This article originally appeared in ICG Magazine in Dec. 1999.

Reminiscing about the days of youth when social approval resided in one’s “class” often brings back painful memories. The “cool” kids — never named as such to their faces, of course — stuck crippling labels on their “inferior” counterparts without the slightest remorse. For those not in the know, “freaks” consisted of long-haired, pot-smoking burn-outs whose hot rod-driven exploits echoed forth with a thunderous heavy metal soundtrack. The gawky, socially unskilled “geeks” amounted to Star Trek-obsessed braincases who viewed their world through the distorted lens of celo-taped, Coke bottle-thick glasses. Condemnation to the scholastic caste system’s lower levels meant enduring a living hell.

At least, this is what the creators of NBC’s comedy/drama Freaks and Geeks recall. Writer Paul Fieg (Life Sold Separately), producer Judd Apatow (Liar, Liar; Happy Gilmore) and pilot director Jake Kasdan (Zero Effect) have painted an often painful, ultimately hilarious picture of sibling rivalry, freshman fears, and clique confines in small-town Michigan. At the center of this high-drama is Lindsay Weir, a brainy, wannabe freak and her younger brother, geek-to-the-max Sam, as well as their oddball gang of uncertain, overly ambitious, naïve, and often-frightened friends, all of whom are trying to navigate a 1980s pop culture existence.

“In 1992, I had worked with Judd Apatow on The Ben Stiller Show,” says cinematographer Russ Alsobrook whose credits include The Barefoot Executive, The Love Bug, Freaky Friday, The Shaggy Dog, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, Escape to Witch Mountain along with numerous commercials and documentaries. “He called and asked if I would visit the set when Bill Pope was shooting the pilot. When I arrived, he told me Bill wasn’t going to do the series and asked if I would take a look at the script and view some of the dailies. Freaks and Geeks was the best television script I’d read in some time. The characters were real and driven by real problems and situations — they were all based on people I could relate to.”

After being brought on board, the immediate question posed to Alsobrook concerned the type of changes that he would like to make to the cinematography. Since everyone seemed to love the pilot, he opted against making many suggestions. The cinematographer did propose altering the look to appear dark and contrasty “but only when appropriate.”

The producers hoped to capitalize on Alsobrook’s extensive documentary background as seen on such productions as The Women of Russia. “The pilot had a semi-documentary feeling. — the look was extremely naturalistic. Bill seemed to be defiantly unglamorous in his lighting, and so were make-up and wardrobe. The hair was natural, even greasy, and make-up didn’t hide the zits. I knew that I would continue the series by designing the lighting to go with that feeling [of realism].”

Before proceeding with Freaks and Geeks, Alsobrook performed a few tests before deciding upon a complete package. He shoots in the three-perf, Super 35mm format using Kodak’s EXR 5298 (500T) on interiors and EXR 5248 (100T) on exteriors. For a thick negative, he rates the 98 at 320 ASA and forsakes the use of diffusion. The Panavision cameras – both Platinum and Gold — have a Steadicam built and ready to go. “We’ve got John Joyce on B-camera and Steadicam and Eyal Gordin on A-camera, with John Yirak as first and Steve Aguilino as second on A, and Steve Wagner as first and Erik Staplefeldt second on B, as well as Naomi Villanueva as loader,” the cinematographer explains. “That gives us a lot of flexibility – most of which means Steadicam and a lot, and I mean a lot, of handheld [filming]. We can shoot two cameras for extra coverage or jump to Steadicam at any time.”

Straightforward and effective is the style that production prefers for Freaks and Geeks. “For me, what’s most important is tailoring the lighting and the shots to what is appropriate for the story. I don’t like gratuitous camera moves or lighting. If the audience sees the camera moves or the lighting, then we’re not doing our jobs. Lately, I’ve seen too much of what I call ‘turbo-charged’ cinematography, and that bothers me — it takes me out of the story.

“I’m really enjoying making this as simple as possible for everyone,” says Alsobrook. “Our actors are young, new, very enthusiastic and cooperative. They work with camera and lighting, and are great at hitting their marks and understanding the fine details of a television shoot. When you do about 10 pages a day, it’s great to have professionalism in front of the camera. The questions that these young people ask are important. They want to know about marks, being in or out of focus, not shadowing their fellow actors, and so forth. They have picked things up very quickly. I wish, however, that camera technique was taught in acting schools, like in the great old studio days.”

To shoot in a high school’s familiar hallways, Alsobrook and longtime gaffer Curtiss Bradford designed a lighting schematic aimed at meeting several specific requirements. “We wanted to have the freedom to shoot in any direction at any time, especially, in the extensive high school set,” the cinematographer says. “I requested hard ceilings in the hallways and in many of the classrooms and offices as well. The art department installed period fluorescent fixtures throughout the set — the tubes are color corrected to 3200 degrees Kelvin. Twenty Ks and 10Ks surround the exterior windows and doors, so we can pour in sunlight.

“Every light is controlled through a dimmer board,” adds Alsobrook. “Curtiss carries the set lighting plot and he can adjust any light at any time through a walkie talkie, directly to the dimmer board operator [see lighting plot]. One bank of 10Ks outside the classroom set is suspended by chain motors, on a sliding truss, so we can easily change the angle and position of each light and create different times of day — this set up was designed by our brilliant key grip, Tom Harjo.”

