“You kind of work the shot by what’s demanded by the story.  The front of the shot is just Frank coming in the door and the exterior of the porch light that sort of rims him as he walks in.  It was an aesthetic reason because it helps set the mood of the shot.  We wanted this pool of warm light, sort of coming through this dark room and not knowing what you were going to expect.  It was about capturing the surprise of Frank seeing that scene and that mixed emotion.  And it wasn’t lit entirely by the candles.  I asked the art department to make a cake that was big enough that I could hide a little gag light behind it.” - Roger Deakins.

Whenever a lot of directors are about to shoot digitally they say, “It’ll look just like film.” Your work with the ALEXA goes beyond that. It’s not trying to be film.

ROGER DEAKINS: Yeah, it just looks like what it looks like. I don’t care what it looks like, because I like the look [Laughs]. The thing that got Sam and I the most when we first starting shooting was just the clarity of an actor’s eye. He looked at it side-by-side with film, and we did a lot of comparison tests, and just that slight sharpness and subtlety of color…you’re right, it’s not film, it’s something else. I really like it. I like how it renders the real world.

So, when you’re starting to work with the ALEXA, there is no questioning over whether wanting to make it look like film? 

ROGER DEAKINS: You know, I don’t like doing the comparison thing. I do feel more comfortable with it now. I do love film, but it’s a different look. I think the advantages now definitely outweigh the disadvantages.

I don’t know if you saw the documentary Side-by-Side.

ROGER DEAKINS: Yeah, yeah, it’s a good film, but that documentary is almost out of date already. There’s so many films being shot digitally on the ALEXA and the RED — and I like the ALEXA much better than the RED, but that’s enough of that — since that documentary’s been made. Hugo, for instance, was shot on the ALEXA. So much is being shot on it. [Laughs] The weight of the comparison now is changing, but I know people who absolutely swear by film, and that’s fine. I have no problem, but I don’t see why there’s such a problem when I say I like shooting digitally and probably won’t shoot film again, unless Joel and Ethan [Coen] want to shoot something else. Yeah, it’s just another tool in the paint box, as they say [Laughs].

“Getting light into the eyes of those characters, all of whom are covered except for the eyes, was the single most important illumination task in the entire picture,” says [DP Wally] Pfister.

Gaffer Cory Geryak fashioned a 1X1 snoot for the lamp, and Pfister used it throughout the shoot as an eyelight for the three masked main characters, Batman, Catwoman and the villain, Bane.

DP Wally Pfister on Moneyball: “If you look out at one of these stadiums during a night game, generally all the lights in the stadium are turned on to create a very even light for the television cameras, the fans, and the home viewing audience.  I wanted there to be a little more mood to it, so I shut off half of the stadium lights,” the cinematographer explains.  “That created more of an edge light.  I did it very judiciously and tried to find a formula where I could make it look a little darker, but still within the reality of what baseball looks like at night.  I like using darkness as a tool for the drama and for the mood.” (via)

In the late 1970s, when cinematographer Larry Fong was just a teenager, he loved to make movies on Super 8, the favorite home movie format of that time. One day, while shooting a film outside a friend’s house, a neighbor kid – also a Super 8 fan – came from across the street, wanting to get involved. “He kept coming over and bugging us, because we were a couple years older,” Fong laughs. “That’s how I met J.J.”

(via Mystery Train : ICG Magazine)

“On Star Trek and MI3, I was A-camera and Phil [Carr-Foster] was B-camera, and on this film, he’s A and I’m B,” [Colin] Anderson explains. “It’s great, because there are no egos with us. We try and stay out of the way, and still get something that’s complementary.”

Adds Carr-Forster, “We know each other well. What we do is try and hide the cameras somewhere and talk to each other – ‘Do you see me here? What about if I’m here?’ It’s all done quickly,” though, as Anderson laughs, “We still shoot each other sometimes.”

Abrams’s energetic visual style added another layer of complexity that inspired a mantra for the entire team: “With J.J., the camera is always moving,” notes Anderson. “Anything that makes the shot feel alive, he wants.”

And at the core of each scene is the A-camera master, which Abrams describes as the “hero camera telling the main story.” A hero-cam, that is, of course, never a static, wide master, augmented by close-ups and cut-ins.

“There is always an effort to make sure every shot – from the beginning to the end of the master shot – is very interesting,” [DP Larry] Fong laughs. “And by ‘interesting,’ I mean elaborate and complicated.”

“[The master] is invariably an intricate move, whether we’re on a Steadicam or a Technocrane or a dolly,” Anderson adds. “That’s because J.J. designs these wonderfully elaborate moves that tell so much in one shot.”

The A-camera on the Technocrane often sat on a Chapman-Leonard Maverick™ Mobile Arm Vehicle (M.A.V.), giving Abrams even more flexibility in his shot designs. The rubber-tired Maverick is capable of moving at high speeds, and as Abrams describes, was something that, “in many cases, proved its value in its flexibility and ease of use.” Operating a Panavision® Millennium XL, usually outfitted with an anamorphic 40mm Primo or 60mm close focus lens, Carr-Forster would descend from high above to a mere foot from one of the child actors in a single move. One such example begins with a vista of the train depot as the kids arrive in a car. The crane pushes in over the tracks and, as the wind picks up and script pages fly from the hands of one of the kids, the camera pushes in on his face.

“These [type of] shots are remarkable,” Carr-Forster relates, “because they bring you from well outside the canvas all the way into the scene.” (via Mystery Train : ICG Magazine)

“When I was a kid, I got a magic set for Christmas. In my teens I shot short films using my dad’s Bell & Howell 8mm camera. For me, both magic and filmmaking give an amazing sense of wonder to the creator and viewer, one that takes us out of our everyday lives and transports us to a place of mystery. My passion for both of these disciplines has led to incredible experiences and friendships that I will never forget. But sometimes making things look effortless is not so easy. To me the biggest challenge in cinematography, like any illusion, is to make an elaborate and often difficult situation appear to be completely natural. Not only is skill and mastering of the craft necessary; one must get into the mind of the director to read his thoughts. Then you must interpret his dream, understand his vision, collaborate, improvise, and deliver. But as organic as the process may be, recording the image is not something I leave to chance. The color palette, latitude, grain, and contrast that are unique to film all contribute to the ultimate emotional response of the audience…and that’s where the real magic is.” - Cinematographer Larry Fong (300, Watchmen, Sucker Punch, Super 8).