American Cinematographer - March 2007 - 53

Opposite: Betty
Suarez (America

Ferrera) learns
the ropes at

high-fashion
magazine Mode
in the comedy
series Ugly
Betty.
Cinematographer
Ross Berryman,
ASC, ACS
cool

uses

lighting in

the office set,
which is

distinguished by
circular
architectural
flourishes. This
page, top: A
musical act

entertains

an

audience

on

Studio 60

on

Sunset

the

Strip,

which goes
behind the
scenes

of

a

late-

night, Saturday
Night Live-style
show. Below:

TBWSe6ICBltrauonrovcpmhnisanp0dcsefi.t.sty,g

AFmoceeriucladftn,sy

bDBpaehnoyttyy
Ugly

Studio 60
director of

photography
Thomas Del

we

exceptions. Mills
Egilsson shoot CSI: Miami in
eight days, but a permanent second

from

and

John Aronson {Heroes); Krishna Rao
(The Unit); Herb Davis {Grey's

unit handles

after 10

tography. In addition to Berryman,
spoke to Thomas A. Del Ruth,
ASC (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip);

Anatomy); and Charles Mills and
Eagle Egilsson (CS1: Miami).
Del Ruth, whose four ASC

Awards and
work

on

and ER
an

Emmys honor his
Wing, The X-Files
and who had just notched
two

The West

-

There

time - made a point
that many of his fellow cameramen
would only discuss off the record:
"You

press

cant

shoot

a

show with this

complexity in eight days and deliver
what is required. If they want to go
back to the 1970s or '80s style of
shooting, with minimal architecture
in terms of lighting and flat staging,
then seven or eight days is fine. But
we

have

a

lot of

actors

and

a

lot of

dialogue on Studio 60. With
emphasis on quality, it [normal¬
ly] takes eight or nine days on first
unit and a couple of simultaneous
days of second unit."

inserts, and a sep¬

postproduction unit is respon¬
sible for the elaborate special effects.
Egilsson, who has been with the
show for two years, says he can't
remember the last time he
crew

worked

"Most

more

or

days are just 10," he says.
experience

Heroes is

even

show, which

less

his

than 12 hours.

Aronson's

common.

concerns a

on

The

filming in 3-perf Super 35mm
(the format used for the other five
series we visited) to Super 16mm
screen

episodes, although

work is still done

on

Ruth, ASC

(pictured on
another project).

green35mm.

"The

only objection I have to 16mm
lighting perspective is that it's
difficult to judge lighting contrasts
through the camera," says Del Ruth.
"I can light by eye, but it's a slightly
different way of working - a bit
outside my comfort zone, but neces¬
sary."
from

a

disparate

group of people who discover they
each possess super-human powers,

has proven so successful that NBC
decided to invest more money in it,

rewriting scripts and reshooting
to reflect a bigger effects
budget and hiring a second cine¬
matographer, Nate Goodman, to
alternate episodes with Aronson.
scenes

At the other end of the spec¬

dense
the

most

arate

ASC nomination for the Studio 60

pilot at

are

belt-tightening can be
prompted by disappointing ratings

trum,

or

other factors. Because of financial

considerations, Studio 60 switched
American

Cinematographer 51
American Cinematographer - March 2007

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