American Cinematographer - May 2004 - 28

def situation."

Although some producers
misinterpret this to mean that DV
projects don't need lighting, using the
format can help in situations where it's
difficult to control the lighting. "You try to
move your actors toward some source of
illumination or paint them in silhouette,"
says Rutkowski. He adds that some film¬
makers make the mistake of thinking
video exposure can be all over the place.
"It's actually ludicrously specific - it has
to be dead-on to get something subtle
and nice. I've become extremely
concerned about exposure; if there's
going to be any room to maneuver [in
post], the image has to extremely accu¬
rately exposed."
Another element that Rutkowski

watches

closely is color, in both the light¬
the set and the color balance of
the camera. "I'm always color-correcting
on a scene-by-scene basis right at the
camera, trying to achieve an effect that I

ing

Above: Jean
encourages

Sara to loosen
up and enjoy
life. Below:
Director of

photography
Richard
Rutkowski goes

underground to
on

the New

York

subway.

film

The shoot was about 12 days
long and was spread over two and a half
weeks in August-September of 2002.
The crew comprised little more than
Rutkowski, a production designer (who
also handled costumes), a script supervi¬
sor (who also took production stills), a
sound recordist, a lighting assistant, and
additional camera operator Oliver
Kramer, one of Rutkowskis frequent
collaborators. "It always comes down to
just a few people making a movie,
anyway," notes Rutkowski. "On
features, they spend a lot of time shoo¬
ing the rest of the crew away. But the
few of
did

a

us

who were there

hell of

a

on

Homework

lot of work."

Rutkowski shot the movie
MiniDV with

a

PAL

on

Sony PD-150 using

the widescreen 16x9 (1.78:1) aspect

ratio, anticipating that it would be
cropped to 1.85:1 in post. He had used a
PD-150 on several other projects, includ¬
ing Interview With the Assassin (for
which he earned a 2003 Independent
Spirit Award nomination; see AC Dec.
'02). He had also used its predecessor,
the PD-100, on Chelsea Walls. While
shooting DV helped make Homework
economically feasible, Rutkowski

on

think will translate well to the final

project. It's something you have the abil¬
ity to do right there with a DV camera,
and it's another great way of expressing
something about the image."

wanted the format to contribute in other

was

In Homework, all of the scenes
lit, but subtly. Because the crew
so small, Rutkowski couldn't have

"We wanted the video to
create texture," he says. "We really
didn't want it to look like a compromise.
"MiniDV is a little step away from
reality, so lighting strokes can be a bit
more general," he continues. "[The
format] picks up the gesture a little more
broadly, and it's forgiving of things that
you might have to sweat in a film or hi-

very

elaborate setups. His primary

ways, too.

were

sources were

Kino Flos and other small

instruments, the most powerful being a
200-watt HMI Joker, and almost every¬

thing in frame is rendered in soft or indi¬
rect light. Nearly every light had some
sort of color correction, including
magenta, green, straw or blue gels,
usually in Vs densities, as well as light
grid, 250,251 or 252 diffusion.
The cinematographer didn't want
to get too extreme with the intensity of
the colors, however, because the goal
was

to make the movie feel real. The

only exception was a dream sequence
that shows Sara's fantasy of dancing
with the plumber. Rutkowski says he's
very fond of the scene because it looks
radically different from the rest of the
film; he used harder light and a wider
lens, and he smoked up the room a lot
more

than he did

on

other interiors and

overexposed the background. "It's a
simple, strong look that's appropriate for
26

May 2004
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