DP) The Girl in the Photographs (feature), TIFF 2015
Michael Jari Davidson, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) Heir (short), Toronto After Dark
Film Festival, October 2015; (DP) Save Yourself (feature), NYC Horror
Film Festival, November 2015
J.P. Locherer CSC (2nd Unit DP) Forsaken (feature),TIFF 2015
Gala Presentation
Dylan Macleod CSC (DP) He Hated Pigeons (feature), St. John’s
International Women’s Film Festival, October 2015
Ian Macmillan, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) Benjamin (short), TIFF 2015
Adam Marsden CSC (DP) River (feature), TIFF 2015, Cinéfest Sudbury,
September 2015
Cabot Mcnenly, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) O Negative (short), TIFF 2015
Reuben Denty, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) Undercover High (series),
International Emmy Award nomination, November 2015
Rene Ohashi CSC, ASC (DP) Forsaken (feature) TIFF 2015 Gala Presentation;
Cinéfest Sudbury, September 2015
Nicholas De Pencier CSC (DP) Al Purdy Was Here (documentary), TIFF 2015
Cem Ozkilicci, AFFILIATE CSC (Colourist), The Wave (feature), TIFF 2015
Serge Desrosier CSC (DP) Ville-Marie (feature), TIFF 2015
Pasha Patriki CSC (DP) Gridlocked (feature), Fantastic Fest, Austin, Texas,
September 2015; Toronto After Dark Festival, October 2015
Guy Godfree CSC (DP) Boxing (short), TIFF 2015; Vancouver International Film
Festival, September 2015; (DP) Natasha (feature), Atlantic Film Festival,
Cinéfest Sudbury 2015
Daniel Grant CSC (DP) Into the Forest (feature), TIFF 2015
D. Gregor Hagey CSC (DP) How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town (feature),
Atlantic Film Festival, Halifax; Cinefest, Sudbury; Calgary International
Film Festival, September 2015; Edmonton International Film Festival,
October 2015; Grand River Film Festival, Cambridge, November 2015; (DP)
Portal to Hell (short), TIFF 2015; Atlantic Film Festival; Cinefest, Sudbury;
Fantastic Fest, Austin, TX, September 2015; SITGES Festival Internacional
de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, October 2015; Toronto After Dark Film
Festival; Celluloid Screams, Sheffield Horror Film Festival, UK; Edmonton,
Dedfest: International Genre Film Festival, October 2015; Leeds International
Film Festival Fanomenon Night of the Dead 15, UK, November 2015
Bruce William Harper, AFFILIATE c (Cinematographer) Charlie (short), Fright Night
Theatre Film Festival, October 2015; (Cinematographer) Chasing Valentine
(feature), Orlando Film Festival, October 2015; International Filmmaker
Festival of World Cinema Milan, nominations include Best Cinematography,
November 2015; (Cinematographer) Dead Air (short), Hamilton Film Festival;
Grand River Film Festival, November 2015; (Cinematographer) Late Night
Double Feature (feature), Buffalo Dreams Film Festival, November 2015
Karim Hussain CSC (DP) Beeba Boys (feature), TIFF 2015
Gala Presentation; (DP) Hyena Road (feature), TIFF 2015 Gala Presentation
Karl Janisse, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) The Hexecutioners (feature),
Toronto After Dark Film Festival, October 2015
Norayr Kasper CSC (DP) Hellions (feature), TIFF 2015
AWARDS / FESTIVALS / NOMINATIONS
Maya Bankovic, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) The Rainbow Kid (feature), TIFF 2015;
(DP) World Famous Gopher Hole Museum (short), TIFF 2015
Andre Pienaar CSC, SASC (DP) Len and Company (feature), TIFF 2015
Special Presentation
Ronald Plante CSC (DP) The Kind Words (feature), TIFF 2015;
(DP) My Internship In Canada (feature), TIFF 2015
Brad Rushing CSC (DP) Pony (short), Boston Film Festival; Rome International
Film Festival (Georgia); Bali International Film Festival; Hollywood Film
Festival, September, 2015; Long Beach Indie International Film Festival;
Cape Cod International Film Festival; NYC International Film Festival; First
Glance Film Festival (Philadelphia); Lady Filmmakers Film Festival, October
2015; Milan International Festival of World Cinema; Napa Valley Film
Festival, November 2015; Beloit International Film Festival, February 2016
Paul Sarossy CSC, ASC, BSC (DP) Remember (feature), TIFF 2015
Gala Presentation
Bobby Shore CSC (DP) Closet Monster (feature), TIFF 2015; (DP) Boy
(short), TIFF 2015; (DP) Invention (documentary), TIFF 2015
Bradley Stuckel, ASSOCIATE CSC (Cinematographer) Empyrean
(feature), Calgary International Film Festival, October 2015
Vic Sarin CSC (DP) The Boy From Geita (feature documentary), Directors
Guild of Canada nomination; special United Nations screening; theatrical
opening in NYC; TIFF screening and meet DP and director, October 2015
Brendan Steacy CSC (DP) Never Happened (Short), TIFF 2015; (DP) Coconut
Hero (feature), Zurich International Film Festival, September 2015
Othello Ubalde, ASSOCIATE CSC (DP) The Interior (feature),
Calgary International Film Festival Discovery Award nominee, September 2015;
Saskatoon Fantastic Film Festival; Telluride Horror Show Festival,
Colorado; Best Cinematography, Toronto After Dark Festival,
October 2015
Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
5
Credit: Courtesy of William F. White
Above: Attendees watch a demonstration.
Opposite page clockwise from top left: George Willis csc, sasc
gives a speech. Gear on display.
6 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
O
n October 3, more than 200 students and emerging
filmmakers visited William F. White Centre in Toronto for an opportunity to interact with the latest
state-of-the-art movie-making technologies and innovations.
The event featured a speech by Whites’ Chairman/CEO Paul
Bronfman, and the lineup of guest speakers included Academy Award winner and Kino Flo inventor Frieder Hochheim,
along with Project Manager Luke Van Osch and Creative
Credits: Bruce Marshall
Director Stefan Grambart from the
recent Emmy-winning studio Secret
Location. In addition, George Willis
csc, sasc and Jaimy Warner, executive director of Raindance Canada,
each delivered speeches about crafting images for the screen and how to
use social media to raise attention for
your film, respectively.
Unmanned Cinema’s drones also
showcased the latest breakthroughs
in aerial cinematography, and guests
were able to test out the drones
via computer-generated simulation. Whites’ Remote Heads and
Cranes department was also on display, with looming Technocranes
outfitted with cameras to afford
emerging filmmakers the chance to
experience what it’s like to be behind
the lens. As well, the Whites Interactive Viral Van was parked nearby to
demonstrate how filmmakers on a
tight budget can combine both production value and mobility with an
impressive package.
