American Cinematographer - September 2008 - 50

A Frightening Fable Above: Charlone shoots Super 16mm with the “Bucketcam,” a rig devised to achieve steady mobile shots in the asylum. It was more common for him to have a 35mm camera on the rig. Right: The doctor and his wife lead other members of their ward down the hall. To keep the audience “conscious of seeing,” Charlone often shot into mirrors, created false images in reflective surfaces and burned-out windows; he even used a magnifying glass in front of the lens to distort some shots. In one scene, Moore’s character enters an office inside the asylum, and she is reflected again and again as she maneuvers through the space. “She walks past a labyrinth of reflective acrylics that had been cut into strips so they would produce more than one reflection, as well as a bit of distortion,” explains Charlone. “I also had a couple of sheets of tinted, halfreflective glass on C-stands in front of the camera and would move them to make interesting reflections. Key grip Darren Boyce found a wealth of interesting materials for me to use.” Canadian 1st AC Scott Cowan recalls: “We used a 50-percent transmission mirror quite a bit throughout the shoot. In one instance, we placed it left of camera when we shot Julianne walking up to the guard tower at the edge of the prison yard. She is reflected in the guard-shack glass, as well as in the mirror on camera left. She seems to be approaching the camera from three different angles, getting closer and closer until she breaks frame on camera right for her profile close-up. César loved that type of shot, which he designed to trick the viewer’s eye. “We maintained a shallow depth of field, sometimes shooting parts of scenes out of focus,” continues Cowan. “Shots were often staged so that items would partially block the lens. Even an over-the-shoulder would feature more shoulder blockage than normal.” Charlone praises his Canadian A-camera operator, Mark Willis, CSC, for his “terrific work.” He notes, “While Mark was manning the A camera, a Panaflex Platinum, I would sneak around with the B camera, an Aaton 35-III that Panavision Toronto found for us in France.” Charlone likes to grab shots on the fly, reframing and shooting again, and he says the Aaton was perfect for this. He often works handheld, but Meirelles wanted Blindness to have a steadier look. Because Charlone didn’t want to be tied to a dolly, he mounted the Aaton on a small grip stand and looked around for something with wheels. One of the crewmembers found the perfect conveyance: a mop bucket that was part of the set dressing. The hospital had a smooth floor, and Charlone could move the “Bucketcam” without making noise. The rig became the workhorse of the asylum shoot. The production’s C camera was Charlone’s own Aaton AMinima, which he also used to shoot City of God. “We called the C camera ‘God’s point of view,’” he quips. “We would put it in odd places and just see what it grabbed, with or without an operator.” He used a Canon 864mm zoom and his own Fujinon 10-40mm zoom on the camera. The production tapped two rental houses for most of its 35mm cameras. In Canada and Brazil, Charlone used the Panavision/ Aaton package, which included Primo lenses, and in Uruguay, he used an Arricam Studio, an Arri 435 and Zeiss Ultra Primes provided by local rental house Musitelli Cine Video. Two sequences take place after the city has suffered a total blackout. In one, the doctor’s wife descends into a grocery-store basement. “Our idea was to have absolute blackness for almost a minute and to have the audience understand what is going on just through sound,” says Charlone. “But how do you do total darkness?” The filmmakers decided not to shoot anything; instead, the editor inserted a strip of black film. (Charlone confesses he is not completely satisfied 50 September 2008

American Cinematographer - September 2008

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