American Cinematographer - January 2007 - 62
A Great
After
Escape
escaping
his Mayan
captors during a
solar
eclipse.
Jaguar Paw runs
for his life
(right), with the
Mayans (below)
in hot
pursuit.
Mayan empire in Central America.
others
The movie opens
Semler
with the camera
slowly moving into the jungle; the
shot lasts almost
a
minute and ends
tapir bursts out of the under¬
growth and past the camera. This
as a
shot
was
made
on
film with
an
Arri
fps. "I was going to use the
upgraded Genesis, which can shoot
up to 50 fps," says Semler, "but there
was a
good chance the animal would
hit the camera, and that body was
one of only three in the world at the
time
sorry, Arri!"
The story then moves to an
isolated jungle village, where Jaguar
Paw (Rudy Youngblood) lives with
his pregnant wife and child. The
idyllic simplicity of their world is
435 at 48
a
solar
eclipse puts an eerie end to the
executions, and he's allowed to run
free
sort of. Actually, he and the
-
other survivors
are
made
to run
the
a killing field of 150 yards
where every available weapon is
used to prevent them from reaching
gauntlet,
freedom.
Jaguar Paw escapes, and
the last act of the movie is
a
wild
foot chase
shattered when brutal Mayan war¬
riors, the Holcanes, raid the village
"Mel and I
and take
phic, and
rifice.
captives for slavery and sac¬
Jaguar Paw manages to save
his
family by lowering them into a
deep well, a cenote, before he is taken
prisoner. He and other prisoners are
taken on an incredible journey that
involves a raging river, treacherous
cliffs,
and
worked
a
a
limestone
quarry
by slaves bleached white by
powder. They finally enter
Mayan city, where Jaguar Paw and
limestone
January 2007
about to have his heart cut out,
through the jungle.
designer Tom
Sanders, costume designer Mayes
Rubeo, and hair/makeup designer
Aldo Signoretti collaborated to cre¬
ate the
extraordinary look of
Apocalypto, and our job was bring¬
ing it to the screen," he continues.
-
62
prepared for sacrifice.
explains, "As Jaguar Paw is
are
"Production
use a
are
both fans of anamor-
our original plan was to
widescreen frame, but during
tests
it became obvious that 1.85:1
was
better suited to the tall trees and
canopy of the jungle, where most of
the movie takes place. We originally
shooting 'down and
dirty,' sort of the Road Warrior
approach, but I still decided to take a
50-foot Super Technocrane along,
and Nick Phillips provided the
talked about
American Cinematographer - January 2007
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2007
Contents
American Cinematographer - January 2007 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - January 2007 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - January 2007 - 1
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