The event also featured an interactive dolly display set-up, with
a Sony F3 Full-HD camera pointing to a collection of illuminated
jewels, encouraging guests to get
a hands-on experience, while
Whites employees demonstrated
how gels can create distinct moods
and atmospheres.
Throughout the day, students were
given an exclusive 10 per cent discount at The Store @ Whites, while
getting a firsthand glimpse at the latest in GoPro camera technology.
President from page 2
So with all of these large lamps and
the obvious heat output associated with
them, it must have been rather difficult to
get through a busy day, compounded by
the fact that there was a dress protocol –
many directors of photography, as well as
some of the crew, wore collar and tie.
However, as to the imagery, I enjoy the
wide master shots where the true artistry
begins for the cinematographer, not only
the specific composition but also the way
in which the actor’s movements and positions are defined and accentuated by the
light and shadow within that composition. Also, the subtle manner in which a
light source is suggested and how a flag
or cutter is used to add further dramatic
effect.
Another observation is the fact that
scenes are allowed to play out and that
the frenetic cutting and editing seems to
be generally avoided. Classic over-shoulder shots and reverse angles add to the
storytelling, and when it comes time for
the “glamour” shot, well, no self-respecting movie would be complete without
the leading lady having the quintessential
“B-glass” added to the lens. Sometimes
visually, it can be fairly jarring, but that
was the way it was done and many of the
same leading ladies knew just where the
key light would be placed. In fact, they
insisted upon it because they understood
the value of the glamour shot.
Do we always have to move the camera?
I wondered about this because so often
on a set I have heard those very words. I
draw a comparison with live theatre for
there is nothing to move except our eyes,
and we allow the story to unfold as the actors move about the stage, which is their
frame.
I am of the opinion that it takes far more
talent and knowledge to construct a scene
with careful composition, where actors
are allowed to move (within a frame)
and in so doing create more of an uninterrupted flow, as opposed to many shots
being cobbled together, and possibly in so
doing, detract from actually allowing that
same story to unfold at its own pace.
Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
7
The Ex
Jeremy Benning
Goes into deep space
8 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
csc
xpanse
T
he Expanse, the small screen’s latest
big-budget sci-fi offering, is based on
a series of novels by the same name –
penned under the moniker James S. A. Corey –
by writing duo Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.
The 10-episode space opera – airing weekly
on SyFy (United States), Space (Canada) and
Netflix (all other regions) as of this month – is
set 250 years in the future where humanity has
colonized the solar system, and the plot line follows a police detective and the executive officer
of an ice freighter through a maze of secrets
and conspiracies that threaten the human race.
There is a missing young woman at the centre
of the drama, as well as the mystery of an abandoned, derelict spaceship. Meanwhile, interplanetary political frictions and pseudo-racial
tensions between those born on Earth and Mars
and those born on the outer planets (citizens
of the asteroid belt, called Belters) play out as
war brews.
“Take all the politics we have now and just advance it to that point,” series cinematographer
Jeremy Benning csc explains. “There are people
who have lived on one-sixth gravity so their
bodies are different. The solar system is divided
into people that live on these asteroid colonies,
Jupiter, Mars, the moon and Earth.”
By FANEN CHIAHEMEN
Photos by RAFY/SYFY
Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
9
Expansive Sets
O
ne of the biggest television series ever to shoot in Toronto, the first season of The Expanse required up to
70,000 square feet of soundstage space at Pinewood Studios.
Instead of being cluttered with movie lights and cables, the
set, dressed like a futuristic apparatus, looked more like a
grown-up’s playground, featuring navigation decks, touch
screens, control panels, hi-tech padded seats, and a ladderlike staircase leading from one level to the next.
It was indeed the scale of the show that Benning was most
excited about when he signed on to shoot The Expanse. “There
were a lot of worlds,” he says. “The worlds are all very different. There’s the Earth look, there’s the space look, there’s the
asteroid colony look. They all are different, and they’re all different ages. Even though we’re in the future, some of it’s old
future, some of it’s new future. To me that was the exciting
part. How do we create all these different looks?”
Benning and his crew had an almost unheard-of eight weeks
of preproduction because of the number of sets required, virtually all of which had to be practically lit. “We had to know
how we were going to light them while we were building the
sets, because [the set builders] had to accommodate where the
lights were going to go as we were designing them,” he says.
Lighting the Ship
A
Jeremy Benning csc (right) watches a set-up.
Middle and bottom: The Slingshot/MoVI combo in action.
10 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
fter reading the scripts and collaborating with production designer Seth Reed, the lighting team had to determine how to approach practical lighting within the sets.
As gaffer Michael Galbraith explains, “It was not like we had
large windows to bring light in from. Our ship interiors had
to be self-lit from ship practicals and monitors and work station screens. So the number one challenge was simply physical space.”
The set-up required light sources that would be bright
enough to attain decent exposure for both normal and highspeed shooting, and also be able to change colour and density instantly depending on what was going on in the storyline at any given time. LED lighting was the obvious choice,
Galbraith says. “We could get them in small spaces, we could
control the colour and density and we could control their behaviour such as flashing on and off, or cycling around a room
in a certain pattern, and all this could be done without gelling
anything. We could control it all off our GrandMA lighting
console and we were able to recall any look we wanted at any
time because we saved each look according to slate number
and set description,” he says.
Specialty lighting company LiteGear, based in Burbank,
California, provided the production with its product LiteRibbon, an LED ribbon mounted to a flexible adhesive that
can be cut to length.
“We had a bunch of 2-inch wide, 1/8-inch thick aluminum
strips in various lengths made up, and adhered our ribbon
Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
9
to it in a double wide configuration. I went with the double
wide because I wanted to be sure that we had enough light to
shoot 120 frames,” Galbraith says.
“I don’t know how many hundreds of feet,” were needed,
Benning says, “but we needed a lot of it. It ended up being a
couple hundred thousand dollars worth of it that we had to
buy because it’s consumable; you can’t rent it because you’re
cutting it up.”
Most of the LEDs they installed were of the RGBA (red,
green, blue, amber) variety, Galbraith says. “We wanted to be
able to create any colour Jeremy wanted. The quality of the
light was perfect for our spaceship environment.”
Although they knew going in that high-speed shooting was
necessary not only for the ribbon but for all the other LEDbased products, they found that the LiteGear dimmers only
went up to 60 frames. “My lighting console operators Andrew
Read and Ken Wiebe started working out a dimming system
whereby we could shoot 120 frames without any unwanted
effects from the LED strips,” Galbraith explains. “They ended
up designing and building what we call ‘pro speed’ dimmers.
In a nutshell, the LiteGear dimmers supplied the ribbon with
a 5,000 hertz frequency, but Andrew’s design incorporated
a frequency of 20,000 hertz. This made all the difference in
terms of our frame rate capabilities. The other big difference
between the LiteGear dimmers and the pro speeds is the
kind of control you have over the ribbon. The LiteGear dimmers do not have finite control over colour or density shifts,
whereas the pro speeds have very precise control over colour
and density.”
