Page 33 - Fujifilm Exposure_39 Stardust_ok

feature in focus
TAKING THE WIDE SREEN OPTION
Chris Seager BSC - currently using ETERNA Vivid 160T
on Wild Child (‘for all my day exteriors and it’s fab’) for first-time feature director Nick Moore - looks back at working with veteran writer-director Paul Schrader on The Walker
The Walker is an American political murder mystery set in the heart of Washington DC, but with the finance coming from
this side of the pond the shooting was to be in the Isle of Man and London, with only four days of GVs in DC itself.
On my first day of prep, I sat “down with Production Designer, James
one night during the post-production stage, he admitted his enjoyment of the new-found image size.
Paul comes with a vast catalogue of experience. He’s very commanding and, for example, he has a shooting style that he’s not only happy with but is quite insistent about. He is, howev- er, open to negotiation and on many occasions we held detailed chats about camera angles, scene coverage and cutting points.
For example, he would, in most cases, be more than confident that his shot selection and actor placement for a scene would be perfect. If you chal- lenged him with positive alternatives he would more than likely raise his eyebrow, smile a little, listen, digest your views and then there would be a period of playful jousting which was delightful to be part of.
If, and only if, he agreed to my ‘alternative’ it was then up to
me to be absolutely sure it
would work. I would certainly
feel the pressure. Game on! ■
The Walker, currently on release in the UK, was partly originated on 35mm Fujicolor ETERNA 500T 8573
Merifield and we went through the script with him filling me in with pro- jected locations.
Needless to say, with no look-a- like Capitol Hill locations, the IoM locations were all interiors.
A night club, a police station cor- ridor and a disused ‘pipe factory’ which doubled as a loft apartment, to name a few, and the main Washington socialite club - a build in what can only be described as a farm ‘out build- ing’ - became our principal locations in the Isle of Man.
The ‘out building’ is so not a ‘stage’ but that’s where we were and James and I went about making it do- able. In fact, it worked. Although never opulent enough in its size and scale, it gave us the intimate cosiness that was required. As compromises go, we man- aged to tick the box... just about.
Schrader’s view of shooting in the Isle of Man was this: ‘If you shoot 50 per cent of your movie there they give you 25 per cent of your budget.’ With a
twinkle in his eye, he added, ‘I person- ally think it’s a great place to shoot, because there is nothing to do! Shoot six days a week, sleep in on Sunday.’
Schrader’s movie writing and directorial list is impressive, to say the least and during the movie’s prep peri- od I set about screening as many of his movies as I could on DVD.
He called me late one night: ‘Seager, Schrader here. Have you seen Affliction?’ I, half asleep, having not really heard his question countered with, ‘Sorry, seen what ?’. ‘Affliction’, he barked, to which I replied, ‘Yes, of course’ and he was gone, leaving me saying ‘Hello, you still there ?’
At times he seemed quite abrupt, but in fact it was all about information. I knew that if I hadn’t seen Affliction, it would have been on my desk the very next morning.
In his office at the production base he was always screening movies, some his and some not. They were like visual wallpaper. You would pop in to see him with perhaps a question or arrive for some kind of meeting and your eye would naturally glance toward the TV.
Before long you’d be engaged in a lengthy discussion about that particu- lar movie’s style, colour, production values, lighting, editing, acting etc. It became an enjoyable part of the prep and an insight into the man himself.
During those discussions we talked about shooting ratios with Paul having always shot his movies 1:85. I endeavoured to persuade him to shoot The Walker wide screen 2:35 to allow more width. He wasn’t sure and eyed my argument with a certain amount of suspicion. But over dinner
Photo top: Woody Harrelson with Paul Schrader; above: Harrelson with Lauren Bacall, with Kristin Scott Thomas and on the set of The Walker; DP Chris Seager BSC
Fujifilm Motion Picture • The Magazine • Exposure • 31
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