American Cinematographer - January 2000 - 84

The

Longest Walk

add just a

touch of moonlight. It was
really a 'Hollywood' moon¬
light; it was almost invisible. Finally,
for fill, we'd usually bounce into a 4'
by 4' headboard over the top."
never

The Green Mile features

some

harrowing and occasionally grue¬
some depictions of executions in an
electric chair. "For the executions, we
had

pretty scary reference
Tattersall
recounts.

some

material,"

"Accordingly, the procedures and
we were
shooting were
historically accurate to executions
that took place in 1935. Gruesome
though it seems, mishaps did some¬
times occur, with pretty horrendous
results. Occasionally, the convict
would burst into flames, usually in
details that

For the first time, the ASC is pleased

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tary

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This work

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The

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Cinematography

innovators.

excerpts

Included

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ASC members

as

are

such

Allen Daviau, Owen

Gordon Willis, Stephen

Nestor Almendros, Charles Rosher Jr.,

Harry L. Wolf, Chari es Lang, Sven Nykuist,
Robert Wise, Laszlo Kovacs, James Wong

Howe, Haskell Wexler, Vittorio Storaro,
haus, Frederick Elmes, Sandi Sissell and oth¬

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When the lever

was

thrown, the

convict

basically arcs the current, so
he is violently thrown about, even
though he's strapped to the chair. We
used the different shutter angles to
accentuate

that effect."
was

primarily played in the daytime,"
Burton
expands. "There were
windows up above it that were lit
with Maxis. There was a direct light
from

a

the

the chair, and the

vent over
area

Again, we enhanced [the light] from
the China hats with brighter units
hidden above. In
didn't

where

cases

we

the bulbs in these

lamps,
we'd also put a brighter bulb in them
and

see

use

them

as

the actual

source.

"The

John A Alonzo, Bill Butler, Michael Ball-

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lent the

around [the inmate] was
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Deschanel, William A. Fraker, John Bailey,

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scene, we

images a more violent edge by shoot¬
ing with 90- and 45-degree shutters.

rest

Burum, Michael Chapman, Caleb

To order by phone:

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of our inmates in

"The execution chamber

Roizman, Conrad Hall, Victor J. Kemper,
Vilmos Zsigmond,

invited audience. This in

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significant advances and highlights culled
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chamber

nighttime scenes in the
were mostly lit with the

China hats,

as

well

tional overhead

as a

lot of addi¬

light from Babies

and Juniors. At one end of the room
there were two big barnlike doors,
outside of which

hung a black
about 40'
doors, and we spaced some
we

backing. The backing
from the

was
American Cinematographer - January 2000

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