Galbraith also got Mississauga-based fabrication shop
Sheridan Metal Products to make speed rings so the lighting
crew could put LEDs into some Chimeras lanterns owned by
Benning. “So basically, we just had a little pancake lantern or
a little small strip that we could use like a small eye light or
whatever. It was all battery powered so we didn’t have to plug
anything in and it had its own little dimmer [so] you could
dim it up and down,” Benning says.
Other creative ways the crew used LEDs included procuring some aluminum boxes of various sizes, similar to exit
signs in buildings, which they installed LED RGBA ribbon
or RGB ribbon into and outfitted with sheets of plastic honeycomb grid.
They called the contraptions “honeycomb lights” or “sweet
lights,” Benning says. The boxes could be painted any colour and tucked into corners of the set where other lights
couldn’t be placed. “We could make the colour we wanted,
the brightness we wanted, but on camera it looks like part of
the set, you don’t think it’s film light, but it’s actually lighting
the shot. It looks like part of the ship, but it’s fully controllable RGBA lighting,” Benning says. The team also employed
numerous LED stage lighting products made by Chroma-Q,
which were supplied by PRG Toronto.
12 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
As well, because spaceships don’t have windows in the
world of The Expanse, lighting techniques like simulating sunlight streaming through windows would not work, so LED
lights controlled with wireless DMX were sometimes fitted
into helmets worn by the actors to light scenes in which the
characters found themselves in darkness, for instance when
the ship’s power went out. Or sometimes actors would hold
small strips of interactive light in their hands.
Benning suggests the lighting techniques used on The Expanse helped create texture and enhance the sense of place.
“I think it makes it feel more real because the lighting is very
ambient,” he says. “You sense that as people move through
space they move in and out of pools, interacting directly with
the lights that are around them, whether it’s monitors on the
wall or the lights that are built into the control surfaces. You
can see the source of light hitting the actors. It sort of tells
you that it’s a real space. It doesn’t look like those lights that
are somewhere magically above.”
The Floating Camera
W
hen it came to camera movement, Terry McDonough,
who directed the first and last two episodes of Season
1 of The Expanse, expressed a desire to go beyond Steadicam
and handheld movement that is typically used on television
shows. Moreover, the confined spaces of the set also presented a few obstacles for the crew. “We had a lot of rigged-in
chairs and display monitors that would have been very difficult and time-consuming to move,” camera operator Angelo
Colavecchia says.
McDonough had done his homework on brushless gimbals
and felt it would bring a new visual language to the show.
Benning, who was familiar with the MoVI M15 camera stabilizer, suggested it be employed on The Expanse shoot. Not
only did it offer alternative camera movement, but it also provided the flexibility for the crew to get the camera around the
set pieces efficiently.
“If you’re in a spaceship and you want to be able to move
from up there to down here, that’s the only way to really do it.
And with the MoVI we could kind of go anywhere with it. The
mobility was great, and we could put it in places you couldn’t
get a Steadicam normally,” Benning says. And because “you
can’t put an ALEXA on a MoVI, and we really didn’t want to
get into having two different camera systems,” the crew opted
to shoot with the RED EPIC, the cinematographer says, adding that “from an ergonomic standpoint, knowing how our
set size constraints would be, the carbon fibre DRAGON was
the best option for us.”
Benning also points out that “because of the weight of the
rig kitted with the RED DRAGON and accessories, you
can’t really hold this thing in your arms without some kind
of support for more than a few minutes.” The solution was
to use the MoVI with the Slingshot, the gimbal support sys-
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tem developed by Ray Dumas csc and designed by Walter
Klassen. Using Klassen’s FX Back mount carbon fibre Steadicam vest technology, along with a system of pulleys and support bands, the Slingshot is an ergonomic system that allows
the operator to take longer shots while achieving a full range
of motion (See “From Frustration to Fruition: The Slingshot
Story,” May 2015).
Klassen had also built a three-axis set of precision hand
wheels that work wirelessly with the gimbal to give full control to a second operator. “That allowed us to remotely operate, tilt and pan the MoVI while it was on the Slingshot,”
Colavecchia says. While Colavecchia operated the wheels,
B camera operator Jason Vieira was on the Slingshot/MoVI
combo, and together they were able to finesse shots they
wouldn’t otherwise have been able to get.
Stills from The Expanse.
“A lot of the stuff we were doing where we would go high to
low, Jason could not always see the monitor. We were doing
a lot of 360 moves, and we just found that with the wheels
remotely operated it allowed us to be a lot more precise as
opposed to just pointing the MoVI in a particular direction.
We were actually able to precisely operate and get the shots
the DP and director were happy with,” Colavecchia says.
“We did one shot in particular where we were on a Martian
spaceship and we started the shot probably 13 or 14 feet off
the ground,” he recalls. “We came through a porthole following our actor and we had the MoVI tied off to a rope. Once
we got the camera into the spaceship part of the set, our key
grip Richard Emerson unhooked it once it was lowered, Jason Vieira picked it up, while I was still operating from the
14 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
remote area from the wheels. Once he picked the camera up
off the rope, he could take it to where there were probably 12
or 14 dead bodies strewn all over the ship and he essentially
glided it over the top of them, and at the end of the shot he
looked back down the hallway we had just come. The shot
itself was pretty incredible. You think, ‘Was that a CG shot
or an actual live shot?’ And for that reason we stuck with the
MoVI. There was no other way of doing that shot.”
Benning observes, “It was kind of like having a Technocrane
on legs or a Russian arm on legs. You could go anywhere with
it. You could have the lens inches off the ground; you could
lift it to 10 feet in the air. And the sense of movement you get,
because it’s very stable and it’s going anywhere, you kind of
get the sense that the camera is floating anywhere it wants to
go. You couldn’t really get that same look with a Steadicam I
don’t think.”
Benning says he does not know of any other television show
using the Slingshot/MoVI combo the way it was used on The
Expanse, which also enabled the production to create a signature look for the show.
To further establish the look, Benning says he rated the
DRAGON at 800 ISO for virtually the entire shoot, and used
Cooke 5/i Prime Lenses where possible in order to “take the
edge of the ‘sci-fi-ness’ off it, so it’s not so super clinical. Because we wanted it to have some grit to it; we didn’t want
it to feel super clean and spacey. It’s kind of like a working
class science fiction show; these are miners and oil freighter
workers.”
The Cookes were too heavy for the MoVI, however, so when
on the gimbal he used the Leica Summilux. His widest lens
was the 12 mm Master Prime, which he supplemented with
a 14 mm Master Prime in some instances. “Sometimes we
were in these tiny little spaces and we needed to get back
far enough, and not every wall was wild,” he says. “We also
didn’t want to get into the habit of pulling the walls out and
always going back so you still feel like the camera’s outside
the space; we wanted it to feel like you were in there with
them as opposed to magically back from far looking in. We
did occasionally pull walls out just to make it easier to work,
but if we could, we tried to keep the camera inside the space,
and if we had to go wider then we’d go wider on the lens.”
