American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 71

Unit photography by Hopper Stone, SMPSP, courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.

Opposite and this
page, top: Dorothy
Vaughan (Octavia
Spencer),
Katherine Johnson
(Taraji P. Henson)
and Mary Jackson
(Janelle Monáe)
provide behindthe-scenes
brainpower that
propels NASA to
the front of the
space race in the
nonfiction drama
Hidden Figures.
Below:
Cinematographer
Mandy Walker
ASC, ACS readies a
setup with her
crew.

who configured the trajectory required
to get Glenn into space and to return
him safely back to Earth.
Based
on
Margot
Lee
Shetterly's book Hidden Figures: The
American Dream and the Untold Story
of the Black Women Mathematicians
Who Helped Win the Space Race, the
movie focuses not only on Johnson
(played by Taraji P. Henson), but also
on Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia
Spencer) and Mary Jackson ( Janelle
Monáe), two of the other science
whizzes who worked at NASA's
Langley Research Center's Guidance
and Navigation Department in
Virginia.
In the late 1950s and early '60s
it was practically unheard-of for any
woman, much less an AfricanAmerican one, to work at NASA -
other than in a secretarial position.
"Katherine was always the smartest
person in the room," declares director
of photography Mandy Walker, ASC,
ACS, who had the privilege of meeting Johnson, now 98 years old, before
production began. A math prodigy,
Johnson's extraordinary talent was
recognized at a young age and allowed
to flourish - a rare occurrence in the

segregated South. But that didn't
lessen the discrimination and hostility
she faced. "We always know what is
going on in the background for these
women and the enormous obstacles
they face," says Walker.
Before the development of electronic computers, female mathematicians doing longhand calculations
were themselves referred to as
"computers." And in the Jim Crow
South, these Caucasian and AfricanAmerican calculation experts were
required to work in separate buildings.
www.theasc.com

Precisely because of the story's
time period, Walker and director
Theodore Melfi were determined to
shoot on film. To reflect both the epic
nature of the era and the singular
accomplishments made by the protagonists, they also wanted to shoot
anamorphic. "You are dealing with a
period of incredible events in our
nation's history," notes Melfi, pointing
to the intersection of so many
momentous national and international developments: the rise of the
civil-rights movement, the Cold War,
January 2017

71



http://www.theasc.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2017

Contents
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 1
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 2
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - Contents
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 4
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 5
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 6
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 7
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 8
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 9
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American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 11
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 12
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 13
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 14
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 15
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American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 17
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 18
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 19
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 20
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 21
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 22
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 23
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 24
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 25
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 26
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 27
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 28
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 29
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 30
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 31
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 32
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 33
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 34
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 35
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 36
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 37
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 38
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 39
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 40
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 41
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 42
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 43
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 44
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 45
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 46
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 47
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 48
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 48a
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 48b
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 49
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 50
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 51
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 52
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 53
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 54
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 55
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 56
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 57
American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 58
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American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 60
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American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 63
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American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 71
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American Cinematographer - January 2017 - Cover3
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