One cinematographer earned the Best Cinematography Oscar two years ago for Life of Pi and recently took a journey to Tomorrowland (Disney).
Another won the ASC Award last month for an episode of Boardwalk Empire (HBO), marking the fourth time in five years that he has won the coveted honor in a TV category.
And our third cinematographer just earned his first career ASC Award for the pilot of the TV series Manhattan (WGN America). He also made a splash this past year on the theatrical feature front, lensing the acclaimed St. Vincent (The Weinstein Company), which earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture-Comedy and Best Actor in a Comedy (Bill Murray).
Here are insights and reflections from Claudio Miranda, ASC, Jonathan Freeman, ASC, and John Lindley, ASC.
Claudio Miranda, ASC
Oscar-winning cinematographer Claudio Miranda, ASC, continues his run of creatively and visually ambitious films with Tomorrowland, just the second live-action feature directed by Brad Bird who’s known for his helming touch on such fare as Pixar’s Ratatouille and The Incredibles. Bird’s first live-action theatrical movie turn in the director’s chair was Mission: Impossible–Ghost Protocol, a 2011 release.
Miranda described Tomorrowland as “a large-scale, two dueling worlds kind of project.” The Disney film takes place in reality and in the other world of Tomorrowland, with the latter carrying some architectural tie-ins to the Tomorrowland of Disneyland fame.
A mystery adventure, Tomorrowland stars George Clooney as a jaded former boy genius inventor and Britt Robertson as a bright teenager brimming with optimism and scientific curiosity. They team on a dangerous mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space known only as Tomorrowland. What they must do there will change the world–and them–forever. Based on a story by Bird, Jeff Jensen and Lost writer and co-creator Damon Lindelof, the screenplay for Tomorrowland was penned by Lindelof and Bird.
“Brad called me in a for a meeting,” recalled Miranda. “I had read the script, went to see him and he looked at me and said something like, ‘you don’t seem very excited.’ I told him that after reading the story, I was still digesting it, at which point I have a tendency to get internal. I was thinking simply about how in the hell are we going to do this. How will these dual worlds work? We wound up collaborating closely to answer that question so that we would do justice to the film.”
Initially at Bird’s behest, Miranda did a bunch of tests with 65mm film being considered. “Brad wanted a 4K output so ultimately we went with the Sony F65, which was what I used to shoot Oblivion.
Tomorrowland was a puzzle solving process. What should be blue screen? What should be real? Where do you stop the live action and where do the visual effects enter or take over. I’ve always had a very close collaboration on films with the visual effects department, which is why we’ve been successful. If I’m tooting my own horn as a cinematographer and they’re doing the same with effects, we won’t be in sync, which translates into disaster. For Tomorrowland, I worked closely with the visual effects team at ILM.
The detail in Tomorrowland is beyond anything I’ve worked on. Sometimes it’s hard to see all the detail but you feel it. I’m in DI right now with [colorist] Stephen Nakamura at Company 3. He said the visuals are at a level he hadn’t seen before in such great detail.”
The aforementioned theatrical feature run that Miranda has enjoyed in terms of challenging high-profile fare started several year back with David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, moved onto Joseph Kosinski’s TRON: Legacy, Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, Kosinski’s Oblivion, and now Tomorrowland.
Miranda earned his first career ASC Award nomination for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 2009, as well as his initial Best Cinematography Oscar nod. He wound up winning both the Academy Award and the BAFTA Film Award for Best Cinematography in 2013 for Life Of Pi, which also garnered him an ASC Award nomination.
Miranda noted that Bird gravitated toward him for Tomorrowland based in part on the DP’s efforts for Oblivion, Life of Pi and TRON: Legacy. “TRON was very futuristic so there was a little tie-in for the alternate world kind of movie that Brad was doing. I think he liked my approach of making all the lighting feel very integrated. If I feel too present in putting a stamp on the lighting, it can be distracting to the movie. You have to make sure the lighting sources feel like they’re coming from the right natural places. It helps the audience feel connected.”
Also helping that connection was Bird’s preference for “putting people in real environments,” observed Miranda. “When the guy is flying [in Tomorrowland], he is doing so on a skydiving simulator, falling off a building rather than completely relying on puppeteering. I feel that just helps the overall look and feel so that viewers can relate to the action. Even the visual effects guys are pushing for us to shoot as much in real environments as possible. I’m used to some directors wanting everything in a synthetic background.
For Tomorrowland we had massive sets. The final Tomorrowland set was as large as a football field. Everyone on the production end contributed so much the look and feel.”
Miranda cited in particular production designer Scott Chambliss. “He did an amazing job. There are so many people with great credentials whose creativity makes it possible for a cinematographer to do his or her work at the highest level.” Chambliss is a seven-time Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Award nominee, with four of the nods coming for the TV series Alias (he won the honor in 2003), and the remaining three for features in the Fantasy Film category: Star Trek in 2010, Cowboys and Aliens in 2012, and Star Trek Into Darkness in 2014. Chambliss also has three primetime Emmy Award nominations–all for Alias. He won the Emmy for the series pilot in 2002.
