Anamorphic

Workshop

u ko s BSC
am barlo
Haris Z

On 6 of the 11 movies you photographed in Anamorphic,

what do you like about it ?
Firstly, I like using the whole negative to achieve a widescreen frame.
That means less grain and much higher definition. That in turn means
I can push the film stock to the extreme knowing that I am not throwing
away a large percentage of it. Most importantly, its about control
and aesthetics. The so-called imperfections of Scope are actually
the idiosyncrasies that allow you to manipulate an image with a lot
more nuances.
The differences between the types of anamorphic lenses are much
greater than the differences between spherical lenses so the creative
applications are far more varied. Anamorphic lenses have been
developed with individuality in mind while spherical lenses are more
about optical perfection and uniformity. 
 How do you
prepare your
lens packag
e?
I start off wit
h a selection
Panavision, of lenses and at
project char
evaluate thei ts through ea
r individual ch lens to
l over tests to see ho characterist
more contro w they work ics. Then I do
an am or ph ic, you have te nt io n to go. Less and how they with my light
 Wit h au diences at perform whe ing scheme
w an t th e fa ll ou t of the actors. D n I photogra
where you ns parts of the
frame
eir epth of field ph tests on
fi el d m ea e th at to th actually look is not somet
depth of at og ra ph er can us u for lenses wit hing I go for,
I
ne m what yo which even w h a great boke
focus and a ci gs the eye to ide Anamorph h effect
va nt ag e be cause it brin . why I am so ic lenses have
ad ing at fond of them - thats
er to be look Japanese bo . (*Bokeh, de
want the view e it means keru, means rived from
ng in an am orphic becaus It is a photog
raphic term
to become blur
red or fuzzy.
orki very
Also I like w to film so it is of out of focu referring to th
e appearance
u ca n pr in t directly on t sh oo ti ng I have camera lens
s areas in an
image produc
yo
B y th e ti m e we star ks work using a shallo ed by a
immediate .
I ca n st ar t the first wee w depth of fi
eld.)
tested enough
that t week of Different lens
en w it hin that firs bokeh produc
feeling confid
en t. Th , I can judge aesthetic qu e a range of di
se ei ng th ings in rushes me final are used to m
alities in out
of focus back
fferent
shooting an d
el l an d w he re to make so inimize distra grounds, they
ng w your the primary ctions and em
what is worki able to watch subject. Bok phasize
st m en ts . W hen you are w yo ur lig hting quantified by eh characteri
adju yo u can see ho examining th stics may be
y,
rushes ever y da k that is ry ve confusion. In e images circ
e pr og re ss ing and I thin light becomes
the out of focu
s areas, each
le of
ideas ar a disc. Depen point of
corrected for ding on how
important. spherical ab a lens is
uniformly ill erration, the
uminated, or disc may be
brighter near brighter near
the center. So the edge, or
beautiful blur in Scope, th
ry oval high ose
are less pron lights appear
ounced. round and
Is photograph
ing faces on
more challe Anamorphic
nging ? lenses
Quite the op
posite. Every
unique and di anamorphic
fferent- even lens is
the same seri the same foca
es, and that l length in
portraiture. can be very
The Panavisi useful in
a great close on C series 15
up lens, but 0mm. lens is
them and th there are no
ey are all diff t many of
choose which erent, so you
one is suitab have to
le for a certai
Catherine Ze n face.
ta-Jones is a
actress and stunning, ch
a diligent pr arismatic
everything ne ofessional an
cessary for th d she will do
playing. In D e character sh
eath Defying e is
important fo Acts it was ve
r her to look ry
favorite lens beautiful. W
for her close e found our
150mm (the ups
y are about 40 was an old C series
shallow dept years old no
h of field and w). It had a
exactly wha a sharp fall of
t we needed f which was
smooth and to make her
soft, and Cath skin look
on that lens. erine looks qu
ite amazing
 And making mature leading
ladies appear young
and beautiful ?

Every face tells you what to do.

