American Cinematographer - May 2000 - 81

I

UNSURPASSED
ACCURACY
SPECIAL CRYSTAL OSCILLATOR

pher

won two ASC awards in 1995
(one each for the pilot and the "Day

One"

episode of ER), and he was
pilot of

nominated in 1994 for the

another influential hit series, The XFiles.
The

pilot for The West Wing
producer
John Wells. The script was written
by series creator Aaron Sorkin, who
has also penned such features as A
reunited Del Ruth with ER

Few Good Men and The American

President, both of which tackle

colors while

of the same themes and
conflicts presented in the series.
The West Wing deals with the inner
workings of the White House," Del

There

many
"

Ruth notes. "When I first read the

script for the pilot, I thought it had
some

brilliant characterizations of

White House

personnel; it really
presented some of their frailties and
human qualities. I felt that the show
was essentially an optimistic depic¬
tion of the White House, so

thought

I

should we create a
certain optimism in the imagery.
"The light in the show has a
somewhat soft, golden quality; the
we

were

desaturating others.

also

some

liberties taken

in the

placement of one room adja¬
cent to another; the layouts we use
may or may not exist in the real
White House, but they facilitate our
staging and add more dynamics to
the compositions. For example, in
any given shot, we attempt to
include two or three rooms to give a
sense
of extreme depth. That
conveys the impression that we're
dealing with a large organization,
rather than some law firm in Beverly

CLOCKIT TIMECODE
THE COMPLETE PORTABLE

TIMECODE SYSTEM
LOCKIT BOX ACL201
*

Timecode/Videosync generator

*

Genlocks Betacams/Audio
recorders to accurate

*

crystal

PAL/NTSC video

WHO NEEDS IT?
BBC

Hills."

-

SWEDISH, DUTCH, GERMAN

made to look their

Although the series is shot in
35mm, the pilot was photographed
in 16mm. "I thought that was an

best, and the sets look beautiful. We

odd decision, because Warner Bros,

trying to project a particular
attitude about government - it's an

put so much money into

and all of the other aspects

*

Master TC slate/Radio slate

almost Camelot-like environment.

show," Del Ruth laments. "However,

*

Generator/Reader/Receiver

Within this environment,

when

*

Error checker, Int clock
Laser display mask

characters

are

are

we

have

human dramas that take

place in
which the characters are not always
in the best of moods, and political
deals are made [out of] expediency.
We also deal with the idea that this

political infighting will produce
results that will ultimately be better
for everyone."
In executing this idealized
depiction of government, Del Ruth
was presented with a few obstacles.

the

the sets
of the

into

production on
series, they felt it was better to
we

went

shoot in 35mm because

we

35mm, Warner Bros, decided that
the Vision stock was too expensive.

etched in the

but its somewhat broader tonal

a

location

repeatedly
public's mind. "The

colors of the walls

are as

close

as

possible to the colors the White
used," Del Ruth
confirms. "However, we took some
House

liberties,

has

enriching

some

of those

IN MULTICAMERA SHOOTS
MASTERSLATE ACD201/301

*

SET IT,

CLOCKIT CONTROLLER ACC101
*

TC/ASCII Masterclock

*

Calibrates crystal of
all clockit units

*

Aaton

*

Error checks and

5298

range wasn't as elegant-looking for
what I had envisioned the White
House to be

flatten the
combat

-

that stock tended

FORGET IT

ALL UNITS RUN 24 HRS. WITH
UNDER ONE FRAME ERROR

We therefore switched to

whose details have been

the show is set in

PROBLEMFREE TIMECODE EDITING

will ulti¬

mately go to the HDTV format. The
West Wing has a high-contrast yet
slightly desaturated look, with a
slightly romantic feel. I shot the
pilot on Vision 500T 5279, but
unfortunately, when we switched to

[EXR]
[at the beginning of the
season]. I'm very familiar with 98,

For one,

TV AND ALL THOSE WHO WANT

compatible

indentifies all timecodes
*

Downloads time and

position
crystal using

and calibrates internal

Garmin GPS

mouse

to

image too much. I had to
that by using less fill light

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LSC in Los Angeles, Trew Audio in Nashville,

ASC in Toronto
American Cinematographer - May 2000

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