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John
Bailey, ASC Serves as Artist-in-Residence for Widescreen Fest Students in the film program at Cal State Long Beach had a rare opportunity for an intensive series of lessons in film theory and practical filmmaking when cinematographer John Bailey, ASC served as artist-in-residence at the 9th Annual Widescreen Film Festival. The festival, presented by the school’s Film & Electronic Arts Department, ran Sept. 17-21 at the Carpenter Center Theater on the university campus. Bailey programmed the festival with a wide range of films, introduced each film, held lighting and directing workshops, and moderated discussions with several noted directors including Werner Herzog and Mathieu Kassovitz. Bailey said he chose the films to provide festival attendees “a spectrum of camera style and dramatic narrative working hand in hand to create a compelling, emotional experience.” He said one goal was to explore the nature of this blending of camera style and narrative. The resulting roster included films from a wide variety of periods, cultures and filmmaking styles: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927, director F.W. Murnau), The Rules of the Game (1938, Jean Renoir), The Wages of Fear (1953, Henri-Georges Clouzot), Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1973, Werner Herzog), Battle of Algiers (1965, Gillo Pontecorvo), Mademoiselle (1967, Tony Richardson), Contempt (1963, Jean-Luc Godard), La Haine (1995, Mathieu Kassovitz), Silverado (1985, Lawrence Kasdan), In the Line of Fire (1993, Wolfgang Petersen) and China Moon (1994, John Bailey). Silverado and In the Line of Fire, photographed by Bailey, and China Moon, photographed by Willy Kurant, were produced in the anamorphic (2.4:1 width to height aspect ratio) widescreen format. “It was a difficult decision narrowing the field to eleven films,” Bailey said. “There were many other films I would have liked to include, such as The Conformist and Night of the Hunter, to name two. I chose some films that I feel are historically important in terms of cinematography which were produced before widescreen formats were an option. If it were up to me, most – if not all – contemporary films would be produced in anamorphic format." Co-artistic directors Gary Prebula and Rory Kelly said that last year’s artist-in-residence, Steven Spielberg, broke the mold by programming several films made in normal, or non-widescreen, formats. Several of Bailey’s choices were filmed and projected in narrower gauges, including Sunrise, which was shown in its native Academy (1.33:1) format. On Wednesday, Sept. 17, the first day of the festival, Bailey conducted a lighting workshop in which he blocked and lit a simple scene he had written. On the stage at the Carpenter Center, using a set built and painted for the purpose, Bailey explained the thousands of small considerations and decisions that lead to cinematographic creations using light, actors and cameras. The following day, Bailey walked the students through the casting process, in which a number of drama students read for the roles. He demonstrated how directors work with actors to adapt and interpret the script, develop blocking and action, and devise an approach to coverage. Bailey said that the workshops were a crucial part of the festival. “It was incredibly interesting to have a real set, with an actual dramatic scene that I was able to cast, rehearse, block, light and shoot, while allowing students to be part of every step in the process,” he says. One of the many pieces of sage advice he offered to aspiring cinematographers during the workshops: “At least 75 percent of screen time is usually going to be medium shots and close-ups of the actors. So the most important thing you can learn is portrait lighting. I’d advise you to study the history of portrait painting. Look at the great artists, like Rembrandt and Van Gogh for instance. I’m not necessarily talking about the literal sense of lighting, like we study in the works of Carravaggio or Vermeer. I’m talking about the more expressionistic painters, like Van Gogh. The degree to which you can study both photography portraiture and painting portraiture is going to be really significant in your development as a cinematographer.” During the directing segment of the workshops, Bailey cautioned aspiring directors to choose battles with actors carefully. “Don’t get drawn in to a fight you can’t win,” he said. “It seems to me it’s very easy to give the actor the benefit of the doubt, and let him or her play the scene out the way they feel it should be done, especially if he or she is very passionate about it and you’ve hired that person partly because you think they have good instincts. What’s it going to cost you – another couple of takes until they satisfy themselves? And it’s always been my experience that once they think they have what it is they think they need to make the scene work for them, they have a remarkable ability to let go, and