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This article originally appeared in International Cinematographer Magazine in Nov. 1999 Men do things for many reasons: to earn their bread; to obtain riches and
luxury, to attain power, for the approval of their fellows: but the things
that are done best are done for the love of the doing.” You can put the name Tom Del Ruth, ASC on the short list of people who do things for the love of the doing. He is a second generation filmmaker. His uncle was a silent film mogul, his mother was a musical comedy actress, and his father was Roy Del Ruth, one of Hollywood’s top directors from the 1920s through the 1950s.
West Wing is a rare venture for Del Ruth into the grueling realm of episodic television. After he shot the pilot, the dedication of the producers, talented ensemble cast, powerful scripts and magnificent White House sets, were an irresistible lure. Del Ruth mentions one other factor, buried in the context of conversation about the technical aspects of shooting West Wing. “I think television is a cultural force that embodies our hopes and aspirations and also the chinks in our armour,” he says. “We hope West Wing is entertaining, but we also believe it provides insights into important facets of our lives." Del Ruth characterizes West Wing as a “dramedy” which puts human faces on the characters who are holding the reins of power in a fictional White House. Martin Sheen is cast in the role of President Josiah Bartlett. Other important roles are played by Rob Lowe, Moira Kelly, Tim Matheson, John Spencer and Allison Smith. Del Ruth observes that politicians who inhabit the White House seem larger than life, when they are seen through the microscope of television news and other media; but, in reality, they are human beings with strengths and frailties just like everyone else. “My dad was a pretty prominent director, my mom was a musical comedy star, and my uncle was the head of production for Vitagraph (which became part of Warner Bros.). When I was six years old, my dad was directing The Babe Ruth Story. He took me to the studio one day. It was a thrilling experience. The camera operator handed me this paddle that he called a lily. He asked me to hold it in this scene. The actor was Bill Bendix. I held this lily in front of him while they measured the light.” When he was 10, his father directed On Moonlight Bay. The cinematographer was Ernie Haller, ASC, and Del Ruth found himself gravitating towards the camera. Haller took him into a little portable darkroom where he was looking at negative tests. “I walked over to my dad on the stage,” Del Ruth recalls. “He was talking to one of the actors. I think it was Gordon MacRae. I showed them this strip of film that Ernie has given me, and my dad told me, ‘That’s the movie.’ After that, I got my first Brownie camera and started taking pictures of people, landscapes, dogs and anything that I could put in front of the lens. Sometimes I would cut the prints up and make a collage.” Bob Surtees, ASC, lived three doors down the street, and James Wong Howe, ASC was also nearby. They knew his father, and they all had darkrooms. Del Ruth recalls that it was fascinating watching them manipulate images in their darkrooms. After completing his military service in the paratroopers, Del Ruth began his career as a messenger at Walt Disney Studios. His first camera department job was in the loading room at Fox, which led to opportunities to work as a second assistant cameraman. His first film was The Sand Pebbles, which Joe McDonald shot in 65 mm format. He was loader/ second assistant. His next job was with Bob Surtees on Dr. Dolittle. During that period, Del Ruth also worked with Conrad Hall, ASC, Jordan Cronenweth, ASC, Bruce Surtees and Jacques Marquette, ASC. Del Ruth shot the pilot for West Wing in Super 16 format. He says that was an economic decision by the studio. He used the Kodak Vision 320-speed film. “I’m a fan of the Vision films because of the tight granularity and broad tonal range,” he says. “I rated the film (for an exposure index of) 600), and that allowed me to shoot mainly at T-4 to 4.5 for depth of field. We are shooting the series in Super 35 format with the Kodak 5298 (500-speed film, another economic decision), which I’m rating at 320, to saturate the images and make them a little stronger. I’m mainly using a Primo zoom (20 to 50 mm) lens typically at stop T-2.8 to 3.2. “Its very fast-paced show without taking on a maniacal form of camera movement,” Del Ruth says. “The dialogue is off-handedly informal. It shows the president at his best and worst. The idea is to put the audience inside the White House.” The program is produced by Warner Bros. The creator/ writer is Alan Sorkin (Sports Night, A Few Good Men, etc.), along with producers Tom Schlamme and John Wells and various political insider consultants, including pollster Patrick Caddell and former aid to Pres. Clinton, George Stephanopolis.
