American Cinematographer - June 1995 - 73

Last year,

11 select cinematogra¬
phers gathered at the UCLA Con¬
ference Center at Lake Arrow¬

head,

a woodsy California re¬
treat, for the purpose of present¬
ing a series of seminars coordi¬
nated by Eastman Kodak's Jamie
Toscas and IFP/West's Shainee
Gabel. The volunteer crew for
the seminars consisted of Don

Burghardt, first camera assistant;
Scott Paperra, second AC; John
Rodgers, gaffer; Bill Kennedy,
key grip; Maria Haro, makeup
and hair; and Denny Tedesco,
UPM. They were assisted by sev¬
eral energetic volunteers from the
IFP organization. Following is a
written account of the
tions of three of the

presenta¬

participating

cinematographers: Toby Phillips,
Laszlo Kovacs, ASC and Vilmos

Zsigmond, ASC.
Toby Phillips began the
seminar by introducing himself
and his work. A transplanted
Australian, Phillips is one of the

The Cinematographer's
Master Workshop
-

Lake Arrowhead 1994

Experts offer valuable tips during
hands-on seminars.
by Marty Ollstein
Another Bowie song was
lit

by several handheld lamps
kept in constant motion by crew
members wearing black. The
moving highlights and everchanging shadows on the blue
background were fascinating.
A more abstract-styled
piece was shot at 12 frames per
second, then double-printed to
maintain sync. Any movement
tends to blur at that slow shutter

busiest commercial and music
video cinematographers, and is

speed (V25 second), but the static

also in demand as a director and
second unit cinematographer, as
well as for aerial and underwater
work. The commercial produc¬

sharp.

elements of the frame remain

above his head adds a curious el¬
ement to the scene and gives the

singer

a

soft enveloping light.

Above:

against bright

a

windows and

tion company that represents him
is on the cutting edge of the new

digital technology, and Phillips is
deeply involved in the develop¬
ment and application of these
new
techniques. He edits his own
projects on a non-linear Avid
Editing System.
Phillips brought a few
music videos as examples of his
work, one being a David Bowie
project for which he shot seven
different songs in one production
day. Although they were all pro¬
duced on a stage, each had a dis¬
tinct look and used a variety of
camera
techniques.
One of Phillips's favor¬
ites was a piece in which Bowie is
lit by a single powerful spotlight
shot into a four-foot square of
1000H tracing paper, suspended
only a few feet above and in front
of Bowie. The lit paper floating

trast control

the

use

tical

of prac¬

lamps to
light

motivate
sources.

The

scene

begins with
woman

a
stand¬

ing on a sunlit
balcony, then
follows her
she enters

as

Toby
Phillips lines up
shot in the

large hunting
lodge at the
Conference
Center. Left:
Author

Marty

Ollstein (center)
confers with a

pair of
Hungarian
greats: Vilmos
Zsigmond Ileft)
and Laszlo
Kovacs.

a

large room and
Monday
After breakfast, we di¬
vided into three four-person pro¬
duction teams. Each group was to

create, light and shoot a scene
that would provide for some ex¬

perimentation and discovery.
The first group consisted
of Lourdes Ambrose (from In¬

dia), Odd Hynnekleiv (from Nor¬

way), Jeff Schaaf (L.A.), and my¬
self. We decided on a day interior
scene to explore the issues of

in a shaft
of light, motivated by a doorway
but actually created by a 4K HMI.
From there, they walk to another
window where they pause, face
to face in full silhouette against
the bright window. The window
was covered on the outside with
meets another

layers of 216 white diffusion
gel, bringing the level of the window down to only two stops
two

above the

camera

exposure set¬

ting.
After their intimate tete-

mixed color temperatures, con¬

June 1995

woman

American

Cinematographer

75
American Cinematographer - June 1995

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