James Wong Howe: Happy Accident

From "The Outrage"-Off-beat Photography Is One Of Its Virtues by Herb A. Lightman, American Cinematographer, April 1964:

A happy accident occurring on the set led to an effect which turned out to be valuable in conveying this feeling of excessive desert heat. Because it was impossible to mount the required filters on the camera for one scene, Howe's assistant held three of them in front of the lens. After a while his hand became tired and he could no longer hold them steady, and the quivering of his hand resulted in a shimmering refraction that produced an illusion of pulsating heat waves-- an effect that was readily incorporated into the style of the photography.

Sadly this effect is not seen in the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt9xrEjQZPg
^ If the story seems familiar, look no further than the classic film Rashomon directed by the legendary Akira Kurosawa.

Jim Frazier: Frazier Lens Swivil Tip and Image Rotator

From American Cinematographer, Seeing is Believing by Christopher Probst (February 1999)

Perhaps the most useful aspect of the Frazier lens is its dual swivel-tip design, which allows for unlimited 360-degree global orientation of the taking lenses. Simply put, the lens can be pointed in any direction, even back at the camera operator. The swivel tip incorporates heavy-duty bearings, which make the system extremely rugged and mechanically precise, and consists of two right-angle pivot points which can be turned independently and continuously in either direction. Internally, the image is relayed through the swivel via a mirror and an amici roof-edge prism.

"On any piece of optics with a roof-edge. The roof has to be made very accurately. Otherwise, you can end up with a double image on the film. The roof angle should be 90 degree plus or minus three seconds of arc, which is very small. Normally, these types of prisms are used in binoculars and other types of instruments that are used by eye. And the eye is actually quite forgiving. In the case of the Frazier lens, however, the amici's roof-edge images to film, so it has to be very accurate...

...There are obvious situations in tabletop work where it can be a difficult matter to even look through the viewfinder. But with the swivel tip, it's easy to leave the camera in a conventional setup and put the lens where you need it. Additionally, if you imagine the lens to be like your hand and arm, you can get the lens wherever you can put your hand. I've seen some extra-ordinary things done with the lens just for the comfort of the cameraman!

You also have added freedom in that the camera itself doesn't have to be level. For example, you can even get a level image if the camera is turned on its side under a car, simply by adjusting the image rotator. This system was designed to free up the difficult aspects of cinematography that are either too expensive or time-consuming. You don't want to have a jackhammer cutting holes in the floor to get a lens in a certain position. You can also save the costs of renting additional equipment like Panatates, dutch heads, low-angle prisms and hotheads. I have gotten reports back from other cinematographers that by using the Frazier lens, they've been able to literally chop days off their shooting schedules...

...Rotating an image with a prism is not a new thing. But by putting that function in this system with its large depth of field and a fully adjustable swivel tip, you create a new range of options. The image rotator is actually what is called a pechan prism. A pechan prism is common in other optical instruments, but in this case it had to be made to very tight tolerances. One reason for that, of course, is image quality, but another is that we have to keep the boresight constant. If you rotate the prism, you don't want the picture to spiral around too much...

...Every lens has to have some sort of filtering capability. However, if you put a filter in front of the Frazier's taking lens, you have to be careful about dust. I'm talking about things like tiny carpet filaments flying in the air that are attracted to the glass due to static charge. Therefore, with the Frazier lens, the best place to put a filter is inside the system, within the relay optics. The Frazier's filter slot is also a sealed unit — there are two glass windows inside to prevent dust from traveling up or down the tube — so you can have dust go into the filter compartment without producing spots on the film."

-Iain Neil (Then Panavision Executive VP of R&D/Optics)

Antonio Calvache: 'Negative Diffusion' & Flashbacks

From American Cinematographer, Industry Town Embraces the Indies by Holly Willis (July 1998)

The flashbacks were originally slated to be shot in Pennsylvania (the location of Tom's hometown), but the film's budget prohibited the production from moving to the East Coast.

"Because there is nothing nearby L.A. that looks like Pennsylvania, we had to forget the realistic approach and substitute the lack of information in the landscape with the increasing emotional effect of the scene, achieved by a visual approach unique to these flashback scenes. I had experimented in still photography with a technique I term 'negative diffusion', which is using diffusion in the printing process from negative to positive, as opposed to diffusion used in the camera during exposure of the negative. I had used it for music videos during telecine, but it gets more complicated with film. We had to use an optical printer, and place a diffusion filter in front of its lens for that same footage. We increased the contrast by using a mix of interpositive and release stocks in the duplicate process."

- Antonio Calvache

The resulting effect is a series of images that seem simultaneously brilliant and washed-out, like an overwhelming memory that is being painstakingly repressed.

Antonio Calvache: 'Negative Diffusion' & Flashbacks

From American Cinematographer, Industry Town Embraces the Indies by Holly Willis (July 1998)

The flashbacks were originally slated to be shot in Pennsylvania (the location of Tom's hometown), but the film's budget prohibited the production from moving to the East Coast.

"Because there is nothing nearby L.A. that looks like Pennsylvania, we had to forget the realistic approach and substitute the lack of information in the landscape with the increasing emotional effect of the scene, achieved by a visual approach unique to these flashback scenes. I had experimented in still photography with a technique I term 'negative diffusion', which is using diffusion in the printing process from negative to positive, as opposed to diffusion used in the camera during exposure of the negative. I had used it for music videos during telecine, but it gets more complicated with film. We had to use an optical printer, and place a diffusion filter in front of its lens for that same footage. We increased the contrast by using a mix of interpositive and release stocks in the duplicate process."

