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A PUBLICATION OF THE CANADIAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS
Canadian Publications Mail
Product Sales Agreement No. 478423
January 2003
Volume 22, No. 5
Serge Ladouceur csc
Helps James Woods Fight
Rudy’s Wars
IN THIS ISSUE
ON CAMERA: Christopher Ball csc • AWARDS: Genie Nominations • ON FILM: Rating Kodak Vision2
REMEMBERING: Stuart Hurst • NEWS CLIPS: Loving and Fighting • PRESIDENT’S REPORT: Happy New Year!
volume 22, No. 5
January 2003
The Canadian Society of Cinematographers was
founded in 1957 by a group of Toronto, Montreal
and Ottawa cameramen. Since then over 800
cinematographers and persons in associated
occupations have joined the organization.
Our members now represent the film and
video community in all ten provinces. Our aim
continues to be to promote and foster the cause of
cinematography and the interests of the Canadian
film and video community.
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 nonpartisan groups in our industry, but have no political
or union affiliation.
CSC EXECUTIVE
President: Joan Hutton csc
Vice-President: Richard Stringer csc
Treasurer: Joseph Sunday phd
Secretary: Ernie Kestler
Membership: Philip Earnshaw csc
Education: Harry Lake csc
Publicity: Robert Brooks csc
Membership inquiries: 416-266-0591
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CSC OFFICE
Canadian Society of Cinematographers
Administrator: Susan Saranchuk
3007 Kingston Road Suite 131
Toronto, Ontario M1M 1P1
Tel 416-266-0591 Fax 416-266-3996
email: [email protected]
Editor: Donald Angus (416) 699-9149
email: [email protected]
Editor-in-Chief: Joan Hutton csc
CSC NEWS is a publication of the Canadian Society of
Cinematographers. CSC NEWS is printed in Toronto and
is published ten times a year. Subscriptions are
available for $75.00 per year in Canada and
$95.00 per year outside the country. Canadian
Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 478423.
Contents
12 - President’s Report
Happy New Year!
12 - Genie Nominations
Five-for-Five
14 - Cover Story
Rudy’s Wars
18 - On Camera
Christopher Ball csc
4
12 - On Film
Rating Vision2
14 - Remembering
Stuart Hurst
16 - News Clips
8
Loving and Fighting
20 - Action Production Notes
CSC Calendar
16
Visit: www.csc.ca
COVER PHOTO: Philippe Bossé
president’s report
Joan Hutton csc
Happy
New Year . . .
Don’t forget
your Emmy!
e hope you had a good
Hall not really expecting to win the
Christmas holiday, and
award. Their series had qualified
received lots of happy
because it had been picked up by U.S.
surprises. Vic Sarin csc and Mike
public broadcaster PBS. Mike heard
Boland csc did — newly minted Emmy
three awards announced for another
Award statuettes . . .
informational show, then a different
W
10 years after
they actually won them.
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category was introduced.
Due to a mix-up at the 1992 awards
“I remember I turned to Vic and
ceremony in Pasadena, Calif., Vic and
said, ‘Congratulations, you got a
Mike never realized they had won for
Gemini but I guess no Emmy,’" Mike
their cinematography on the 10-part
told the Globe. Vic said his memory of
documentary series Millennium: Tribal
the event is hazy, but he recalled that,
Wisdom and the Modern World. Vic told
finding the ceremony boring, he and
the Globe and Mail he had actually
Mike relocated to a bar before all the
corrected publicists who called him
awards were announced.
an Emmy winner in news releases,
We promise that the next time
telling them he had been only a nom-
either or both of these fine cinematog-
inee. However, his wife, Tina Pehme,
raphers wins a CSC Award, we won’t
saw his name last month while surfing
keep it a secret for 10 years.
the website of the Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences, and
made a follow-up phone call.
• • •
On a more solemn note, the CSC
extends condolences to the family,
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“They double-checked, found that
friends and Panavision Canada col-
the statuettes had never been picked
leagues of Stuart Hurst on their loss, to
up,” Vic said in Vancouver. “It took
Susan Saranchuk and her family on
them about three days to engrave it
the passing of Susan’s father, Wasile
For further information contact one
of our sales representatives at
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and ship it. I still didn’t believe it until
Saranchuk, and to Joseph Sunday and
I had it in my hands.” He called Mike
his wife, Suzanne, on the death of
Boland in Toronto to tell him the
Suzanne’s mother, Regina Cook.
good news.
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2 • CSC News
/
January 2003
• • •
Mike said their names were never
Finally, on behalf of the CSC exec-
read out in Pasadena. He said he and
utive and staff, I wish you all a Happy
Vic arrived at the Pasadena Exhibition
and Prosperous New Year! ●
awards
GENIE NOMINATIONS:
It’s an All-CSC Slate in Cinematography
C
SC directors of photography
were
five-for-five
when
Achievement in Cinematography nominations were announced
last month for the 23rd annual Genie
Awards to be presented on Thurs.,
Feb. 13. As usual, the awards gala,
celebrating outstanding achievement
in Canadian cinema, will be broadcast
live on CBC television.
The cinematography finalists
announced by the Academy of
Canadian Cinema and Television are:
Gregory Middleton csc for Between
Strangers, Larry Lynn csc for Histoire
de pen, Paul Sarossy csc bsc for Perfect
Pie, Jan Kiesser csc asc for Rare Birds,
and Serge Ladouceur csc for Savage
Messiah.
Rare Birds is among the five
nominations for Best Motion Picture,
along with Ararat (shot by Sarossy),
Bollywood Hollywood (Douglas Koch
INTRODUCING
csc), Québec-Montréal, and Suddenly
Naked (David Frazee csc).
Among the films receiving the
most nominations this year, Atom
Egoyan’s Ararat leads with nine; Mario
Azzopardi’s Savage Messiah follows
with seven; David Cronenberg’s
Spider and Anne Wheeler’s Suddenly
Naked are tied with six; Deepa
Mehta’s Bollywood Hollywood, Sturla
Gunnarson’s Rare Birds and Edoardo
Ponti’s Between Strangers each garner
five nominations; and Ricardo Trogi’s
Québec-Montréal follows with four
nominations.