You need to
observe the actors meticulously
and see how the
symmetry of their face works
and how you can
enhance that, what lighting setu
p can help remove
the lines to be more flattering
and show an inner
youth. Lens choice and filtration
works in conjunction
with that. I read The Light On
Her Face by Jo
Walker, ASC, when I was a film
student and was
inspired by his approach to ligh
ting women.
I find the C100 mm and the C13
5 mm are both
excellent portrait lenses becaus
e they are very
sharp in the middle, you can see
cheekbones and
chins, and then there is a drastic
fall off in the other
parts of the frame where thin
gs fade away or
disappear completely. (This is
how the test charts
are useful, they show you the spe
cific area of the
frame (or field) to best place you
we had to r subject in.)
For Meryl Streep on Mamma Mia
ain lens es to achieve the
carefully choose cert Sometimes I use filters or diffusio
n on anamorphics,
t was requ ired for the film and for her. but there is nothing different to
aesthetic tha how I use them on
she looks and had
She is very particular about how spherical lenses. I favor Schneid
er filters and often
for this rom antic leading
a distinct type of make-up choose Classic soft for diffusion
because it seems to
mus ical num bers , noth ing was soften an image rather than acti
role. With all the ng like a filter. Its
t mov eme nt while
ever static, there was constan important to maintain a consist
ency and match the
- dan cing - jum ping-
they were running-singing rs and
density of the filtration on differen
t focal length lenses
ama zing crew of ope rato
sweating I had an every
so that the image doesnt jump
from shot to shot.
a cran e on
grips who really tried hard to get them to,
stag e I ask ed Part of the cinematographers
boat, beach, mountain, set or mus ic job is to do cosmetic
dica m ope rato r. The work to help actors appear you
plus we had a great stea follo wed . nger. For Meryl
and we Streep on Mamma Mia I had
and the choreography led the way to calculate by eye
how much diffusion to use on each
d to photograph lens while
There are times when you nee determining what lighting best
suited her face. We
s. Mic hael Caine, Peter
actors in unf lattering way often used a Classic soft 2 on a
C100mm lens which
Law didn t min d when it suited
OToole, and Jude is fairly strong. There were tim
es in Greece on a
on Sleuth. I
their characters on Venus and bright sunny day using a Classic
soft 2 on a
, eve ry line, every
wanted to show every wrinkle C150mm, that it looked like it
was snowing, but
r face s so I cho se Primo
characteristic of thei when we projected our rushes
in the evening, it
s whi ch are ver y pre cise lenses with looked absolutely fine.
Anamorphic
of deta il. On
great resolution that shows a lot didnt
s, not abo ve, and
Sleuth I lit below the eye
use any filtratio n or diff usio n.
e Laws face, every
You can see every pore on Jud
skin - it was very
wrinkle on Michael Caines
t ver y dar k on Sleuth and
unforgiving. We wen
lot whi ch was a deli bera te
underlit a
of sett ing the acto rs aga inst the bold colourful
way
walls or background.
out what you can
In the testing process, you find
will accept, and
get away with, what the director
Hav ing a much narrower
what actually pleases you.
Sco pe can also help portraiture.
depth of field with
that respect, being
The fall off is very important in
blur ry around the
very sharp in the middle and
p the eye s sharp but gives a
edges. That lets you kee
that faces are
gentle effect on the skin. I believe
, and that counts a
what people look most at in a film
look , the mood, the
lot when determining the
texture you are crea ting .
 emically
ish the film photoch
Do you prefer to fin
or with a DI ?
the
a DI, but nothing beats
I love the control of of res olu tio n and
ss in terms
photochemical proce int . We are a lon g way
the pr
texture and quality of qu ali ty of a
trol of a DI and the
from getting the con Ma n , the
. On The Other
photochemical print
en mi nu tes are DI and the rest is
opening sev side, the
you look at it side by
photochemical. When
onounced.
difference is quite pr
emically.
was finished photoch
Death Defying Acts d I was
done in Australia an
Post production was int over to
aso they sent a pr
shooting Mamma Mi ma de my
ecked it and
Deluxe in London. I ch y
an d the n ch ecked another one the
corrections pp y with
I am really very ha
sent, and I have to say . It is jus t a
of the final print
the fantastic quality
print.
finer print than a DI
atography
portant part of cinem
I believe the most im d you have
the actors face an
is the presentation of er yo u need a DI
y about wheth
to think very carefull ur e. I ne ed ed a DI on
portrait
and what that does to nt use it
was worth it, but I wo
Mamma Mia and it fou gh t for on
of the things I
unless I have to. One es and
a wa s to make only DI negativ
Mamma Mi ga tive
er Positive/ Inter Ne
not go through the Int t ma de a huge
erations, and tha
stages and lose 2 gen

difference in quality.

Any theories
or philosop
your work ? hy you brin
g
Apart from
good taste an
theme of the d finding wha
project, Im fr t suits the
rules. Somet om
imes you have the school of no
Branagh or R a director lik
oger Michel e Kenneth
anyway, and who dont lik
who are very e rules
cameras for happy to set
a scene just up 2 or 3
moment or an to catch the
expression on dramatic
its fantastic a face. When
because you it works
able to recrea would never
te those mom have been
traditional co ents by shoo
verage. Then ting
that have to there are othe
be shot more r projects
conventional
ly.
I certainly do
use my prep
strategy that time to find
suits each film a lighting
good camera individually.
team with lo I have a
trust them. Th ts of experien
ey are part of ce and I
anamorphic the reason I
and work qu can shoot
knowing the ickly and effi
results can be ciently,
spectacular.
At the end of
the day, whe
its all about ther anamor
how much pr phic or not,
speed with w ep you do be
hich you light forehand, th
right decision the e
s you make un set, and how many
issues have no der pressure
thing to do w , and those
ith the format
of the film.
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