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THE FORGIVEN FEATURE
12 hours a day, so what we got was another take, another set-up, another three set-ups, maybe. It became more about making the movie rather than technology, it allowed me to whittle away some of the wall of tech that’s between my process and the actors’ process.” “This is the way things are going,” William concludes. “The flip side of that is that the process of making a movie is exactly the same. That hasn’t changed since the silent days. To do it well is just as hard as it ever was. But getting onto the field has changed.” The combination of Fujinon’s zoom lenses, the highly- sensitive Varicam and William’s dedication to a streamlined camera department allowed the production to be completed in 24 days. “It was fast,” William says. “Without these things it wouldn’t be the movie that it is.”
them to Ira Tiffen.” William describes the effect of the Glimmerglass as similar to that of a net, but without imposing a patterned appearance on out-of-focus areas of the scene. “How they made a 19-90mm that size is miraculous,” Williammarvels. “The 85-300mm is even more so because it’s a 2.9 [almost] all the way out – it clams down at 220mm, but it doesn’t clamp down enough that it matters.” Through this approach, William’s crew were able to eliminate two complete carts of equipment, something that streamlined the production enormously. “Any time you can eliminate something without compromising you can save time. The combination of using those lenses and this camera – Roland and I talked about it – and we figured we saved an hour to an hour-and-a-half each day by not changing lenses. We still worked
and trying to figure it out. Every test I do, I go through colour timing. You can’t tell from a negative. You have to print it. You go through colour timing with all these lenses, the Zeiss are slightly harsh and blue, or the Cookes are slightly warmer and not quite as harsh. All that can be negated in colour timing to make them all look the same.” MILD DIFFUSION The Fujinon zooms were so sharp, in fact, that William elected to use mild diffusion. “I do dumb the lenses down a bit,” he says. “I don’t use diffusion that much with film, but with digital I do. Lenses are getting sharper and sharper and actors are hating it more and more. I used Glimmerglass a lot – I invented that filter, and I used to make themmyself with optical glass and optical cement! Then I showed
ABOVE On set in South Africa. LEFT The Panasonic Varicam and Fujinon 85-300mm zoom on set.
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APRIL 2018 DEFINITION
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