American Cinematographer - April 1999 - 37

he would then go

In

off and choreo¬
graph it. Once he had the whole
'dance' of the fight, we'd ask what he
would recommend for every shot.
camera

moves
on

or

other

angles

the Wachowski
brothers hired
famed direc¬

we

tor/stunt
Wo

Ping to
design the
film's highenergy fight
sequences. Says
Pope, "These
fights were not

integral part of Wo Ping's
fight choreography is his legendary
use of wire-harness stuntwork. Truly
an awe-inspiring feat of visual trick¬
ery, the technique allows actors to
seemingly defy the laws of physics as
they leap, fly and twirl around their
opponents in battle. "Wo Ping's wirework is the best," Larry attests. "Using
the wire system, you can improvise
very easily. They can put a wire
anywhere and hook somebody up to
it at any moment. They don't need a
big rig - just a bunch of guys who
grab hold of it and say, 'Let's go!' It's
very fast, fluid and safe. In Hong
Kong kung fu films, they basically
put people on wires for everything,
from jumping to standing up or even
running. It makes all of the move¬
ment look very graceful and kind of
surreal. We thought that was perfect

shot

to

shoot

usually set
shoulder

punch, miss¬
ing the person's
face by a mile.
a

Instead, the
brothers and
Wo

character
to hit
someone in the
a

were

face, they had
to

every blow,
and you can
even see the
see

Fox's stages at

-

a

formidable

presence.

Among the hundreds of Australian
crewmembers

on

the show

were

production designer Owen Paterson,
costume designer Kym Barrett, gaffer
Reg Garside, rigging gaffer Craig
Bryant, key grip Ray Brown, camera
operator David Williamson, focuspullers David Elmes and Adrien
Seffrrin, clapper/loader Jason Binnie

the

film's

level

of

complexity. Everything had to be
preconceived and explained. Larry
and Andy are naturally reticent
people, so that was hard for them.
They usually don't want to tell you
anything unless they're forced to.
During my prep for Bound, for

and loader

second-unit director of photography

of the film's

Ross

They'd say, 'Oh... conventionally.' I'd

complex require¬
serpentine narra¬
tive and the grandiose environments

as

well

as

and events the Wachowskis had envi¬

Emery and underwater camera¬
Roger Buckingham, ACS.
"My prep for The Matrix

sioned, the producers decided to

consisted of two months of schedul¬

shoot the entire film in

ing

Australia.

Sydney,

Utilizing virtually

stage in the city

-

man

and

every

recounts.

including all of

swamped

rescheduling,"
many

clothes

as

they're hit!"

me

In the

then have
track.

they'd

..

to say,

'Okay, let's back¬
Finally,

what's the first shot?'

say,

'Well, we'll start

on one

guy's boot, go up his body, end up on

were

his face in

extreme

close-up and then

concerns

whip-pan

over to

the other person.'

"The Wachowskis

with

Pope

coming off

and go

Imagining the Future

Jodi Smith,

dust

the actors'

instance, I asked them to sit down
with

With the

with The Matrix as well. "

ments

of

because

through each scene.
beginning, they'd try to shrug
off my questions by saying things
like, 'Well the scene is just two guys
sitting there talking.' Then I'd ask
how they planned on covering it.

another level. We tried to do that

really hit

them in the
face! You can

became

storytelling tool. [Filmmakers] have
come up with an incredible language
for violence. For example, what John
Woo [ The Killer, Face/Off\ does with
his sort of hyper-violence is brilliant.
He pushes violent imagery to

Ping

insisted that if

and I think violence

great

as

another throws

their new studio facil¬
ity, as well as several converted ware¬
houses
the production quickly

a

over
character's

one

detail the

be

in

which the
camera is

way that isn't really done
Hollywood anymore," Larry
continues. "There are many incredi¬
ble and beautiful images in violence,
can

fight

scenes,

a

in

as

Americans

for The Matrix.

"We also tried

coor¬

dinator Yuen

top of that."

An

action in

a

fight-choreog¬
raphy aesthetic,

We'd then add whatever flourishes,
wanted

adopting

Hong Kong

American

Cinematographer 35
American Cinematographer - April 1999

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