Working on a large-scale show like The Expanse may be
daunting, but it’s even more rewarding, Benning maintains.
“Every day we would do something different and cool that
made it worth it. The best part was being able to have everybody sitting at the monitors, and we could all look at it,
and everyone was excited about what we were doing every
day. And having the guys who wrote the books there. Ty
pretty much sat next to me almost the whole time in my tent,”
he says.
A podcast of the complete interview with Jeremy Benning csc on
The Expanse is available at csc.ca.
Left: Macmillan preps a shot. Right: Stills from The Plateaus
16 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
By FANEN CHIAHEMEN
Photos by DUSTIN RABIN
he Plateaus is a CBC.ca comedy series parodying one Montreal musical group’s struggle
to stay relevant in a cut-throat industry. The
10-episode series follows a fictional band by
the name of The Plateaus left to fend for themselves after their lead singer’s untimely death in a freak accident. Meanwhile, the band is threatened by a “secret society”
that controls the release and distribution of popular music
under the record label Sonic Vision. The Plateaus, created by
and starring Schitt’s Creek’s Annie Murphy along with actors/
writers Matt Raudsepp and Kyle Gatehouse, may be a smallscreen send-up of the indie music scene, but it features popular homegrown talents like Jay Baruchel and Elisha Cuthbert,
as well as cameos by the likes of Kevin McDonald (Kids in the
Hall), musicians Sam Roberts and Fred Penner, and George
Stroumboulopoulos.
Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
17
“The scripts are very comedic and funny and almost
otherworldly, but we wanted to maintain a realistic look to
the project,” series cinematographer and associate CSC Ian
Macmillan says.
“But also there is this kind of dark underworld that happens inside the project that deserves something a bit more
fantastical,” he adds. “For the Sonic Vision, which is the secret label, we wanted to do something a bit more on the edge,
so we looked at films like Eyes Wide Shut, which has a secret
society element to it, and used that as a jumping off point.
Macmillan shoots The Plateaus co-creator and actress
Annie Murphy.
“We decided to shoot the whole show on sticks and dolly,
which meant we could use the ALEXA and AMIRA, and
we were given an incredible package from SIM,” Macmillan
continues. “Craig Milne worked very closely with us, and we
ended up shooting A cam on the ALEXA and B cam on the
AMIRA. For lenses we had a set of Cooke S4 Panchros and
an Angénieux 25-250.” He adds, “Our colorist AJ McLauchlin at Redlab did an incredible job matching between the two
cameras and the mix of lenses.”
Macmillan also highlights the camera department, which he
says had a unique challenge on The Plateaus. “Even though
we were a two-camera project, we were only able to budget
for camera assistants for A camera for the length of the show,”
he explains. “On the days where we knew we would need a
18 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
second operator we would bring one in. These included
[associate CSC] Scott MacLellan, Rob Walsh, Sam Lewis
and Alysia Galbreath. My A camera first, Josh Macdonald,
would stay with me, and the A camera second, Shimon Nelson, would pull focus on the second camera. But every day
we would build both cameras, mainly because we were often
flipping between our Primes and a 25-250 Angénieux zoom.
The build time was long enough when swapping the lenses;
we preferred to have one camera built on Primes and one
on the zoom every morning, whether we were planning on
bringing it out or not. It meant a lot of hustle from the guys,
but it was ready to go every day.”
When it came to lighting, the production’s rule was to maintain an even exposure inside while keeping everything dark.
“We didn’t want this to be a bright comedy. It’s not always
the happiest story for sure,” Macmillan says. “I think the best
example of the lighting we were going for is Girls on HBO
where they use window motivation and practical motivation
and just let that settle softly into the space and not force the
exposure inside the space. They light the space instead of the
face.
“So on The Plateaus we let our actors come in and out of
darkness or in and out of more moody areas without calling
too much attention to it and without being dramatic about it.
It’s a very softly lit film. Every light in this film is put through
some kind of a diffusion or bounce; there’s no hard light in
the project at all.”
The point of shooting this way, Macmillan says, is that it
aided in grounding the storyline in reality. “It made you feel
like a space that you could be in,” he says. “And I think that
it’s kind of a nice contrast with the content of the project too,
which is a little fantastical and off the wall, and as long as it
feels like a room that you could be in or a situation you could
find yourself in visually, I think there is more willingness to
accept how wild the script is.”
The crew also used a lot of practical lighting, with rice paper balls and tungsten bulbs acting as pracitcals, which they
would augment with gelled Kinos through diffusion.
Friend and fellow cinematographer Bobby Shore csc loaned
Macmillan a couple of LINESTRA lamps, which Macmillan
says are “like a Kino tube with a 4-foot tungsten filament inside. I really fell in love with those as a practical motivation.
It’s great because it’s a 4-foot tube, but you can put it on a
dimmer and it’s really warm and really soft. It has a really nice
short throw so it wouldn’t affect the rooms as much.”
The Plateaus’ jam space is in the basement of their partment,
therefore many scenes were shot in practical basement sets
for both day and night. With the location having 6-foot ceilings, the crew could only shoot one direction at a time, despite
being a two-camera show.
“In order to just get a natural ambient amount of light in
that space, we bounced a 1.8 HMI in the far corner of the
room, which is the corner that just never ends up on camera,” Macmillan says. “And we would put that through another 8x8 full grid that was taped onto the ceiling, and kind
of move the camera around inside the space to not create
too much shadow, or we would operate from the monitor to
make it so we weren’t obstructing that light source as much
as possible.
“And then on the flip, we would turn around and use the
door – we’d leave the door open and shoot a lamp through
the door and essentially do the same thing but with direct
light through an 8x8 grid, and then we’d use 1.2s and Kinos
inside the window wells just to maintain that window-based
motivation,” he adds.
To help create depth, Macmillan and crew also used
Christmas lights as practicals. “The white walls of the basement were tough to make pop nicely in our camera sometimes, and I think that we wanted to make it feel like a safe
place and kind of let there be a little bit of sparkle in the
basement too. And we let it fall soft and had a little bit of
that specular highlight stuff going on in the background,”
the cinematographer says.
For the most part, The Plateaus has a cool, natural look,
but in scenes that involve the secret society, the look is
warmer, featuring mostly tungsten lights and diffusion on
the lens, and Macmillan says he applied different looks to
provide easy orientation for viewers, as each episode is only
10 minutes long. “I think being a web series, the attention
span might not be there to realize where you are quickly if
someone’s just watching something online, so it’s a way of
saying, ‘Here we are in this other place,’ and we tried to use
warmth whenever we were in a location being run, whether
you knew it or not, by the secret society. So as the show progresses you meet more and more characters that are part
of the secret society and we just incorporated warmth into
each of their scenes,” he says.
