American Cinematographer - January 2007 - 69

Left: Production

designer Tom
Sanders' Mayan
city set "was an
extraordinarily
meticulous

design and
allowed

us

many

fabulous

choices," says
Semler. Below:
For safety's sake,
close shots of
action atop

the
city's main
temple were
filmed

on a fullsized set 12' off
the ground. This

photo shows
Semler's lighting
rig for the solar
eclipse.
and dance. For these scenes, Semler

his

bounced

solution, and basically built an
entire stage using empty shipping

an

HMI

gelled with White

Flame Green and Vi CTO into

an

Ultrabounce 35' above the action

to

"dirty nightlight" 1-2 stops

crew came

containers.

up

The

with

set

a

brilliant

worked

under the overhead ambience. "I

extremely well and survived some
pretty violent weather as we headed

then

into hurricane

create a

approached special-effects
supervisor Jesus Duran and said,
'Tonight, you're going to be my
gaffer!'" recalls the cinematograph¬
er.

"He had his

propane

build six

crew

fires in the village to

pro¬

vide the main illumination. I

sitting in the tent, and
was

my screen

black. Then the fires

and it

was

was

came

season.

"Lighting the cenote was
going to be either a pain in the ass
or
very simple," he continues.
"Thank goodness, it turned out to
be the latter. I had the grips hang a
hard reflector above the set against
the TransLite, laid a sheet of Opal

diffusion

over

The

Par.

it, and hit it with

a

4K

light reflected straight

down into the bottom of the hole,
and was really the only key source.
We added

a

bit of fill from down

below, and I added HydroFlex lights
for the underwater shots, which
were

shot

on

film."

Semler
acre

set

for the

praises Sanders' 40Mayan city. "It was an

extraordinarily meticulous design,
and because Tom knows his angles
and his lenses, it allowed

us

fabulous choices for the

cameras.

many

up,

absolutely beautiful. My

concern was

that the fire would be

bright and the faces not quite
bright enough, but the range was
superb. I had no trouble in the high¬
lights, and it didn't flare out. The
blacks stayed black; the faces were
really beautiful, and I was able to
stay on the zooms and shoot any
direction without having to avoid
lights hidden in logs and rocks."
There wasn't a building in
Veracruz tall enough to construct
the cenote set, which was 25' deep. "I
too

needed another 15-20 feet from the

top of the hole to the TransLite

[image of treetops], and then space
above that for John Martens and the
electrics'

rigging crew to mount a
rig," says Semler. "Once
again, [rigging grip] Kim Heath and
Kino Flo

American

Cinematographer 67



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
American Cinematographer - January 2007 - 2
American Cinematographer - January 2007 - Contents
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