American Cinematographer - September 2000 - 145

Arresting Ad

and
Suzuki Gets Surreal

Suzuki

car

spot shot in

Puerto Rico, director Luis Gerard asked

cinematographer Richard Rutkowski to
create images with surreal and some¬
what nightmarish qualities. "He wanted
a really strong look to match the
concept," says Rutkowski. In the spot,
The Doors song "People Are Strange"
plays as a man exits a restaurant and
realizes that even/one around him, even
a dog, is wearing a medical neck brace.
He doesn't realize what's going on until
the Suzuki Baleno car passes. As he
twists his head around for
his

own

neck is heard

better look,

snapping.

photos in books, and settled on looks
together," says Rutkowski. Eventually,
the two decided to shoot in Super 35 and
lend the imagery a very strong cyan look.
To enhance the blacks, Rutkowski and

Gerard also

opted to employ a bleachbypass process. Gerard had used bleachbypass before for a series of Levi's spots.
were

quite different from what he wanted for
the Suzuki commercial. "I liked it, and it

worked well, but I wanted this new spot
to be darker and more contrasty," Gerard
says.

Rutkowski thus went to DuArt

was

shot in

day with about 50

one

camera

setups. Rutkowski used a locally hired
Puerto Rican
very

crew

that he found to be

talented. The production

was an

camera
Arriflex 435 obtained from PJ

Gaffers,

local rental house. In addition,

Paradiso Films, which produced the spot
and has collaborated with Rutkowski on
several shoots, made its own camera

rounded out with

was
few lenses and filters

brought in from the United States. The
lenses on the shoot ranged from about
14mm to 100mm, "more
end," Rutkowski says.

Gerard

the wide

explains that he preferred

wide lenses to establish

certain level of

visual realism in the spot.

"I wanted to
keep it surrealistic, but visually, I wanted
to keep it real and not push it," he says.
He also wanted to be as subtle as possi¬
ble in pointing out that everyone in the
frame was wearing a neck brace. Given
the greater depth of field that the wide
lenses afforded him, he was able to keep
the background people in focus, yet not
call too much attention to them. "I

process

wanted to

of various bleach-bypass
tests. He then brought the tape
Rico and watched it with

Gerard. Looking at the tape

confirmed
impulse to apply the bleachbypass during the print phase, rather
than at the negative stage. "We decided
to really go for it," Rutkowski recalls.
The spot was elaborately storyboarded by the director. "I can draw a
little bit and I'm very visually oriented,"
says Gerard. "I love telling stories without

their initial

Phot s

The commercial
18-hour

and got a tape
to Puerto

FPaiorclmdusfrtoesy

usually do the storyboards
I do, including the shorts
I've done." Rutkowski says Gerard is
especially gifted when it comes to
composition. "He has a very strong visual
sense," says the cinematographer. "His
boards were a really good starting point."

equipment available. The package

"We looked at other commercials,

However, the results he'd achieved

Festival Favorite

any dialogue. I
for everything

by Stephanie Argy
For

keep things as organic as
possible. I just wanted [the neck braces]
to be there. You see people in the back¬
ground as we have our main character in
the foreground. We don't go close on the
other people."
To achieve the bluish look Gerard

sought for the spot, Rutkowski used cyan
filters along with the polarizers he uses
on almost every outdoor shoot. In addi¬
tion, he used a Fogal 110 stocking behind

The Suzuki Baleno spot
hour day in Puerto Rico

Cuello (or Neck) was shot in an 18with about 50 camera setups.
Cinematographer Richard Rutkowski used cyan filters along
with polarizers to achieve the bluish look.
American

Cinematographer 143

American Cinematographer - September 2000

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