Nominations for Achievement in
Direction are: Jean Beaudin, Le
collectionneur (DOP Daniel Jobin
csc); Ricardo Trogi, Québec-Montréal;
Sturla Gunnarsson, Rare Birds; David
Cronenberg, Spider; and Anne
Wheeler, Suddenly Naked.
Nominations in each craft were
THE
cast by peer jury members of
the Academy in their respective craft branches following
screenings of all entries. The
results were tabulated by
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the
official balloters of the Genie
Awards. Academy members
now cast their final ballots in
their respective craft branches to
select this year’s outstanding winners.
The Genie Award for cinematography is presented by Kodak
Canada Entertainment Imaging as
part of its ongoing sponsorship of
the Academy. Kodak Canada also
continues the tradition of honouring each of the cinematography nominees with
a special presentation of the
Kodak Totem Award. ●
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CSC News / January 2003 •
3
cover story
Serge Ladouceur csc
Films Rudy’s Wars
in Montreal
4 • CSC News
/
January 2003
Ladouceur, who won the CSC
By Don Angus
Theatrical Feature Award in 1997 for
La Nuit du Déluge (Night of the Flood),
said he shot Rudy’s Wars in Super 35mm on an Arri 535B
loaded with Kodak Vision 500 (5279). He had a package of
Cooke lenses and a Cooke 18-100mm zoom, and used “a
little bit of filtration once in awhile, but generally a clear
lens.” He switched to Sony Digital Betacam for certain Sept.
11 scenes to match the stock
footage.
“To keep the images consistent, to recreate the news
footage, we duplicated the
cameras that covered every
move that Giuliani made
that day. Our two digital
cameras were hand-held, no
tripods, like newsmen, by
Montreal-based operators
Robert Stecko and Robert
Guertin, who also operated
the film cameras.”
Most of the film’s action
Photo: Philippe Bossé
Photo: Philippe Bossé
D
irector of photography Serge Ladouceur csc was
aware that the USA Network movie Rudy’s Wars
was not just another American television production coming up to Montreal for a budget break. “It tells the
story of former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, with
9/11 as a leitmotiv,” he told CSC News near the end of principal photography last month, “and it’s a controversial
shoot because it is being shot somewhere other than
New York.”
However, he added, “it is
also an interesting shoot —
mixing 35mm with digital
video for cutting with stock
footage shot on Sept. 11,
2001.”
Rudy’s
Wars
stars
American
actors
James
Woods, in the title role, and
Penelope Ann Miller as
Giuliani’s ex-wife, Donna
Hanover. The film intersperses flashbacks from Brooklynborn Giuliani’s personal and
political history from 1982
when he was associate attorOUTSIDE IN: The re-creation of
ney general until his heroic
Mayor Giuliani’s swearing-in
performance on Sept. 11. It
ceremony on the steps of New York
began shooting in Montreal
City Hall was shot in a Montreal
on Nov. 8 and wrapped Dec.
studio.
10. Ladouceur said one day
of exterior scenes was shot in
New York: “The crew in New York was really nice. It truly
was a good day. What prevailed was the bond that exists
between film people: Let’s do it and do it well.”
Carlton America is producing the film through Muse
Entertainment in Montreal for the USA Network cable
channel. The DOP said he had never worked before with
director Robert Dornhelm (RFK, Sins of the Father, Anne
Frank), but he had shot four movies for Muse in the last
year. Producer Mark Winemaker worked with Dornhelm on
RFK in Toronto.
ON THE BEACH: The crew sets up for a blue-screen studio shot of a
beach scene.
Photo: Philippe Bossé
HAPPY NEW YEAR: “Another interesting shoot was the ballroom scene where Donna and Rudy celebrate New Year’s Eve 1989.”
The story of New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani,
Rudy’s Wars is a “mosaic” of real life, a gritty
tribute to truth and heroism. The photography is
“dirty at times, precise and moody at others.”
is interior, with some shooting at Montreal’s Hotel de Ville
(City Hall). To try to make Montreal pass for New York in
exterior scenes, “we shot really tight; there are some street
corners in Montreal that look like New York, so we set one
of them up as if it was close to the twin towers.
“The film was full of technical challenges. Matching the
Sept. 11 and other stock footage with our own shooting was
one, but there were others, like two beach scenes, one day
and one night. Both were done in a sound stage at Mel’s
Cité du Cinema and Technoparc. Production designer JeanBaptiste Tard filled one studio with 300 tons of sand and
created a large enough beach area (60’x 60’) so we could set
up the exterior day scene as the Giuliani family enjoys a
vacation in Puerto Rico, and the exterior night scene as
Rudy and Donna Hanover are having their first romantic
encounter.
“This was the largest lighting setup of the film, using
about 320,000 watts of tungsten light — 80x2k blondes
aimed at nine 20x20 silk creating the sky light; two 20k and
two 10k doing the sun (no double shadow!), plus iris and
sky pans for the blue screen. These scenes will be handled
by visual effects supervisor Benoit Brière from Big Bang FX
Animation in Montreal, who was also in charge of shooting
• see page 6
CSC News / January 2003 •
5
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• from page 5
the plates in Florida prior to the
studio shoot.
“Another interesting shoot was the
ballroom scene where Donna and
Rudy celebrate New Year’s Eve 1989. As
they dance, Rudy tells Donna that
what he wants is to become New
York’s mayor. The dance portion was
shot with both cameras on the same
dolly, using a 360 track and pointing
inward at the two dancers. Principal
lighting was done using Chinese
lanterns overhanging the dance floor.
It’s a beautiful floating scene where
movement and emotion mix.”
