For the interior shots I underslung the bungee rig to a truss with tracking guide rails, which freed me up to do lateral dolly movements, in addition to the vertical freedom the bungee cord allows. For exterior shots the bungee rig was rigged to the end of a crane, which my Dolly Grip could sweep around as I operated the camera. The bungee rig’s unpredictable inertia as the crane is swept ensures that at times the camera is pulled off the correct composition, so instinctually I will be framing to the sweet spot, creating a dynamic ebb and flow of correctly versus incorrectly composed frantically captured action.
A night sequence at the Arizona Seaside Motel. I used Steal blue Rosco gels on the light to create the look for this scene.
My biggest trade secret to capturing gorgeous images on Hi-Def is the time of day at which to shoot. I credit Pil, who approved me shooting almost every exterior scene close to magic light, even though this approach adds pressure in that time becomes such a premium later in the day. Pil had rehearsed his actors so well prior to principal photography that we were able to confidently commit to shooting scenes literally against the setting sun. As a result, many of the exterior scenes have actors bathed in beautiful light, which adds so much visually to the kind of warm, energetic imagery we were going for in the desert. I think of the Arizona Seaside exteriors as my Days of Heaven moments, as the late, great cinematographer Nestor Almendros shot that entire feature in magic light.
I am forever suggesting, influencing, and cajoling my directors and 1st ADs to allow me to shoot as many exterior Hi-Def scenes as possible at night or at magic hour, so as to avoid the problems encountered with video highlights.
To give you a practical example of video highlight problems, let’s say you shot an identical scene with the sky overexposed by 5 stops with different cameras. The first camera was a film camera, the second a Hi-Def camera. Now weeks later you are sitting in telecine doing color corrections and you ask the colorist to make the white sky blue. If this scene was captured on film it is no problem; there is overexposed captured information that by a push of a button goes blue. But the overexposed white sky captured on Hi-Def will not be able to be made blue, as there is no information there. It remains an overblown white video highlight, and at that point you clearly understand the intrinsic differences between the characteristics of film versus Hi-Def in their capture of overexposure.
Another trick I utilize when shooting HD is to lens on the longer end of the scale. For example, let’s say to accommodate an actor from head to toe at 10 feet on 35mm film I might use an 18mm lens. On HD I would lens that differently. I would accommodate the man from head to toe by shooting from 20 feet away with a 40mm lens. This would ensure that the backdrop behind the man would replicate the shallower depth of field of film.
Whenever I shoot a feature that requires shooting almost 10 pages a day, my creative decisions become based on shooting efficiently without any external delays on set. On Arizona Seaside I primarily used a Fujinon HA22x7.3 Berd zoom lens, even though I had a set of 35mm Zeiss primes on hand. Because of the back focus issues HD cameras have, changing lenses every setup requires the camera assistant to make sure the camera’s back focus has not gone out of alignment, and this eats up precious time. Having a great zoom lens enables me to work at a speed that ensures I am shooting between 30 and 40 camera setups every day.
Actor Richard Thorne as "Big Daddy Johnson" and R. Emery Bright as "Sawtooth." This car rig shot was planned at magic light, so that we see the talent drive into the sunset, bathed in gorgeous low-setting sunlight.
Because I created a definitive in-camera look through lighting and filtration, we didn’t need to use the DI process to create a look; it was used primarily to keep scenes consistent, particularly with color temperature changes within scenes with the setting sun.
It is very gratifying to me that Arizona Seaside is picking up cinematography awards, having been shot on a small budget in only 15 days. It won Best Cinematography at both the 2007 FAIF International Film Festival and the 2008 Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 2008 Treasure Coast International Film Festival.
To see Arizona Seaside at film festivals, visit its official site at ArizonaSeaside.com for screening dates. To contact the author, cinematographer Daron Keet, visit him at DaronKeet.com .
An 18 year film veteran, Daron Keet's critical eye and passionate sensibilities make him a well-sought-after cinematographer, who moves seamlessly between commercials and features. His many years of on-the-job training enable him to bring technical proficiency, clarity, and innovation to his easygoing, on-set approach. Quick to embrace new technologies, he has extensive experience on 35mm film, Viper film stream, Genesis, and CineAlta HD camera systems. When he’s not working, you can find him playing squash or trying not to lose money in the stock market. Daron lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.
