Jan Ralske: Perception of Black-and-White Pictures

From American Cinematographer, A Teutonic Love Triangle by Andrew O. Thompson (June 1998)

Mindful of this dilemma, the filmmakers left their backers unaware of their black-and-white blueprint until the 11th hour. However, this almost put them in the position of having to re-conceptualize the picture's art direction for capture on color celluloid. Attests Ralske,

"One TV station was not going to let us do it, arguing that they don't even broadcast Citizen Kane before one in the morning because it's in black-and-white; they immediately lose their audience, which thinks it's just some cheap old film. But the experience we've had from festivals and 'normal' audiences is an appreciation for the aesthetics of black-and-white. Nowadays there are music video clips in black-and-white, so there's not as much of a problem with kids who are 16-- they don't associate black-and-white with old fashions. Maybe this is a hopeful trend, because even in Europe you don't see many 35mm black-and-white films that make it past the festival route."

- Jan Ralske, Director of Not a Love Song

Jeff Cronenweth: Guiding the Eye w/ Shallow Focus

From American Cinematographer, Anarchy in the U.S.A. by Christopher Probst (November 1999)

"T2.3 was pretty much the stop for the entire movie. Whether we were inside or outside, we always wanted to keep a shallow depth of field to keep the audience focused on what we wanted them to see. I'm very confident about shooting with the Primo lenses wide open, but exposure-wise, shooting at a T2.3 was very comfortable, and I liked what it did to the practicals."

- Jeff Cronenweth, ASC

Michael Ballhaus: Layered Separation

From American Cinematographer, Sci-Fi Cowboys by David E. Williams (July 1999)

Bo Welch's sets, including Loveless's bordello-style bedroom, the grimy interiors of the Tarantula walking machine, the interior and exterior of Fat Can Candy's Saloon, and James West's railroad car, reflect the film's genre-blending tone, and were alternately fashioned with complex patterns, deep shadows, rich colors and dark-wood textures. To create separation between the actors and their surroundings, Ballhaus kept the backgrounds "light, but not so prominent that they might distract the viewer's eye from the actors and the action. Many of our scenes are set at night, and we kept those backgrounds dark; while you can see detail, it's not jumping out at you. However, the sets sometimes really soaked up all the light-- inside West's train car, for example, which had a lot of dark wood and dark green curtains-- so we had to add much more light that is apparent. We generally staged scenes so they were sidelit, which added separation and added backlight when possible."

- Michael Ballhaus, ASC

Gordon Willis: The Story Telling Cinematographer

"A cinematographer is a visual psychiatrist - moving an audience through a movie ... making them think the way you want them to think, painting pictures in the dark."

-Gordon Willis, ASC.