American Cinematographer - October 1998 - 51

it. The

rig consisted of several differ¬
lighting fixtures which could be
manipulated to achieve different
levels and positions of light. It also
offered a motor and a pulley system
which was controlled manually to
keep the light in proper relationship
ent

to

the

actors

and the

Poker, of

camera.

fairly
in which people basically
a table, saying little or
conversing as talking heads. With so
little physical action to work with, it
is incumbent upon the director to
course,

is

a

static game
sit around

somehow create

a

sense

"There wasn't

ment.

tacular

move¬

anything

could

we

of

do

with

spec¬

the

camera," admits Dahl. "The impor¬
tant thing was to get the audience to
care

about the characters. If viewers

care

about the characters, the game

will be

interesting."

WHEN LIGHTS GO DARK,
IT GETS EXPENSIVE.

Escoffier, that meant

For

focusing on faces and the almost
imperceptible flickers of emotion
which pass over them. "If you have
three or four people sitting next to
each other around a poker table,
and they are always trying to trick
another, that is readable in their
faces," he declares. "Poker is very

scary thought.... you're on location shooting a film or
big event and your "low-bidder, made-in-a-garage,
won't-answer-the-phone" xenon lights go dark. What do you do?
Here's

staging

a

a

Call Xenotech.

one

much focused

people's eyes:
where they look, where they don't
look, what they avoid."
That is

one reason

makers decided

to

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shoot in the

elegant way of focusing
your attention on people's eyes,"
comments Escoffier. "If you shoot in
Academy forrfiat [1.85:1], your
attention is on the whole body of
the person because you see the
entire body." Another consideration
was the desire to work with low light
levels. Anamorphic wasn't an
option. Therefore, the cinematogra¬
pher elected to use Kodak Vision
a

Xenotech

the film¬

Super 35 fo'rmat. "Super 35

2.35:1

has

on

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Angeles-Seattle-Orlando-Anywhere

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very

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order to

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the

same

texture

YOUR LIGHT SOURCE
Strong Entertainment Lighting

9

XENOTECH SEARCHLIGHTS

*

SUPER TROUPER FOLLOW SPOTLIGHTS

throughout.
Rounders'

camera

package

consisted of two Panavision Plat¬
inums

NOCTURN ULTRA VIOLET VISUAL EFFECTS

SKYTRACKER EVENT LIGHTING

(one specially built to shoot

In the dark about which

lights to use? Call

XenotechUSA.com

7348 Bellaire Ave.

North

our 800 number or visit
Strongint.com Skytracker.com

North Hollywood Office:
Hollywood, CA 91605 Ph: (818)-255-0620
™1998

our

websites:

Fx: (818) 255-0626

Ballantyne of Omaha, Inc.

-

Member NYSE: BTN
American Cinematographer - October 1998

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