American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 30

The Wiley team (wearing black and white) enjoys its first victory. Pictured from the left are: Denzel Whitaker, Jermaine Williams, Parker and Smollett. says Rousselot. (Marc Labonge was the A-camera/Steadicam operator and Pam Rottelmeyer operated the B camera.) Rousselot shot the picture on two Kodak Vision2 emulsions, 250D 5205 (for daylight scenes) and 500T 5218 (for nights and tungsten interiors). “I try to limit the number of stocks I use on a film so I don’t have to change the settings on my meter too often,” he says. “It also brings a better sense of continuity. 5205 and 5218 are my favorite stocks, and I’m so used to them I don’t get many bad surprises. I like the 5218 for its good contrast and good blacks — I tend to light soft, so I need the contrast to compensate. “Unlike many cinematographers, I don’t want too much information in the deep shadows unless it’s necessary for the storytelling,” he adds. “I try to simplify things rather than overload the image.” This sensibility extends to the lighting as well. “Apart from an extensive use of China balls, my lighting 30 January 2008 package is very conventional. I use HMIs outside and tungsten instruments for interiors and nights. On this movie, I used tungsten balloons for night exteriors, as well as some 5K Jem balls that mimic the effects of streetlights very well.” Rousselot also used tungsten balloons for fill in the massive hall at Harvard where the climactic debate takes place. The key lighting for that pivotal sequence came mainly from theatrical fixtures that were already in place at the location. “I used them more or less where I found them when we arrived,” says Rousselot. The Harvard debate sequence involved the show’s most extensive use of the B camera, and also called for a 30' Technocrane with a threeaxis Libra 5 remote head. “We used that for moves and to easily place the camera over the audience,” Rousselot explains. One of the film’s opening shots proved challenging because the camera had to begin with an establishing shot over a lake and then move into an intimate look at a juke joint in the middle of the woods. This helicopter shot begins at dusk and ends at night, which required careful planning on the part of Rousselot and his crew. “We had to shoot at the latest possible time in the day with an exposure of T5.6 for the zoom on the chopper, and light the juke joint exterior and interior at that level,” says Rousselot. “Then we had to change to a lower level immediately for a matching Steadicam shot and the following sequence. It was a little nerve-wracking because we had to anticipate the weather and change levels rapidly between each take.” Indeed, weather was an ongoing concern throughout the shoot, which took place from May to July last summer. “Rain, thunderstorms and mud, along with the exhausting heat of the Louisiana summer,” are a few of the hindrances Rousselot recalls. “A scene with a young couple on a boat in the swamps was shot on one of the bad-weather days,” he

American Cinematographer - January 2008

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