The range of events reflects the diverse field of cinematographers–from up-and-coming to among the most accomplished–in this installment of SHOOT’s Cinematographers & Cameras Series.
One such featured DP saw his latest collaboration with director Mira Nair open the Venice Film Festival, followed by its screening at the Toronto International Film Fest.
Another DP will soon be at the Emmy Awards ceremony, twice nominated this year in the category recognizing Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-camera Series.
And our two remaining DPs will later this month be honored at another industry competition, the Emerging Cinematographer Awards.
Here’s a close-up look at Declan Quinn, ASC, Gary Baum, John Barr and James Takata.
Declan Quinn, ASC “Each time a new digital camera comes out, we run it through its paces. For me and a lot of cameramen, the ARRI ALEXA has been the [digital] camera of choice,” said Declan Quinn, ASC, who deployed the ALEXA on The Reluctant Fundamentalist directed by Mira Nair. The film made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and then gained its first North American exposure at the recently wrapped Toronto International Film Fest.
About 90 to 95 percent of The Reluctant Fundamentalist was shot on the ALEXA, the balance lensed with a film camera. “We couldn’t get an ALEXA [in one location] so we wound up blending that footage with what we captured on the ALEXA,” Quinn explained.
Yet while his ALEXA experience has been most favorable, Quinn remains a major proponent of film. “I embrace digital but film is still the gold standard,” he assessed. “The top digital cameras in general are good and have some advantages–you can shoot longer, for instance. But for me, digital doesn’t have the texture and depth of film. Digital certainly hasn’t surpassed film.”
The Reluctant Fundamentalist is the fifth movie Quinn has shot for the acclaimed Nair, starting with Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (released in 1996), then Monsoon Wedding (2001), Hysterical Blindness (an HBO telefilm in 2002), and Vanity Fair (2004).
Based on the novel by Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist centers on a Pakistani man (portrayed by Riz Ahmed) who lives the American dream–accepted at an Ivy League University, recruited heavily by Wall Street and becoming an upper echelon financial analyst raking in the big bucks. His job takes him on a brief business trip to the Philippines. As he prepares to return stateside, the 9/11 tragedy hits, changing the world as well as his world. Suddenly suspicion is cast upon him when he’s back in the U.S. His relationship with his girlfriend (Kate Hudson) falters. He ends up teaching at a university in his Pakistan homeland. There are twists and turns to the story which is framed within a conversation at a Pakistan teahouse between him and a journalist (Liev Schreiber) who in fact is later revealed to be a CIA operative.
Already quite well received, the film was described by Quinn as being “Mira’s effort to humanize the whole polemic that’s going on between East and West, to put a human face on the situation.” That human face attempts to cut through the stereotypes cast upon both the American and Islamic worlds, to build a bridge between them, dispelling some ignorance and hopefully in the process promoting some healing.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist is indeed a global story, which posed logistical hurdles for Quinn as budget and circumstance necessitated shooting in locales other than those in the script. “We had to do most of the New York scenes in Atlanta for cost reasons. We did only a couple days of exteriors in New York,” said Quinn. “Pakistan was off limits to us so we went to Delhi in India to substitute for Lahore, Pakistan. Interiors for Turkey and what were supposed to be Philippines locations were shot in India as well.”
Beyond substituting one location for another, colors and textures had to be realized in order to properly reflect the intended settings and advance the story. “America had a cool, crisp, hopeful feel. We used more direct sunlight for the feel we wanted in the U.S.,” related Quinn. “To recreate Pakistan in India, we went with a warmer golden light which comes naturally over there, using warmer, more indirect light.”
Making the process easier was Quinn’s long-standing creative relationship with Nair.
“Our very first film together [Kama Sutra] was a beautiful opportunity to work with a big palette. I found her to be wonderful with texture, design, costume,” related Quinn. “She has a great eye, a feel for nice cinematic sequences. I learned a lot on that film with her.
“From the beginning, I found that we had the same sensibilities photographically and in design,” he continued. “We like the same colors and textures, and use them to convey certain environments and feelings. We are like-minded. If something presents itself, I will adjust, lean a certain way and she does also. I’ve worked with her throughout the world–in the United States, England, India. There’s a shorthand, a nice intuitive collaboration between us.”
Born in Ireland and raised in the U.S., Quinn had his formal film school education at Columbia College in Chicago. He and his wife then moved to Ireland where he became a cameraman, his initial endeavors including work for U2 such as documentaries chronicling their road tours. Quinn also took on commercials.
Upon returning to New York in the mid-1980s, the DP’s primary involvement was in spotmaking and then he began to diversify into long-form. His filmography includes: features such as Leaving Las Vegas and In America (both which along with Kama Sutra each won Independent Spirit Awards for Best Cinematography), Rachel Getting Married and Breakfast on Pluto; documentaries like Neil Young Journeys and Neil Young Trunk Show, and assorted spots, the most recent being with director Greg Kohs of @radical.media.
