American Cinematographer - November 2009 - 50

Pandora’s Predicament Gears, so after each scene was shot we could play back the good takes and photograph the empty set for clean plates. We couldn’t shoot handheld in any of those sequences because it would have added too much time and expense to track the effect in post. We had to be really judicious about our camera movement in those scenes; we had one sweeping Technocrane shot with Arlington because that’s all we could afford! We didn’t compromise anything; we just had to plan more carefully and be judicious.” Langella had to perform with tracking balls glued to the affected side of his face. “I think Frank was nervous about it at first, but he’s a veteran actor,” says Kelly. “After a few days, I think he started to love it because it gave him something physical to play with. He used it.” Poster notes that the teamwork Kelly fosters was critical to accomplishing the effect. “The work Thomas Tannenberger and I do together is pretty symbiotic,” says Poster. “He knows my level of understanding of visual effects, and I know his level of understanding of photography, and that makes it really fun to work with each other. One thing I did on The Box that I hope to do on every project from now on was to bring everyone together very early in prep to discuss workflow — the workflow is different on every The enigmatic Arlington Steward (Frank Langella) explains the stakes to Norma. “Notice the part of Langella’s face that has been burned away,” Poster says. “This couldn’t have been done with prosthetic makeup. Every time we showed his face in a shot, we had to shoot clean plates to use for background replacements.” such a difference to have that time to discuss and consider the script. If Steven can start wrapping his mind around this project a year before we start shooting, it’s going to make for a much better production all around.” For The Box, one early consideration was the character of Steward, the mysterious keeper of the fateful device. Kelly conceived the character as someone who’d had half his face burned away in an accident, and the filmmaker was insistent that this effect be achieved digitally with the help of Tannenberger and his company, Gradient Effects. “That was a big debate for a while,” recalls Kelly. “I always wanted to do it digitally because I knew the digital process would allow us to create something truly fantastic. I think today’s audiences are very attuned to spotting the old tricks and effects — they’re very savvy. I wanted Arlington Steward to be a legendary character, an icon. I wanted him to be someone people just can’t take their eyes off when he’s onscreen.” The choice of digital versus practical makeup effects was not an easy one. Going digital added a few days to the production schedule and created additional costs and complications. “Every scene with Arlington had to be shot with motion, and we had to be sure to shoot clean plates so Thomas and his team could paint away portions of Frank’s face,” says Poster. “We used recordable Hot 50 November 2009

American Cinematographer - November 2009

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