Vilmos, how do you encourage the audience to listen to dialogue?
Zsigmond: I want the audience to see the characters' faces, even if I'm shooting in a film noir style, when there is important dialogue. It can be part of the face or just the eyes.
Carroll: Vilmos is exactly right. We had many, many flawless takes that lasted for three to four minutes with the actors just bouncing off of each other. We did a scene with Ellen and Jay that lasted for about a minute and a half as a two-shot. We were going to move in for an over-the-shoulder shot that would visually punctuate a reaction, creeping in so slowly that it would be almost imperceptible. But we decided there was no reason to do it that way, because the actors related so genuinely in the two-shot that your eye went exactly where we wanted it to go.
Is the camera subjective or objective in the film?
Zsigmond: It mainly shows the audience the director's point of view, though sometimes it becomes an actor's subjective point of view.
Carroll: We talked a lot about camera movement, such as when to start a dolly move - on what word of dialogue, and so on. That made a big difference in a couple of scenes. We sometimes shot a scene in a variety of ways, maybe starting a move a millisecond later on a second take. Vilmos is very sensitive to the art of choreographing moves.
Were you shooting with one camera or multiple cameras?
Zsigmond: We used a lot of two-camera setups. Usually, we'd do a master and an over-the-shoulder shot. You save time with the second camera, and I think you get better and matching performances.
What kinds of lighting limitations were imposed by the relatively modest $14 million budget?
Zsigmond: I had the same crew I've worked with on bigger movies, and strangely enough I had more time to light than I have on many higher-budget movies. Willard was very organized, and everything happened on time.
Did the film lab treat you the same on this movie as they would have on an $80 or $100 million project?
Zsigmond: The lab was Deluxe, and they couldn't have treated us better if we were shooting a $100 million movie.
Did you look at film or video dailies?
Carroll: We looked at film every day, because I believe you need to see shots on a big screen to judge whether or not they work. There are a lot of long takes in the picture, so we probably spent 60 to 90 minutes a day looking at dailies. It made all the difference in the world.
Despite the tight budget, there are a number of elaborate scenes in the picture, including a big dance number.
Zsigmond: That's one of several Technocrane shots. We staged a dance scene with 800 extras in L.A.'s Mayan Theater, which is now used as a dance club. We started in the balcony high above the floor. We were focused on a chandelier and came down to Keenen dancing with Joan [Angelina Jolie].
How did you approach lighting that large area?
Zsigmond: We were hoping that the available light was going to be enough, but when we scouted the location with every light turned on, it was still much too dark. On a big set like that with a lot of people on the dance floor, you don't have to be a genius to light. If you light from all the sides it looks flat, so we decided which side the keylight should come from, and used cross- and backlight to create separation. We also had some lighting effects that created atmosphere.
How else did you use the Technocrane?
Zsigmond: There was another interesting shot with the same actors, Jolie and Phillippe, in a three-level shopping center containing a cinema complex. We filmed them riding down an escalator, and that's where we used the crane. The area was lit by mercury-vapor lamps that we had to augment because there wasn't enough light for the stop we wanted. We used HMI units with green gels to match the mercury-vapor lamps. We can pull some of the green out in the lab. We built a solid deck that held the base of the crane. The camera follows the actors very smoothly as they ride down the escalator, pans 90 degrees as they get off, travels ahead of them for about 60 feet, pans 180 degrees and follows them the last 100' as they walk to the elevator.
Couldn't you have done that shot more simply with a Steadicam?
Zsigmond: It would have been simpler to shoot, but it wouldn't have had the same feel. This is a romantic moment and the camera is kind of eavesdropping on the characters' conversation. We didn't want the camera to be intrusive.
In the last scene, a wedding, you have a stunning shot looking down on everyone from the perspective of an Akela crane. How was that shot planned? Carroll: Vilmos and I scoped that situation out to get a feeling for the shot. We didn't get up as high as the Akela crane ultimately did [80'], but it was pretty exciting going up through those trees and power lines.
Zsigmond: There was an existing a tennis court and we used one side of it for the base of the crane. The closing shot 30mm as made with a 20mm lens on the camera. It was around 4 p.m. and the sun was making long shadows from the trees on the ground. It is a touching scene with great music. It was a perfect way to end this particular story and send the audience home thinking about the characters and the meaning of love.