then it’s very easy to get them to do something different. You find out in the editing room who is right. To be intransigent when there’s no point is one of the biggest errors any filmmaker can make.” Bailey told workshop attendees that lack of money should not be an obstacle to developing directorial skills. “If you can’t afford to shoot something, do small theater,” he said. “There is so much wonderful small equity waiver theater in Los Angeles. They are hungry for people to be involved. Develop a very small play that can be done with three or four actors and you can get a small theater for next to nothing for a couple weeks – and do it. At some point, you have to go out there and just do it. If you can’t get a small theater, you do it at somebody’s house, invite your friends over. I think it’s important to work, to learn to communicate with actors, to interact with a text. If you want to be a screenwriter, there are a lot of actors out there looking for texts, looking for ways to hone their skills. That doesn’t cost anything and it’s an amazing experience – and a great learning experience – to hear your words in an actor’s mouth.” The opening night screening of Aguirre: The Wrath of God was preceded by the presentation of a Kodak Vision Award to Bailey in recognition of his “vision, imagination and leadership in filmmaking.” Kodak, which along with Panavision has been a sponsor of the festival since its inception, donated 10,000 feet of 16 mm film stock to the school in Bailey’s name. Kodak’s Worldwide Student Program also provided a product grant to the Film & Electronic Arts Department. After Aguirre: The Wrath of God, the attendees were treated to a wide-ranging discussion with the film’s director, Werner Herzog. Herzog explained the thinking behind certain shots, told amazing tales of his fraught collaboration with the actor Klaus Kinski, and offered nuggets of wisdom like the following: “Those who make films should be athletes. Play basketball or something. I love to see in the NBA, when they throw the ball high into the vicinity of the basket, and somebody comes flying in and dunks it. It’s just unbelievable the sense of movement these guys have. You have to have something like that to develop your ability to sense space and to time movement properly. Be athletic.” Herzog offered as an example the final shot of Aguirre, in which the camera speeds over the surface of the water towards a desolate raft where the mad Aguirre surveys his brutal handiwork. The camera then circles the aimless raft as the jungle backdrop spins by. “In situations like that, I like to drive the boat, or dolly or car,” said Herzog. “In this case, I spent quite a lot of time training myself in how to operate the boat. As Thomas [cinematographer Thomas Mauch] operated the camera, I had to pilot the boat so as to approach at the right speed, and circle the raft so as to avoid filming our wake. I kept one eye on the camera, and one eye on the raft while glancing at the wake. That’s the kind of situation where timing and an understanding of physical space are crucial to success.” On Thursday, Sept. 18, The Battle of Algiers was screened at 10 a.m. The film, released in 1965, chronicles the people of Algiers rising up against their French colonial masters. In his introductory remarks, Bailey noted that the film is “rooted in Russian political cinema of the 1920s, where often there is no central character. The characters are more emblematic of the whole tide of humanity fighting for a cause. The actor playing the leader of the French forces was one of the few professional actors in the film. He has a very commanding presence, and he presents the case for colonial empire and so-called civilization in such a compelling way that it has tremendous resonance throughout the film. The style of the camerawork very much grew out of the French New Wave style, but this film takes it to a level that had really not quite been seen before. The hand held camera working close with a wide angle lens gives you a tremendous sense of immersion and presence in the picture, even a kind of claustrophobia.” Bailey added that in case any of those present in the theater were thinking that the film was a forty-year-old historical footnote, a recent article in Slate Magazine had reported that military planners in the Pentagon had been viewing Battle of Algiers. The story said that a Washington Post columnist took this as “one hopeful sign that he military is thinking creatively and unconventionally about Iraq.” “I can’t imagine any soldier in the field seeing this movie would have quite as unambiguous a sense of why he or she might be in combat right now,” said Bailey. “The sympathies of the picture, while very complex, are also very singular. The film itself is labyrinth. You are emotionally pulled and pushed throughout the film. It’s very interesting that the Pentagon should decide to screen this film.” Later that night, China Moon, the 1994 film starring Ed Harris and Madeleine Stowe and