American Cinematographer - January 1996 - 69

reproduction,

the middle

or

work best." But in the

case

may
of Heav¬

enly Peace, he knew that "the wrong
thing to do was to reproduce it as
1.33 within 1.85."

Leitner had seen the mate¬
rial Gordon showed him on tape,
"and Tiananmen

Square, the larg¬
in the world, is
huge. It's mind-boggling. It's so
large that when you're shooting,
you're shooting the horizon. Many
est open

square

shots in this film have

a

lateral

quality to them, dominated by lat¬
eral perspective lines. All perspec¬
tive lines work

on that basis. It was
clear to me that most of the shots
would sustain a 1.85 cutoff, but

only if

we

Single Frame Motor &
Intervalometer for Mitchell MK II

could carefully reposi¬

tion each shot."

*

Further, Leitner

Crystal shutter speeds

1/16

-

working primarily with video
footage, with the exception of talk¬
ing head-interviews shot in 16mm,

*

*

*

which would remain in video to be
transferred back to film. "There
to

to over 8 min. time exposure.

*

was

wasn't time to blow up

sec.

*12 to 24 VDC power.
Intervals from 1 fps to

60 hrs.

Burst feature 1-15 frames per
LED frame counter.
Foreword/reverse operations.

pulse.

ALSO SYSTEMS FOR: Aaton. Arri
S&M, Arri 16 SR. Arri 35IIC, Arri 35III.
Bolex Rex 4 & 5. Eclair ACL. Mitchell
16mm, Mitchell 35 HS. Mitchell BNC.
AP65mm, Imax. Vistavision

the 16mm

35," he explains, "though that's

what I'd have liked to do."
When Leitner looked at
the material, he realized that many

'

^^gjs film

shots would have to be

dynami¬
cally re-framed. "There were shots
from TV news of a sudden pan, or
two students running by with an

injured student in a stretcher, and
beginning of the shot pan¬
ning left you'd want the top part of
the frame where the part of the
image that best fit into the 1.85
frame would be. By the end of the
shot, you'd want the bottom of the
at the

frame."

1014 Green Lane

*

La

products

Canada, California 91011

Phone: 818-790-1907

Fax: 818-790-1920

"For me, directing films is
like having sex; when it's

good, it's very good; but when
it's bad, it's still good."
DIRECT

*

WRITE

*

SHOOT

*

EDIT

At New York's Tape

House
Digital, Leitner was able to "tilt"
the image vertically, repositioning
each shot using a digital ADO-like
device known as a Kaleidoscope -
starting at the top of the frame and
scanning to the bottom by the
end of the shot. "My goal," says
Leitner, who used this technique
on

30% of the

shots, "was to do this

smoothly that no one would
happened. In one or
two places, you can sense a me¬
so

know what

chanical move, but I've hidden
them
tucked them away in

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-

other

camera

moves." Even Gor¬

don and editor David Carnochan
couldn't tell where many
them were.
Leitner

Gordon had been

SMALL CLASSES DESIGNED AND TAUGHT BY

of

grateful that
transferring ev-

was

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American Cinematographer - January 1996

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