American Cinematographer - November 1999 - 58

Right: The

"Steven also

exterior of

Valentine's
seaside
mansion at Big
Sur was lit with

an

interesting extension of what we
trying to do with the cine¬
matography. It became thematically
intriguing."
Added to this stripped-down
production approach was an uncon¬
ventional narrative style that makes

balloons,
casting an

extreme blue
that contrasts

with the home's
warm interior

(created with

of both flashbacks and flashfor-

use

firelight
effects). Below:
Making plans in
a seedy bar, a
pair of hitmen
are assigned to
dispose of

wards, which inform the audience
where certain characters
and also hint

are

from,

where

they may be
going. "We discussed different story¬
telling styles, and Steven wanted to
suggest the characters' interior

Wilson. The
extreme colors

amplified.

Limey

were

HMI

of the sources
found on
location formed
the basis for
the lighting,
and were then

The

cast

with icons of the '70s, which is

at

world," Lachman describes. "Film is
able
and

III

Cooke

Speed Panchro
primes. "Those lenses were made 30
years ago, which contributed to the
look of the film," the cinematogra¬
pher attests. "The Cookes don't have
the contrast, definition,

or

multicoat¬

ings that a modern lens like a Primo
has. They're softer and more forgiv¬
ing, so we didn't use any diffusion.
Steven also liked the lens flares we'd

sometimes get

with them. At night,
though, I'd use Zeiss Superspeeds.
"We did everything possible to
demystify the process of shooting,
and do without all the equipment,
camera gear and lights that
many
people think they have to have these
days. We asked ourselves, 'How can

approach this film if we don't
have all those things?' That created

we

to

while in

show locations very easily,
a novel it
may take several

another kind of aesthetic that could

paragraphs to describe the place and
setting. But it's much more difficult

be

for

applied to the storytelling
approach, and it was so successful for
us

that

same

we

million

-

"In terms of the

fortunate
-

the

to

$55-

was a

crew,

I

was

have my

same

preferred team
gaffer I always work

with, John DeBlau, the same first
assistant, Mike Hall, and a very good
operator, Ray de la Motte, who
very

familiar with how films

was

were

shot in the 1970s and innovative
about how

things.

filmmaker

shot Erin Brockovich the

and that
studio picture.

way

a

we

could do certain

to enter

a

character's

interior world than it is for
"In Out

a

novelist.

of Sight, Steven exper¬
by using

imented with this idea

changes of voice and story perspec¬
was something I'd also
seen in films
by the French director
Alain Resnais. In The Limey, for
tive, which

instance,

we'd

shoot

the

same

dialogue scene between Terence
Stamp and Leslie Ann Warren in
three different locations, and then
Steven would cut this footage

together as one continuous dialogue.
He would then go one step further
and run the dialogue over a reaction
shot

of

the

character

who

is

supposed to be speaking. That breaks
up the traditional narrative flow, and
the audience gets an impression of
the character's interior world.
"In
was

a

sense,

treated

the footage we shot

almost

like

'found'

images. This editing plan was some¬
thing that Steven was thinking about
before

began shooting, and we
getting the coverage he
needed, but it really came together in
the editing room. This kind of
we

discussed

manipulation of time and
sometimes done in

space

The Matrix, but not often in
human drama."
56 November 1999

is

fantasy films like
a

real
American Cinematographer - November 1999

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