directed by Bailey, was screened and followed by a conversation with Bailey. Asked what drew him to the project, Bailey replied, “I felt very strongly about the moral conflict. One of the things that attracted me to Ed Harris was that in all his films he comes across as a person with a profound common-man humanity and a strong moral center. Even when he’s playing a bad guy, there is an intense moral battle going on inside his psyche. As far as the story, I was intrigued more than anything else by charting the downward spiral of a person who chooses against all his instincts and moral code, for love or whatever reason, to essentially make the wrong choice and accept the consequences.” Friday's screenings included The Rules of the Game, Mademoiselle and Sunrise, A Song of Two Humans, the first picture to win an Academy Award for cinematography. Sunrise was photographed by Charles Rosher, ASC and Karl Struss, ASC. “Rules of the Game is a film that looms so large in film history that it is amazing it is not seen more often,” said Bailey in the program notes. “It is the template for any film that presumes to explore social strata and multiple relationships. Its chameleon-like blending of humor and sadness makes it amazingly contemporary. The Big Chill, the first film I did with [director] Larry Kasdan, which explores friendship and reunion, is deeply indebted to it. The next day, Bailey noted some similarities shared by The Rules of the Game, Mademoiselle and Sunrise. Bailey recently did commentary for the DVD reissue of Sunrise. “Looking at the day yesterday as a whole, I was thinking this morning just how amazing it is that all three of those films featured such strong characters. The ones with moral center – or immoral center, in the case of Mademoiselle – were the women, and the men seemed to be kind of undefined personalities that are swept along by the force of events, particularly in the sexual realm. They did not seem to have the clarity of purpose that the women had. I thought that was fascinating, especially compared to the films we’ll see today, all of which deal with bold men.” Saturday began with The Wages of Fear, H.G. Clouzot’s 1953 existential classic about four men who out of boredom and desperation take on the incredibly dangerous job of transporting two truckloads of nitroglycerin over the Andes. That was followed by La Haine (Hate), the 1995 black and white film that follows three misfits from the suburbs of Paris to the heart of the city during a period of civil unrest. The director of La Haine, Mathieu Kassovitz, was on hand to takes questions following the film. Kassovitz recently finished Gothika, a feature film made in Montreal starring Halle Berry. “In La Haine, during the first part we wanted to communicate that they are integral to this place,” said Kassovitz. “The environment they are in is very important to the movie and to understanding their state of mind. We used short lenses there and everything is in focus. It’s not all by the book, but 90 percent of the first part of the movie is on short lenses. When they go into the train that takes them to Paris, we have a long shot that tracks back while zooming in. We go from short lenses shooting close to long lenses far away. Then it’s all becoming more like a documentary. Even the sound goes from stereo to mono, and we stay in mono for the next fifteen minutes.” Asked if he had advice for students trying to get their first films underway, he said, “You gotta know what you got to get what you want. That’s means you can’t fake it. If you don’t have enough money to do something, don’t fake it. Don’t try to make something look like more than it is. What I mean is, write the script around the budget. You can’t imagine things you won’t be able to get. And use it to your advantage. Choose a subject you can afford to accomplish. Luc Besson, in his first film, La dernier combat, knew they couldn’t afford to have lots of dialog and professional actors. So he invented a story where people don’t talk to each other anymore. And it’s a very interesting film done in 35 mm anamorphic format. I admire that.” The final day of the festival included screenings of Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt, and Silverado, the widescreen Western Bailey made with director Lawrence Kasdan. “The films we watched at the festival were all made in very
different styles,” said Bailey. “Madamoiselle is one of
the few movies in the history of the art form to have a completely
static camera. There are no zoom, dollies, pans or tilts in that film.
But in each case the filmmakers devised compelling methods of filmic
storytelling that worked with the story and the narrative to produce
a powerful cinema experience. That’s what makes for good films,
whether they’re made in 1927 or 2003. I’m grateful to have
had the opportunity to watch these films on the big screen and to talk
about them with all those who came. It was a great experience.”
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