Robert Dornhelm is a demanding
director, said Ladouceur. “He has a
very precise vision of what he intends
to see in the result, and at the same
time he likes to be surprised, so there is
room for creation and improvisation
on the set. That what’s make Robert
special; he commits himself only up to
a certain point in prep so that when
we shoot he can take advantage of a
Photo: Philippe Bossé
CONFERENCE: James Woods as Rudy Giuliani
(left) confers with director Robert Dornhelm and
DOP Serge Ladouceur csc (right) on the Montreal
set of Rudy’s Wars.
RUDY’S WARS: A dramatic scene from the MOW
Rudy’s Wars.
last-minute opportunity, whether it is
suggested by the way the set is dressed
or by the actors’ performance. Having
said that, he is very cooperative and
will readjust if a technical problem is
created by a last-minute concept.
“On the shooting of the documen-
6 • CSC News
/
January 2003
backlight was out of the question. It
was very well done by makeup artist
Stephan Dupuis (who won an
Academy Award in 1987 for his makeup on David Cronenberg’s The Fly,
shot by Mark Irwin csc asc), but as the
day progressed we had to be careful
because that kind of makeup has a
short life.”
Ladouceur said the decision to
shoot three-perf pulldown was to save
money. “And because the movie was
only going to be shown on TV, we
went Super 35mm. I liked it, because it
gave me more negative area to expose.
I used the same process last summer
on a theatrical feature, but this time
with a digital intermediate.
“The overall visual concept of
Rudy’s Wars can be summarized in one
word: mosaic. Robert Dornhelm wanted to see real life, but also wanted the
cinematography
to flow along the
story line, be on
the side of the
truth and to avoid
glamorization. And that’s what the
photography is: dirty at times, precise
and moody at others.”
Ladouceur said that shooting in
Montreal in November and December
could have been a chilly challenge,
but “we couldn’t ask for better weather. When we were in prep it was cold
and we had a little bit of snow, and
people were wondering how we were
going to match that kind of weather
with Sept. 11, which everyone knows
was a beautiful blue-sky day in New
York. So for a good month it was near
freezing in Montreal, but when we
started shooting in November Indian
Summer arrived. It was 14 degrees
Celsius and it was great. It lasted a few
days, just enough to cover our sensitive exteriors.”
Ladouceur has been nominated for
a 2003 cinematography Genie Award
for his work on Savage Messiah. He has
two feature films coming out this year,
The Favorite Game, from director
Bernard Héber (Night of the Flood) in
February and Mambo Italiano, from
director Emile Gaudreault, in June.
Photo: Philippe Bossé
tary-like elements of the 9/11 events,
it was clearly a documentary
approach. You don’t plan a newsreel
event. It just happens. Robert’s concept for shooting these scenes was to
let the two operators loose to find the
best angles, and so they did. In the
scene when Giuliani first goes into the
street after he realizes what is happening — he is shouting orders and dispatching people — a third camera was
in the frame as well, acting as an extra
and operated by a real video cameraman. Once these shots were edited
with real stock footage they matched
astonishingly well.
“It’s a very good script. The story
starts Sept. 10, 2001, at night as
Giuliani is being driven around New
York and then moves to early morning
on Sept. 11 with a scene where he
meets Bill Simon, candidate for governor of California,
in a hotel restaurant to talk about
whether or not
to give him his
endorsement. This is where he gets the
news of the attack on the World Trade
Center.
“As he arrives on the scene, we
switch to DigiBeta and stock footage.
Then there’s a flash of white and we go
into his past and tell the story about
his rise to power from the time he was
associate attorney general. We keep
coming back to Sept. 11 as the day
progresses. By the end, the two story
lines merge.”
Ladouceur said that “James Woods
is probably the only actor who could
play Giuliani. He is not doing an imitation, he is doing a representation,
bringing energy to the character.
Sometimes there are some angles or
moments when you think you see
Giuliani. He is very believable. He has
a younger look for part of the drama as
we cover the years 1982 to 1989, an
older look for the subsequent years,
and a tired look during the period of
his prostate cancer and the Sept. 11
crisis.
“We had to be careful lighting the
receding hairline prosthesis that James
wore because it is Giuliani’s most recognizable feature. It was a matter of
showing it but not attracting the eyes
too much to it. Three-quarter hard
METER MOMENT: DOP Serge Ladouceur csc and
Penelope Ann Miller.
(Editor’s note: The Screen Actors
Guild in New York was upset that
Rudy’s Wars was shot in Canada. “I
Photo: Philippe Bossé
‘James Woods is probably the only
actor who could play Giuliani’
CAMERA CREW: Back row (from left), Robert Guertin, B-camera operator; Robert Stecko, A-camera operator; DOP Serge
Ladouceur csc; Alain Rousseau, 2nd AC; Ivan Peloquin, trainee;
Front row, sitting, from left, Yves Drapeau, 1st AC; MariePierre Gratton, clapper loader; Yvan Brunet, 1st AC B-camera.
can’t help but find it to be an unusual
choice,” said SAG spokesman Ilyanne
Kichaven. “It is disappointing to see
films specifically set in New York being
done in Montreal.” Pamm Fair,
national deputy director of the Guild,
said the decision comes at a time
when New York’s film industry is
struggling, adding that “runaway production is a huge problem in this
country.”) ●
CSC News / January 2003 •
7
on camera
Nova Scotia DOP Christopher Ball csc
Go East Young Man
and Make Movies
W
hen Christopher Ball csc
won the William F. White
Cinematography Award at
last fall’s 2002 Atlantic Film Festival in
Halifax, it was gratifying to be recognized on his home turf. And that’s not
all. His evocative images, like the distinctive Maritimes look of the
Canadian feature Black Swan, are
Key grip Mike MacDonald (left) and DOP
Christopher Ball csc on the set of Black Swan.
2nd-unit DOP Christopher Ball csc filming dog
teams in Igloolik for award-winning documentary
Nuliajuk: Mother of the Sea Beast.