Jonathan Freeman, ASC
Last month Jonathan Freeman, ASC, won his fifth career ASC Award, and third for Boardwalk Empire, the latest coming for the series episode titled “Golden Days for Boys and Girls.” This marks the fourth time in the last five years that Freeman won the coveted ASC honor for his TV work, starting with the “Home” and “21” episodes of Boardwalk Empire in 2011 and 2012, respectively, and the “Valar Dohaeris” installment of Game of Thrones in 2014. His first ASC win came in 2005 for the telefilm Homeland Security. Freeman thus far has eight career ASC nominations, the remaining three coming for the TV movie Taken in 2003, Strange Justice in 2000 and the “God Bless America” episode of Prince Street in 1998.
That very first nomination embodies Freeman’s admiration for the ASC Awards. “I was so impressed by the inclusiveness of the ASC. When I received that first nomination, I was not an ASC member. I was not even on the radar of other ASC members. I doubt they knew who I was. I had done very little American work. Yet I wound up being nominated for a show–a mid-season replacement series on NBC–that probably a lot of people didn’t see. I thought it quite remarkable that they would consider me. It hit home for me the fact that they truly focus on the work, the cinematography. They don’t know who did the work when they view it. They just base their selections on what they see. That’s why the recognition from the ASC always means so much.”
Such recognition wouldn’t be possible, noted Freeman, without a team effort. “The ASC Award is simply the highest honor a cinematographer can receive, particularly with the amount of talent not only among nominees but among the many cinematographers in the field of television today. That said, Boardwalk Empire is special because of the combined effort by my fantastic crew, my cinematography partners, the directors, the brilliant production and art direction team. They strive for as much period detail as possible. That makes your job as a cinematographer that much easier. You walk onto a beautiful set with fantastic actors, stunning wardrobe. It’s hard not to do a half decent job when you have those elements in place. The ASC Award is an honor reflecting that team effort.”
Freeman got the chance to do Boardwalk Empire based on his lensing of the HBO series Rome. “It was a great experience through which I met Timothy Van Patten [who became executive producer and one of the directors on Boardwalk Empire, earning assorted Emmy nominations along the way, including winning Outstanding Director for a Drama Series]. Tim told me he was looking for somebody to help with Boardwalk Empire and I got a wonderful opportunity.”
That opportunity translated on the awards front to not only the ASC recognition but a pair of primetime Emmy wins for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series–for the Boardwalk Empire episodes “Home” in 2011 and “21” in 2012.
Freeman added that he feels “very fortunate to have been able to shoot all five seasons of Boardwalk Empire on film.” At the same time, he has embraced digital as evidenced by his Game of Thrones ASC win last year. He deployed the ARRI ALEXA on Game of Thrones. “Moving from film to digital was something that most of us cinematographers had been holding back the reins on until we felt that the technology of digital could emulate film as closely as possible,” said Freeman. “Many DPs, including myself, believe the first true successful system at the moment has been the ALEXA. It still doesn’t have quite that quality of film that cinematographers love but it is certainly a brilliant tool that has its own advantages. One in particular that’s important is the efficiency of working with a director on the set.
We’re both looking at an HD image, a very high quality representation of what the final result will be–this is an undeniably valuable shorthand that in film was always a challenge. With film, you spend considerable time–shooting stills, determining the proper exposure and so on–getting to the point where you can give the director confidence over what the final result will be. With HD the cinematographer and director can have a great immediate collaboration on the cinematography based on the imagery you’re capturing. As a cinematographer you can let things go more and experiment because the director is able to see the image and can give immediate feedback if he or she feels you’re pushing things too much a certain way. You can constantly adjust.”
Freeman knew he wanted to be a cinematographer ever since he was a youngster, the initial catalyst being when he went to the movie theater and saw Star Wars. “I was mesmerized by the opening images. I went again and again to the theater to see it. I was fascinated by the photography, the special effects and wanted to recreate it on my own. I bought a 8mm camera, read all about the film. There was a science fiction magazine at the time that went into great detail. I learned basically that the power behind the images was illusion created by light and camera. From that learning process, I arrived at something I wanted to pursue. All through high school, I made films with friends and eventually went to film school in Montreal. It was a three-year program and I shot 16mm for the first year or so. The program was intensive and geared toward auteurism. I became the main person who shot for the auteurs and had a little reel by the end of schooling.”
