American Cinematographer - May 1995 - 34

"Ready

When
\buAre.
CJ5T
Impatient
producers,
finicky clients

films

show; we've just spent more

do I have to learn how to add when
I have a calculator?" Because you
need to have that understanding,

There's more
good than bad in all of these things.
You certainly can't stop technol¬
ogy. I would never begin to pro¬
pose that we're getting unreason¬
ably treated by the technology, just
that it is a two-edged sword. If a
person has an artistic title and the
can

be altered, this is an issue

that relates

directly to artists'

Ellenshaw: The

love Lowel Rifa-lites,
which set up in seconds,

with

voluptuous light, are all
but weightless and

is sometimes

question
asked, "Why care

about stock or lighting or good
work if digital can change every¬

travel.
Rifa

won't miss the
big one while creating
legendary lighting.
-

you

thing?" My impression is that if

our

creative

Keuhn: As far

as
asking
have to learn how to do
this, I think it's like asking, "why

why

we

that

passion, to understand every¬
thing that goes into it. There really

are no

shortcuts. You have to

un¬

derstand all the processes that are
involved. It's just that simple.
Rush: It's

always going to
right the first time
having to fix it in postpro¬

be better to do it
than

duction. You have to consider that
on

the set is not

an

iso¬

lated

thing. There are actors per¬
forming in that lighting and light¬
ing creates mood, and mood affects
the performances of everyone on
the set, including the performance

set, all the

who feels compelled to be a
cinematographer still is not going
to be influenced much by the fact
that his poor lighting may be fixed
in post. He or she still is going to be
passionate about having created a
person

look with

a camera

and film and

maybe with camera and videotape
or whatever medium
they want to
use, because they are still creating
images which in most cases tell a
story. So effects are still a small part

is

im¬

to give you new versions. CGI
not replacing actors. The digital

revolution is

a

matter

of

a new

way

of

transporting images, of com¬
municating, of being able to ma¬
nipulate images like we haven't
been able to

before, and it doesn't

that

suddenly chaos is go¬
ing to reign. We've got respon¬
sible people and irresponsible
people in society. There will al¬
ways be people who are going to
take pork sausage and turn it into
mean

pork sausage. There were
people who did bad optical work
there are a lot of crap effects in

worse

-

Lowel-Light Manufacturing, Inc.
32

have lost

ing significant visual effects in
them
still a small percentage. A

ages

140 58th Street Brooklyn, New York 11220
Tel: 718 921-0600 Fax: 718 921-0303

we

freedom. We have not.

of the actors. So when you are
given a set and you start turning

of it. Don't misunderstand.
We're not destroying

I0UF

belief that

you take 250-some films that were
submitted for Academy consider¬
ation last year, the visual effects
committee found about 17-20 of
those could be considered as hav¬
-

adore to

going way back to the begin¬
ning. This is not the issue. Do not
allow this to consume you with the

the work

rights.

w

scene

flexibility of

money, because the
the system is greater.

work

and overworked crews

flood the

ematographer has gotten through
digital imaging.
Rush: I agree that the ca¬
pabilities of the system have im¬
proved greatly in the last several
years, and that it's easier to do
complicated shots for less money.
That's what's happened on our

May 1995

lights

on and creating something
that has great depth and beauty,
it's

going to affect everyone on the
things that happen.
In regard to camera move¬
ment: camera movement, place¬
ment, size of focal length, and the
stock

we use

creates the amount of

depth that you see. All those things
are
part of the tools that very defi¬
nitely affect how people feel when
they see that final work. The timing
or

colorization

or

contrast range

big factors, but they are not the
entire thing, they're only parts.
are

In

future issues, AC plans to publish
of the second and third
seminars of this series, titled "The
Art of the Commercial" and "The
Role of the Cinematographer in Con¬
temporary Times," respectively.
These seminars were co-sponsored by
overviews

ASC and Eastman Kodak Student

Program in conjunction with the
Ninth Annual ASC Awards for Out¬
standing Achievement in Cinema¬

tography.
American Cinematographer - May 1995

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