American Cinematographer - May 2006 - 28
Harlan (Edward
Hansen Dam, Ventura Ranch, Point Dume
Norton) finds
his cowboy
and
Disney Ranch. He used Panavision's
anamorphic lenses to evoke the
C-Series
lifestyle out of
place in the
of
sense
San Fernando
sun-saturated environment.
a
"We tested E-Series, C-Series and Primo
Valley in Down
in the Valley,
shot by Enrique
anamorphic lenses, and we fell in love
quality of the Cs," says
Chediak. "It was a very important creative
decision, and although it was a little timeconsuming to get a matching set, that's
with the flare
Chediak.
what
we
used. We didn't want to make
the locations look
glamorous, and we
really liked that the C-Series lenses gave
us a
Suburban
Cowboy
by Hugh Hart
Ecuadoran
cinematographer
Enrique Chediak has made films through¬
out the Americas
-
his credits include
Cronicas, Boiler Boom (see AC April '00),
and Songcatcher(ACOec. '00) - but until
he teamed with director David Jacobson
we
tried to
to meet with him about Down in the
the
valley's heat and dryness."
Valley At that point, the director was
leaning toward filming in Super 35mm,
but during their initial conversation,
Chediak lobbied for anamorphic 2.40:1,
even though he had never worked with
the format before. "I encouraged David to
go see The LastSamurai[ACJan. '04] and
compare it to a Super 35mm movie before
they flare
use a
Chediak shot the entire picture on
"I'd just
finished
using 5218
much
without filters."
over
their
Jacobson.
father,
as a
paved-
version of the old West," says
(David Morse),
becomes increasingly hostile to the
gunslinging stranger. After Harlan and
Tobe's romance takes a dangerous turn,
Harlan persuades Lonnie to run away with
him, prompting Wade to take action.
Aware that setting played a critical
role in Jacobson's story, Chediak
"Shooting in anamorphic gave
it the feeling of a big Western as opposed
to a small, independent family drama."
During prep, the filmmakers
screened the classic Westerns LonelyAre
immersed himself in the environment. He
widescreen narrative. "Oshima devel¬
moved to
oped his shots in
an
Wade
apartment in Sherman Oaks
Nuys. "When I read the script, I thought it
was a very dramatic story," says Chediak.
the Brave, Bed River and The Searchers,
well as Nagisa Oshima's Cruel Story of
as
Youth, which served
as a
model of
was
"But when I visited all these locations
medium of cinema. We
It
was
Chediak's handheld cine¬
between 5218 and the C-Series lenses
gave us the washed-out look we sought.
We wanted to deglamorize the valley as
as we
could,
so we
shot clean,
Images of California's famous free¬
form a recurring motif in the film,
establishing the narrative timeline with
traffic at night, during the smog-ridden
afternoon, and at magic hour. Chediak
praises the work done by camera operator
Wolfgang Held, who shot second-unit
aerial footage of the highways, and he
also singles out 1st AC Aurelia J.
Winborn and 2nd AC Amy Silverman. "I
ways
tricky in anamorphic," he notes.
One of the picture's most dramatic
sequences pays homage to Howard
with David, it was almost like an anthro¬
excited, and it was
an
were
very
inspirational movie
for us."
Chediak
deep into the
The marriage
in Chile, and I was not so
thrilled
Millennium XLs
blacks but does not go as
blacks as other negatives.
work with Aurelia often, and she did a
tremendous job pulling focus, which is
by the story, but when David and I
watched it together again, we noticed
how wonderfully Oshima used the
pological study; we saw horses and
cowboys not very far away from the
places we would be shooting. It was very
interesting to me to find horses so close to
Hollywood and Vine."
saturation than other stocks. It has rich
elegant way,"
the
a very
notes Chediak. "I remember watching
film when I
strong
place. I decided to go with it
again for Down in the Valley because to
my eye, it presents color in a more natural
ing the San Fernando Valley
bored teenager,
decision," recalls the cine¬
Cronicas, which is
of
sense
the movie's themes. "Our film is present¬
a
Tobe (Evan Rachel Wood), and befriends
her younger brother Lonnie (Rory Culkin),
a
on
set in Ecuador and also has a very
Harlan falls in love with
he made
very beautifully, and
lot of flares to convey
Kodak Vision2 500T 5218.
matographer. After watching back-toback screenings of The Last Samurai and
Cold Mountain {AC Jan. '04), Jacobson
agreed anamorphic was better suited to
and spent several weeks scouting loca¬
tions with Jacobson, who grew up in Van
May 2006
washed-out look. We also discov¬
ered that
on the 2004 serial-killer
drama Cronicas that prompted Jacobson
Down in the Valley, he had never
explored the San Fernando Valley's
surprising nooks and crannies. Down in
the Valley stars Edward Norton as Harlan,
a drifter trying to hang on to the cowboy
lifestyle amid the concrete freeways and
strip malls north of Los Angeles. When
on
24
matography
used
the
two
Panaflex
production, which
was filmed over 40 days at locations that
included Santa Clarita, Arleta, Sun Valley,
on
Hawks' Bed River. In it, Wade pursues
Harlan and Lonnie through a foggy
orchard
on a moonlit night, and once
Lonnie's torch is blown out, the characters
are shown only in silhouette. "That was a
complicated scene that took three days to
shoot," recalls Chediak. "We created
a
big separation between the foreground
ThinockFulfmrte.sy
bZCVlthopahuthnolcyetikesy,
iDnown
American Cinematographer - May 2006
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