American Cinematographer - December 2004 - 66

Cinematic

Impressionism

One of Jeunet's

stylistic
signatures is his
unconventional
use of wide-

angle lenses for
close-ups. To
maximize the
effectiveness of
this tactic,
Delbonnel

conducted tests
with lead
actress

Audrey

Tautou to

determine the
best lenses to

employ. "We
saw

that her

face worked

well with the
25mm and

27mm," the

cinematographer
reveals. "The
21mm still works

for her, but you
have to be

careful; the
18mm doesn't

work,

nor

does

the 35mm."

European films, Delbonnel
operating,

case on

did all of the A-camera
and he also

operated the frequent

shots, which

crane

were

accom¬

plished with a Technocrane and
SuperTechnocrane. Valentin Monge
operated the numerous Steadicam
shots.

Delbonnel

prefers soft light¬
ing, noting that "it's essentially a
question of sensibility. I really love
soft light, but I have a lot of prob¬
lems with hard shadows; it must be

of seeing the world. But

my way

while my lighting is very soft, I want
it to be contrasty." He adds that he
has

propensity for side sources,
lighting, even
for fill. "I've seen other cinematogra¬
phers make sublime images with
frontlight, but I just can't do it. Every
time I try it, it doesn't look good to
my eye. So it comes back to a matter

Although the resultant scene is
beautifully backlit, the cinematogra¬
pher didn't want any sequences to be
"too beautiful to depict the horror of

of taste."

war."

a

and he avoids frontal

The
shoot

most

daunting part of the

the six weeks set in the

was

trenches. Delbonnel offers, "We

wanted

oppressive sky, with the

an

feeling that the sky
down

started

out

would be
es,

was

with the rule that there

no

sunshine in the trench¬

and that there would always be

sunshine

at

Mathilde's house in

Brittany." The filmmakers
to

hew

notable
62 December 2004

pushing

the soldiers below. We also

on

to

were

their rules with

a

able
few

exceptions, including a sun¬

lit battle that could not be resched¬
uled.

quickly." With a laugh, he adds, "I
actually asked for two frames to
begin with, but that didn't go
down."

Delbonnel
frame tinted

a

had

slight

the

giant

gray-green to

the trenches

roughly
yards long, and Delbonnel made
a
daring proposal: to build a 460square-foot frame and suspend it

lend

above the trenches to block out the

rented "La Grue," a huge crane out¬
fitted with six 18K HMIs that would

The trenches

were

220

The

weighty frame would be
suspended from a 70-ton crane and
equipped with a hydraulic system to
tilt its orientation. "Everyone looked
at me as though I were crazy, but I
told them that it was the only way to
shoot when it was sunny and ensure
continuity. That sunk in pretty

sun.

an

overall

cast to

below. The frame served alternative¬
as a light filter or light source.
From Transpalux, the production

ly

provide light through the frame
enough exposure
in the trenches. When the produc¬
tion added cranes to provide rain,
the vast location began to look like a
giant construction site. For night
exteriors, "La Grue" provided a

when there wasn't
American Cinematographer - December 2004

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