8 • CSC News
/
January 2003
garnering superlatives on a
wider geographical stage.
Ball, a native of Ontario
who now lives near the
picturesque
village
of
Mahone Bay, N.S., was the
best-of-fest shooter for
the dramatic short Quality
Viewing. His work on Black
Swan, a comic murder
mystery that got mixed
reviews when it opened in
selected Canadian theatres
last month, caught the
beauty and mood of the
New Brunswick town of St.
Martin’s where it was set.
Wrote reviewer Daphne
Gordon in the Dec. 6
Toronto Star: “Black Swan’s
redeeming virtue is its
photography and setting,
featuring sweeping shots of
the majestic Bay of Fundy
and gritty views of the
economic reality of living in small - town New
Brunswick.”
Black Swan, starring East Coast
singer Melanie Doane and produced,
directed and co-written by Wendy
Ord, was an official selection for the
Atlantic Film Festival and was also
entered in the Sarasota and Marco
Island film festivals. Ord has worked
in the Canadian film industry for
more than 20 years. She has directed
series television for CBC, Global and
Vision TV.
Ball says the 90-minute colour production “was shot on Super 16mm
with the intent to blow up to 35mm,
By Don Angus
but due to budget constraints a 35mm
print was made from the DBeta video
master for the theatrical release.” The
feature will also play on TMN and
Superchannel.
The cinematographer says Quality
Viewing, directed by Evan Kelly and
produced by Dugald McLaren with
the support of the Winnipeg-based
National Screen Institute, was shot in
Halifax on 35mm. “It was entirely a
studio shoot, being somewhat science
fiction — set in an unknown time and
place.”
Ball was also involved with a third
entry at the Atlantic Film Festival. He
was 2nd-unit DOP — “out getting
distant stuff in the field” — for main
cinematographer Robert MacDonald
of Toronto (CSC Associate) on the documentary Nuliajuk: Mother of the Sea
Beast that “was shot all over
Nunavut.”
He says that “it was a challenging
shoot, with average temperatures of
-40C and an extreme of -60C.”
Nuliajuk, directed by John Houston
and produced by Peter d’Entremont,
won a cinematography award at
the New York Independent Film
and Video Festival, and Outstanding
Achievement in a Documentary at the
first annual DGC Awards in October.
From Triad Film Productions, the documentary is an age-old story of two
interconnected journeys — one Inuit
and a parallel non-native one. Both
are in search of the elusive and mythical Nuliajuk, a female deity whose
presence is seen in countless works of
Inuit art.
Nuliajuk: Mother of the Sea Beast
received a special preview screening
in August of 2001 at the Canadian
Museum of Civilization in Hull, Que.
The public premiere of the film was
in September at the Atlantic Film
Festival, followed by screening on
Vision TV and the Aboriginal People’s
Television Network.
Ball says he began his film career at
the age of nine when he discovered a
Kodak Brownie regular 8mm home
movie camera in the attic of his parent’s home in King City, Ont., north
of Toronto. He upgraded to Super
8 and eventually Super 8 sound,
shooting “several hours of my own
animations, dramas and documentaries all through grade school and
high school.” Several hundred feet of
film and several years later, he graduated from Ryerson Polytechnical
University in Toronto with a Bachelor
of Applied Arts degree.
He and his wife, 2nd AD Kristie
Sills, moved to Nova Scotia five years
ago after working in Atlantic Canada
on the 1995 Hollywood feature Dolores
Claiborne (as an assistant director) and
other films. He currently works as a
DOP and camera operator on feature
films, MOWs and TV series, and his
work has taken him to Europe, the
Caribbean and across Canada. He has
also produced, shot, assistant-directed
and directed award-winning short
films and music videos.
In 1998, Ball co-produced and shot
Stolen Heart, his first independent feature film, which won two “Best
Feature” awards, toured 15 festivals,
aired on HBO, TMN and several foreign broadcasters, and was theatrically
released in Canada.
He says the Nova Scotia film and
TV industry “has been quite busy,
although experiencing the slowdown
that the rest of the country is current-
ly undergoing. I am starting to find
more opportunities in the documentary field, which is a common genre
here. In drama, DOPs are frequently in
from the U.S. or Ontario, so I tend to
work more as a camera operator on
larger-budget films. I am also involved
in trying to generate new feature film
and documentary projects with a business partner.”
For a spot of adventure, “I also do
aerial photography from a specially
modified, lightweight, open-cockpit
plane.” ●
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9
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COLOR NEGATIVE FILM 5218/7218.
THE NEXT GENERATION OF THE
WORLD’S BEST MOTION PICTURE
FILM DEBUTS WITH THE LOWEST
GRAIN
500T
AVAILABLE
FOR
CLEAN, CRISP IMAGES. AND MORE
Introducing KODAK VISION2
Film. What’s next.
on film
Shooters Rate the New Vision2 from Kodak
“When you look at a side-by-side test, the biggest differences you see are the improvements
in grain and resolution in the shadows. I think people will be amazed.” — Jeff Jur asc
W
hen Kodak unveiled its
new 500T Vision2 film
stock in Toronto (CSC
News, December/2002), it was heralded as the first product in a next generation of colour motion picture films
and as a quantum leap forward. Kodak
cited a superior image structure that
makes it possible for cinematographers to record more nuanced images,
and most of the shooters who viewed
the tests screened at deluxe toronto on
Nov. 19 were impressed by images that
matched the claims.
The tests, in both 16mm and
35mm, were shot by Eastman Kodak’s
own cinematographer, Chris Hart, and
by Thom Best csc, Tom Burstyn csc,
and Jeff Jur asc.
Best said: “We shot a 16mm
demonstration film using the new
Vision2 500T 7218 stock. The original
idea was to create a Bohemian kind of
café, with subdued, low lights, with
12 • CSC News
/
January 2003
everybody in their own little worlds,
and that was my approach to lighting.
I shot it in a way that I could see the
extremes. I wanted to see how far I
could go with the stock, so I lit it to
show what it can and can’t do. We had
an actor who is very dark skinned.
