American Cinematographer - July 2002 - 20

Come visit
We

are

the

our

showroom

call for

our

latest Magliner product catalog

largest retailer specializing in Magliner customized products and accessories for the Film and Television Industry in the world

Abberline,

prescient sleuth who takes
investigating the
Jack the Ripper murders. His pursuit
leads him to a lady of the streets
(Heather Graham) who may be closer to
the murderous goings-on than she real¬
izes. As Abberline develops valid ideas
about the murderer's identity, though, his
superiors on the police force begin
stonewalling him.
In helping the Hugheses bring
this eerie tale to life, director of photog¬
raphy Peter Deming, ASC and production
designer Martin Childs did an impressive
job of recreating turn-of-the-20thcentury England - on sets built in
Prague. To prepare for the shoot, the
Hughes brothers did extensive research
into the Ripper case, and their work
resulted in a stylish and authentic ambi¬
ence; the grimy, refuse-strewn streets
and town squares are brought to vivid
life by Deming's expressionistic use of
source-based lighting. The unfortunate
denizens of this lower rung of hell look
as if they've been trapped amid the
mortality and decay for more than a life¬
a

the lead role while

Backstage Equipment, Inc. * 8052 Lankershim Boulevard * North Hollywood, CA 91605-1609 * USA
(800) 692-2787 * (818) 504-6026 * Fax (818) 504-6180 * E-mail backstaged@aol.com * www.backstageweb.com

11-800-600-2011
f 1-800-949-2089

Visit Glidecam on
the INTERNET at

www.Glidecam.com l

1-508-830-1414
or Fax us at
1.508-830-1415

s®

THE NHME HND FUTURE OF CRMERR S TREHLIZR TION.

T„

GIC
QO

SSION A
L.IZER

time, and the horror of the murders is

heightened by the surrounding aura of
misery and unhappiness.
To amplify key moments in the
narrative, the filmmakers made strategic
and surreal use of cross-processed
reversal stock (see full coverage in AC
October '01). The use of Panavision

anamorphic lenses is equally important
to the film's visual style. With fewer
printing steps than Super 35, anamor¬
phic helped the filmmakers retain the
imagery's darker tones and blacks, and
the lenses' subtle distortions add to the

creepiness of the compositions.
Translating Eddie Campbell's
stark black-and-white ink drawings to
the screen was certainly a challenge,
particularly since the Hugheses
rendered the tale in full, vibrant color. On
the DVD, the hues are very vivid, no
matter how odd or extreme the colors

get (and they do get significantly odd
and extreme in the
LOW MODE SETUP

HIGH MODE SETUP

GLIDECRM offers the most versatile and affordable line of
Camera Stabilization Systems in the World.
Glidecam continues to offer

unparalleled customer service and
product quality for more than 9 years.
"Leasing to own" is available. Glidecam has hundreds of Dealers worldwide.
Glidecam is Registered at the

cross-processed
portions). The video black sometimes
appears to be off by a gray-scale shade
or two, but DVD's MPEG-2 digital-video
signal is well-known to have its prob-

American Cinematographer - July 2002

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - July 2002