American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 90

A Bulletproof Cinematographer Kirby Kager (Emilio Estevez) gets a grip on his college crush (Andie MacDowell) in a scene from St. Elmo’s Fire (1985), an ensemble comedy directed by Joel Schumacher that also starred Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson and Mare Winningham. “This movie was a throwback to what the studios used to call ‘starmaker pictures,’” notes Burum. “They would put a group of new, young kids together in a movie so audiences would come out of the theater saying, ‘Who’s that?’ Joel has excellent taste, and the kids were all really good.” some more, then huddle again. It was seemingly very loose, and I think it drove the Canadian crew a little crazy, but Caleb and I knew exactly what Carroll liked. The understanding between a director and cinematographer is terribly important; when you understand what the director understands, you will instinctively do the right thing.” Shortly after wrapping Black Stallion, Deschanel invited Burum to shoot The Escape Artist (1982), Deschanel’s directorial debut. “I was really impressed with Steve’s knowledge and his ideas, and on my first film as a director, I wanted someone who’d be on my side and supportive, but also strong enough to work confidently in his own way,” says Deschanel. “I didn’t want someone to just follow my lead; I wanted someone who could bring his own ideas to the project and sway me to look at things in a new way. Steve was that guy. It’s important to work with people you respect because when they have an idea that differs from yours, you’ll listen. “I found him to be such a great ally,” continues Deschanel. “He was really respectful of the actors and understood the kind of atmosphere that was needed on the set, and he also had a tremendous understanding of the politics that go on on a film. There are so many factors that enter into making the right decisions on a movie, and Steve was aware of all of them.” Burum impressed another colleague on The Escape Artist, future ASC associate member Rob Hummel, who was then working for Technicolor’s camera department as a liaison between the lab and features in production. “Escape Artist was the first feature I was handed — I’d worked with Caleb on post for The Black Stallion and Being There, and we got along well,” recalls Hummel. “I had no idea who Steve was, but it was the beginning of what’s become a lifelong friendship. He wasn’t thrown off by my age, which was 26; he was very solicitous of my opinions, and anything I didn’t understand he wanted to teach me. And the precision of his work was unbelievable — we never had to reprint his stuff. We had an answer-print timer, Dick Ritchie, who loved Steve’s films because he could make an answer print using the daily printing lights, goose it one point here and one point there, and leave the rest of it alone. The only other cinematographer I’ve worked with who was as in control of his lighting situation was Gordon Willis [ASC].” Hummel worked on three more pictures for Burum at Technicolor — Coppola’s The Outsiders and Rumble Fish (both 1983) and Hal Ashby’s 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) — and he still vividly recalls a phone call he got from the set of 8 Million. “Steve called one afternoon and said, ‘Listen, on Scene 101 Apples 1 and 2, my assistant had the wrong ND up, so I want you to open up those two shots 2 points, and the rest of the scene you can print at my normal light.’ He always established a printing light and printed at the same light all through dailies; he never varied from it. So we did what he asked, and the next day he called after I’d seen the dailies to ask how they looked. I said everything looked great, and he said, ‘What about the shot I underexposed?’ I realized I hadn’t even noticed it — it matched everything else. He’d called it exactly right, and it was just a kiss, about a quarter of a stop!” Burum shot The Outsiders and Rumble Fish consecutively in Oklahoma, and he notes that the repertory nature of the productions, which shared crew and many cast members, was reminiscent of the old studio days. “Francis got the money for Rumble Fish while we were shooting The Outsiders, and because our production offices and construction crew were in place, the art department was able to start working on the second picture while we were shooting the first. Working that way was extremely efficient, and two weeks after we wrapped The Outsiders, we went into prep on Rumble Fish. “Francis wanted to be very economical. He came up with the 1⁄4size script pages, which enabled us to fit scripts in our back pockets, and he rehearsed the kids very thoroughly before we shot anything. On both pictures, we only printed one take of each scene. That saved an enormous amount of time and money.” With the 1984 thriller Body Double, Burum began a collaboration with Brian De Palma that spanned almost 20 years, also spawning The 90 January 2008 Photo by Christine Loss, courtesy of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

American Cinematographer - January 2008

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