American Cinematographer - December 2004 - 34

ATTENTION
READERS OF
AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER!

BECOME PART OF
THE ASC's LEGACY!!!

Singer Bobby Darin (Kevin Spacey) wows the audience in one of Beyond the Sea's many
musical numbers.

As holder of one of the world's

greatest collections of motion

picture cameras and related items,
have chosen to honor

we

85th

Museum and Archive.

Take
rare

DONATE TO THE ASC!
picture cameras
or greater)...

(35mm

Accessories...
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transcripts, awards...
...basically anything of any vintage that
applies in any way to the art and science
of cinematography.
an item you would like to contribute
or even if you just have a lead on something
interesting - contact Roy Wagner, ASC or Steve
Gainer, ASC at our Clubhouse. The number is
323-969-4333 and office hours are Monday

If you

have

-

through Friday, 9AM - 5PM Pacific Standard Time.
You may also reach us by E-mail: rhwasc@aol.com
or stevegainer@hotmail.com.
And
or

32

please,

16mm

no

8mm, Super 8mm

cameras or

This

accessories!

The ASC will pay shipping costs for legitimate
All contributions are tax deductible.

When Eduardo Serra, ASC, AFC
first read the

advantage of this
opportunity and

Motion

within the

by Christopher Probst

our

Anniversary by expanding

our

The Life of "Mack the Knife"

offerings.

script for Beyond the Sea,

which recounts the meteoric rise of

legendary 1950s crooner Bobby Darin
subsequent fall from public
favor, he "absolutely loved it," he recalls.
"It was not your standard sort of film. On
one hand, you have Bobby Darin's whole
life story, while on another level, there
are live performances and big dance
numbers. The material presented incred¬
ible emotional and visual opportunities."
Serra was actually offered the
project twice, first by an American team
that was ultimately unsuccessful in
getting it off the ground, and then,
several years later, by producer Andy
Paterson, who worked with Serra on
Girl With A Pearl Earring (see AC Jan.
'04). Paterson developed the project
with actor/director Kevin Spacey as an
English/German co-production, and
subsequently brought the cinematogra¬
pher into the mix.
Beyond the Sea unfolds via a
and his

series of intertwined memories related

by an aged Darin, and also, as the singer
attempts to film his own life story,

guise of a film within a film.
approach posed some tricky visual
challenges. "The film is a kind of a puzzle
led by emotions," states Serra. "It's not
necessarily an abstract construction,
however; it's a lively construction of all of
the periods, events and points of view in
Bobby Darin's life. Because the film
doesn't have one simple storyline, I tried
to give each piece of the puzzle a differ¬
ent look, but I allowed myself to be
guided more by my feelings than by the
desire to impose some predetermined
structure on the story. I feel that films are
led by emotions. I played a lot with color
and contrast to help separate the periods
and points of view."
A peculiar aspect of the project is
that even though it spans more than 40
years and is set mainly in American
cities such as New York, Las Vegas and
Los Angeles (it includes a jaunt to Italy to
recount Darin's involvement as an actor
on

September, the
shot almost exclusively
Berlin, Germany. Notes Serra, "About
the film Come

production
in
a

was

third of the film

was

shot

on

location in

Berlin, except for some pickups that we
later did in England, and the rest was
filmed on stage. We were fortunate to
have some very big, wonderful stages

FGLMJilaoamcidantmusefre.nyts,y

bStphehoytas
Beyond
American Cinematographer - December 2004

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2004
