Page 20 - Fujifilm Exposure_21 The Gathering Storm_ok

ROBERT FRAISSE
“When you are given good looking sets to work in and beautiful costumes, half of your work is already done.”
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commercials. When this production company, that I had such a great expe- rience with 10 years ago, called me to shoot Tempo, I was very happy to work with them again.
“I have to say, the atmosphere on the film was amazing. Everyone worked very hard, at least 12 hours a day for 28 days - nine days in Paris and 19 days in ‘studios’ in Luxembourg. You cannot really call them studios; they were empty warehouses without any catwalks or structures so there is no way to hang anything.
“In Luxembourg, there aren’t any screening rooms either, so with three American movies shooting there in February, we watched rushes only twice in an empty cinema on a Sunday morning. We shot on Fuji film which I had also chosen for Vatel because it is not very contrasty and I like the look.
“We had 35 sets for a 28 day shoot and we often changed locations so it could have been a difficult movie, but I had great grips, great electricians and a very good camera crew. Everyone was willing and eager and enthusiastic so it all went really well.
“With my operator, I work the American way; that is, I tell him what to do. For me, the light and the compo- sition are inextricably linked together. When you look at a painting, you could never imagine that one person would have done the drawing and someone else would have brushed in the paint.
“The painting and the drawing are one; as DP, when you compose the frame, you are also thinking about the lighting for the shot and where that light should come from. Looking through the camera, it is so obvious to understand. Also, there is usually only one prevailing angle to get the best shot so I make these decisions and communicate them to the operator.
“With a director like Jean-Jacques Annaud, there isn’t a lot of dialogue between us on the set. We have already discussed the lighting, the mood and feeling for a scene when
we’re prepping and scouting locations. “He is a visually oriented director
and very strong minded; he knows exactly what he wants and chooses the frames himself. I might make sug- gestions but generally he doesn’t need anybody to help him.”
Back in December, Fraisse could be found in Lodz, Poland, on the jury at Camerimage, along with Roger Deakins, Phedon Papamichael, and Jorg Schmidt-Reitwein.
“I love this festival. It takes place in an enormous theatre with lots of people there and lots of students from all over Europe. I am amazed by such enthusiasm; they really love movies there. I met some wonderful camera- men like Vilmos Zsigmond, Owen Roizman and Billy Williams.
“When I was a young cameraman, I was very influenced by the Italian cameraman, Pasquale de Santis, whose photography on Francesco Rosi’s films was so subtle. I also admired Geoff Unsworth, Douglas Slocombe, Chris Challis, Robert Surtees, and Haskell Wexler.
“I am a great admirer of the old lighting cameramen. It was much more difficult in those days when the film stock was so slow and they had to use big lights. It was much more critical to respect strict contrast ratios with the black and white film and also with colour.
“There is a scene in Ben-Hur when Charlton Heston returns home after a few years and learns that his mother and sister have been taken to a leper colony. It is so subtly lit and there is so much melancholy in those images.
“To achieve those nuances and that moodiness with those big lights was extremely difficult. People had to have a lot of talent in those days - in truth much more than we seem to have now.” ■ MADELYN MOST
Tempo and Vatel were originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative
Photos from top: The Oscar nominated The Lover; Nicholas Clay and Sylvia Kristel in Lady Chatterley’s Lover; Robert De Niro in Ronin; Rachel Weisz and Joseph Fiennes in Enemy At The Gates (courtesy Moviestore Collection)
EXPOSURE • 18