American Cinematographer - December 2004 - 78

Genius Hits the Road
A gig at the
Ebony Lounge

wanted

bigger and

things.

him if he

pictures that don't look perfect
instead of one that looks great, and
he said he would prefer to have three

still below
a

angles, more
After we

it's better to have three

thinks

The reference

reveals

more

coverage, more material.
finished the movie, I asked

proves Charles
is destined for
better

have

to

key

component of

and have

Edelman's

ing

lighting strategy:
Lowel Rifa-lites

material in the edit¬

more

And of course, I have to
that philosophy."
"I started my career shooting
one camera," says Hackford,

room.

respect

positioned
overhead.

with

whose first feature

was

1980's The

Idolmaker, and whose credits include
the

documentary Chuck

concert

Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'n Roll and (as
producer) La Bamba. "But I then
discovered that

no

matter

how much

money you have, you're always under
the gun, and shooting with two
cameras affords you much better

and [assists with] editing

coverage

matched

action.

Some

directors

shoot

opposing action, but I don't

like

do that; I

to

the

use two cameras on

axis and have them at

same

different focal

lengths."

The director adds that with

abbreviated schedule such

dirty,

and

some

they had to get rid of

emphasized. Later, Edelman

"We

started

to

use

scratches. We tried to match it to the

cameras, more cuts

palette of the film as best we could,
but of course, the grain structure is a

harder

bit different. The restoration
tried

team

get it to a point where it
wouldn't jump out of the movie."
When shooting got underway,
to

in the

light and colored light. It
Ray's growing success, but
also his personal problems with
drugs." Notes Hackford, "When his
mother

was

secure, so we

alive, Ray was very
decided the camera¬

According to Edelman, "We both
thought the style of the movie should
evolve
that we should go from
static and simple visuals to some¬
thing more dynamic in terms of
camera movement, light and color.
Our story covers the 1930s to the

that bus, the

1960s, and each

[decade] has

a

slightly different style; the change is
gradual."
In the early years of Charles'
career, smooth dolly and crane shots

scenes,

reflects

work would be rooted and

-

says,

handheld

piece of the filmmakers'
cinematographic scheme emerged.

another

74 December 2004

are

the flashbacks. But

once

steady in

Ray gets

camera never

on

really

moving."
The production's Arri camera
package included two Arricam
stops

Studios and
which

one

Arricam Lite, all of

often

employed simulta¬
neously. "We were using two or three
were

cameras

all the time

operators

-

the

camera

called it 'three-camera

hell,"' says Edelman. "During the
concert scenes, we used five to seven
cameras,

including Steadicam. Taylor

an

Rays

shooting days - using
multiple cameras is vital. But
Edelman says, "Sometimes it's easier
to just move the camera from A to B
position than to try to pack two
cameras in the same space and light
it. To shoot with wide lenses and long
lenses [for close-ups] at the same
time is tough." The cinematographer
used Cooke S4 prime lenses, varying
focal lengths between 18mm and

-

the outset, but it was kind of

as

65-70

20mm

on

wide shots and 150mm

to

close-ups. "There were
no strict rules," he says. "Right now,
I'm shooting Oliver Twist with
Roman Polanski, and we're using just
180mm

two

on

lenses,

a

21mm and 27mm. But

with

Taylor, because we were using
multiple cameras, we were using a lot
of different lenses." For concert
scenes,

additional

cameras

were

equipped with Cooke 18-100mm T3
and 25-200mm T3.7

zoom

lenses.

Edelman, who was trained at
the Lodz Film School in Poland, says
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