There are great shadow areas and, with
the table lamps, areas that are three
stops over, so we had a good brightness range. We were still able to see
details in the lamp shades. Even in the
shadows we were able to see some
detail.
“We saw that the biggest improvement is in the grain. That is apparent
in the brick wall behind them, and in
the mid-tones of the chair, the shadow
area of the table, and the actor’s skin.
We compared it side by side with
Vision 500T 7279 film, which is a great
stock. But by comparison, the 7218 is
definitely an improvement. With the
7218, I felt there was less red in the
skin tones, especially in the Caucasian
woman and in our black actor, which
is nice. Our scene was also designed to
show colour in terms of the flesh. It’s
much more natural. There is not as
much yellow or red in it. There is more
detail in her hair. The 7218 is definitely a little less saturated. I think that
this will be a major improvement for
16mm, especially for television production.”
“We shot (in 35mm) a music video
with Mandy Moore as part of the
demo,” Burstyn reported. “She wore a
satin white jacket in the nightclub
scenes. The white values on her jacket
were absolutely clean and white without being washed out. They seemed to
be just right and were at the top of
the scale — probably four stops over.
Mandy’s skin tone is so smooth and
rich. I can see every hair on her eyelashes.
“The thing I am most impressed
with is the reduction in grain in the
Vision2 5218 negative. It’s not just a
little — it’s a huge reduction in grain.
You can see great subtlety in flesh
tones and very smooth and silky
colour. It is really impressive.”
Jeff Jur asc said: “I shot a (35mm)
test on a set built in a warehouse. It
was supposed to be a music video
filmed in an artist’s loft that was
around 100 feet long by about 80 feet
wide. I had an Arri 535 camera, sometimes on a Steadicam. There was a
female singer (Mandy Moore) and a
painter who was inspired by her. She is
performing for the camera while he’s
painting.
“We had a mix of tungsten light
with real daylight coming through
windows. We lit through the windows
with HMIs colour-corrected with 1/2
CTO and mixed it with warm tungsten
lamps inside. I wanted to see what the
film would do with ambient light
bouncing around the set and very lit-
Tom Burstyn csc
Thom Best csc
tle fill. It’s a way I like to light day interiors. I try to use available ambient
light adding no fill. I wanted to test
the limits of the stock and see how it
reads details deep in the shadows.
“I found that it has amazing resolution. That’s the best way I can describe
it. You can see deeper into the darkest
parts of the scene, including areas we
didn’t light. In fact, there are some
areas where we took light away to get
it as dark as possible. I was underexposing by four or five stops and you
still see details. You’ve always been
able to see into the shadows with
Kodak film, but the details with this
stock are pretty amazing.
“I love lighting naturally, so it
looks like what you can see with your
eye, and this film gets a lot closer to
that ideal. You know certain areas are
going to go dark but you don’t want it
to go too dark, so you balance it with
some fill. Now, I think you’ll need a lot
less fill. If you’re doing a shot where a
face is in the shadows for an effect or
mood, you’re able to see the actors’
eyes and expressions without overlighting.
“The other amazing thing is the
drop-off in grain. To my eye, it looks
like about half of what you see with
the original Vision stock. I often use
the 200-speed Vision film for interiors
and sometimes night exteriors,
because I like a grainless look. Now,
I’m likely to use the new 500-speed
film in these situations.
“I only shot a 35mm test, but I
think this will be an amazing stock for
shooting in low light in 16mm (format), because of the reduction in
grain. It should also be useful when
you are shooting in Super 35 and need
a 500-speed film. You’re enlarging a
smaller part of the negative, so it will
help to start with that much less gain.
“When you look at a side-by-side
test, the biggest differences you see are
the improvements in grain and resolution in the shadows. I think people
will be amazed.”
Kodak Vision2 500T film is available in all 16, 35 and 65mm formats.
The company plans to add a series of
motion picture films with specialized
imaging characteristics to the Vision2
family during the coming months
and years. ●
CAMERA CLASSIFIEDS
FOR SALE: Aaton Super 16mm LTR
54 w/color video assist, 2 mags, 2
bat, ext eyepiece, 5x6 matte box, 6
filters- ND 3-6-9 & polorizing filter,
double fog, day for night, T1.8
Cooke 9-30 zoom lens, Transvideo
6" color LCD mon 4:3-16:9, cinema
products remote focus unit -all of
the above with cases. Paid $64,000
- asking C$44,900. Also, Ronford F15
head - $3000, Ambient 201 timecode slate - $1700 w/cases, and
other acc. Call for list, Alexander
at cell (204) 981-3403; studio
(204) 582-5728, or
email: [email protected]
FOR RENT: Pied a Terre in Los
Angeles … Several of us ‘out-oftowners’ share a West Hollywood
apartment and are looking for
another partner. Quiet building
with balcony facing sunny courtyard pool and hot tub. Furnished,
fireplace, secure parking, phone,
fax machine, voice mail, cable
TV… all ready to go at $460
US/mo. We use it as a drop-in
centre while on business in
LA. Call Peter 416-698-4482 or
[email protected]
FOR SALE: Messin’ with Old
Thunder — Go back in time to the
1940s! Hear and see John Foster’s
stories — over 200 minutes in 28
stories on 3 VideoCD disks for your
DVD player — framed in the exciting
world of John Grierson’s National
Film Board, the world’s first documentary film production factory. Be
there! You’ll enjoy it. It’s film history
and great entertainment! See “vidibooks.com” on the web or call (416)
362-1083 for your copy.
FOR SALE: Bolex H16 Reflex 16mm
camera with 2 lenses, 10mm Switar
f1.4 and 50mm Switar f1.6; good
condition, excellent student camera. Phone: Graeme 905-851-5053;
email: [email protected]
FOR SALE: Beaulieu R16 camera
package, 2 rechargable batteries &
charger, battery pack, 12-50mm
zoom lens, pistol grip, 200’ mag, AC
power supply, base mounting
bracket, 200’ daylight spools, pilot
tone accessories, Pentax lens
adapter, hard shell case. All recently serviced and in great condition,
$2,000.
