American Cinematographer - December 1999 - 30

Right: To

In

suggest

Sarossy's estimation, the
actually helped
production. "Since we were shooting

islands' turbulent climate

Hilditch's dark

side, director

the

Atom

in mid- to late autumn, we often got very

Egoyan

and cameraman
Paul Sarossy,

stunning cloud formations," he recalls.
"It definitely added tremendous visual
drama." Fie frequently captured shots of
Felicia wandering through Birmingham's
industrial parks from low angles, making
the factory structures seem foreboding,
especially in contrast to Felicia's idyllic
hometown. The low angles also brought
much of the sky into the frame. Since the
weather was nearly always overcast,
Sarossy could use grad filters to bring out

CSC

(bottom,
left to right)

carefully
composed shots
of this
character to
feature
artifacts from
his troubled
childhood.

detail in the clouds.

little bit grotesque.
on

When the

camera

is

Hilditch, its viewpoint is a bit more

clinical and

objective." For Cassidy's
close-ups, Egoyan and Sarossy took the
opposite tack, electing to use kinder
long lenses. "It felt right in terms of
young Felicia," Sarossy indicates. "She's
an

innocent in this hostile environment,

and

we

one

ally."

wanted the

camera

to be her

going to shoot for cloud or sun?" For the
scene in question, he wanted to capture
a solitary cloud inching perilously toward
the sun, a goal that required both
patience and precision: "We had to wait
for that moment when the cloud would
block the sun,

knowing that

we

would

just have
if

we

a minute to shoot - and that
didn't get the shot, we'd have to

wait another hour." In

scenes

with

more

traditionally volatile
Egoyan to make some
quick shooting decisions. A case in point
is a flashback scene in which Johnny,

than two characters, Egoyan could
maintain lighting continuity by shooting

about to board

a

Ireland's

weather forced

a

bus for the Midlands,

ignores Felicia in favor of a buddy who
happens by on a motorcycle. Egoyan
recounts that each day of exterior
shooting began with the query, "Am I

the entire sequence in a polished master
shot - unlike some directors, who use

merely as a blueprint for closeWhile shooting at the bus stop, he

master

ups.

would have the

reemerging
wanted to

crew

sun

with

move

in for

a
a

block out the

full silk if he
close-up.

Like Egoyan and Sarossy's
previous films, Felicia's Journey weaves
together a variety of textures. For a
flashback involving a young Hilditch and
his mother, the filmmakers sought a look
that would distinguish the sequence

from the rest of the film. The scene,
which detailed an incident in the family's

backyard garden that would contribute to
Hilditch's adult psychosis, was shot on
5239 reversal stock and then

cross-

processed at Deluxe Laboratories in
Toronto. One of the byproducts of this
approach was how intensely it saturated
the colors, lending the scene the feel of
an old home movie. According to
Sarossy, the 5239 stock has a green bias
that the filmmakers fully exploited to
intensify the color of the foliage. The look
of the

scene

also maintains the motif of

Irish-green hues that permeate the entire
film, from the walls in Hilditch's factory
to his bathroom and antique car.
Sarossy is pleased with the
flashback sequence, noting that "when
that material

comes

it's such

onscreen,

a

shocking contrast to the previous shot
that it almost slaps you in the face. We
did

various

tests

with

wardrobe,

makeup, and hair to amplify the effect.
We overexposed the material about 1!A
stops to make Arsinee's face very

sepulchral and white, to the point where
there's almost
texture.

Her

no

skin

detail in her skin
stands

tremendous contrast to her

out

in

lips and hair
color, adding a degree of stylization that
really makes her this very heightened
character, at least in Hilditch's eyes."

28 December 1999
American Cinematographer - December 1999

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