- Antonio Calvache

The resulting effect is a series of images that seem simultaneously brilliant and washed-out, like an overwhelming memory that is being painstakingly repressed.

Hubert Taczanowski: Camera Filtration

From American Cinematographer, Rediscovering Eden by Holy Willis (March 1998)

"I like a natural look. I feel that using filters or artificially changing the light is a form of interference. I really admire Roger Deakins ASC, BSC and others like him who don't use any filters."

- Hubert Taczanowski

Ellen Kuras: Low Contrast Filtration

From American Cinematographer, 4 Little Girls by Eric Rudolph (January 1998)

"I used low-contrast filters on the interviews, but I was wary about doing more than that because of the blow-up. I didn't want to use a Tiffen ProMist, because that would have taken away from the apparent sharpness. I kept it simple, staying with color correction and Tiffen's Ultra Contrast filter series. In general, I tend to use low-contrast filters because I like to make the image smoother and take away the edginess that Kodak film has. The look of their stocks is bright and very crispy, almost too sharp, and I try to smooth it out. I ended up using half Ultra Contrast through a Number 1, sometimes a Number 2, on exteriors."

- Ellen Kuras, ASC

Karl Struss: B&W Special Effects with Filtration

From American Cinematographer, Two-Faced Treachery by George Turner (March 1999)

"The first time Jekyll changed, we used a technique I had devised years before to show the healing of the lepers in Ben-Hur [1926]. Everybody was using orthochromatic film then, which reproduced reds and yellows as black, and gave blue-eyed actors 'fish-eyes.' I had begun using panchromatic film, which is sensitive to all colors. The leprosy spots were red makeup, which registered when shot through a green filter, but when we gradually moved a red filter over the lens, the makeup disappeared. The Hyde makeup was also in red and didn't show at all when the red filter was on the lens, but when the filter was moved down very slowly to the green, Mr. Hyde appeared."

- Karl Struss, ASC

Jordan Cronenweth: Shafts of Light & Smoke

From American Cinematographer, Cinematography for Blade Runner by Herb A. Lightman and Richard Patterson (July 1982)

"After many tests with various units, gaffer Dick Hart came up with the most effective light to do the job, a Xenon spotlight commonly used for night advertising at sports events. This concept gave us some wonderful opportunities. For example, there's a late-night scene in Deckard's apartment kitchen which was played with the lights out. He has just had a hell of a struggle with one of the replicants. Having barely survived, he is now standing near the refrigerator. Rachel [Sean Young] is standing by the sink, which has a window above it. She is illuminated by a soft backlight through the window and the last traces of light filtering across the room from the refrigerator. Occasionally, one of those strong beams of light cuts through the sink window and glows the room just enough to read her face.

Naturally to create shafts of light, one must have some medium, which necessitated the use of smoke. The story lent itself very well to it, in the context of a highly polluted environment. It was very interesting to work with this constant atmosphere. Smoke is wonderul photographically, but not without its problems. It's hard to control, mainly due to drafts, and a lot of people find it objectionable to work in. Beyond this, it's important to keep the smoke level density constant, as a very subtle change in this density can result in dramatic changes in contrast. The only practical way to judge smoke density is by eye. [He jokingly adds,] I find that a good density is achieved just before I lose consciousness."

Cronenweth wanted to maintain the same texture even in situations where smoke wasn't used as heavily, and accomplished this by using low-contrast filters. He details, "We changed filters in conjunction with the angle of light and density of smoke. The stronger the backlight, the lighter the filter."

- Jordan Cronenweth, ASC

Robert Surtees: Black & White Filtration

From American Cinematographer, Photography for The Last Picture Show interview by Herb A. Lightman (Jan. 1972)

Your exteriors had a dark, brooding quality and very rich skies, which indicates that you must have made extensive use of filtration. Isn't that so?

"Yes. I went back to the old black-and-white Western style of photography, which isn't done anymore, where you have 20 or 30 filters for different types of scenes, as called for. To say how and where you use each filter would be misleading, because you could give the same set of filters to a different cameraman and he would get a different result. In using filters, you sometimes under-expose of overexpose on purpose to get a particular effect. You might use heavy contrast filters-- even as high as a 25 red or a 21 orange-- in your long shots to make the sky darker, but this also corrects everything else in the scene. The whites become whiter; the darks become darker. When you move in for the close-ups, it's a good idea to change to something like the old Aero-2 filter, which gives you more control. Or, if you still have to use the heavy contrast red or orange filter, you balance the lighting by eye through the camera. When you look up, it doesn't look like you have any light on the subject at all, but you're photographing what you see through the filter. If you're stuck using a red filter on a close-up, the face will go chalky where the sun hits it, so, by artificially lighting it, you work it over so the skin doesn't look chalky. You first knock down the sunlight by putting a net up to shade the face, and you then balance your light while looking through the camera. I think that one of the reasons why I was asked to photograph this picture is that not many fellows are shooting in black-and-white anymore, and I'm one of the few left over from the old black-and-white days. You know, what they need now are 21 year old cameramen who have 60 years of experience."

-Robert Surtees, ASC