American Cinematographer - October 1996 - 57

POGOCAM

"Captures the Action"

down into the water, with the
camera then craning down to re¬

veal the Frenchman hanging un¬
derneath the bridge. We placed
an Enlouva crane with a Hot
Head on a platform on the bridge
to do the crane-down shot. The
camera was armed out maybe 15
feet from the bridge, and then
the arm dropped to reveal the
Frenchman. We were on a 50mm
lens at a T2, so focus became very
critical. But there was no way for
our

focus

measure

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puller, Jun Hosoi, to

it because

our camera

floating out in space!"
For producer Carter,
simply telling a story with a se¬

was

ries of master

shots, medium

shots and

close-ups is not suffi¬
cient. "I don't like shooting that
way at all," he scoffs. "It's boring
and pedestrian to me. We have to
keep the camera in motion, but it
has to be driven there
not just
functioning as if it has a mind of
-

its

own.

If the

camera

is function¬

ing as a character, you'd better be
able to justify it to me, or else I'm
an unhappy producer. Our cam¬
era is not flying around creating
energy that's not there. I think the
energy that is in the story is very
intense. In fact, people keep ask¬
ing me, 'Is the [rest of the] series
going to be this intense?' I think
the intensity is inherent in the
story, and the camera just helps
to convey that."
Wunstorf concludes,
"The effective

aspect of Millen¬

nium is that it is

more realitythough The X-Files is
really scary, I find this show
even more frightening because
it seems real. These things do
happen; it's not science-fiction. I
give a lot of credit to Chris Carter
and to John Bartley [CSC], who

based. Even

shot the last three

seasons

of The

X-Files, for creating shows on
television that are that dark and
that bold. I think that The X-Files,
and

now

continue

Millennium [which will
on with cinematogra¬

pher John McLachlan], have paved
the way for some new possibilities
on

television."

♦

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American Cinematographer - October 1996

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