American Cinematographer - January 1987 - 36

"I spent a lot of time on
casting," Eastwood points out.
"You may have a good script but
the casting can make or break you.

The

all pretty young

actors were

to 25, and we used
good people. Some had been

fellows, 18
very

television before and
been in movies.

some

on

"We

had

working with

were

several people so there wasn't a lot
of time to establish things. Little
moments here and there some¬
times have to do that. Some are

but I make up a lot of
stuff as I go."
Jack Green agrees: "Put¬
ting the camera where a special lit¬
tle story can be seen gives a more

scripted

out

intimate view of the action. There

again, Steadicam helped a lot;
moving the camera in close with
wide-angle lenses. You can get
close-ups farther back using a
longer lens, but that doesn't give
presence of the
chose to stay with a

the immediate

you

actors.

So

we

24, a 29,

and

a 35mm.

Those

three lenses almost shot the whole
story

for us."
"When

came

we

to

the

too

was

composed,

sometimes
everything

too

routined

it loses its energy."

able

to

draw

on

several stints

moving target. "As a newsreel
assistant, I was in the Watts riots, I
was in Isla Vista when it blew up, I
was in Mexico City when it blew
up," Green recalls. "I was at the
hotel where Bob Kennedy was
shot; I've been shot at probably
as a

three or four times and have been
hit with a police nightstick.

"Newspeople were con¬
by both sides,
so we were targets of bottles and
rocks from protesters and police
nightsticks, as well; each side felt
sidered the enemy

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you put

them in

a

bad light.

"Toward the

collected
to

a

lot of

protect my

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DIRECTOR

then, I have had
extremely pointed concentration,
which is vital. Directors and actors
don't want to wait for you to
think of an answer you have to
be talking as you're cutting the
camera about problems and how
to solve them. That is the camera
-

operator's prime function, I think.
Yes, composition, camera move¬
ment, watching focus, all of these
are important but nothing is as
important as problem solving on
the set and coming out of the cam¬
era
eyepiece with the right
answers.

"As far

there

goes,

Sometimes, I'd

use

We had

cameras.

Golds and
as

an

blanket

a

equipment
limitations.
five or seven

two

Arri III,

all-purpose

an

throw

as

were no

Panaflex

which I used

camera.
over

it,

If

you

you can

actually photograph dialogue with
it. Since I

was a new

costing

lot of money, so there
spend on equipment.

a

DP I wasn't

much like entering a whole
occupation, like moving from
machinist to pilot. And the first
picture is probably the easiest to
get; the second is probably the

you

in newsreels. When

Combat experience is
particularly valuable to crew mem¬
bers making a war picture. On this
one, the director of photography

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newsreel!
"Since

'searching' effect

out,

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cup,

a

was more to

is

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shatter-proof glass face
flak jacket, a catcher's
knee and shin guards, I car¬
a gas mask - just to work in
a

shield,

combat scenes, I wanted to be a
little on the rough side," Eastwood says. "I wanted to have that
see

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with

January 198/

end, I had

equipment just

life. I

wore a

helmet

tor to

"The move from opera¬
director of photography is

very
new

most

difficult. Until the first

one

is

nobody knows what you do.
They have to wait and see in order
to judge your work.
"This happens to every
new DP. You hope somebody will
say that there's another feature
coming up very soon. But before
out,

the finances

run

out, you want to

offer, as long as it's
not stupid. You wouldn't do a
large feature and then take over
somebody's place on an about-tosay yes to any

fail TV series. Other than

some¬

thing that extreme, I think you
have to keep your mind open."
By late October, Jack
Green was sweating out the wait
Eastwood applied finishing
touches in Burbank. "Sometimes

as

adjust things," Eastwood
"If people get restless, you

you can
says.
American Cinematographer - January 1987

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