American Cinematographer - January 1998 - 48

Fly Girl
nal associate Louis Gara (Robert De

stuck with the space.

recently released from
prison after serving a robbery sen¬
tence
and his ditzy, dope-smoking
moll Melanie Ralston (Bridget
Fonda). After being caught with
$50,000 in cash and small packet of
cocaine on her person, Jackie is
forced to take part in a complex sting
operation concocted by federal agent
Ray Nicolet (Michael Keaton) to
bring Robbie down.
Given Tarantino's affinity

is very

for discourse, Navarro found his

I

Niro)

-

-

challenge on Jackie Brown to
be devising a unique style for a dia¬
logue-driven film set in some not-sopicturesque locales. Offers Navarro,
greatest

"The fact that this

Right: Quentin
Tarantino

(along left wall)
blocks out

a

shot of actor
Michael Keaton

(playing
Federal agent

Ray Nicolet)
with Steadicam
and A-camera

operator Dan
Kneece. Below:

Jackie

convers¬

es with bail
bondsman Max

Cherry (Robert
Forster) in the
food court of
the South Bay's
mammoth Del
Amo Mall.

was a

contempo¬

had a lot to do with how I
approached the style. Anything seen
in everyday life is absent of the
'magic' of style due to one's daily
relationship to it. Interpretation is an
ingredient one can sculpt with when
addressing the future or the past, but
not when dealing with a contempo¬
rary story which has strong doses of
realism. This entire film takes place at
locations everyone has a visual rela¬
tionship to - such as a mall and an
airport. There's no interpretation
that can cross the everyday vision of
these places, so I had to take a very
realistic approach. But being on loca¬
tion can be very difficult, because
rary story

which

tions in Tarantino's directorial debut,

and the bottom of the frame ends

Reservoir Dogs, were dictated more or

the bottom of their chins." He adds,
"It's a very strong choice to shoot

less

by a scene's action; much like the
subjective observations of a roving

"The fact that this was

on

used actors

we

cool-looking faces. This
together well, especially in cer¬
dialogue scenes, because their

tain

lot to do with how

faces hold the screen."

approached the style.
Anything seen in everyday
life is absent of the 'magic'
of style due to one's
daily relationship to it.
Interpretation is an
ingredient one can sculpt
with when addressing
the future or the past but
not when dealing with
a

Navarro

ing depended
conversation,

adds, "The fram¬

the state of the
how much interac¬

upon
or

contemporary story

which has strong doses
of realism."
Guillermo Navarro
-

eye,

veers

into

a

was

[between the scene's

principals]. We did do a lot of side
close-ups, but not just close-ups
where someone is almost talking to
the camera just off the lens; we did a

camer¬

lot of shots that had more
the

handheld

style. In contrast, Pulp
(again shot by Sekula) plays
mainly in proscenium-style

Fiction
out

tion there

kinetic,

the heist film's involving

awork often

maneuvers

are

separation:

close-up is a profile, and there's
no relationship with the eyeline of
the person who is being spoken to.
Many times, we let the scene go into
a

two-shot, because the shot

was

only during crises like the
Hawthorne Grill robbery, and

about that interaction. That type

Steadicam shots

cut

(such

as

the initial

of the nostalgic Jack Rabbit
eatery) are equally scarce.
The

Navarro

camera

motion in the

Jackie Brown

shot

with

-

which

Moviecam

Compacts in the spherical 1.85:1
aspect ratio
these styles.
this

-

combines both of

The first 90 minutes of
character-driven picture estab¬

lish the

January 1998

them like that, since

contemporary story had

2 1/2-hour

46

the actors' foreheads

on

a

Slim's

of the benefits

frame ends

cuts

survey

any

"Sergio Leone close-ups,"
basically consist of "tight
close-ups in which the top of the

a

seen

don't have

such shots

who have

frames; handheld

you

and of themselves. Tarantino dubs

Since the story
dialogue-driven, it became
complicated to execute some of the
shots [in a visually interesting way)."
The widescreen composi¬

sition

plot primarily through expo¬
sequences that allowed the

framing allows another
in with

more

scene to

traditional

of
be

cover¬

age, but it also gives you freedom to
use the frame to
help both characters."

The

cinematographer made
of Clairmont's SwingShift lens system, as he had on his
previous project, the offbeat super¬

frequent

use

hero adventure

Spawn (see AC Aug.
'97). He found this system to be par¬

ticularly useful for shooting in-car
conversations which

required that

the faces of two characters be in

you'd have on a soundstage, where
you can make lighting and produc¬

cameraman

indulge in "portrait
photography" which treats the faces

focus, and for lending dramatic ten¬

tion

of various characters

together

design decisions

-

you're just

to

as

landscapes in

sion

to

certain
or

by bringing
pulling apart the actors'
scenes
American Cinematographer - January 1998

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