“On the camera end, in front of the lens we had varying
degrees of Soft/FX filters throughout the show,” he continues. “We used thicker grades of Soft/FX from a half to a one
to even a two in the secret society world, then in the ‘real
world’ we used quarters to a maximum of a one, but there
was a Soft/FX on the lens 95 per cent of the time. It helped
us soften the edges of the Cookes, which are really sharp
lenses, and make it feel a little softer in general and more
natural. For this project, it works and helps sell that soft fantastical feel to the real world we wanted to have.”
Although the crew carefully scouted the more than 40 locations required for the show, once or twice the production
had to change locations at the last minute and Macmillan
was forced to improvise his lighting. For example, in one
instance, the crew were expecting to shoot in a location
that could provide them with a warm, tungsten look. “But
we get there, and there was a bunch of windows that there
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Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
19
was no way we would be able to control. They were just too
high,” the cinematographer recalls. “We ended up having
to change everything from tungsten to daylight to compete
with the ambience that we were getting from those windows
because there was no way that we were going to be able to
manage the contrast between the two, and so it was a little
bit of a last-second decision to change all of our fixtures for
daylight. But we made it work; we ended up building two really large 12x12 flags high up into the ceiling on a post rig that
was rigged on the floor so that we could kill all the spill from
these windows and keep it as dark and contrasty as possible.”
What put the crew most to the test was the amount of material they had to cover in a limited amount of time, because,
Macmillan says, they approached the project not as a web series but as an “aggressive feature,” requiring a 20-day schedule
to get through more than 100 pages of script. “The schedule
was never slow moving, but it meant that we had to be a welloiled machine right out of the gates. I really have to hand it to
the camera, grip and electric team for making those days possible,” Macmillan says, adding that the grip department was
run by key grip Miles Barnes, and the lighting department by
gaffer Cody Larocque.
Maintaining that web series are no longer “just this thing
you throw together with your buddies,” Macmillan says the
show “needed to have a quality and confidence so that it
would belong with everything else that you watch on TV or
in the movie theatre.
“I like being a part of this new breed of storytellers that are
putting together feature scripts broken into chapters, so it’s
more like a serial than a series,” he adds. “The web is the larg-
20 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
est distribution system in the world, and I think you have to
go into it thinking it can be seen by a large audience and you
should go in trying to tell the story the way you would if you
were shooting for television or the big screen.”
Top: Cast and crew on the set of The Plateaus. Bottom:
Cinematographer and associate CSC Ian Macmillan with
the ARRI ALEXA.
Canadian Cinematographer - October 2015 •
15
22 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
Credit: Courtesy of DitoGear
T
he old carnival wheel of fortune
call used to go something like,
“Around and around she goes,
where she stops, nobody knows,” but
when it comes to today’s cinematography turntable technology we know exactly where it’s going to stop. That’s because it’s going to stop wherever we want
it to, thanks to those digital controls, and
the DitoGear Spinn360 is a perfect example of step motor technology.
Turntables are one of those studio
tools that are great for getting that 360
shot of a small object or in stop motion
animation, but in the analogue days it
was more about trial and error in getting the spin speed right and synching
up with the camera. Initially, they were
often purpose-built and spun manually,
but in the digital world things are much
more precise.
While traditionally, turntables are
used for smaller objects, like fashion
goods or jewelry, they can be used for
anything the mind can design. The
DitoGear Spinn360 boasts an impressive payload of 100 kilos, enough to put
Credit: Courtesy of OrcaVue
TECH COLUMN
Turntables Pack a Lot of
High-Tech Controls
Above: The DitoGear Spinn360
Below: The OrcaVue
the talent on it and take it for a spin, if
you really thought that was the shot.
In reality, of course, it allows for larger
and heavier static objects and the opportunity to inject some smooth and
seamless animation into the shot as
DitoGear’s Patryk Kizny points out in a
Skpe interview from Poland where the
company is based.
DitoGear makes a range of gear, from
gimbal stabilizers to multi-axis motioncontrolled frames to sliders, lens controls, jibs and more. Their interest in developing these products – see ditogear.
com – all stems from their own work in
stop motion animation and time lapse
cinematography. More so, they consciously set out to drive value so they
are keeping things small and direct.
It means for the most part, especially
in Canada, the products are available
only online. “We don’t have a retail
channel in Canada because the market
is too small and so are we, but we’re
shipping all over the world every day,”
he said with some satisfaction.
The Spinn360 sells for US$1,200,
though it fluctuates with the U.S.
dollar, and launched about a year ago.
It’s an upgrade to their previous turntable and offers a digital step-motor, making much less noise with either a BD
Controller or Omni Controller (which
is an upgrade). It integrates with DZED
System Dragonframe, the image capture software for stop motion animation, as do all DitoGear products. The
turntable is literally plug and play and
hefty enough at 14.6 kilos to be stable.
Like the other products in their lineup, Kizny is hoping the Spinn360 also
takes off. “Our gimbals have been very
popular in the automotive sector and in
shooting movies from cars,” he said. “We
aim for something that’s affordable.”
As turntable rigs get more sophisticated, the Spinn360 is just one example.
OrcaVue (orcavue.com) has a different
take, pun intended, to imparting a specific sense of motion into a shot.
In this vision, it’s a reverse: the subject
remains at their mark and the camera
rotates around them. Now that’s nothing startlingly new, but the rig they’ve
designed allows from some eye-grabbing shots as you’ll see from the reels
on their website.
The sizzle they’re selling is to allow
cinematographers to recreate the infamous bullet-time sequences from The
Matrix, something that would otherwise be unaffordable to most small and
mid-size productions at US$50,000 to
US$200,000 a shot by the time the cast,
crew and gear are rigged and ready.
Simply described, the OrcaVue rig is a
platform on which the subject stands.
Then the camera is mounted via an arm
to a turntable that spins around the subject. This generates a 360-degree view,
though there’s a limit to how deep the
shot can go since you don’t want the rig
stepping into the frame. It is low profile
enough to capture a standing subject
from just above the ankles, and they’ve
demo reeled some sports shots to illustrate the possibilities.
It’s designed to work at 120 or 240 fps
and will also work with full-on slowmotion cameras like the Phantom
Miro LC320s, they say. There’s a list of
recommended cameras, starting at the
iPhone6 and running up to the RED
SCARLET DRAGON.
The OrcaVue comes in two models,
the Life and the XL. At US$2,499, the
Life’s payload is 350 pounds, about two
people, on a 24-inch platform with a
camera swing arm of 6 to 11 feet. The
turntable moves at 20 to 150 revolutions per minute and will handle a camera up to about 1 lb.
The XL, US$2,799, is as it sounds, bigger, with a payload up to 850 pounds on
a 48-inch platform. It’s also a lot heftier
at 275 pounds dead weight compared
to the mere 37 pounds for the Life, and
moves more slowly at 10 to 50 RPM,
but it will take a camera up to 10 lbs.
