American Cinematographer - January 1997 - 78

phis. We used filters and film
stocks that would give us that ef¬
fect, whereas on Brother's Keeper,
which had a story with some inher¬
ent warmth, we used the appropri¬
ate approach to retain that warmth.
But that's really the only artificial,
conscious choice

we

made."

Says Richman, who relied
standard 16mm Aaton camera
a Canon 8-64mm lens for the
bulk of the shoot, "Joe and Bruce
on a

guilty of 'taking advantage' of
people," Sinofsky remarks can¬
didly. "But they make the con¬

ing with the mood."
The documentary began
production three years ago, just as
Kodak was introducing 7298, so
Richman had to rely primarily on
7296. "It's grainy, but I had to go

cause

scious choice to be

on camera

some

critics can't believe

we can

get these kinds of scenes and 'per¬
formances' from people.
even accuse us of
scripting

Some
things
or
telling subjects what to do. They

with the faster stock," he recalls.

pretty much trusted me. They told
me what
they like, but I had to
shoot it by reacting to the situa¬

ing

will go for a better stock whenever
I can. Some people try to maintain

very

tions. Most

with one, but I prefer to use any of
them to their fullest extent without

we're amazed too, but Joe
can't create these things."

the 1.33:1 TV frame ensured that
little information would be lost

during the conversion to 1.85:1.
While artificial lighting
was a
rarity outside of formal inter¬
view situations, Richman brought
along a small Arri kit or Lowell
Tota lights and a Chimera softbox.
"You don't want to go crazy in a
situation like

this," the

cameraman

"primarily because you don't
want to have people thinking
about 'making the film.'
says,

"There's

one scene

in the

film where the

prosecuting attor¬
neys tell the victim's families that
they really don't have a lot of evi¬
dence and might have to make
some kind of a deal. Joe had
hap¬
pened to hear that this meeting was
going to occur and got us permis¬
sion to shoot

[the scene] at

one

of

the

prosecutor's homes. They
going to wait for us, but we
were
going to be really underex¬
posed. I had time to throw up one
Tota light and bounce it into the
ceiling - the worst kind of light¬
ing. But I tried to maximize what
was
going on with the light, and
weren't

the

scene

is vital to the film.

"It's frustrating to me as a
photographer to have to do that,"
Richman admits. "There were a lot
of ugly locations, but you have to

learn to subordinate your

American

Cinematographer

desire for

"Still, I used 93,48 and 45 depend¬
on

the conditions, because I

compromising them. You don't
because you
slower stock and had to

be¬

they have something to say
about their grief or anger or hostil¬
ity. We don't ambush people, but

and

importantly, they di¬
rected me to things that were hap¬
pening outside of my eyeline.
They're another set of eyes for me."
Although the cinematog¬
rapher concedes that filming Para¬
dise Lost in Super 16 would have
been preferable in light of its even¬
tual blow-up to 35mm (to be dis¬
tributed theatrically by Berlinger
and Sinofsky's own company),
Richman reveals that shooting for

76

good-looking frame in order to
get the content. So you do what
you can with composition, work¬
ing like a jazz musician and mov¬
a

don't understand that
to

we

work

hard at building trust in order
get this kind of access. Hey,
and I

However, becoming close
subject "can get in the way
of what we ultimately have to do,"
insists Berlinger. "When we get
into that editing room, we're faced
with

a

Berlinger and Sinofsky got into
people's lives is astonishing; in one
instance, they film and record a
phone conversation between a
jailed Jessie Misskelly Jr. and his
girlfriend. As the camera rolls,

with

a

the discussion turns to his sexual

during the shoot," Sinofsky con¬
firms, "by shooting 150 hours of
footage to get the 150 minutes we
present in the final cut. So we in¬
vestigated things on many angles,
ultimately sorting out [footage] on
the flatbed in the editing room -
finding and heightening our points
through drama and juxtaposition."
In an interesting aside,
Berlinger says that "a minority of
purist documentarians are con¬
fused or angry about this film be¬

want to miss

wanted

a

waste time

a scene

setting

light."

up a

In Paradise Lost,

the

access

thoughts about her. Explains
Berlinger, "They were both aware
we were
filming, but sometimes
the desire to be on film or the level
of trust allows the filmmakers to

keep going. Some people might
have stopped the cameras, but
there wasn't any point where we
felt
the

we

needed to do that. We had

option in the editing room to
cut out things that were too sensi¬
tive, so why not shoot it?"
In another situation, the
parents of one young victim visit

their son's grave, and take
of each other while the

Polaroids
sun

sets.

"Obviously there
scenes

were some
like that which required

forethought and were less sponta¬
neous," says Berlinger. "But spend¬
ing time with our subjects and get¬
ting them used to us - helping
them forget that filming was going
on

-

created

an

environment where

people liked

us,

didn't mind if

we were

trusted

us and
around. In

this case, we were visiting the fam¬
ily and they mentioned that they
were
going to the grave - we sim¬
ply asked if we could tag along. We
didn't know what
to

we were

film until hours before

going

we were

doing it."
"Some

January 1997

people

say we are

situation where

we

have to

forget that friendship for the sake
of the film, and we sometimes have
to include a scene that is critical or

compromising."
"But

we

cast

a

wide net

don't tell the audience
what to think. That's not our mis¬
sion. This isn't an advocacy film
like The Thin Blue Line, and Bruce
cause we

and I

are not
all-knowing and allseeing. Sometimes we capture stuff

that

aren't

of cap¬
turing. The greatest reaction our
films can have is when viewers
come back to us with their com¬
ments and tell us about things we
never intended. And the
interpreta¬
we

even aware

tions

they have would not be hap¬
pening if we reduced everything to
a narration
point."
The filmmakers report
that in the case of Paradise Lost,
about 80 percent of the audience

typically has doubts that the three
convicted killers are in fact guilty.
Meanwhile, the lawyers of the trio
have all filed appeals.
♦
American Cinematographer - January 1997

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