One cinematographer has come up through the ranks over the years, building a remarkable short and long-form relationship with director David Fincher. Another comes off of an ambitious campaign for Leo Burnett, Chicago, shooting with the Red camera. And a third DP will receive the American Society of Cinematographers’ (ASC) Lifetime Achievement Award even though there’s a lot of professional life to still be lived as he figures to continue to build on his already impressive lensing accomplishments.
Here’s a look at cinematographers Claudio Miranda, Anghel Decca and Jack Green, ASC, as they discuss subjects ranging from directorial collaborations to career reflections, digital cinematography, commercials, TV and features.
Claudio Miranda At the recent production wrap party for the David Fincher-directed The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, cinematographer Claudio Miranda, who’s repped by Dattner Dispoto and Associates, Los Angeles, earned a tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek “Longevity Award.” The honor was in recognition of his longstanding professional relationship with Fincher which dates back to 1985 when Miranda served as a stage manager for the director on some music videos at the SIR facility in Hollywood. Miranda steadily moved up the industry ladder with Fincher, handling best boy duties on projects and then gaffing some reshoots on the feature Seven. Miranda was then gaffer on Fincher’s The Game and Fight Club. Miranda also gaffed features for Tony Scott such as Crimson Tide, The Fan and Enemy of the State.
The big break came when Fincher gave Miranda the chance to lens a couple of relatively minor shots for Panic Room. “I got my feet wet behind the camera and liked the experience a lot,” recalled Miranda. “David was very supportive and then said to me one day, ‘I’ve got this Nike job. Would you like to shoot it?'”
Miranda thus made his initial foray into ad cinematography with two spots at around the same time–the alluded to Nike’s “Filmstrips” helmed by Fincher, and Pocari’s “Tennis” directed by Joel Peissig. The latter commercial, an underwater tour de force for the Japanese market (with Miranda and Pete Romano serving as DPs), went on to garner AICP Show and Clio honors.
Established as a film cinematographer, Miranda diversified into digital shooting. “David [Fincher] knew me as this technical guy and one day,” recalled Miranda, “I got a phone call from his office asking me to meet him at [rental/sales facility] Bexel. I did some homework to determine what their newest camera was and it was the digital Viper [Filmstream camera from Thomson’s Grass Valley]. I later met David to look over the camera and the groundwork was laid for our next project.”
That project was the Xelibri spot “Beauty for Sale” out of London agency Mother, which went on to earn Clio distinction. It was also one of the entries that helped Fincher of bicoastal Anonymous Content win the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award as best commercial director of 2003. Miranda also shot Nike’s “Gamebreakers,” which too contributed to the DGA honor for Fincher.
Xelibri in turn garnered Miranda a reputation as a digital cinematographer which led to his being selected to lens The Angel of Chilside Road, a short directed by Jonathan Darby for the 2004 Sony “Dreams” series, presented jointly by Sony and Young & Rubicam, New York.
Chilside Road was based on a short story by David Almond from the book Counting Stars. The story is based on a real event, the death of Almond’s sister when he was seven years old.
The personally moving and poignant story lent itself to that year’s “Magic” theme for the “Dreams” initiative and Miranda found the project gratifying. He lensed it with a Sony’ F-900 Cine Alta 24p camcorder.
Several years later Miranda discovered that Fincher saw Chilside Road on the cinematographer’s website. The director liked the work and showed it to Brad Pitt, and thus the seeds were planted for Miranda eventually shooting digitally (with Viper and the Sony F23) as well as some parts on film the aforementioned The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The feature stars Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton and Julia Ormond, and is slated for a Dec. 19 release.
Adapted by Eric Roth from a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Benjamin Button tells the story of a man [Pitt] who ages backwards. Miranda was able to creatively explore and define the film’s cinematography, a testament to the freedom afforded him by Fincher. “When I first started shooting for David, I thought initially that I’d be a little bit of a glorified gaffer–pretty much being told to do this and do that,” recollected Miranda. “But he instead gave me great creative latitude and opportunities, the freedom to go with my aesthetics for soft quality of lighting and so on. He let me go and I was a little bit surprised and am grateful to this day. He wants someone to bounce ideas off of and affords you the freedom to do the unexpected.”
