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A Los Angeles lighting designer, Jeff Ravitz, was brought in to help Kuras with the unique problem of mounting a concert. Ravitz specializes in concerts and awards shows and had worked with Demme on The Manchurian Candidate, lighting the massive convention scene. “Jeff was fantastic, especially in helping us pick out music cues to accentuate the lighting and giving advice on moving lights and specific units we weren’t accustomed to using,” says Kuras. “He helped us tailor the look so it would translate as a stage show as well as for nine cameras.”Kuras strove for a stylized approach, but unlike Stop Making Sense, which was assembled from takes captured over several concerts, Heart of Gold is a record of just two performances. Although nine Arri SR-3 cameras ensured a variety of compositions, Kuras’ lighting couldn’t possibly be tailored to all of them. “In the end, John [Nadeau] and I decided that our ‘series of paintings’ concept meant we should light for the wide shots rather than the close-ups. We also had to accept that having cameras covering 360 degrees meant we would sometimes be fully lit on the camera side. But the close-ups from the two wing cameras were terrific because we were able to capture an intimacy.”Choreographing the positions and framing of the nine cameras was actually the last element of Heart of Gold to come together. During a two-week prep, Demme and Kuras plotted out compositions for seven cameras, but they later decided to order two more in order to give more attention to the background musicians. “Originally Jonathan said he wanted 80 percent of the movie to be about Neil,” says Kuras, “but one of the things I love about the film is that Jonathan chose to highlight some of the musicians you’d never see in a concert film. To be able to see the bass player and his little idiosyncratic movements is fantastic.” At one point, the movie even awards a roadie his close-up as he carries off one of Young’s guitars during a scene change and then stands in the wings, enjoying the next song.Eight of the camera positions were to be fixed, while a Steadicam roved the stage and wings throughout the performance. However, Demme’s desire to establish musical relationships in the frame spurred Kuras to mount four of the fixed cameras, including two in the wings, on dollies. “Jonathan really wanted to show the relationship between Neil and the horns, or Neil and the background singers, so we had to be able to move the cameras slightly to reframe, given that the blocking changed from song to song. The rest of the cameras were placed on platforms in the audience, just below Neil’s eyeline.” Demme also discussed framing with the eight other camera operators — ASC member Declan Quinn, Chris Norr, Charlie Libin, Alison Kelly, Tony Janelli, Peter Agliata, Jack Donnelly, and Mark Schmidt — as well as Steadicam operator Kyle Rudolph. The crew had just one camera run-through during the concert’s final dress rehearsal.Very long takes were a given for covering the musicians’ continuous performance, and Kuras’ crew outfitted most of the camera magazines with 800' loads. Demme also wanted continuous coverage of Young throughout the show, so using the dress rehearsal as a reference, camera assistant Rick Gioia conferred with the film’s editors to devise staggered coverage that would prevent rollouts from occurring during key moments. “A couple of the cameras started rolling a few minutes before the concert even started, just to make sure we would be covered within the staggered system,” says Kuras.Bookending the concert are two interludes that establish the film’s themes of simplicity and intimacy. Heart of Gold begins with a grainy, handheld view of Nashville’s modest skyline from the window of a moving car, and then proceeds into a suite of vérité-style interviews (also conducted from the passenger seat of a car) with individual musicians as they converge on the Ryman to unload their instruments. With Kuras’ encouragement, Demme filmed all of this material himself on MiniDV. “He really wanted to be the only one in the car with the musicians, so I just set [the camera] up as much as I could and said, ‘Godspeed.’ At the time, I was in the middle of trying to get all the lighting organized, so I certainly had my hands full. We laughed together when I asked to see his dailies!”What plays out over the film’s closing credits is a coda comprising nothing but Young, a guitar and an empty auditorium. “Jonathan envisioned this moment to happen immediately after the last audience member left the Ryman,” says Kuras. “I didn’t have time to light it as a separate piece, so I ran around and turned off lights.” Although three cameras were hastily set up onstage, the song plays out in a single, uninterrupted take. Facing the empty seats and framed by the Ryman’s magnificent painted windows, Young strums an abbreviated version of “Old Laughing Lady” before packing up and exiting the building.Young was so impressed with Kuras’ work that he has since asked her to light his performances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Saturday Night Live. “Working with both Jonathan and Neil was the chance of a lifetime,” says the cinematographer. “Both men have greatly influenced my creative, personal and professional life, and I was ready to do whatever it took to make this film the best I could. I was thrilled to have an opportunity to work with both of them.”N
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