Quinn, who’s repped across the board by Dattner Dispoto and Associates, values his commercialmaking experience, noting that it opens up opportunities spanning “new cameras, new technology, new ideas….To tell a story in a minute or 30 seconds is a very sophisticated and precise art. If you can learn to create grammar for the camera and storytelling on that condensed level, it’s going to serve you well in feature films.”
Gary Baum Gary Baum is no stranger to Emmy nominee status, earning his first nod in 2010 for the “Gary Shoots Fish in a Barrel” episode of CBS’ Gary Unmarried. But just a couple of months ago, Baum’s Emmy stock soared as he tripled his total of career nominations, garnering a pair in the Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series category for two different CBS shows–the “Victoria Can’t Drive” episode of Mike & Molly, and the pilot for 2 Broke Girls.
“Anytime you get nominated in this arena by your peers is special. It came as a surprise and a pleasure,” related Baum who broke into the biz in 1980, working in the loading room at Lorimar which at the time was on the MGM lot (now the Sony lot) in Culver City, Calif. He moved up to working as an assistant on such primetime network shows like The A-Team, MacGyver, Magnum P.I. and Jake and the Fatman.
Then a major break came when Baum became the operator for cinematographer Tony Askins, ASC.
“Tony was my mentor. I learned so much from him,” said Baum. “I remember we were working on Will & Grace [NBC]. He was planning to retire and said he’d like me to continue [as his successor on the show]. Jimmy [series executive producer and director James Burrows] was right on board with that, my moving up to DP. Jimmy too has been a mentor.”
In fact Burrows directed all three of the episodes spanning Gary Unmarried, Mike & Molly and 2 Broke Girls for which Baum earned his three cinematography Emmy nominations.
“I’ve been together with him [Burrows] a long time, to the point where we now talk in short hand and seem to work everything out in terms of meeting the challenges posed by whatever show we’re working on.”
A prime challenge, for example, when it came to 2 Broke Girls was the fact that it was a pilot.
“Anytime you do a pilot, there’s not as much time to create the look and go over all the details,” observed Baum. “It’s a one-off. You don’t know if there will be any episodes beyond the pilot but it’s so important because you’re shaping the characters then and there for the first time. Collaboration is so key on a pilot in order to set the look, the colors, working with the set decorator, the set designer and other artists.”
Baum’s career as a cinematographer has largely been in the digital camera realm. While Will & Grace was shot on film, and then the first half of the series The Class (CBS) before it went digital, Baum has been lensing shows with digital cameras ever since.
For example, during this past season of Mike & Molly, Baum–who’s repped by Leslie Ackerman Management–went with Sony F23 cameras to better dovetail with bluescreen work and the visual effects needs of the series. Among Baum’s other recent credits are the TV Land comedies Hot in Cleveland and The Soul Man.
John Barr John Barr felt deeply honored when he got the phone call from Steven Poster, ASC, national president of the International Cinematographers Guild (ICG), IATSE Local 600, informing him that he had been named a recipient of a 2012 ICG Emerging Cinematographer Award.
“To have the [ICG] president, someone as accomplished as Steven Poster, tell me that my work was among the best submitted to the competition means a lot to me,” affirmed Barr.
A great deal of meaning, indeed, as this year’s field of 10 honorees was selected from a record number of more than 100 short film submissions.
Camera operator Barr earned his Emerging Cinematographer Award on the basis of the Scott Schaeffer-directed short film The Carrier which centers on a mother (played by Rita Wilson) who has a dysfunctional relationship with her son. The young man dies in an accident and she comes to Los Angeles to find out about his life and in doing so uncovers the secret that he was HIV positive. She then takes it upon herself to inform all of his partners.
Barr said his background in naturalistic filmmaking helped reinforce the fluid, handheld camera style he used to capture Wilson’s emotionally charged scenes. Barr shot the short on film with an ARRICAM LT, deploying a variety of Kodak stocks.
“It’s pretty much an all-female cast, so that introduces its own [lighting] challenges,” explained Barr. “Maintaining the mood of the scene while creating beauty light can be tricky.”
The final sequence for The Carrier, shot night-for day indoors, illustrates the point. According to Barr, it included a dining room window with 10-foot high shrubs three feet from the window and “a serious lack of space.” Barr tied a 12×20 ultra bounce to the shrubs, into which he bounced six 4×4 Kinos. “It created the illusion of soft daylight outside the window. It took a bit of finesse, but it finally fell into place and worked.”
Barr landed The Carrier based on his relationship with director Schaeffer, which dates back to the Ron Howard-directed feature film Frost/Nixon shot by cinematographer Salvatore Totino, ASC. Barr shot second unit on the movie and Schaeffer was first assistant director on the second unit work. The two became friends.
“The Carrier is a very personal story and Scott told me about it a year before we shot it,” said Barr. “I thought I could do something very visual to help realize the story.”
Schaeffer, who currently serves as assistant director on the series True Blood (HBO) and Parenthood (NBC), has pursued projects like The Carrier to help spur on his directorial career.