(604)
802-9403
or
[email protected]
WANTED: Complete Arri SR1
camera package or a good used
Aaton to purchase. Contact Chris
Triffo csc at 306-545-8770 or
[email protected]
WANTED: A 16mm metal (mickeymouse type) film magazine with
screw-off covers of the type used
on Auricon, Mitchell, CP-16 or
Frezzolini cameras in the 1970s
(400 ft.loads).
E-mail [email protected]
FOR SALE: Eclair NPR 16mm, Eclair
and C-mount, 2 x 400’ mags, 12120mm Angenieux lens, Beauviala
crystal sync motor, battery, case,
Series 9 filters, change tent, lens
hood, several rolls of 16mm
film stock. Serviced by CineAsst,
$4,400 OBO or trade on SK
or Provid class Steadicam/
Glidecam. Contact Rob 519-3365745, [email protected]
Camera Classifieds is a FREE service to CSC members. If you have items you’d
like to buy or sell, please fax your list to (416) 699-8521 or email [email protected]
CSC News / January 2003 •
13
remembering
Stuart Hurst:
Champion of Digital Video
T
“Get it to The Lab”
16/35mm colour negative processing
Set up • Academy leader • Cleaning
Ready for transfer
Quotes for Video Post in conjunction with
Deluxe Toronto
EYES Post Group
Magnetic North
C O N TA C T :
Ed Higginson
[email protected]
Al Lindsay
[email protected]
Tel:
(416) 461-8090
Fax:
(416) 461-0768
Toll free: 1-888-822-2505
183 Carlaw Avenue • Toronto, Ontario • M4M 2S1
14 • CSC News
/
January 2003
he CSC sadly acknowledges the
passing on Dec. 2 of Stuart
Hurst, 44, marketing specialist
for the Panavision Digital System at
Panavision Canada. His career spanned
25 years, starting at
Rank Cintel and rising
with the development
of digital video in
the film and television industry. He was
involved in format
advances from DV up
to the introduction of
MPEG and HD formats with Sony of
Canada, having successfully launched
the Cine-Alta system into Canada.
At Panavision Canada, he was the
spokesman for the new medium of
24P acquisition and its potential for
producers as “digital film.”
Hurst, British-born, received an electrical engineering diploma from the
London Institute of City and Guilds,
and worked for Rank Cintel from 1974
to 1982 as a bench engineer and a systems test engineer. In 1985, he joined
Magnetic North in Toronto as a
colourist, engineer and on-line editor,
then two years later became senior
VTR/systems engineer at CFMT
Channel 47.
From 1991 to 1997, Hurst worked at
Panasonic Canada as product manager,
Broadcast Systems, responsible for product information and distribution for all
broadcast and professional products. He
then moved to Sony of Canada as marketing manager, Acquisition Systems,
and in 2001 he took on his role with
Panavision Canada.
Among his many achievements was
the successful launch of Sony’s
24P Cine-Alta hi-definition system in
Canada, which involved establishment
of the format at post-production
houses Toybox, Rainmaker, and
Stonehenge; sales of the first 24P camcorders to rental houses Sim, White
and Shooters; the first 24P shooting of
an episodic TV series, Earth: Final
Conflict; and the first 3D tests with
IMAX and Lightstorm. ●
CSC FULL
AND
FULL MEMBERS
Nicholas Allen-Woolfe csc
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LIFE MEMBERS
Pierre Gill csc
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Toronto
Vancouver
Tel: (416) 4447000
Tel: (604) 2917262
Andrew Watt csc
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FULL LIFE
MEMBERS
Herbert Alpert csc asc
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CSC News / January 2003 •
15
news clips
THE REPUBLIC OF LOVE
Koch and Mehta Together Again
Douglas Koch csc was director of
photography on The Republic of Love,
directed by Deepa Mehta, which
wrapped in Toronto last month. Koch
also shot Mehta’s current hit film
Bollywood Hollywood, which has
grossed over $1 million in Canada.
The Republic of Love is a story of
love and enchantment, set in the
coldest of winters, that explores the
issues, dilemmas and barriers facing
the lucky and unlucky in love in the
21st century. Based on the novel of
the same name by best-selling
Canadian author Carol Shields, the
film stars Bruce Greenwood, Emilia
Fox and a supporting cast that
includes Claire Bloom, Martha Henry,
Jackie Burroughs, Gary Farmer and
Edward Fox, who plays Emilia’s character’s father, a role he also plays in
real life.
Deepa Mehta is the internationally
acclaimed director of Sam and Me, Fire
and Earth. Bollywood Hollywood has
A scene from The Republic of Love, with Emilia
Fox and Edward Fox, shot by DOP Douglas Koch
csc (inset).
16 • CSC News
/
January 2003
been nominated for a 2003 Best
Motion Picture Genie Award.
“I was totally enchanted by the
novel,” Mehta said of The Republic of
Love when shooting got under way in
early December. “The film will walk
the line between the lightness of
being and the emotional anxiety
associated with love. I want to have
fun doing The Republic of Love and
making it into a film that’s fun to
watch. After all, if a film about love
can’t make us smile and sigh at the
same time, what’s the point?”
The Republic of Love, a Canada/
United Kingdom co-production, is
produced by Anna Stratton (The
Hanging Garden) and Julie Baines (The
Cat’s Meow). The screenplay was
adapted from the novel by Esta
Spalding and Mehta.
HEMINGWAY VS. CALLAGHAN
Montpellier Spars With History
DOP Luc Montpellier csc wrapped
shooting last month on Hemingway
Vs. Callaghan, a mini-series for CBC
Television and Shaftesbury Films Inc.