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vistek.ca
CSC MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
there! The press, accolades and celebrations were a huge pat on the back for
doing something I already love to do.
As well, for many years, I was the DP
developing the look of most of Alliance
Atlantis’ series. That is a rare opportunity I will always be grateful for.
Mike McMurray
csc
What films or other works of art
have made the biggest impression
on you?
I have been inspired by many different films from the past and continue to
find inspiration in current productions.
Jordan Cronenweth’s Blade Runner or
Altered States set my template for sci-fi.
Claudio Miranda’s Oscar-winning Life
of Pi resonates with me as the perfect
marriage between CGI and live action.
How did you get started in the
business?
My career was launched in 1974 at
Toronto’s local television station,
CFTO. My fascination with the
medium grew during production of
commercials and variety shows for
the station. Moving on to pursue
freelance film work afforded me the
opportunity to experiment and develop
my own signature lighting techniques.
I cultivated a long-standing relationship with Atlantis Films (subsequently
Alliance Atlantis) where I became
responsible for designing the look
for most of the company’s new
pro-ductions. From there I accumulated credits on major projects for
both U.S. and Canadian networks,
airing worldwide. In addition to
24 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
cinematography, I’ve also expanded my
skills into directing episodic television
for Paramount/Showtime and NBC/
Universal.
Who have been your mentors
or teachers?
Peter Edwards, supervising lighting
director at CFTO, Tom Swartz
at SCTV, and Robby Müller, while
working on his 1987 feature film The
Believers, all taught me both the handson basics of lighting, as well as specific
lighting techniques. From this knowledge base I developed my own lighting
style. I continue to learn from others,
especially innovative gaffers.
What is one of your most
memorable moments on set?
I have always been of the opinion that
sets do not have to be mean, miserable
and stressful to get the job done right.
A happy set creates many memorable
moments. Anyone who has worked
with me knows that some of the best
moments have occurred jamming in
the music room during lunch breaks on
“Hawaiian Shirt Friday.”
What do you like best about what
you do?
A film set can be a very social environment. After a while, crew, cast and
producers become more like extended
family. When that happens, you are
creating as a team. Everyone has each
other’s back.
What do you like least about what
you do?
The hours in our industry can be brutal.
When you have to go back into work later on the same day that you just wrapped
on may be a reality, but it just isn’t right.
What cinematographers inspire you?
I continue to be inspired by what I see
on the screen. In addition to those cinematographers whose exceptional work
I’ve already mentioned, I am always
searching for a new look or technique. I
have no qualms in calling a DP and asking how they achieved a look. Whether
seasoned or new, all cinematographers
have the ability to inspire.
What do you think has been the
greatest invention (related to your
craft)?
I will only speak to what innovation
has changed over my career. Both LED
lighting and digital cameras have made
the cinematographer’s job a lot easier.
LEDs are versatile and can be used anywhere with minimal power consumption without radiating heat. Digital
cameras eliminate the visual guesswork
compared to film.
Name some of your professional
highlights.
My Emmy nomination was right up
How can others follow your work?
www.mmcmurray.com
Come visit me on set any time!
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Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
25
Scenes from HD Source/ZTV’s Open House unveiling its newly
renovated headquarters in Mississauga on October 15.
2
1
Photos supplied by HD Source and Joan Hutton csc
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26 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
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1. Trevor Huys, Dazmo Camera &
Steve Zajaczkiwsky, HD Source / ZTV
2. Paul James
3. Paul James & Steve Zajaczkiwsky
4. Michael Losier, HD Source (Right)
with guest
5. Ken Thasan, HD Source (Left) with guest
6. CSC Executive Officer Susan
Saranchuck with Joan Hutton csc
7. Rob Poretti, Marvel Video
8. Sebastian Scala, Sony & Morris Heber,
Praise Cathedral
9. Mitch Gross, Convergent Design &
Matthew Crack, Dedolight
10. Jack Mosor, Greg Williams &
Henry Pinnock, ZTV Broadcast
Edmonton Film Cooperative wants your unused Arri 35
mm camera. Do you have film cameras languishing on a
shelf? Give it a new life, give it to a film coop and we will
give you a healthy tax credit. Have a 35BL, a 235, a 435
gathering dust because everyone is Red cam nuts? Have
other great camera accessories? Let us know, let’s make
a deal. Contact Andy @[email protected] and work a
great deal.
SHORT-TERM ACCOMMODATION FOR RENT
Visiting Vancouver for a shoot? One-bedroom condo in
Kitsilano on English Bay with secure underground parking,
$350 per week. Contact: Peter Benison at 604-229-0861,
604-229-0861 or [email protected].
EQUIPMENT FOR SALE
Spectra Digital Professional IV 150.00
Spectra Digital Professiomal IV “A” 200.00
Pentax Digital Spotmeter 100.00
Spectra Professional Cine 100.00
Mark IV 10/1 Directors Viewfinder 75.00
Cavision VMF Directors Viewfinder 100.00
Kino Flo Diva Lite 400 Model DIV-400 with stand and 10
tungsten spare bulbs and 4 daylight spare bulbs 350.00
12’x12’ white cotton bounce cloth 50.00
Whole package $1,000.00
Andreas Poulsson CSC [email protected]
604 868 6292
Full Set of MINT Classic Soft Filters.
4x5.6 glass camera filters in all the densities- 1/8, 1/4,
1/2, 1, 2. Perfect condition and all in pouches. Normally
sells for $360+CDN each. All five for $ 1400 no tax/includes
shipping within Canada. [email protected]
604.505.1615
FOR SALE : Preston FI+Z (RF) remote follow focus package.
Includes: MDR1, 2X DM1 motors(Jerry Hill style),
Microforce zoom control, Iris controller, hand unit, speed
booster (12v-24v)+ fast charger.
Panavison, RED, Arri power cables/run cables. + brackets/
various lens gears/marking discs.
