American Cinematographer - June 2008 - 62

Women’s World Samantha, newly relocated to Malibu, California, has her old friends in for a visit. Thomas shot scenes set in California on Kodak Vision2 Expression 500T 5229 to make them feel “a little foreign to New York,” where scenes were shot on Vision2 500T 5218 and 200T 5217. big key sources. “We’d make a big, very soft source, which looks great on a woman’s face, and have it right near the camera,” he recalls. “We hung bed sheets or muslin, made a little slit in the material, and put the camera through. If you looked at the camera, you’d see a lens with white all around it, like you’re inside a China ball. Sometimes the camera assistant couldn’t see anything!” Marzovilla adds, “Whenever there was space that allowed for shooting directly through something, we would do that. Otherwise, we’d create a 180-degree perimeter with bleached muslin behind the camera and wrap around the actors as much as possible in an even, flattering way.” The trick was “to make sure the faces were never brighter than the background,” says Thomas, who often used a Tiffen Soft Glow #1 on the lens for close-ups. “That’s the key to lighting in a soft, attractive way. If your face is the brightest thing in the shot, you’re probably in trouble.” He established directional light with a few hard kicks on the actors’ bodies, environment or background. 62 June 2008 For these beauty shots, one of the most important tools was Marzovilla himself, according to Thomas. “Michael was always there with a little handheld light when we needed it. Without asking him, I’d just know he was going to have something for so-and-so because she would need it when looking camera-left. Michael is kind of a dancer; he can move around the camera with a handheld light like no one else and not get in the shot. Also, he knows those faces better than anyone, and they know he’s taking care of them, too. When they see Michael there with the light, they know he’s looking after them.” The light Marzovilla used for this finessing depended on the location and the shot at hand. He explains, “It varied from 12K Pars going into a big white source to a Kino Flo Flathead.” When not carrying a light, he was usually holding a large Styrofoam beadboard. “That’s a very flattering way to fill in underneath the chin or nose, and it’s most helpful if the actor has any sort of bags under the eyes,” says the gaffer. “If, for example, we have a Steadicam move and we’re walking down the street, we’d put a 12K or 6K Par on a Chapman Western dolly, put a large Chimera on that, and walk alongside or behind the camera, providing a sort of keylight. Then I’d hold a 4-by or 8-by beadboard, whatever the environment allowed, and walk with the actors in front of the camera. Even if it’s a walking shot for a block or two, I’m holding the beadboard underneath them just outside of frame.” One of the film’s more ambitious and glamorous scenes involves a photo shoot Carrie does for Vogue; the magazine editor (Candice Bergen) decides to create a fashion spread of wedding dresses for brides in their 40s and chooses Carrie as the model. Shot at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, the scene is “very Vincente Minnelli-MGM, lots of dollying and cranes,” says King. “It’s all glamour, like they used to do in the 1950s. But the stunt was that we were actually using a real Vogue photographer, Patrick Demarchelier, who was shooting images we actually planned to use in the real magazine.

American Cinematographer - June 2008

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