American Cinematographer - September 2002 - 102

Right: A destitute
Bill Gates (John
Glover) and Willis
(David Guzzone)
are shot against
greenscreen for a
sequence

it's

because

light and clip the image. For the few
Mid-Century, the filmmakers
kept to areas of indirect light and tried to
avoid the sky. "I didn't have the equip¬
ment or time to light the shadow detail
and make the dynamic range work for
me," says Di Gennaro.
While on stage, he kept all of his
lights on a dimmer system. He also used
a lot of colored gels on the lights, mainly
to play warm against cool. While he

miles above the

exteriors in

surface of the
Earth. Below:

Cinematographer
Joe Di Gennaro

readies the
Panasonic AJHDC27 VariCam
HD camera for a
shot within what
will become the
Surf Dome after
the final visual
are

tended to

composited. The
multi-hyphenate

as

gaffer, key grip,
best boy and
-

darker sections of the frame tend to go
a monochromatic look. Because

he and

hair/makeup artist Mara Capozzi and
gaffer/key grip/best boy/camera assis¬
tant Christopher Buchakjian.
The hi-def Panasonic

camera

simultaneously to DVCPRO and
separate D-5 deck. "My biggest
expense was D-5 tape," notes Billups. Di
Gennaro had experimented with a 1080i
camera before, but this was his first
encounter with 720p, and he says he was
very satisfied with the format. Although
recorded

to a

insist that 720 lines of resolution

color in the dark

particularly
important because Mid-Century has a
moody, noir look - in part to obscure the
low-budget nature of the production.
Furthermore, about half of the images in
the movie were shot against greenscreen
or bluescreen, and Billups found that the
color space of the Panasonic camera
worked particularly well for pulling
Primatte Chroma-key mattes.
areas was

Di Gennaro adds, however, that if

offer lesser image

Mid-Century had been intended for a
tape-to-film transfer, he might have

Di Gennaro found that the color

made

some

quality than 1080 lines,
density
and depth in the shadows was much
better with the progressively scanned
image, making the trade-off worthwhile.
In this case, he says, being able to keep

a

different choice. "Those few

extra lines of resolution

difference

would make

a

going to film," he explains.

Because Di Gennaro knew that
the shoot would have to

move

at a

breakneck pace,

simple
unit

he kept his lighting as
possible. The largest lighting

as

was an

behind

Arri 1,200 Par, which he set

8'x8'

half-grid cloth. "It created
an even light pouring onto the set; I could
trust that everything would be within a
half-stop exposure range," he explains.
an

He also used Source Fours to create hard

light for edges, and he used additional
portable lighting kits.
For the most part, he kept his stop

fixtures from Arri

around T4.
98

CTB and CTO, he occa¬

toward

assistant

prepares the
slate-

use

sionally went with primary reds and
blues, in particular Rosco CalColor gels.
He explains that in any video format,

Christopher
Buchakjian -

camera

hi-def video doesn't have

film, video does not hold up well when
overexposed; it's better to err toward
underexposure than to have too much

in

traveling in a
peoplemover 120

who served

even

the latitude of film. Moreover, unlike

which the two are

effects

When shooting on digital video,
important to avoid contrast extremes,

September 2002

Billups were using relatively low
light levels, he wanted to make the light

more

saturated to minimize that effect.
Di Gennaro shot the film with

a

Fujinon zoom lens for maximum flexibil¬
ity. For portrait shots, he stayed mainly in
the 40mm range, which he found appro¬
priate for a story centering on faces and
conversations. "There wasn't anything
really epic in scope," he notes.
To capture as much as they could
in as few setups as possible, Di Gennaro
and Billups choreographed flowing shots
in which the action could unfold in front

of the lens with

a

minimum of coverage.

To

keep the camera movement fluid and
enhance the actors' mobility on set, they
floated the camera around the perform¬
ers using a new scaled-down Weaver
Steadman head on a Chapman dolly. "It
gave us a lot of the same flexibility as a
Steadicam, but with a lot less
me," says Di Gennaro.

wear

and

tear on

While blue- and greenscreen
are usually shot to match
existing background plates, Di Gennaro
couldn't do that because Billups and his
visual-effects team had not yet created
the
backgrounds.
Nevertheless,
through conversations and the use of
reference photographs, Billups was able

elements
American Cinematographer - September 2002

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