SAN QUENTIN PRISON MARATHON PRODUCTION
THE TEAM HAD ONE CHANCE TO NAIL IT ON RACE DAY and went all-in . THEY SLAPPED A ‘TONNE’ OF EXTRA CAMS INTO THE MIX AND called in reinforcements ”
floor of the building across the yard. We really planned it out because we only got one shot at it,” recalls Traiman. The close-ups of the runners’ faces as they grind through the miles are among the most powerful of the whole film. Captured by Traiman and team – hanging out the back of a golf cart with the Movi – they were critical to Yoo’s vision. “It was really important to me to have them look right into the lens when they were running,” she insists. “A lot of the guys have been convicted of violent crime; so having the audience look right into their eyes, and being confronted by them and hopefully by their humanity – for me that was pivotal.” The race scenes were bathed in natural light, but inside the prison it was a different story. Confronted with dull lighting in the cells, Traiman knew they would need a strategic approach to create the desired mood. Seeking a minimal set-up which offered a reliable bicolour soft source, the team deployed two light panels equipped with 1x1 LEDs and soft boxes, which had the benefit of being battery powered – a necessity since they didn’t have access to a power source inside the prison. “You can make something look fantastic with very few light sources if you’re strategic,” he says. “If I’m facing the subject, I might put one just outside of frame, three-quarters back, so I get an edge. And I would probably just get a little bit of fill so you see something, a little ding in the eyes. Then you can dial in your fill and your colour temperature. “The other thing that I always tried to do is put a light source in the shot – such as windows out of focus in the background. I typically don’t care if they blow out – if it looks great, we’re good! And by doing stuff like that, you can play with the halation, maybe put a
wall, looking kind of out at the bars, or be shooting through the bars. I wanted to have that sense of confinement, so that when we brought it out into the yard, it was the opposite; it was much more open. I also filmed a lot of birds, because they represented freedom, and details like a single dandelion, because it represented something beautiful coming out of all this oppression; it represented the hope that life will persevere.” UP AND RUNNING The team had just one chance to nail it on race day, and they went all-in. They slapped a ‘tonne’ of extra cameras into the mix and called in reinforcements from other DOPs and operators. “We had full-size cameras on jibs, we had GoPros working, we had DSLRs. We wanted to be there and we wanted to ready – we had people hanging out over on the corners, and on balconies up on the third or fourth
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