American Cinematographer - November 1998 - 82

Great

Relationships
discuss with him his ideas about

making Platoon,

project based on
his own combat experiences. "I was
honored," the cinematographer
noted in the April 1987 issue of AC.
"Oliver had been carrying Platoon
a

around in his head for 10 years, ever
since he'd returned from Vietnam. I
knew it

personal and
important film for him."
was

very

With this foundation laid,
Richardson and Stone continued to

forge their relationship over the
course of subsequent productions.
The

cameraman

would later note,

"fve become very

spoiled by Oliver

because of the material I get from
him. I have very high expectations
for the

subject matter that I shoot.
He also brings a lot of passion to his
work." Only a few months later, the
duo would be filming Platoon in the
dense jungles of the Philippines,
where they battled the heat, dust,
bugs, and other difficulties of film¬

ing in the bush. Their efforts paid
off, resulting in a 1987 Best Picture
win that helped to re-open discus¬
sion about the Vietnam War.
In the

coming years, the duo
would again revisit the Vietnam era,
first by exploring the transforma¬
tion of Ron Kovic from soldier to
antiwar activist in Born

the Forth

of July, and later, the life of Le Ly
Hayslip, a Vietnamese woman
whose life is painfully destroyed and
rebuilt in Heaven & Earth. For both

pictures, the cameraman utilized an
evolving visual language to reflect
the characters' unique perspectives.
A signature technique that
Richardson has utilized while work¬

ing with Stone is the interweaving of
imagery in order to amplify
emotions
and accent specific
imagery. Super 8 reversal stocks,

textured

black-and-white 16mm, and vari¬
ous video formats are intertwined
with vintage

stock footage and silky-

smooth 35mm color anamorphic
photography, and then carefully
blended by Stone and his expert
editors. These methods

were

used to

poetic effect in JFK, which shifts
between past, present and fictional
passages while exploring the assassi¬
nation of John F. Kennedy in an
impressionistic style. This photo¬
graphic strategy was taken to new
heights in Natural Born Killers, a
fractured crazy-quilt of images that
reflect the warped minds of the
tale's serial-killer protagonists.
Interestingly, NBK proved to
be a significant hurdle for Richard¬
son, and tested the relationship that
he and Stone had built, proving that
even

tions

the
are

most

not

successful collabora¬
without

difficulty. In

the November 1994 issue of AC, the

cinematographer remarked, "The
situation was, quite clearly, that I
didn't want to do the film. I simply
didn't have the level of respect that

(COURSE

SERIES)

One-week intensive

workshops run September 1998, and February and May 1999, at the
Image Arts, Ryerson Polytechnic University, (Toronto, Canada) and at the
headquarters of William F. White Limited, the world's largest supplier of camera, lighting, grip
and related production equipment. You'll have access to state-of-the-art equipment, including
the Arri 535 and Moviecam cameras, hot heads, cranes, Kino flos and 18K HMIs.
School of

Camera Assistant
Camera

Workshop September 13-19, February 28-March 6, May 2-8

Operator/Advanced Camera Assistant February 21 -27, May 9-15

Advanced

Lighting for Film & Video I September 20-26, May 16-22

Advanced

Lighting for Film & Video II May 23-29

Series recommended

Courses

by IATSE and Society of Operating Cameramen
taught by Torben Johnke, ASC, and other award-winning cinematographers

Accommodation available.

Fax

e-mail for

complete course information.
For more information, phone (416) 979-5180 fax (416) 979-5277
e-mail profcin@acs.ryerson.ca Web site www.ryerson.ca/ce
or

RYEBSON
Offered

WILLIAM F. WHITE LIMITED
MOTION PICTURE, TELEVISION A THEATRICAL EQUIPMENT SUPPLY

by the School of Image Arts and the Continuing Education Division of
Ryerson Polytechnic University, in partnership with William F. White Limited.

CONTINUING EDUCATION DIVISION RYERSON POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF IMAGE ARTS

American Cinematographer - November 1998

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