American Cinematographer - April 2009 - 63

Sin Nombre when producer Amy Kaufman sent him the script; Kaufman had recently worked with Fernando Meirelles, one of Goldman’s longtime friends and collaborators. Cary Joji Fukunaga’s script, which had been developed at the Sundance Institute, was colored with images the director had witnessed firsthand while riding atop trains across the Mexican countryside. The story charts the intersecting lives of Sayra (Paulina Gaytan), a Honduran teenager who hopes to immigrate to the United States with her father and uncle, and Casper (Edgar M. Flores), a member of the Mara Salvatrucha street gang. Casper ultimately severs his allegiance to his fellow Maras to help Sayra, forcing both to go on the run. In September 2007, the filmmakers went to Mexico to begin five weeks of prep. With a tight, sevenweek shoot ahead of them, “the prep was really more about the shooting strategy than looking at visual references,” Goldman recalls. “I could see that it was going to be very physically demanding for everyone, given all the shooting on top of trains, being handheld all the time, and all the fighting. My first question for Cary was, ‘Are we going to shoot this in 16mm?’ But he wanted to use Super 35mm; he wanted the quality, he wanted the widescreen aspect ratio, and he wanted to have beautiful landscapes.” Another of the director’s desires was to mimic the look of reversal film stocks, with their rich colors and bold contrast. Goldman decided to achieve that by shooting on two Fuji Eterna negatives, 500T 8573 (day interiors and night work) and Vivid 160 8543 (day exteriors), and tweaking the look in the digital intermediate. “Vivid really is a more vivid stock, and we were convinced its colors were important for the movie,” he notes. Of course, putting a rich palette onscreen also involved the production designer, Claudio “Pache” Contreras. “Pache is fantastic,” says Goldman. “Cary was amazed at how innovative he was in coming up with ways to bring rich colors to this very particular world.” Contreras was also tasked with constructing the “Destroyer,” the Maras’ sprawling, run-down home. Viewers are introduced to the setting at the same time as 12-yearold Smiley (Kristyan Ferrer), an eager inductee whom Casper introduces to Lil’ Mago (Tenoch Huerta Mejia), the leader of the gang’s local sect. As Casper and Smiley make their way through the abode, the camera follows in one long, handheld take. “We didn’t want that shot to be too shaky, but we wanted it to be more organic than a Steadicam,” explains Goldman. As the camera moved from the exterior of the Destroyer to the interior — and back outside to cross a patio before reentering a back room — 1st AC Arturo Castañeda had to ramp the aperture on the 25mm lens. The wide view led Goldman and gaffer Carlos Sánchez to light primarily from the outside, through windows. “Of course, I had a few practical bulbs inside, such as fluorescents. [The Maras were] smoking inside, so we also added a little smoke.” Goldman typically trained his lights through windows for day inte- riors. “I try to light the space and leave the set free, which helps everybody understand that the light is coming from outside; it’s reality that’s a little enhanced. When I have close-ups and tight shots, I bring in Kino Flos or whatever else I need to make it more beautiful.” When mixing fixtures with real daylight, he adds, “I don’t like HMIs. I find it hard to work with their blue-green color temperature, especially because the sunlight in Mexico is so warm. So we rented Dinos in Mexico, and we imported 60 or 70 Dino daylight bulbs from Los Angeles. We also used daylight Mini-Brutes bounced on the actors.” Throughout the shoot, Goldman operated the A camera, an Arricam Lite. “As much as I love the lighting part of my work, I believe it’s very important to be at the camera all the time,” he says. “This movie is all about the handheld camera, which has been important in my work since the beginning of my career.” Most of Sin Nombre was shot in 3-perf Super 35mm with a single camera, but Goldman brought along Brazilian camera operator Rodrigo Carvalho and asked him to find an additional angle whenever possible. Shooting 4-perf, Carvalho operated an Arri 235. Both of the Opposite: When he puts his relationship with Martha Marlene (Diana García, center) above his commitment to the Mara Salvatrucha gang, Casper (Edgar Flores, left) runs afoul of the gang’s leader, Lil’ Mago (Tenoch Huerta Mejía, right) in Sin Nombre. This page: Cinematographer Adriano Goldman (standing) and director Cary Joji Fukunaga find their angle on the action. Goldman earned the Excellence in Cinematography Award in the U.S. Dramatic category. Sin Nombre photos by Eniac Martinez, courtesy of Focus Features. American Cinematographer 63

American Cinematographer - April 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - April 2009