ASKING $9,000 for more info and a detailed spec list
please contact: Greg Biskup (647) 405-8644, greg@
biskupcine.com
Cooke Speed Panchro 18mm 1.7/T2. “C” Mount, Nice
condition. From United Kingdom #572079, asking $1,800.00
Barry Casson csc Office: 250-721-2113
[email protected]
Canon Wide angle Lens J11A X 4.5 B4 IRSD and Canon
Servo Zoom Control ZSD-300 Value 27 000$ Asking only
3 000$ Elmo Suv-Cam SD ELSC5C and accessories New
Value 1 200$ Asking only 100$, Anton Bauer UltraLight &
Ul Soft Box Asking only 150$, Frezzi HMI Sun Gun & Frezzi
Soft Box Value 1 700$ Asking only 400$, Porta Brace
Rain Slicker for Pro Camcorder RS-55 like New Asking
only 150$, Script Boy Wireless T.C. System needs minor
repair Asking only 100$, Shure Mixer FP33 & Porta Brace
audio mixer case Asking only 450$, Sony Monitor SD
PVM-14N1U new Asking only 50$, 2 Camera Canon Dig
Rebel 10Mp XTi, Sigma 70-300 F4-5.6 Super C-AF, 4 Canon
Batteries and accessories Asking only 550$, Porta Brace
monitor Case for Panasonic BT-LH910 like new Asking
only 100$ [email protected] or call 514 831-8347 Panasonic AJ-HDX900P 290 drum hours, $7500.00
Canon KJ16ex7.7B IRSE lens, $5000.00
CanonJ11ex4.5B4 WRSD lens, $4500.00
Call Ian 416-725-5349 or [email protected]
Asahi Pentax spotmeter(just serviced) 425.00
Minolta Colormeter III F 750.00
Spectra Professional IV 250.00
Spectra Professional IV A 300.00
Minolta SpotmeterF(need repair) 100.00
Bernard Couture: [email protected];
514-486-2749
Professional U/W housing from renowned world leader
Amphibico.2006 Sony HVR-A1U camera with 0.7x wide
adapter and all accesories.
2006 AmphibicoEVO-Pro housing with .55x wide
conversion and flat port. Rare model built in small quantity.
Most camera functions accessible.About 60-70 dives.
Complete overhaul and pressure tested by factory in 2010.
3.5’’ LCD Monitor, rebuilt in 2010. 2 compact Discovery
10W HID lamps by Amphibico with batteries and chargers.
Spare o-ring for all. Soft and hard carry cases. All in good
condition.
E-mail or call for photos and more information.
514-941-2555, [email protected]
Transvideo Titan HD Transmitter and Re¬ceiver kits.
$3000ea. 2 for $5500. Similar in style and operation to the
Boxx Meridian. 1- Angenieux 25-250 T3.9 Arri PL mount,
std film gears on focus, zoom, and iris (32 pitch-mod 0.8),
lens support and collar, shipping case included $2900 1Tamron 300mm F2.8 Arri bayonet mount with PL adapter,
std film gear on focus (32 pitch-mod 0.8), 42mm filters:
clear, 2 x 85, shipping case included $900
Contact: [email protected]
Panasonic 3D Professional Full HD Video Camera
(AG-3DA1)
The AG-3DA1 is the world’s first professional, fullyintegrated Full HD 3D camcorder that records to SD card
media. The AG-3DA1 will democratize 3D production
by giving professional videographers a more affordable,
flexible, reliable and easier-to-use tool for capturing
immersive content as well as providing a training tool for
educators.
At less than 6.6 pounds, the AG-3DA1 is equipped with
dual lenses and two full 1920 x 1080 2.07 megapixel
3-MOS imagers to record 1080/60i, 50i, 30p, 25p and 24p
(native) and 720/60p and 50p in AVCHD. Camera is very new. Includes Kata Carrying case,
4 batteries. Asking price: $17,500 (includes tax). Will ship out of province.
To view photos/questions email
[email protected] or call 416-916-9010.
Proline 17 inch Teleprompter
Included is both PC AND Mac versions for our industry
leading Flip-Q teleprompter software. Flip-Q automatically
“Flips” the secondary output on your laptop so both the
operator and talent will see perfect reading left-right
text. The ProLine 17 standard LCD panels are the lightest
weight, lowest profile designs in their class. In addition,
they offer both VGA and composite video inputs adaptable
with any computer output or application. They also offer
flexible power options including 100-240V AC or external
12v DC input.
Price includes Tripod attachments and Pelican
carrying case. Complete tool-less set-up.
Asking Price: $2,000 (includes tax)
To view photos/questions email
[email protected] or call 416-916-9010.
Sony PMW-F3 with S-log firmware. Low hours, Excellent
condition. Kaiser top handle, 32GB high rate card.
$3500.00. Gemini 4:4:4 Solid State recorder now PRORes
capable, with eSata and Thunderbolt readers, lots of
accessories, case, 512GB and 3x 256GB solid state drives/
cards. Excellent condition. $3000.00 IBE-Optics HDx35 PL to
B4 adapter comes with power cable and soft case. Used on
F3 and Alexa for superb results. $3000.00. Willing to sell
everything as a complete package for $8500.00
Available for everything. Contact John Banovich
604-726-5646 or [email protected]
Nikkor AF-S VR 500mm F 4 IS ED Lens. Super rare and
very hard to find!!! Serial # 204153 Perfect condition.
Not a scratch on it!!! Only one year old. Included Hard
Shell Case, Lens Hood, Lens Strap, Case strap. Come
with Manfrotto Carbon Fiber tripod, Jobu head and Jobu
Mounting Bracket. Asking price $9000.00
[email protected], 604.566.2235 (Residence),
604.889.9515 (Mobile) Panasonic BT-S950P 16:9 / 4:3 SD Field Monitor for Sale
(Excellent Condition) - $100.Portabrace included
Please contact Christian at (416) 459-4895
or email [email protected]
SERVICES
20% Off to all CSC members! Looking for a Green Screen
Studio? Greensuite209 is owned and operated by a CSC
member, and is now offering 20% off our regular studio
and equipment rental rates for all CSC members! We are
a 1750 sq. ft. green screen studio in South Etobicoke just
south of William F Whites. We have a 11’ X 29’ X 14’
Digicomp sloping green screen.
Check us out online at www.gs209.com and contact
us for any further information! email: Booking@
GS209.com.
HD Source is well-known and respected for their excellent
SERVICE department and truly skilled technicians. As an
Authorized Sony Service Depot, HD Source professionally
maintains, repairs, and performs crucial upgrades to a wide
range of equipment, including HD and 4K. HD Source also
proudly services Canon Cinema EOS products and Canon
Broadcast lenses, and boasts an on-staff Canon-trained
and experienced Lens Technician. HD Source understands
how important each piece of equipment is, and will get it
operating and back to you as quickly and as cost-effectively
as possible.
Call Alnoor at 905-890-6905, email him at alnoor.
[email protected], or drop by HD Source
anytime at 1670 Enterprise Rd. (Dixie & 401). HILL’S VIDEO PRODUCTIONS – BURLINGTON
Looking for a unique shooting control room? Rent our 32 ft.
1981 Bus complete with control room and audio.
HDSDI fiber boxes for long runs. Great for keeping warm
on those multi camera shoots.
www.hillsvideo.com Rob Hill – 905.335.1146
Do you travel between Toronto and Hamilton for production
every day? Need a place to: screen dailies, host your
production office that’s close to both? Hill’s Production
Services www.hillsvideo.com. We are a full Service
Production Company with cameras and edit bays for
making EPKs. Some grip gear, if you find yourself in the
field, short of one or two items. Hill’s also has office space
and a mobile screening room. Located just off the QEW in
Burlington.Check us out 905-335-1146 Ask for Rob Hill. CAMERA CLASSIFIED IS A FREE SERVICE
PROVIDED FOR CSC MEMBERS.
