Page 29 - Fujifilm Exposure_37 Candy_ok

TO THE LAND
contrast with more tonal and hue vari- ation, and I was particularly impressed with the way it held detail in the high- lights. It seemed to me that with the highlight detail and subtle grain struc- ture this stock really looked like film. We chose to shoot with an Aaton - reli- able time code system was essential. Although I have operated the
camera on previous films and commer- cials, I am not a trained cinematogra- pher. I had to shoot The Library Van myself, because in a sense this film was going to be discovered in the making process: what I saw through the camera and how I saw it, was going to be an integral part of the film - there was little time and space for dialogue with a cinematographer.
It was also important in this form of observational film making to restrict the crew to a minimum - partly for logistics but largely to limit that sense of the film crew becoming an
audience. I found an enormous pleas- ure in handling the camera myself - not only in that immersion of looking at the world through a rectangular frame but also in the rituals and pro- cedures of shooting on film.
Very soon a stylistic approach developed: wide static images with a compositional quality reminiscent of William Eggleston. Much of the time I would use the camera on a saddle bag placed on the ground or the surface which connected visually to the activi- ty being filmed.
Six months on and the editing process is about to begin - a small amount of stock has been kept back for snow, early lambing and... ■
Originally from a background in mathematics, Gideon Koppel was a postgraduate student at the Slade School of Fine Art working with mixed media installations and experi- mental film. His prolific work as a film maker is exhibited in a wide variety of formats: from the film installation for fashion label Comme des Garcons seen at the Florence Biennale... to the acclaimed docu- mentary series Undressed for Channel 4. More recently he made the controversial Ooh La La And The Art Of Dressing Up for BBC Wales, which explores the psychopathology of celebrity. Koppel is a faculty mem- ber of Royal Holloway, University of London and teaches with Professor Theodore Zeldin at HEC, Paris.
The Library Van was originated
” below Plynlimon with a Super16mm
on 16mm Fujicolor Eterna 400T 8683
Fujifilm Motion Picture • The Magazine • Exposure • 27
Photo: Gideon Koppel filming on location just
Aaton XTR camera from Panavision UK and Massey Ferguson ATV from Agco Ltd