American Cinematographer - November 1998 - 20

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The troubled Wade reveals his

personal demons to his ever-tolerant girlfriend, Margie
Fogg (Sissy Spacek). Schrader decreed that all interiors should be lit like caves where
people hibernated during winter.
service

white, which is very tricky because of all
the bounce. For contrast, I wanted to

with the wind chill factor. To match the

make the interiors like

mountainous terrain of New

people hibernated during the harsh

This hardiness

Mount St. Hillaire

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appeared to be in a valley. In pulling off
this geographical illusion, the filmmakers
even

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color of

snow cover,

winter.

That

a

have

indicates

coloration in the
that

you

lot of the

a

world of

where

caves

certain

a

production design and
lighting should come in

from the outside."
The director
ors

preferred that exteri¬

be biased blue in contrast to the

by having vehicles travel in the
opposite direction.
For perspectives on snowbound
shooting, Schrader referenced such
pictures as The White Dawn and Map of
the Human Heart in his preparatory talks
with director of photography Paul
Sarossy, CSC (Speaking Parts, Exotica,
the upcoming Felicia's Journey), who
earned Best Cinematography honors for
Affliction at last year's Valladolid Film
Festival. In February of 1997, when the

warmly lit interiors. Sarossy, who shot
the picture with Panaflex Gil and spheri¬
cal Primos, using Fuji F-500 8571 for
nights and day interiors, and F-125 8531
for day exteriors, explains that this
dynamic "was established in a scene
that finds Wade visiting his parents on
their remote farm. Having run out of
heating fuel, the interior needed to look
cold. Whatever light was coming in from
the wintry outside was only halfcorrected with

an

Canadian

this

the tungsten

interior lights

film

warmed. With

no

coverage

*

Columbia. Notes Schrader, "With the

productions shooting in Arctic
came in handy
during the one week of night exteriors,
when temperatures dropped to -40°C
areas.

cameraman

embarked

on

35-day shoot, he had just finished

a

complicated by issues of severe snow
conditions. Coincidentally, that project

goes even bluer.
"Blue was

adaptation of another Russell
Banks novel
Atom Egoyan's The
Sweet Hereafter (see Prod. Slate, AC
Dec. '97) - which endured five days of

with

was

an

-

exteriors in the wilds of Merritt, British

one

car-chase

of

our

81EF filter. As

a

are

result,
half-

correction, the outside

important in dealing

trickier sequences

-

a

night. Generally,
these scenes pose no great lighting prob¬
lems, but ours was to take place in the
inky blackness of a forest road winding
scene

at
American Cinematographer - November 1998

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - November 1998