There is even an outline for the lazy, late afternoon sunlight that streams through windows, raking across the classrooms. “We can do this [afternoon daylight] for one scene and in the next scene quickly change to midday with soft north light filtering through the glass brick above the classic sash windows. A typical scene in the school will be entire illumination by window light and overhead fluorescence, with only a floating eyelight to add sparkle to the actors.

“Because we use city power at Raleigh [Studios in Hollywood], and we have so many fluorescents in our set, Curtiss devised a computerized voltage monitoring system to make sure the lights are always in the flicker-free zone. On the complex ‘oners’ that snake through the corridors and classrooms of McKinley High School, Curtiss often uses a Dedo light in a small Chimera box, which he masterfully wields in concert with the Steadicam.”

For Alsobrook, the most popular part of the entire school happens to be a haven for those engaged in the age-old art of playing hooky. “There’s a sweet, tiny little area underneath one of the stairwells. It’s a secret area where the ‘freaks’ hang out when they cut class. We usually light it through one window using a 10K. We try to keep it contrasty and interesting, dark and moody — it’s too small to add fill light! Even when we start the shot down the hallway and follow one of the kids into this hiding place it is an opportunity for chiaroscuro [lighting], and is good counterpoint to the fluorescent hallways.”

Another of this series’ standard sets is the Weir home, which is done up in typical 1980s wood paneling décor along with the era’s period colors. “In the dining area, we have two Chimera balls over the table skirted with Duvateen for the classic ‘Godfather’ top light, which allows us to do a 360-degree move around the table whenever we want. We have similar lighting in the kitchen, but instead of a Chimera, we have a light box over the center and we augment that through the windows with a 20K.” Many poignant exchanges between siblings also take place in the younger Weir’s bedrooms. “For Sam’s room, we’ve covered the set with muslin and light from above. We have a single 20k slice through the window for a splash of sun.

Alsobrook subjects both the swing sets and actual locations to his spare approach. “We just did an episode where Lindsay is invited to a ‘bad’ girl’s house just to show the girl’s parents that she can have ‘good’ friends. Production Designer Jeff Sage [Mississippi Masala, Blink, The Bone Collector] did a wonderful job creating the house. Indicative of the relationship between the characters that live there, it was half-constructed. He added a lot of plastic sheeting and open beams. We simply covered the set with bleached muslin and put a couple of 10Ks through the top. With 20Ks aimed through the windows, we had our lighting. This allowed us to shoot with two handheld cameras in every direction.”

He and the director then took the tale into the streets where the two teens are driven to flee. “Caught lying about their friendship, the girl forces Lindsay to run with her, as she tries to hold onto the car that her parents are trying to take away from her. Using two handheld cameras, we did the ‘white trash run amok’ scene with natural light. The subtle movement of the cameras — as they anticipated something was going to happen — was the trick in keeping it real. As the sun crept in, we added a little silk and camo-net, but tried really hard not to take away from the ‘documentary’ feeling of chasing the moment. In true documentary style, we used a 29mm lens on one camera and a 50mm on the other, then ran the scene a few times, choosing shots in editing to keep the energy we wanted.”

On locations, Alsobrook and crew strive for simplicity as well, even though accompanied by a 48-foot lighting truck and ten-ton grip truck filled with essential tools. But as is often the case, plans often go awry with no one but fate to blame. “In this case, it was a San Fernando Valley location that is supposed to be an independently-owned sporting goods store in a small mid-western town — Mr. Weir’s place of business.

“On the scout, we were assured that we wouldn’t have to shoot toward the huge two story windows that faced the street. So, there was no pre-call. However, when we got there, our director wanted to shoot a 358-degree Steadicam shot — that to our two kids from outside up to the counter, through the store and back to the counter. There was screaming sunlight, and no time to gel. All we could do was pray for Eastman Kodak’s latitude, and the talent of the focus puller!

“To light the kids in close-up, I placed a KinoFlo Flathead 80 behind the counter wrapped in muslin. Then, when shooting towards the window, we tried to keep everything in semi-silhouette. That meant three stop changes on the Steadicam! As always, John Joyce [“JJ”] and Steve Wagner [“Wags”] did a fantastic job. The moves are fluid, and the stop changes are seamless — it worked great! The shot has texture, and really doesn’t show the amount of sweat we shed, trying to give the director what she wanted.”

Despite the occasional curve balls thrown at him every so often, Russ Alsobrook insists that Freaks and Geeks is rather uncomplicated in terms of its lighting demands. “We’ve done every kind of ‘baroque’ lighting set up you can imagine, but you can’t always do that in television — where less is more — because that’s all the time you have. I’m enjoying doing the kinds of shots we do on this show, because they fit the story. Plus, it’s a creative challenge to light as simply as possible.

“Now, that’s not to say that we aren’t going to have to get into the bizarre. It all depends on what writers give us, and what the directors want. After all, isn’t the job of the cinematographer to support and not overshadow the story — the style should be transparent.”