American Cinematographer - November 1999 - 97

tipped away from the camera -
making it appear that the camera was
positioned far below it - the gimbal
was
programmed to gradually
change the angle so that by the end of

"Lighthouse," he created the effect of
a diffusion filter with Discreet
Logic's
Llame while finishing the spot..
The forbidding sky behind the
lighthouse was also put together via

the shot, the

Llame. On location, the weather had

camera

appeared to be
"Since it

was

on

and the truck

the

same

did

had it," indicates Saarinen. "We

multiple

reasons.

passes for various
We did takes for the shafts of

light coming from the headlights, for
backlight, and for a beauty shot of
the side of the

car.

In terms of

running up and down the track, we
probably shot it 40 or 50 times."
Saarinen employed Kodak's
EXR 5248 whenever possible, but
relied

on

Vision 500T 5279 in low-

light situations, noting that "the
Vision stock is really good for matte
work." He used

no

filtration

at

layering," Barnett says.
many complex layers
that the process slowed down."
Stephanie Argy

we

were

"There

were so

-

suitably stormy, so Saarinen
10-second plates of the
sky. Using the Llame, the plates were
lined up geometrically to create a
seamless backdrop that could be
panned around at will.
shot separate

we

could do the shot and refine it until
we

single continuous shot. "We

had 900 frames of information that

been

plane.

motion-control,

look of a

all,

preferring instead to add those kinds
of effects in post. In the case of

Llame

was

also used

to create

much of the

"Sunshine" in Hawaii

Shooting in beautiful, natural
surroundings can be surprisingly
challenging for a cinematographer,
especially when the area is as wellknown and well-photographed as
Hawaii. To film

music video for

fog seen in the spot.
"The fog elements we shot on stage
didn't do everything we wanted,"

rapher Aaron Schneider traveled to

contends Barnett, whose company
created a particle-based 3-D digital

where the duo shot

atmosphere to add to the practical
haze. "The fog grew and grew in
terms of its complexity."
Sight Effects spent about three
to four weeks on "Lighthouse,"
putting three Llame artists and one
CG artist on the job to simulate the

Coko's

tune

a

"Sunshine," cinematog¬

Oahu with director Darren Grant,
a
tapestry of
idyllic images featuring the singer.

Lor

Schneider, the most difficult

part

of the job

create

a

was finding a way to
vision of Hawaii that would

stand out from the many other
videos and commercials that have
been shot there.

Bodymount uses a specially designed vest
and the standard doggimount bracketry
to allow easy

of the
offers
can

and comfortable attachment
to a person. This system
uniquely dynamic shots. The vest

camera

be covered with wardrobe to allow

framing to the middle of the chest.

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American Cinematographer - November 1999

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