This led to Freeman shooting what he described as “small one-hour dramas” commissioned by the Canadian government, then some low budget features. Freeman fashioned a more extended reel and landed his first American production, the aforementioned mid-season replacement show Prince Street which landed him that first ASC Award nomination. And while his eight ASC nominations are for television fare, Freeman has also managed to diversify into feature films, among the notable projects being 50 Dead Men Walking (directed by Kari Skogland and starring Ben Kingsley and Jim Sturgess), Hollywoodland (directed by Allen Coulter and starring Ben Affleck and Adrien Brody), Remember Me (also helmed by Coulter) and The Edge of Love (directed by John Maybury and starring Keira Knightley).
John Lindley, ASC
It’s been an eventful year for cinematographer John Lindley, ASC. Last month he earned his first career ASC Award, taking the TV Movie, Miniseries or Pilot category for the Manhattan series pilot. Amidst the construction of the world’s first atomic bomb, Manhattan follows the brilliant-but-flawed scientists and their families as they attempt to co-exist in a world where secrets and lies infiltrate every aspect of their lives.
Several months prior to the ASC proceedings, Lindley saw the release of St. Vincent, a lauded feature he shot for director Theodore Melfi and which stars Bill Murray as Vincent, a retired grouch with a penchant for booze and gambling. When a single mother (played by Melissa McCarthy) and her 12-year-old son (Jaeden Lieberher) become his Brooklyn neighbors, a strapped-for-cash Vincent ends up taking care of the lad whose mom keeps long hours at work. An odd friendship soon blossoms between Vincent and the boy. Together with a pregnant stripper (Naomi Watts), Vincent brings the youngster along on all his routine stops–the horse racetrack, a strip club and a local dive bar. While Vincent is an unlikely role model, the boy comes of age under his wing.”
“It’s a film that has a heart and a head,” assessed Lindley who got the gig based on his working relationship with Melfi over the years on commercials. (Melfi is a founder of the commercial/branded content house brother.)
“Ted had this script. He gave it to me, I read it and liked it a lot,” recalled Lindley. “He asked me to do it. It was that simple.”
Lindley felt fortunate not only to get the opportunity to work on St. Vincent but also to lens it on film.
“Ted wanted to shoot film. He storyboarded every frame,” said Lindley. “He’s meticulous and thoroughly thinks about what he’s going to do. His decision to shoot film was brave. There’s a little kid who’s a big part of the movie and digital is great for multiple takes with young actors. Ted was steadfast, though, that film was right for the project. If we had to reload the camera for additional takes, that was fine. He didn’t care about that. He cared about how the film looked and that was the right choice for St. Vincent.”
Meanwhile Manhattan was the second career ASC nomination for Lindley. The first came three years earlier for the Pan Am series pilot (ABC). The Manhattan and Pam Am pilots have in common director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme–and that shared bond is no coincidence, said Lindley, when it comes to his receiving ASC recognition. “If you look at anybody’s award nominations, any cinematographer, in features or television, often they come along with directors who have a consistent interest and enthusiasm for how the project looks. You’ll never find a director who is going to say, ‘I don’t care how it looks.’ But some really and truly care above and behind the call. Tommy really cares how it looks and he’s fearless. He’s not afraid of trying stuff, of going with new ideas at the last minute. Under those circumstances, he’s a capable and accomplished director who doesn’t get thrown off his game.”
Relative to Manhattan, Lindley said one of the biggest creative challenges for the World War II period piece–during the time of the top secret Manhattan Project–was to avoid “certain period conventions that are widely observed and have become cliches. We wanted to find a way of observing that time period without falling into those cliches. We wanted to make a fresh version of a period that has been recreated many times. We tried to play in new areas with colors and contrast.”
Lindley broke into the business years back as a production assistant. “I was lucky to get assigned to a camera department as a PA. I started working for a cameraman and began my move up.” Lindley served as an assistant at the BBC in New York, getting the chance to shoot some BBC documentary projects. “I then eventually met a guy who was making a series about trout fishing with a golf pro. Robert Halmi was that producer and he asked me if I wanted to shoot dramatic work.” That led to Lindley shooting Nurse, a CBS series in the early 1980s starring Michael Learned. “It was the only primetime series being shot in New York that year and it helped put me on the map–from TV movies to low-budget features. I was also lucky in another respect years later. Back then was a time when you shot either commercials or features.
But things were changing and there was a push to get some feature DPs to do commercials. That too opened some doors for me and I broke into commercials, working with directors like Bryan Buckley at Hungry Man, and Ted Melfi.”
Lindley’s filmography also extended into higher profile features, including repeat engagements with the likes of Nora Ephron and Phil Robinson. For the latter, Lindley shot such films as Field of Dreams, Sneakers, and The Sum of All Fears, Lindley lensed Ephron-directed features including Michael, You’ve Got Mail and Bewitched. Other notable theatrical features shot by Lindley include Mr. Brooks directed by Bruce A. Evans, and the visually innovative Pleasantville directed by Gary Ross.
