American Cinematographer - November 1999 - 102

because

use more hard
light than he
usually would because he didn't have

they didn't have to wait for
rig to be
programmed.
Schwartzman opted to shoot
the spot on Kodak's Vision 500T

to

5279 stock. Because it's such

out

the

motion-control

film, he

lights

was

as

able to

use

a

fast

he would have for other

down. "Though this spot
had a fairly good-sized budget, it
didn't warrant spending another
$6,000 on lighting," he says. "Michael
is budget-conscious, and if we could
save
that money, we would."
expenses

Schwartzman adds, however, that he
it had meant

a

fast film stock if

compromising the

spot's look.
Schwartzman

approaches
lighting in a very intuitive way, asking
himself, "How does this set want to
be lit?"

illuminate faces. "I would call the

look

moody dramatic realism,"' he
submits. "It was all about bringing
textures."

Bay prefers strong blacks and
highlights. In the case of the Levi's
spot, the cinematographer was able

used

mixed

color temperatures

throughout the
"It became something that we
decided on that day," he says. "We
kind of mixed it all up. Wherever
there were practical, we tended to go
spot.

warm;

him

to

a day, you want
do what he does best," the

cinematographer reasons. "I give him
the room to improvise. You have to
allow him to work in the style in
which he is

Schwartzman

half as many

stocks, thus keeping the lighting

wouldn't have used

to

that caliber $25,000

in the kitchen,

we

tended to

go greener. There's no
reason other than it looks

most

creative."

Schwartzman shot the spot
with Panavision cameras and Primos

lenses, noting that Bay prefers to
work

at

the extreme ends of the

cal range.
14.5mm

offers

opti¬
the
the 300mm,"

"Michael is either
or

the

he's

on

cameraman.

on

On

this

rhyme or
interesting.
It all goes back to taste and graphics.
We were going for a kind of hip,

wide- 14.5mm, 17.5mm, 21mm -
because the most important aspect

modern look, because this spot was
slated to air on MTV and ESPN.

the apartment space.
While Schwartzman found the

Those

incredibly
sophisticated in terms of visuals."
Though the spot was elabo¬
rately storyboarded, Schwartzman

job relatively easy from a technical
point of view, the hard part for him
was
keeping track of all the bits and
pieces, such as what would be invisi¬

admits that the boards

ble and what would be

audiences

are

meant

Bay. "If you're paying

"American
the field of
years,

a

little

to

director of

particular spot, Bay tended to stay

of the

photography was establishing

Cinematographeris

a

For

beacon that has illuminated

cinematography and the motion picture industry for

and I've been reading it since I

the definitive

fore very

seen.

example, the inside back portions of

was a

film student. AC is

publication for cinematographers, and is there¬

important within the industry. It's where

you go

for

unbiased, honest, objective information about filmmaking

-

where you go

for the real story."

Martin Scorsese
American Cinematographer - November 1999

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