For all others, there is a one-time $25 (plus GST) insertion
fee. Your ad will appear here and on the CSC’s website,
www.csc.ca. If you have items you would like to buy, sell
or rent, please email your information to [email protected].
Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015 •
27
CLASSIFIEDS
EQUIPMENT WANTED
PRODUCTION NOTES
12 MONKEYS II (series); DP David Greene csc; DP Boris Mojsovski csc; to December 4, Toronto
ARROW IV (series); DP Gordon Verheul csc; to April 27, 2016, Vancouver
BATES MOTEL IV (series); DP John Bartley csc, asc; to April 4, 2016, Vancouver
THE CODE (series); DP Eric Cayla csc; DP Pierre Jodoin csc; to February 5, 2016, Toronto
DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW (series); DP David Geddes csc, asc; to April 1, 2016, Burnaby
FAIRYLAND (series); DP Gerald Packer csc; to December 11, Toronto
THE FLASH II (series); DP Kim C. Miles csc; to April 15, 2016, Vancouver
FRONTIER (series); David Herrington csc; to March 7, 2016, St. Johns
THE GOOD WITCH II (series); DP John Berrie csc; B Camera Operator Paula Tymchuk; to January 29, 2016, Toronto
HEARTLAND IX (series); DP Craig Wrobleski csc; B Camera Operator Jarrett Craig; to December 14, Calgary
HOUDINI AND DOYLE (series); DP Stephen Reizes csc; to December 14, Toronto
IZOMBIE II (series); DP Michael Wale csc; Operator/Steadicam Greg Fox; to December 18, North Vancouver
LEGENDS OF TOMORROW (series); DP David Geddes csc, asc; to April 6, 2016, Burnaby
LOOKINGLASS AKA FRANKENSTEIN (series); B Camera Operator Ian Seabrook csc; to January 25, 2016, Burnaby
LUCIFER (series); DP Ryan McMaster csc; DP Glen Keenan csc; January 29, 2016, Burnaby
MENSONGES III (series); DP Jérôme Sabourin; to December 15, Montreal
THE MOBLEES II (series); DP Christopher Ball csc; to December 18, Dartmouth
MINORITY REPORT (series); DP David Moxness csc, asc (alternating episodes); to December 18, North Vancouver
MURDOCH MYSTERIES IX (series); DP James E. Jeffrey csc; DP Yuri Yakubiw csc; Camera Operator Brian Gedge; 1st
Assistant Kevin Michael Leblanc; to December 10, Toronto
THE NEXT STEP IV (series); DP Kim Derko csc; Camera Operator Brad Hruboska; to December 8, Toronto
PHIL (feature); B Camera Operator Amy Belling; to December 18, Burnaby
QUANTICO (series); 2nd Unit DP Robert Mattigetz csc; to December 15, Montreal
REIGN III (series); DP Paul Sarossy csc, asc, bsc; DP Michael Storey csc; B Camera/Steadicam Andris Mattis; to
February 19, 2016, Toronto
SAVING HOPE IV (series); DP David Perrault csc; to December 10, Mississauga
THE STANLEY DYNAMIC II (series); DP Matt Phillips csc; to April 8, 2016, Toronto
THE STRAIN III (series); DP Colin Hoult csc (alternating episodes); B Camera Operator J.P. Locherer csc;
to April 13, 2016, Toronto
SUPERNATURAL XI (series); DP Serge Ladouceur csc; Camera Operator Brad Creasser; to April 20, 2016, Burnaby
WHEN CALLS THE HEART III (series); DP Michael Balfry csc; to January 28, 2016, Burnaby
WYNONNA EARP (series); DP Gavin Smith csc; to February 10, 2016, Calgary
YAMASAKA VII (series); DP Daniel Vincelette csc; to December 11, Montreal
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
DECEMBER
2-6, Whistler Film Festival, Whistler, BC,
whistlerfilmfestival.com
4, CSC Lens Testing Workshop, Toronto, csc.ca/education/
5-6, CSC Camera Assistant Workshop, csc.ca/education/
JANUARY
21-31, Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, sundance.org
31, CSC Awards entry deadline, csc.ca
FEBRUARY
1, CSC Annual General Meeting, Technicolor Toronto
4, CSC Pub Night, S1 Studios, Toronto
9, February Freeze, William F. White, Toronto,
februaryfreeze.com
5-14, Victoria Film Festival, Victoria BC, victoriafilmfestival.com
28 • Canadian Cinematographer - December 2015
18-27, Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois, Montreal, rvcq.com
25-28, Kingston Canadian Film Festival, Kingston, ON,
kingcanfilmfest.com
MARCH
10-20, International Film Festival on Art, Montreal, artfifa.com
APRIL
2, CSC Awards, The Arcadian Court, Toronto, csc.ca
28-May 8, Hot Docs, Toronto, hotdocs.ca
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
Control the sky.
SkyPanel: The new fully tuneable LED soft light.
The ARRI SkyPanel is an exceptionally bright and versatile LED soft light. Offering tuneability from
2,800 K to 10,000 K as well as plus and minus green correction, vivid color selection and saturation adjustment using
the RGBW color gamut, it can be controlled via on-board controls or remotely, and instantly, via DMX.
SOFT LIGHTING | REDEFINED
Explore the new SkyPanel:
www.arri.com/skypanel
Welcome to a new era of filmmaking
As a filmmaker, never before has one camera manufacturer
offered you such a substantial choice. No surprise, it’s Sony,
the company that builds a full family of 4K capable Super 35
production cameras. Cameras that not only work together
seamlessly and provide all the camera you need for any
application, they come packed with unparalleled features and
an attractive affordable price.
There’s the FS5, Sony’s new lightweight champ perfect for
handheld applications, and for attaching to lightweight gimbal
stabilizers, rigs and UAVs. The FS7 – the proven production
workhorse, ideal for documentary run-and-gun shooting where
PXW-FS5
its lightweight shoulder style operation is perfectly suited. And
the venerable F5 and F55, Sony’s famous tried-and-true cinema
production grade cameras.
Of course all of these Sony workhorses provide for S-Log2 and
S-Log3 operation, for capturing up to 14 stops of dynamic
range, ideal for grading. And deliver universal lensing options,
from Sony E-mount, to EF, PL or even B4 mounts with adapters.
Your next move? Contact Vistek, talk to a Vistek video specialist
who can help make your next production a Sony spectacular.
PXW-FS7
PMW-F5
PMW-F55
COMMERCIAL PRO VIDEO
Direct: 416-644-8010 • Fax: 416-644-8031 • Toll-Free Direct: 1-866-661-5257 • [email protected]
PHOTO | VIDEO | DIGITAL | SALES | RENTALS | SERVICE
TORONTO | MISSISSAUGA | OTTAWA | CALGARY | EDMONTON
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