Adapted from Morley Callaghan’s
memoir, That Summer in Paris, the
story is set during the Canadian
writer’s friendship and feud with
American novelist Ernest Hemingway
through the 1920s and ending with
Hemingway’s suicide in 1961.
Principal photography was shot in
various locations in and around
Toronto over eight weeks, concluding
Dec. 10. The four-hour mini-series airs
March 31 and April 1 on CBC.
Hemingway Vs. Callaghan features
Vincent Walsh (Random Passage)
as young Hemingway and Robin
Dunne (American Psycho 2) as young
Callaghan. Gordon Pinsent portrays
the older Morley Callaghan while
Maury Chaykin takes on the role of
Max Perkins. Rounding out the cast
are Len Cariou, Patrick McKenna, Joe
Flaherty, Patricia Gage, Carly Pope,
Kristen Holden-Reid and Ada Turturro
(The Sopranos) as Gertrude Stein.
Hemingway started his career as a
reporter at the Toronto Star where he
met another young reporter and
would-be novelist, Morley Callaghan.
Next stop, Paris, a city full of creative
people and pleasure seekers in the
1920s. For Hemingway and Callaghan
it was where their literary rivalry
would reach a head in a l929 boxing
match refereed by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Christina Jennings of Shaftesbury
Films is executive producer of
Hemingway Vs. Callaghan, directed by
Michael DeCarlo (Queer As Folk, The
Associates).
JEWISON TO RECEIVE
ASC Board of Governors Award
Canadian-born director Norman
Jewison will receive the American
Society of Cinematographers Board of
Governors Award, which is presented
annually to an individual who has
made a significant and enduring
impression on the art of filmmaking.
The Board of Governors Award is the
only recognition that ASC reserves
exclusively for individuals who are
not cinematographers. Jewison will be
feted at the 17th annual ASC
Outstanding Achievement Awards on
Feb. 16 in Los Angeles.
“Norman Jewison is a complete
filmmaker who is creating an extraordinary body of work,” said Owen
Roizman asc, chairman of the awards
committee. “His films range from
dark and intense dramas to uplifting
fantasies and musicals produced for
both television and cinema release.
The common denominator is that he
always touches your heart and soul.”
“Norman Jewison is a consummate artist with unique sensibilities
for visual storytelling,” said ASC
President Steven Poster. “He has an
instinct for recognizing talent and
bringing the best out of everyone who
collaborates with him.”
Jewison has earned Oscar nominations for directing In the Heat of the
Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
and Moonstruck (1987). He also produced The Russians are Coming, The
Russians are Coming (1966), Fiddler on
the Roof, A Soldier’s Story (1984) and
Moonstruck, which were nominated
for Oscars in the Best Picture category.
NEW PROGRAM PARTNERS
OMDC and NFB To Train Doc Makers
The Ontario Media Development
Corporation
and
the
Ontario
Production Centre of the National
Film Board of Canada have launched
a new program partnership to help
train emerging Ontario documentary
filmmakers. The program will support
the production of up to six new halfhour documentaries over the next 18
months through OMDC’s Al Waxman
Calling Card program.
The program provides financial
assistance, business skills and production advice to up-and-coming documentary producer-director teams,
with a cash award of $45,000 per
film. It will fall under the OMDC’s
New Voices, New Visions initiative that
provides emerging entrepreneurs in
the cultural industries with the tools
required to create a new marketdriven product.
“The OMDC is committed to creating new opportunities for emerging
cultural entrepreneurs,” said Michel
Frappier, OMDC’s CEO. “The NFB’s
participation in the Calling Card program for documentaries raises the bar
Hemingway Vs. Callaghan DOP Luc Montpellier csc
on what’s possible for the participating filmmakers, increasing their
chances of success.”
The Calling Card program has triggered more than 40 new documentary
and drama productions in five years.
Calling Card producers and directors
have gone on to win awards at more
than 130 film festivals, as well as
a Genie Award, and have used
the opportunity as a springboard to
feature and television projects.
“The NFB’s renewed support for
emerging talent is a perfect fit with
•see page 18
Digitally Painted
Day/Night Backdrops
for Film & Video.
Rent, Lease or Buy!
Visit www.roscodigital.com
for Colour Catalogue.
ROSCO CANADA • 1241 Denison St., Unit 44, Markham, Ont. L3R 4B4
905-475-1400 • Fax: 905-475-3351 • 1-888-767-2686
www.rosco-ca.com
www.roscodigital.com
CSC News / January 2003 •
17
• from page 17
Calling Card documentary program is
a vital opportunity for filmmaker
training, as well as a great source for
new and innovative films. In turn,
TVO provides a showcase for their
work on our documentary strands,
The View From Here and Masterworks.
It’s a win-win situation.”
The Al Waxman Calling Card is
a competitive program
with projects selected
by an industry jury.
Successful applicants to
the documentary program will receive a
$45,000 cash award to
finance their half-hour
production — $15,000
from the OMDC, $20,000
from the NFB and a
$10,000 broadcast licence
from TVO. Industry sponsors offer additional support and services. A separate award is available to
drama producers for the
production of dramatic
shorts.
Photos: Don Angus
the Calling Card program,” said Sylvia
Sweeney, executive producer of the
NFB’s Ontario Production Centre. “As
a co-producer we can offer a financial
contribution as well as mentoring,
marketing and distribution support to
make sure the films and filmmakers
achieve both excellence and prominence.”
“We’re happy to see the NFB come
on board,” said Rudy Buttignol, commissioning editor for documentaries,
and creative head of documentaries,
drama, and network at TVOntario.
“As a founding sponsor, TVO recognized early on that the OMDC’s
top: Gunild Spiess and archivist Theresa Rowat presented a program of continuous screenings from the Fritz Spiess
Archive at the William F. White International Inc. Christmas Open House in Toronto on Dec. 12. The show included a
DVD reel of TV commercials (bottom) shot by the late Fritz Spiess csc, and behind-the-scenes footage with Fritz on a
Black and Decker commercial in 1986 and on a Henkell Trocken commercial in 1988. For some festive season nostalgia,
there was a short home movie made at the CSC Christmas party held at the home of Bob Crone csc in 1971.
