Greenfield appreciated his cinematographer's ingenuity and team spirit, which proved particularly welcome during the filming of a scene set in a disco. "That could have been a very expensive setup," says the producer, "but Chuy told me that all we needed were two fluorescent light bulbs and four round, handheld mirrors. In 15 minutes, he transformed an empty room into a disco using just those tools."
When Chavez did need tools that cost additional money, he didn't hold back. "At one point," Greenfield recalls, "Chuy told me he needed a 600mm Canon lens. He wanted a really long lens to capture the boys selling star maps on the street. I knew he wouldn't ask for it unless it was something that would really make the movie better, so we made a big effort to get it for him." Greenfield credits Otto Nemenz, the Los Angeles camera rental house, for helping out. "They gave us such a generous package that we were able to have a second body for our Steadicam. They were so good to us that we went back to them when it was time to do reshoots."
Star Maps marked Chavez's first experience with the Arri BL4 camera. "I liked it very much, even though I'm used to shooting with a Panavision," he says. He deployed a fog filter to soften the sharpness of the Zeiss lenses "so [the image would look] softer but not milky," and used a range of prime lenses (from 25-250mm) with 81 and 85 filters to warm his stock of choice, Kodak's 5248.
Chavez also used resourcefulness and daring to get the opening shot in the film. Arteta wanted to show a bus arriving in Los Angeles from Mexico. "The person doing the car mounts for us said it would be impossible," says the director. "But Chuy doesn't believe in the impossible. Whenever there was a difficult shot, or if we thought there was not enough time to get something done, he'd take off the fedora hat he wore every day and say 'Action man is here!'"
To get the bus shot, Chavez bungeed himself to the top of the bus and handheld the camera as the bus rolled along at 40 miles an hour. "I was terrified," Arteta admits. "It was much scarier for me to watch him, even though Chuy had promised me that he'd done it many times before and he knew what he was doing. That kind of creative spontaneity made him a joy to be around. I'll always ask him to shoot my films."
Ironically enough, Chavez' next film, She Dies, stars Arteta's daughter, actress Gabriela Retes. The cinematographer says he hopes to make more independent projects in the future. "I like the freedom of independent films," he says. "Studio films may have bigger budgets, but you don't get the freedom. I like the ability to talk to the director or the actors or the producer and share ideas."
