Cinematography

Creating an ACES Workflow

Mon, 01/16/2017 - 10:41 -- Nick Dager

Award-winning cinematographer Theo Van De Sande ASC was an early supporter of the Academy Color Encoding System, using version 0.2.2 on civil war drama Deliverance Creek in 2013, which was nominated for the ASC Award for Television. Since then he has been a staunch supporter, using ACES on numerous TV shows and pilots. When he was offered the chance to shoot Bad Santa 2 for Miramax, he turned again to ACES for his color-processing pipeline.

Chronicling an Australian Legend

Tue, 01/10/2017 - 11:12 -- Nick Dager

Red Dog: True Blue is the iconic Australian story of friendship and adventure between a young boy and a scrappy one-of-a-kind dog that would grow up to become an Australian legend. The film is the prequel to 2011's Red Dog. Both films were directed by Kriv Stenders, written by Daniel Taplitz, and photographed by Geoffrey Hall. The film features wide desert vistas of Western Australia. It was shot full 2.40 anamorphic using an Alexa XT with a Cooke Anamorphic/i lens package from boutique rental house HyperFocal of Sydney.

Location Shooting in Rough Terrain

Wed, 12/14/2016 - 12:48 -- Nick Dager

The upcoming feature film Maine follows the journey of a married woman from Spain to reclaim her identity while solo thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, a trip that is sidetracked when a lone American hiker pursues her. Cinematographer Donald R. Monroe said, “Simply getting to our locations proved a major hurdle. Frequently, each day began by transporting the entire production over a mile via ATVs; then the shooting crew would walk an additional ten minutes to the location. We were often far from battery charging and data transfer stations— the high-capacity P2 cards allowed us to be largely self-sufficient.

Shooting Star

Wed, 12/14/2016 - 11:11 -- Nick Dager

Star is a new Fox TV music drama from Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Lee Daniels (Empire, Precious). Exposing the cutthroat music industry, Star follows three talented singers as they navigate the road to stardom. Cinematographer Roberto Schaefer, ASC, AIC (Quantum of Solace, Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball) shot the series pilot on Panasonic VariCam 35 cinema cameras.

ASC to Honor Denzel Washington

Tue, 12/13/2016 - 12:39 -- Nick Dager

Honoring one of Hollywood’s biggest icons, the American Society of Cinematographers will bestow their Board of Governors Award on director Denzel Washington on February 4, 2017, during the 31st ASC Awards at Hollywood & Highland’s Ray Dolby Ballroom. The organization presents the accolade to individuals in the industry whose body of work has made significant and indelible contributions to cinema. It is the only ASC Award not given to a cinematographer, and is reserved for filmmakers who have been champions for directors of photography and the visual art form.

On Shooting Black Sails

Mon, 12/12/2016 - 12:14 -- Nick Dager

When Gavin Struthers ASC, one of Britain's leading cinematographers, learned he’d been selected to shoot the U.S. television drama series Black Sails, he knew there would be a lot of challenging location work including water scenes and day-for-night scenes. Black Sails is set roughly two decades before the events of Treasure Island and during the Golden Age of Piracy.

Creating a Handheld Look

Mon, 12/12/2016 - 12:08 -- Nick Dager

Jay Hunter is a celebrated director and cinematographer whose work runs the gamut from features and scripted series to documentaries and reality TV. He’s crafted unique aesthetics for television shows such as On the Lot and films including Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing. Hunter’s current project is the NBC comedy Superstore, about the employees of a big box retailer. For that series, he tries to make viewers feel like they’re part of the action through a visual style that looks handheld, but is not.

Creating a Darker Look at Santa

Fri, 11/18/2016 - 09:16 -- Nick Dager

The long-awaited sequel to the 2003 holiday cult classic, Bad Santa (directed by Terry Zwigoff), Bad Santa 2 is directed by Mark Waters (Vampire Academy, Mean Girls). Theo Van de Sande, ASC (Blade, Cruel Intentions, Wayne’s World) shot the dark comedy with Panasonic VariCam 35 4K cinema cameras. Comedy or not, Waters and Van de Sande wanted the film to have a darker look. For developing the look of Bad Santa 2, Van de Sande did not use any visual references, including the original Bad Santa (shot by Jamie Anderson).

Shooting Before the Flood

Wed, 11/16/2016 - 11:17 -- Nick Dager

In the late winter of 2014, Leonardo DiCaprio called actor and documentarian Fisher Stevens with an idea: he wanted to collaborate on a documentary that would explore the causes and effects of climate change around the world, and the urgent need to transition away from using fossil fuels — and he wanted to get started right away. They chose Antonio Rossi to be their director of photography.

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