Page 14 - Fujifilm Exposure_20 Bend It Like Beckham_ok

THIERRY ARBOGAST AFC
“Sometimes you must even be prepared to give up certain ‘qualities’ with the lighting and just go for it.”
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down to the smallest details. I choose the lights, which type of lamps, bulbs and wattage, I determine what height the lamps must be, and what direc- tion they come from. I choose the dif- fusion, and I cut the light with the flags myself.
“I have worked with the same gaffer for a long time, Claude Hirch, who is very calm, very organised and always has a nice crew who under- stands my style of working. When I see something is wrong or not done exact- ly as I like, I will adjust it myself.”
Arbogast says he doesn’t operate the camera but stays focused on the lighting. “ I like to have the control of placing the camera and deciding with the director how we film each scene, how we frame each shot, and what it will look like. On Femme Fatale, Brian DePalma constructed the shots. He explained what he wanted and there was no discussion.”
He states that he likes working closely with a director and particular enjoyed his collaboration with Mathieu Kassovitz on the thriller, Crimson Rivers.
“Mathieu arrives on set and is very open to ideas and discussion. We’ll talk about how to cover each scene and we exchange points of view about the breakdown of shots. We’d have discussion about favourite films – one of mine is The Apartment, with Giles Mimonie - and often didn’t agree with each other but the process is interest- ing and rewarding.”
Arbogast acknowledges that a number of different cinematographers have influenced him, in particular, Gordon Willis and he says that each time he prepares his next movie, he watches The Godfather over again.
For him, it’s Vittorio Storaro who has modernised cinematography by showing us a new way of lighting from different directions with high contrast
and beautiful textures. As far as he’s concerned, Pale Rider, photographed by Bruce Surtees, is the best western ever photographed; and finally that Vilmos Zsigmond, with his influence from painting, has also made a great impact on the craft.
“Why do I do this job?” Arbogast reflects. “It goes back to one of the deepest memories I have when I was a kid. I was around seven or eight years old, and downstairs in the hallway of our house there was a camera that was always lying around on the floor - an old plastic cube, a six by six.
“It was just sitting around on the floor and I remember picking it up and playing around with it. I used to look through the square viewfinder and I loved being inside there and moving around looking though it. I would spend hours just moving around the room with the camera in my hands, composing and operating.
“If there is one reason I am here today doing what I do, it is because of that. If I wasn’t a cameraman, or if I had to stop being one, I would proba- bly be a painter.” ■ MADELYN MOST
Thierry Arbogast was one of three cameramen who recently shot Fujifilm’s new Reala 500D demo film The Glow
Photos top l-r: Scenes from The Fifth Element; Black Cat, White Cat and The Story Of Joan of Arc (courtesy Moviestore Collection); Thierry Arbogast
EXPOSURE • 12