American Cinematographer - April 2000 - 48

Satanic Verses
lenses. The look of the
therefore due

to

scenes

is

the combination of

these lenses with the NEC

process."
always had a keen
understanding of the precise
moments in a story to introduce
Polanski has

In

movement.

camera

The Ninth

the camerawork, like The Thin

phy

on

the

use

that film

camera
come

to

But whatever the type of

movement, I

believe it has

to

somehow from the director.

Whether
rience

cinematogra¬
fantastic, and

was

of the Steadicam is vital

the story.

a

director has

a

lot of expe¬

very little, the energy of the
is always generated by his

or

camera

vision of the story.

of soft
toplights,
including China
array

balls and helium
balloons (not

pictured here). He
notes that

"the

balloons gave

off
a slightly cool,
underkeyed
toplight. We used
the balcony for
straight, simple
backlighting of
the worshippers.
All of the red
effects in the
scene came from
the China balls."

on-camera

film, the main studio

"[The French lab] Eclair has
the
European
equivalent of
Technicolor's ENR printing process,
which they call NEC [Noir en
Colour] which translates to 'Blackand-White in Color,'" the cinematog¬

the Arri 535, combined with a
Moviecam SL for handheld work.

rapher adds. "It's a beautifully subtle
with exactly the same princi¬
ple as ENR, and we applied it
throughout
this
film.
We
photographed the picture with the
new

Cooke S4 Series lenses, beautiful

use

lightweight camera, I always

either

an

Aaton

or

the SL

-

they're both great cameras."
When Corso expands his
book-sleuthing into the old worlds of
Spain and Portugal, the film takes on
a startlingly different feel from the
busy urban look of the New York
scenes. "In Spain, we wanted to feel
the heat and the

contrast

of the sun,"

Khondji explains. "I've always had
different feelings toward those two
countries
to me, Spain is more
rich, gold and joyous, while Portugal

ities, such

is

-

was

as
one

anti-flare. The Ninth
of the first movies

photographed entirely with these
April 2000

For the

camera was

English lenses that have a slightly
soft, sensual look
they're very
good with color and skin tone. They
also have all of the modern lens qual¬
Gate

42

This is a very
important idea that only came to me
after years of experience."
Khondji's standard camera
package handled all of his needs on
the shoot. "I always use a main
studio camera along with some¬
thing lightweight," he says. "On this

flashing device during the shooting.

process

antique bookstore

an

I just prefer
daylight," he
comments. "I use the skylight as a
toplight, then negative fill to create

Red Line. John Toll's

little smoke and combined that

searches for

priately jerky, handheld style when

to

with the Arriflex VariCon

sun-bleached shot in which Corso
down

night and makes a horrifying discov¬
ery involving his partner. "Roman is
not
very fond of Steadicam,"
Khondji says. "I think it's overused in
movies right now, although there are
certain movies in which it is integral

very

eucalyptus trees and old castles."
Khondji used no lighting
augmentation at all for a striking,

Gate, the director adopts an appro¬
Corso returns to the bookstore at

The grand interior
of a castle serves
as the site of an
elaborate Satanic
rite. Khondji lit
the space with an

Paris. It's a very mysterious place on
the outskirts of town, surrounded by

-

more

lack of

cold, blue and dark, with

a

light. We shot in Sintra,
Portugal, which reminded me of

narrow

street

Spain. "More and

more,

to

a

the

use

in Toledo,

real

contrast. For me,

this is much

more

effective than

using artificial light."
The cinematographer used
Kodak stocks for the entire produc¬
tion, employing the 50 ASA EXR
5245 for daylight scenes, Vision
320T 5277 for nights and interiors
and Vision 320T 5248 for overcast

weather. "I

always remember film
than anything, because
each film stock has a meaning for
me," Khondji says. "About 95
percent of what I shoot is on Kodak,
since I know those stocks quite well.
Even if they come out with a stock I
stocks

more

don't like, I

can

express my concerns

with them, much like I do with
Brian Newman, the head of Cooke

lenses.

They're

very warm

with

cameramen."
When Corso

finally locates the
Spanish bookshop, he is bemused to
discover that its owners are elderly
twins
but the sharp-eyed viewer
will
notice
something oddly
symmetrical about the scene. "The
owners are the same
guy doubled,"
Khondji reveals with a smile. "We
-

used motion control
scene.

that

I started

technique

Children

to

to

shoot the

experimenting with
on City of Lost

create

clones, and

we

basically did the same thing with the
Duboi effects house in Paris. Roman
could have found twins, but I've
learned

recognize when directors
always a positive
thing, never negative. The obsession
can take the form of
lighting, set
dressing, the way a certain actor does
something. Roman noticed this
Spanish production coordinator
to

become obsessed. It's
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