18 • CSC News
/
January 2003
BOOK REPORT
Steadicam: Techniques
and Aesthetics
Italian camera operator and author Serena
Ferrara found the CSC
website on the Internet
and e-mailed the CSC
News an introduction
to her book called
Steadicam: Techniques and
Aesthetics. It was published by Focal Press in
November, 2000, so some
of you may have read it
already, but we felt it was
worth a look at some
reviews. The title is available on amazon.com.
Ferrara is an experienced
operator
and
Steadicam user who has
worked with local Italian
television and video production studios. She also
has a doctorate of history
and cinema from the
University of Pisa.
In this unique study,
Ferrara examines the rev-
olutionary impact of the Steadicam on
filmmaking, freeing up the camera
operator to follow a film’s movement,
wherever it is happening. She explains
the principles by which the Steadicam
is operated and the effects it can produce on screen, on a film’s narrative,
on its audience, and on the director’s
creativity.
In the book’s Foreward, Garrett
Brown, the inventor of the Steadicam,
calls the work “an important and
equally graceful book about what we
jokingly called, and now are beginning to believe might actually be, the
Noble Instrument.”
Featured are interviews with movie
industry professionals, in which a
variety of views of the Steadicam
are presented in an open discussion. Interviewees include: Brown,
Giuseppe Rotunno, John Carpenter,
Mario Orfini, Larry McConkey, Nicola
Pecorini, Haskell Wexler, Ed DiGiulio,
Vittorio Storaro and Caroline Goodall.
Reviewers said:
“An important and dynamic
book… filled with history, technical
diagrams, and insightful analysis
of how the mechanism fits together.
I love the wonderful anecdotes
(extremely informative and often eloquent) and interviews. . . . Brown
wrote an amazing introduction that
starts the book off with a bang!” —
Georgia
Packard,
in
Operating
Cameraman magazine
‘This unique book about a widely
used tool in contemporary film production blends theory and practice to
create an insightful portrait of
Steadicam and moving camera aesthetics.” — Stephen Prince, in Film
Quarterly magazine
“A fascinating read for anyone
interested in the hard details of movie
making.” — Chris Jenkins, in Home
Cinema Choice magazine
“A definitive treatment of the
Steadicam.” — Ray Zone, in American
Cinematographer magazine
“For those with no working knowledge or experience with a Steadicam,
for students of film or for those
intrigued and want to know more
about Steadicam and camera work in
general, this book really can’t be overlooked. Out of ten? . . . a nine.’
— ONFILM ●
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CSC News / January 2003 •
19
ACTION PRODUCTION NOTES & CSC CALENDAR
BRITISH COLUMBIA, PRAIRIES
ELOISE AT CHRISTMAS TIME (MOW); Op/SC: Keith Murphy;
THE BLACK SASH (series); DOP: Tony Westman csc; to Jan.
1st: Jim Saysana; Jan. 13-Feb. 25, Toronto.
24, North Vancouver.
FOOLPROOF (feature); DOP: Derek Rogers csc; to Jan. 22,
THE CHRIS ISAAK SHOW (series); DOP: Randal Platt csc; Jan.
Toronto.
6-June 2, Vancouver (HDTV).
MUTANT X (series); DOP: Alwyn Kumst csc; Op: Colin Hoult
DEAD ZONE (series); DOP: Stephen McNutt csc; B-Op & 2nd-
csc; B-Op: Anton van Rooyen; 1st: Lori Longstaff; to Jan. 23,
unit DOP: Michael Balfry csc; to Feb. 21, Vancouver.
Toronto.
JOHN DOE (series); DOP: David Geddes csc; to April 15, North
QUEER AS FOLK (series); DOP: Thom Best csc; to March 14,
Vancouver.
Toronto.
JUST CAUSE (series); DOPs: Laszlo George csc hsc, Ken
STAR HUNTER (series); DOP: John Holosko csc; Op/SC:
Krawczyk csc; to March 5, Vancouver (HDTV).
Richard Kearney; to April 1, Mississauga (HDTV).
TRAFFIC (mini-series); DOP: Joel Ransom csc; Op/SC: Junichi
SUE THOMAS: F.B.EYE (series); DOP: Yuri Yakubiw csc; Op:
Hosoi; B-Op: Ryan McMaster csc; 2nd-unit DOP (underwa-
J.P. Locherer csc; B-Op: Russ Goozee csc; B-2nd: Chris
ter): Pauline Heaton csc; 2nd-unit 1st (underwater): Chris
Howell; to April 16, Toronto (HDTV).
Hansen; to Feb. 14, Vancouver.
VERITAS (series); DOP: David Moxness csc; Op: Christopher
TWILIGHT ZONE (series); DOP: Richard Maguire csc; Op: Neil
Tammaro csc; to Feb. 10, Toronto (HDTV).
Seale; to April 2, Vancouver.
WEBS (MOW); DOP: Richard Wincenty csc; to Jan. 10,
Toronto.
ONTARIO
BLOBHEADS (series); DOP: George Hosek csc; to Jan. 29,
QUEBEC, ATLANTIC
Toronto (HDTV).
LES AVENTURES TUMULTUEUSES DE JACK CARTER;
DOC (series); DOP: Barry Bergthorson csc; to May 2, Toronto
DOP: Ronald Plante csc; to Feb. 28, Montreal (vidéo).
(HDTV).
Schedule of Meetings and Events of Interest to CSC Members
TORONTO Sat., March 29 — CSC Awards Gala, at Westin Prince Hotel. Entries must
reach CSC office by Jan. 31. Mail: 131-3007 Kingston Road, Toronto, ON M1M 1P1;
Phone: 416-266-0591; Fax: 416-266-3996; E-mail: [email protected]
Check www.csc.ca
20 • CSC News
/
January 2003