Page 29 - Fujifilm Exposure_31 The White Countess_ok

I
THE DP VIEW
DAVID KATZNELSON
Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video • Exposure • 27
was at the launch of the new Fuji Eterna 500 stock and wanted to run various comparative tests before starting this film. We were looking to push the stock one or
two stops and we also did a bleach bypass on some negative to see what that might also do for us. In the end, we decided to push it just one stop and not bother with the bypass.
We were exposing at not the normal 500ASA but rating it as 800ASA. With the new Eterna stock, it gave exactly the texture we were after for interiors and exteriors – everything, in fact.
There was quite a cinematic feel to it, a nice grain structure, indeed a bit more grain than there might have been had we exposed it normally. There’s a nice lively feel, which for this seemed right. We also did a grad- ing test and the colours we were able to pull out were really nice too.
When it came to filming, we had to pre-light everything. Luckily I’ve got a gaffer, Otto Stenov, with whom I’ve worked for the last few years. I had lighting plans for every single location and there was pre-rigging going on which bumped up the cost quite a bit. We couldn’t afford to take any chances in terms of the weather which meant we probably had more lights then we needed.
Yes, I pretty much always operate too. To me, cinematography is a com- bination of composition, seeing emo- tions through the lens and lighting.
We had a number of big and diffi- cult locations, like our Buckingham Palace replicate, the Drapers Hall in the City, where we had to shoot the chris- tening of Margaret and Tony’s first child. There was, of course, no possi- bility of getting the usual cherry pick- ers in there so we had to operate with lights between 12 and 18 kilowatts on the roof trying to get the right angles.
For one of the big scenes at the Café de Paris, we were inspired by Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas where he does that amazing Steadicam trip in through the kitchen and out into the restaurant. Here we had Margaret’s entrance coming down some stairs into a very busy restaurant with 200 supporting artistes. We were doing 360 degrees in and out between tables. The shot worked out brilliantly. ■