An example of the unexpected was the decision to illuminate a Button church revival scene set in a tent only with light bulbs. “There was no film lighting at all. The Viper is great at having bulbs in shots. It gave the scene a certain feel we were looking for,” said Miranda.
The cinematographer noted that the freedom he enjoys with Fincher has emboldened him on projects generally. “I tend to light less than I used to and am not afraid to make bold choices,” related Miranda. “I’m not so overly protective about things. I remember a night shoot we did for this OnStar commercial. The gaffer was shocked when I told him that I thought the vehicle headlights would be just great for this particular shot. As it turned out, that’s all I needed. It’s the reward of being able to explore your space.”
Miranda’s space over the years spans spots for such clients as Guinness (an ’05 AICP Show honor for cinematography), Miller Genuine Draft, XM Satellite Radio, Coca-Cola, Harley Davidson, Suzuki, Reebok, Sprite, AOL, Mercedes-Benz, American Express, Mountain Dew, Volkswagen, Dodge, Grey Goose, Hummer, BMW, Toyota, McDonald’s and Sony PlayStation–not to mention an MVPA Award nomination for cinematography on the strength of a Beyonce clip (featuring Sean Paul) in ’04.
Miranda’s first feature cinematography gig came in 2005 for the Chris Eyre-directed A Thousand Roads, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie cemented Miranda’s reputation as a DP to watch and he’s lived up to that billing.
Anghel Decca “Film is still king,” related noted DP Anghel Decca who at the same time doesn’t see red when asked about the viability of digital cinematography. In fact, he’s no stranger to the Red camera, having shot with it a PSA for Disney as well as a real people TV series pilot, which was directed by Clay Weiner, a promising director with Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles.
Decca’s latest Red endeavor is an Allstate campaign directed by Jeffrey Karoff of Backyard, Venice, Calif., for Leo Burnett, Chicago. The spots capture real people talking about their financial planning and prospects for the future. Karoff and Decca ultimately thought the Red camera would be the best option for the project.
“No system is complete in the HD world–each one has its pluses and minuses. But for this campaign, Red clearly made the most sense,” said Decca. “For one, in this kind of an interview situation, you don’t want to have to stop in order to reload. Red has the capacity to record for an extraordinarily long amount of time. This gave Jeffrey the freedom to have tons of material shot.”
Also Red can have a super compact configuration. “We were going into real people’s homes and environments and the last thing I wanted was to bring in a big intimidating camera,” explained Decca. “That can be intrusive. To have that lugged into people’s living rooms can by psychologically intimidating and negatively affect the performances you get, which you want to be as honest and real as possible.”
In fact the camera was so non-intrusive that Decca had two Reds rolling all the time. He added that it was economically feasible to do so.
For the Allstate shoot, Decca–who is represented by United Talent Agency (UTA), Beverly Hills–was able to keep the look filmic by deploying 35mm lenses. “This enabled me to control the depth of field very precisely. When you go into people’s everyday environments, sometimes there’s too much information in the background. I could better control this through selective focus with 35mm lenses, to stay out of focus with the backgrounds…This isn’t unique to Red. There are other HD cameras that accept 35mm lenses but those cameras tend to be quite massive and we obviously needed a small footprint in these filming situations for Allstate.”
Still Red is not a panacea, continued Decca. He cautioned that there can be limited dynamic range. Plus, he noted that “workflow can get a bit complicated. It won’t save you money in post if you end up editing on Avid.”
The bottom line, though, affirmed Decca, is that his experience on Red has been positive because he applied the camera to the right projects. “It’s another tool with capabilities, and any cinematographer should welcome an expansion of his toolbox.”
Decca first established himself on the film side, shooting a wide range of fare, including music videos, a low budget feature for Roger Corman’s company, commercials, telefilms and TV pilots. Among his most notable pilots is the one for the lauded HBO series Entourage.
