American Cinematographer - September 2000 - 48

M nd Games
order

Two of

Stargher's
victims languish
within the
killer's baroque

psychic torture
chamber. The
in the
dentist's chair
was lit from
above with
woman

green

can

something like a flare; it's not
really a flare, but [more of an image]
that is moving in the opposite direc¬
tion to a highlight. It happens with
objects like headlights and sun flares.
"Primos are designed [to turn
the flare] into a very clear, resolved
image, while Cooke has taken the
opposite approach and diffused it;
with a Cooke lens [the flare] can turn
into a slightly blue haze, or 'bloom¬
ing,' especially wide open. If you
create

golden glow. A
Sprayer
filled with

liquid

used to
coat the glass
windows of the
was

victims'
individual cells,

obscuring the
occupants until
camera

check them for flare. "What

down to is that

the back of the lens. Narcissus

bulbs,

Hudson

the

came

certain amount reflects back and hits

while the
ballerina was
suffused in a

brown

to

they treat the
phenomenon known as Narcissus
differently," he explains. "The light
coming in through the lens hits the
film, and while most of it is absorbed
into the film to create the image, a
it

cuts

to the interiors.

aren't

aware

of it, it

can

contaminate

blacks. But it's not a matter of
one approach
being right and one
being wrong. I simply preferred the
way the Primos handled specular
your

flare."

When it

came to

underexpo¬

however, Laufer chose the

sures,

Cookes

over

the Primos. "Once you

and three stops under, the
Cookes were performing two-thirds
of a stop better than the Primos.
Everything was much more three-

got to two

dimensional and the colors
truer.

down

made it

meter was

the first movies

depending upon what my
reading," Laufer says. "It
gave me beautiful, warm light and it
was perfectly silent."
The Cell
35

was

shot in the

Super

format, and Laufer decided to

stick with

one

us to

effects unit had

to

push it

Photosonics work, it
to

be

one

of

try it. 79 was used
occasion, but when the visualto

ask for it

stock for the entire

It is

than

to

a stop

was too

for

much

for the first three weeks of the shoot

match the 74."

highly unusual to
brand of

probably due to the different
coatings and to each lensmaker's
approach to Narcissus."
Taking advantage of the shoot¬
ing schedule, Laufer used the Primos
are

use

and the last

two

weeks, all of which

picture: Kodak's Vision 200T 5274. "I

more

tested all of the available stocks, and

package on a film, but Laufer did,
opting to employ Panavision gear
from Panavision Hollywood for the
outdoor sequences and Arriflex from

day exteriors. He used the
Cookes on the stages, where the light
levels generally remained low and the
aperture usually sat somewhere
between a T2 and T2.8. Using the

Otto Nemenz for the interiors. The

Primos outdoors also allowed him to

it

came

down

to

74 and

48," he

remarks.

"They are almost identical
that the 74 is half a stop faster
[though Kodak rates the stock a full
stop faster] and has truer color track¬
ing in terms of under- and overexpo¬
sure. Kodak had just come out with
the new [lower-contrast] 74, and

except

Don

46

on

possible for

were

Those distinct characteristics

September 2000

Henderson

from

Eastman

one

reason? Lenses. The

camera

cinematogra¬
pher tested Primos and Cooke S4
lenses against each other (the new
Zeiss Ultra Primes weren't out yet),
first on a stage and then outdoors in

were

utilize

a

3:1 Primo 135-420mmT2.8

a variable prime in the
region of Namibia, where a
dream sequence and couple of innerworld sequences were shot.
zoom

as

African
American Cinematographer - September 2000

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - September 2000
