American Cinematographer - April 1989 - 66

Whem*

or a

nice

Polarizer, for that matter, it's
to know that the Geocam™

4x4 Universal Production Matte

4Vi" round filters in
quantity and lets you rotate SR

Box accepts
any

Polarizers and SR Stars

a

full 360
Above: William

degrees.

Wages on the set of Gore
Right: Sam Waterston and
Mary Tyler Moore in a scene from the

Vidal's Lincoln.

We also let you choose the number
of filter stages. 1, 2, or 3 4x4 stages
can be easily interchanged in the

field.

passion. "Yes, here I

When using graduated filters, we
don't think you should have to

composition to
compensate for the limitations of
your matte box. So we designed our
4x4 stages to rotate independently
of each other. Now you can place
your grad exactly where you want
it. And lock it down with a single
adjust

historical miniseries.

your

control.

am a grown

wonderful," said Wages with a
grin. "As a matter of fact," he ad¬
ded, "I started my subscription to

Interestingly, the high
point of Lincoln for Wages came in
the post-production phase. He had
hoped - although he knew the fu¬
tility of it - to shoot the miniseries

American

Cinematographer when I
reading it
religiously ever since.
"John Cordy gave me my
first big break after years of doing
was

twelve and I've been

and lens you use.
With the money you save you

could
buy a few more filters. After all,
isn't that why you wanted a matte
box in the first place?

spot improvisation.

in black and white. The
course,

network, of

wouldn't go

Wages took

a

for the idea so
different approach.

"I worked with Phil Gorth

Hallmark Hall of Fame

at Pacific Video to do the next best

a

-

shouldn't have to buy a
separate adapter for each camera

was

documentaries and commercials.

piece about four years ago called
Resting Place, starring John Lithgow. It won three Emmys, I think.
That started things going up and
up and up...." Since then he has
done several pilots and many other
television films
including two
more with
Lithgow.
Lincoln was one of his big¬
gest projects to date, and before
Wages began actual work on the

you

comfortable with on-the-

He

doing what

We did

Our systems are priced complete
and are ready to use right out of the
box on any camera. We feel that

tary background served him well.

a twelve-year old
kid wanted to do for a living, and it's

man

film, he took

over a room

in his

house and lit it with kerosene

lamps and built a fire in the fire¬
place. "I just sat there and looked
at. I wanted to capture the way
things looked in Lincoln's time and
that was the most important thing
for

me

-

that look and that feel¬

ing," he explained.
Much of Lincoln

was

shot

in

thing to shooting in black and
white. At Pacific Video, I subtracted
all the color. I put a slight sepia
effect in to

keep the fleshtones

cor¬

rect and I subtracted most of the

blue and the green.
movie

classic
was

It gave the
patina, but it isn't the
sepia-tone look."
With this process, Wages
a

able to take

one scene

all the

black and white. It was a
very moving scene of Lincoln visit¬
ing Confederate wounded in a con¬
verted factory. "There were a lot of
windows up high and we lit the
room so that we had shafts of
light
coming through them. Then Phil
way to

and I worked with the color

so

that

by the time Lincoln is off of his
horse and entering this retaining
area, the picture is practically black
and white. To me, I think it is the

Call or write for our new catalog,
and find out what you almost

buildings in which Lincoln actu¬
ally lived or worked or visited. As is
usual in historical buildings, Wages

missed.

was

allowed to touch the

walls, the ceiling, and sometimes,

emotionally, but also because we
got it past the network!" Wages

not even the floors. His documen¬

concluded.

GEOCAM™

not

Geocam

P.O. Box

Corp.
704, Orange, NJ 07050

Telephone: 201-672-2223

*

FAX 201-672-2414

April 1989

rewarding shot of the film only because it worked so well

most
not
American Cinematographer - April 1989

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