Among Decca’s recent lensing endeavors are spots for General Motors and Pennzoil. Over the years, he has shot commercials for such clients as Chrysler, HP, Axe, Barclays, Honda, Ford, Toyota, Lincoln and The Ad Council. He also made an early mark in branded content, lensing the ’06 action/adventure/tongue-in-cheek comedy web short Rusty Dogs directed by Karoff and produced by Backyard for client Sea-Doo jet skis (SHOOT, 5/12/06) out of ad agency Cramer-Krasselt, Milwaukee.
At press time, Decca was about to embark on a shoot for a television movie of the week in New Orleans.
Jack Green Jack Green, ASC, will receive the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award during the 23rd annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards celebration on February 15, 2009, in Los Angeles.
“Jack Green has earned the respect of his peers with an extraordinary body of work that is constantly evolving,” said ASC president Daryn Okada. “His innovative cinematography has inspired other filmmakers to follow their dreams and explore new frontiers in visual storytelling. This recognition is an expression of our appreciation for what he has achieved, but we are quite certain that the best is yet to come.”
Green earned an Oscar nomination for Unforgiven in ’93, and an ASC Outstanding Achievement Award nomination for The Bridges of Madison County in ’96. He has compiled around 40 cinematography credits, beginning with Heartbreak Ridge in ’86, and subsequently including 11 films with colleague Clint Eastwood as director.
Some of Green’s memorable work includes Bird, The Dead Pool, White Hunter Black Heart, A Perfect World, Twister, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Girl Interrupted, Space Cowboys and the popular contemporary films 50 First Dates, The 40 Year Old Virgin and My Best Friend’s Girl.
Green began his cinematography career as an assistant cameraman on 16mm film projects, including industrial films, National Geographic specials, and other documentaries and commercials. He was also a stringer on ABC Television network news crews. His assignments included covering such breaking developments as the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst, the riots in Berkeley, Calif., during the Vietnam War, and the assassination of Robert Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in ’68.
For the latter, Green recalled, “My wife Susan heard on the television news that an ABC cameraman had been shot. She was sure that it had to be me because I was so busy trying to get the film through the lab I didn’t call her until 2 a.m.”
Green moved to Los Angeles in 1971 and spent the next 11 years working as an assistant and operator with an array of world-class cinematographers, including William A. Fraker, ASC, BSC, Donald M. Morgan, ASC, Ric Waite, ASC, Harry Stradling, Jr., ASC, Bruce Surtees, ASC, Michael Watkins, ASC and Rex Metz, ASC.
“I can’t say enough about the impact all of those cinematographers and others had on my life and career,” affirmed Green. “I was an operator for Bruce (Surtees) on Pale Rider [in ’85). When he lit a set, it was like watching a painter create a work of art. After four more films operating for Bruce, he told Clint Eastwood I was ready to move up to cinematographer.”
Green has remained active in commercials throughout much of his career. At press time he was slated to shoot a PSA being produced by Venice, Calif.-based house Motion Theory. Last year Green lensed a global campaign for ExxonMobil. He is repped by bicoastal The Gersh Agency.
“Commercials are a wonderful place to expand on ideas that sometimes feature films are way too busy to let you do,” he observed. “You can spend a lot of time on a single shot or scene in commercials, giving you room to adjust and experiment. I’ve found this experience invaluable.”
On spots to some extent but primarily on added scenes he shoots at times for cinematographer colleague Dean Semler (on such features as the Adam Sandler-starring Click), Green has had occasion to use Panavison’s Genesis digital camera.
“Genesis in my estimation is still the leader of the [digital] pack,” said Green who describes himself as “an image guy who tries to make as many good images as I can no matter what the medium–film or digital.
While he’s accomplished in film, Green has enjoyed his digital shooting experience. “The ability to immediately preview as close to the final product as it’s going to be is entertaining to me,” he said. “”You usually go with instinctive reaction when shooting film because your report doesn’t’ come in until the next day. But in the digi tent, you can make adjustments right then and there. At times that can make it easier to sleep at night.”
Green regards cinematography as being both an art and a craft.
“It’s like learning to mix paints to get just the right colors,” he observed. “You aren’t just creating looks. You are helping to tell the story by creating moods. I don’t believe in playing it safe. I would rather work on the edge and trust my instincts.”
