American Cinematographer - June 2004 - 61

And, generally, those magic shots in
a scene are

predetermined in

duction such

as

An array

of
lights
general
toplight
space
offers

a pro¬

this.

"This

approach also applied
might study a
script and see that there are A
to scenes. A

illumination for
the ruined

director

scenes' and 'B scenes.' The A

ballroom while
the set's massive

scenes

chandeliers
now

-

mounted to

may get more time and care, where¬
as the B scenes could be done faster

the floor

-

serve as

the

but well.

primary source

They

be done with a
little less coverage, but they'll still
look good. You can't give any scene
short shrift, but you have to choose
your battles. Also, B scenes often
have a way of not making it into the
final cut of a picture, so envisioning
the editing process can help you
plan your approach."
On

may

motivation.
While

studying

the 1972 film The
Poseidon

Adventure, Seale
and Petersen

observed that
consistent

underlighting
only

would not
serve

Poseidon, this process

and

the story

provide

drama, but

began in preproduction. Although
picture was fully storyboarded

subconsciously

and "the boards served

very

audience of the

good guide through prep," says
Seale, "we basically threw them out
just before shooting, as the actors
came into the picture. The cast had
a substantial amount of
input, as the
physical demands on them were
quite rigorous. They had to not only
help determine what their characters
would do, but then try to perform
what they themselves could do.
That's not easy, especially if you have
to repeat the action take after take."

ship's perilous
predicament -
especially in

the

The resultant need

as

a

to

remind the

enclosed, almost
featureless
corridors and

compartments,
where the
overall scope of
the disaster
would not be as

obvious.

maxi¬

mize coverage

while maintaining
production speed played directly
into Seale's penchant for employing
multiple-camera coverage. "We had
a similar situation on
Perfect Storm"
he recalls. "The

cast

and

crew can

only take a physical beating for so
long, and Poseidon called for some
very physical work. Our approach
on
Perfect Storm of never having the
camera

mounted

to

the boat

-

as

that would take away

the sense of
rolling movement we were trying to
maintain throughout the picture -
forced us to use cranes for just about
every shot. And we could really only
get two cranes angles in at any time,
sometimes

a

third.

"Poseidon

was a

similar situa¬

tion, but we had three cameras all
the time, four a lot, five consistently,

how

and six very

appreciated it as well, even though
they weren't used to working that

occasionally. We often

got entire scenes in one hit. After

to

to

get

all the

cameras

blocking a scene, the A camera was
Wolfgang's bank - he got his

way.

movie with the A

over-the-shoulders with

and C would be

camera.

Then B

crosscutting the
action and D might be covering the
scene from another room,
capturing
the actors as they approach, and E
could be in the mix, getting a little
shot from another angle. It was a
juggling act, but I loved working out

in there

get a scene in one take. The actors

"As you know, while shooting

multiple
eyelines aren't quite as
close as they might be if you were
using a single camera, and that's
something I thought about in prep.
cameras,

But I decided that if

we

did it

con¬

sistently and used a slightly wider
angle, the audience would never
American

Cinematographer 57
American Cinematographer - June 2004

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