Meanwhile Barr, who became an ICG member in 2003, has gained momentum as a cinematographer. He has shot some commercials, most notably Apple fare for director Mark Romanek of production house Anonymous Content. Barr came up the ranks to get the break from Romanek. Barr had gaffed many spots for Romanek throughout the years, working for such notable cinematographers as Totino, Harris Savides, ASC, and Robert Richardson, ASC. Barr’s spot lensing experience also encompasses digital cameras such as RED and ALEXA.
The past spring in New York, Barr shot a Dave Rodriguez-directed feature film, Last I Heard, with the RED Epic. The storyline centers on a mobster who gets out of prison after 25 years and has to acclimate to a society that has profoundly changed. Cast includes Paul Sorvino, Michael Rapaport and Chaz Palminteri.
Barr is repped as a DP by Worldwide Production Agency (WPA).
James Takata Being named an Emerging Cinematographer Award winner is “a huge honor and kind of surprising considering this is my first time as a cinematographer,” related James Takata who earned the ICG recognition for Only Child, a short written and directed by Christian Gossett.
The experimental film was described by Takata as “a charming portrait of a Chinese factory worker who, while hand-painting dolls, spins off into flights of cerebral fancy. Since the story kind of takes place in the painter’s head, we tried to create a space that is realistic but also dreamlike.”
At first the woman is doing repetitive work, entrenched in a routine in which she does only one highlight in each doll’s eyes.
Then she decides to break from that norm, painting two highlights. This in turn triggers her paranoia as she wonders if she will be punished for intentionally breaking the rules. Ultimately, she is vindicated by a change in doll painting policy.
The story unfolds in a warehouse setting which was lit minimally with flourescents, work lights, and Kino Flos, with no light more than 1K. Takata used a Fisher dolly on a 360-degree track, circling the actress as she played out her scenes. “There are parts where she starts to get more agitated and paranoid, and the camera work tries to mimic that,” said Takata. “We tried to make [the camera moves] off-putting, not graceful.”
This is meshed with a fluid, elegant camera movement of the dolls and the art of painting them.
With budget constraints, Takata used an old model Panasonic HVX digital camera coupled with a P+S Technik 35mm adaptor, a digital attachment which helps simulate the look of film grain. The DP went with Zeiss Super Speed MKII primes and an Angenieux 17-102mm zoom.
“I also think those older lenses counter-balanced the crisp reality of HD. I feel like it gives it this distinct look,” Takata assessed.
Takata joined the ICG in 2002 and worked his way up the ranks. He spent five seasons on the TV series The Ghost Whisperer with cinematographer James Chressanthis, ASC, working as an assistant camera second, bumped up to B-camera first, and towards the end of that tenure transitioned into operating.
Takata now works on The Client List, continuing his fruitful collaboration with Chressanthis. The two were also teaming at press time on a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, The Makeover, starring Julia Stiles.
As for his first foray into cinematography on Only Child, Takata noted, “I’ve been in the camera department for about 12 years now, moving my way along. I have friends who shoot all the time but that wasn’t a focus for me. The opportunity came up with Christian [director, writer and graphic novelist Gossett] and it seemed like a great project and a natural fit for me.”
The fit was more natural than he could have imagined.
Looking back on the experience of serving as cinematographer on Only Child, Takata shared, “I discovered I had really absorbed a lot in the International Cinematographers Guild about technique, knowing instinctively how to shoot, working with what you have. It all came from being around great cinematographers over all these years. Being the cinematographer on Only Child came almost like second nature.”
ECA honorees Takata and Barr’s fellow Emerging Cinematographer Awards honorees this year are: 1st AC Daron Keet for Ripple Effect (directed by Velvet A. Smith), camera operator Brian O’Carroll for Angel (directed by Ruan Magan), camera operator Michael Pescasio for the long-form music video Don’t Let Your Love Annihilate (directed by Bruno Miotto), camera operator Pete Villani for Carjack (directed by Jeremiah Jones), camera operator Robert C. Webb for The Girl in the Dark Room (directed by Luke Frydenger), and 1st AC Stewart Whelan for The Money Pet (directed by Gary Hawes).
O’Carroll’s Emerging Cinematographer Awards honor comes a year after he earned honorable mention status for the short titled 8 Infinity.
In addition, this year two Emerging Cinematographer Awards competition honorable mentions were named: 1st AC Michael Lloyd for Dawn (a joint thesis project with director Joshua Matthews at the Savannah College of Art and Design); and 1st AC Basil Smith of Cowards and Monsters (directed by Tristan Goligher).
The 16th annual Emerging Cinematographer Awards will be handed out at the Directors Guild of America Theater in Los Angeles on September 30. There will be a New York screening of the honored shorts followed by a reception at the School of Visual Arts on October 21.
Southern California’s Ojai Film Festival, which takes place in October, will screen the 2012 Emerging Cinematographer Awards honorees and honorable mention films.
Last month, the Holly Shorts Fest and the Rhode Island International Film Festival screened the 2011 ECA honoree films.
