American Cinematographer - February 1986 - 47

was

often the authorities'

man-on-

the-spot with a yea or nay as to
what may be approved. Only
through the viewfinder can you see
how low the decolletage swoops,
how deep is the armpit, how high
is the thigh. It seemed so unfair
that I had to burden the hapless
cameraman with weighty judg¬
ments on whether the lead girl's
pants were lasciviously tight, or
was her shapely lap decorously
draped and concealed in copious
folds of cloth.

whis¬
The sun
drops at
day's end with an almost audible
bump. One team endeavoured to
apply the magic hour principle,
Malaysia is

a mere

ker above the Equator.
rises at rocket pace, and

which is commendable but
ercise close to futility. The
minute' is closer to it.

Bashing

an ex¬

'magic

my 35mm

stills

away at every opportunity
the exotica before me I dis¬
covered an odd thing about Equatorial sunlight. When it's
camera
on

high

it's low.
Temperate climes have
the advantage of a lowered angle
of the sun source, particularly
from autumn to spring. Choice of
the season, or early and late in the
day shooting times can infuse tex¬
ture into the facades of churches,
castles, or almost any structure
that displays a surface cladding of
ancient stone or peeling paint.
In Malaysia the hour cen¬
-

tered around
same

glancing,

across

est

creates

the

angled light
sunlight skidding
acute

Hard
the fronts of ancient houses

source.

and

noon

temples revealed all the inter¬
in the building's surface

texture.

Malaysian cameramen
constantly faced difficulties when
photographing faces. A multi-ra¬
cial society often produces a

Place this range

of skin
deep green-brown
jungle background, and you find
yourself in a no-win situation.
Most of the year finds
Malaysian sunlight performing in a
manner most unbefitting a West¬
tones

against

a

erner's idea of the hot, sun-lashed
Tropics. The light is often
soft humidity is in the air, a light
scrim of vapourized water covers
all. But, bright it still is.
Many crews find them¬
selves shooting outside with little
-

to

oppose

the high luminance of

the overhead sun. It's often diffi¬
cult to tap onto high amperage

when

become a little
However power

to cope with a range of
that would even have de¬
feated Ansel Adams' otherwise ad¬
mirable Zone

1986

revised 3rd edition

are

all

too

fre¬

Cameraman's

Handbook
by Verne and Sylvia
Carlson
240-51782-2

1980

degree heat of the sun.
Unprotected rawstock

has the shelf life of a curl of but¬
ter. One company had to dump
thousands of feet of high speed
Eastman color due to lack of a re¬

frigerator in the
error

camera room.

Lighting
Handbook
by Verne and
Sylvia Carlson
240-51721-0
hd
$22.95

1985

The

Technique

of Special
Effects

Cinematography
4th edition

by Raymond Fielding
1985

$24.95

hd

240-51234-0

of their ways was

diplomatically explained, the man¬
was hurriedly debeered and refilled with the
rawstock.
Prior to March '85 nega¬
tive and dailies were processed in

Japan and Australia. Toei and Far
East in Tokyo, and Colorfilm in

System.

$27.95

hd

Professional

-

90-100

Screen Writ¬

ing; On Screen Acting;
On Screen Directing; and
On Film Editing
240-51760-1 hd $34.95 est

Power station fires

quent. I experienced blackouts
while shooting that were day long.
With no emergency power genera¬
tor to hand the only resort you
have is to carefully put the Arri
back into its box, slowly lay your
head upon something soft, placing
the right hand gently beneath the
cheek and zzzzz.
Corrosion of metal parts
and fungus between the lens ele¬
ments are a constant and expen¬
sive problem. Magazines have to
be meticulously barneyed from the

ager's bar fridge

tones

controlled.

compiled anthology of
Dmytryk's 4 bestselling

books: On

Professional

quently a group shot included
lightly tinted Chinese faces, choc¬
olate Malays and night-black Indi¬
designed

more

A

blackouts are dis¬
turbingly frequent. Kuala Lumpur
is moving through a painful period
of rapid growth, the old wiring
and inadequate power sub-sta¬
tions frequently prove insufficient.

Once the

I'm afraid Mr. Eastman's
much-loved color stock was never

by Edward Dmytryk

on

multi-racial medium shot. Fre¬

ans.

On Filmmaking

location, coupled
with the unfortunate shortage of
lightweight luminaires. Reflectors
rule the day.
Move inside and things
power

ask for Focal at your

local bookstore

Or Order Direct: include name,

address,

shipping

titles, book numbers, along

with check

or

credit card information.
Focal Press,

Dpt 259

80 Montvale Ave.

Stoneham, MA 02180
ask for

February 1986

our

free

catalog
45
American Cinematographer - February 1986

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - February 1986