“Sometimes I’d like to bring an actor into the frame for a tighter eyeline, but we can't do that and protect the sidelines,” he adds. “The only trade-off is that someday people might see this show with a much cleaner and sharper look.” The program is mainly photographed on two sound stages on the Warner Bros. lot, in Burbank, with establishing shots including characters at locations in the nation’s capital, and occasional forays to non-descript locations in Los Angeles. Del Ruth tosses a verbal laurel to production designer John Huffman. “We have faithfully reproduced a majority of the working rooms of the White House,” he says. “The sets are quite accurate from the pictures I’ve seen. Some of them may be slightly larger to accommodate the camera. The exteriors seen through windows are either translights or painted backings. We are right up the wall on most sets. I’d prefer translights, but in those cases I’m using painted backings with nets to obscure details. I also over-expose enough so its a little bit soft without being noticeable.” Del Ruth explains that because of the rapid pacing the audience receives a lot of information in each hour-long episode. There is a feeling of urgency in the delivery of lines and a kind of kinetic energy in the way characters and the camera moves. “It’s what you expect to feel in proximity to the president,” he says. “It stirs your emotions. I shot almost all of the scenes in the pilot episode with the president in amber gold light. It had a painterly, sunset quality. It is a form of reverence for the office that we all feel. The president himself is a fatherly figure with a bum leg that gives him a human quality. He’s an ordinary guy who happens to be surrounded by the aura of power.” Del Ruth continues, “Micheal Hissrich (co-executive producer) is our link to the postproduction house (4MC). He has made a great effort to keep the simpatico between us and the colorist online. They are doing a marvelous job. We want rich deep images with degrees of warmth or coolness dictated by the sources of light and mood. We communicate everyday. I use an audio cassette to give the colorist a small visual description of the scene. For example, I’ll say, ‘The backlight is blue, the key is gold, and there’s a splash of strong light across the actor’s face.’ I also give him a frame with a gray scale chart that has a true color reference at the beginning of each set up.” Del Ruth occasionally uses an angle which visually punctuates the authority of the president, but he’s sparing in the use of techniques that call attention to the camera. Mainly, he says the feeling of authority emanates from Sheen like an inner light. The cinematographer designed the main lighting instruments used on the sets. He calls them “ BAT” lights. Each unit is about 10 inches high, 18 inches deep and around three feet wide. It contains six of the new MR16 lamps that are 250 watts each. There is a light or full grid in front of unit with baffles used to control the output. “It produces a substantial amount of light in a very interesting configuration,” he says. “The light is relatively low and very wide with a nice spread. There are some 35 BAT lights hanging on the sets, and other overhead lamps which emulate the pattern of window light. There are between 250 to 350 lamps working at any time.” The name BAT comes from the word batten, as in “batten down the hatches.” Aluminum housing are used to dissipate heat generated by the MR16 lamps which have a burn life of 250 hours. That’s important because all the lights are burning eight to 12 hours a day, so it reduces the number of trips up and down ladders. There are another 175, or so, MR16 lamps hidden in niches around the set. Del Ruth says they generate very strong, hard shafts of light which accentuate movements of actors through sets. The light seems more intense as they walk faster. That creates a dynamic feeling which accentuates the sense of motion, especially on Steadicam shots. All of the lamps are linked to a dimmer board. The board operator follows the action on a video tap monitor. He can make instantaneous changes in practical and exterior light levels, and Del Ruth notes that’s important because of the many long, moving shots, which takes the characters into different rooms and environments. The sets are an important part of the story. “Leo McGarry (played by Spencer) is the chief of staff; the president’s right hand man,” he says. “The design of his office testifies to his power. The use of strong colors and wood beams -- the architectural work (on the set) -- is staggering. There are real brass fittings on doors, large chamber locks, restoration glass in the windows -- it’s really spectacular.
The ceiling is draped with BAT lights, and an accent light picks up a painting of Teddy Roosevelt on horseback, which adds to the ambiance of the setting. Del Ruth uses bleached muslin overhead. Beams from 8K skirted, Spacelights bounce straight down off the muslin without invading other sets. With the dimmer control board, Del Ruth estimates, it takes less than three minutes to light this set and others. There are as many as 50 actors in some interior scenes. That provides some challenges when directors are making 360 degree moves with a Steadicam. Del Ruth has to create interactive pools of light and shadows with crosslight from above, emulating reality. The challenge, he says, is covering scenes like that, without losing contrast. On another set, there are fluorescent lamps which have a slightly bluish quality. These combine with the overhead light from the MR16s to produce what he describes as pools of darkness in a room bathed in hot, bluish light. People walk from that room into the Roosevelt room which has a warm, golden aur, and vice versa. Sam Seaborn (Lowe) is the deputy chief of staff. His office set is built so close to the stage wall that they put shutters on the windows, because the backings would look obviously fake even on the TV screen. Del Ruth lights that set with 10Ks suspended on a trapeze line, which enables them to be swung into position very quickly. Del Ruth generally shoots with one camera either on a dolly or Steadicam, depending on the dynamics of the scene and whether it calls for fluid movement or a more rigid quality with longer lenses. He generally avoids use of a second camera, because the variety of angles of photography would make lighting very complex even with the dimmer board, and because of his determination to keep eyelines as close as possible to correct. Del Ruth says that from the time he read the first script, while preparing to shoot the pilot, he began to literally feel the lighting. He says it was endemic in the words. “It doesn’t say this is a particularly dark sequence,” he explains, “but the dialog and rhythm of the script defines the mood. The West Wing lighting can be either elegant or harsh depending on the scene and setting. There are also scenes in an area where the press and the staff tend to congregate where the quality of light is quasi-documentary.” Del Ruth says that the audience doesn’t want to see MTV style lighting with Xenons blasting through sets in the White House. It wouldn’t ring true. They expect a tasteful elegance. There is a continuity in the lighting from week to week, because the same sets are used, though he varies the look to accommodate the setting and mood. “If a scene puts the President in a heroic situation, we’ll use a low camera angle and lighting to emphasize his power,” he says, “but there are other times when his personality takes an ugly twist. Each scene has its own tempo and style.” There is an interesting scene in an episode where Rob Lowe’s character discovers that someone he had a fling with is a prostitute. The realization occurs at sunset. Del Ruth lit the scene with heavy blue light (full TCB) flowing through frames of grids. He attached full CTO orange gels to the bottoms of the frames. The light on the top half of the set looked icy cold and the bottom had the warmish quality of a golden sunset. As the scene developed, and the deputy chief of staff realized that he was in deep trouble, Del Ruth slowly accentuated the blue, so it felt increasingly darker and colder. He believes that at least on a subliminal level, the audience knows how to read these visual clues. It helps them find the mood in conjunction with the performances. Choice of lens is also part of his vocabulary. Del Ruth liked using the Primo zoom because it accentuated a realistic feeling of depth on the big sets, and enabled him to make quick and seamless changes of focal lengths on moving shots. He occasionally used a longer lens to draw the audience close to a character during poignant moments. Del Ruth uses an Ultraspeed lens or a shorter zoom on the Steadicam. Here is an example: One scene opens with a fluid, wide angle Steadicam shot that brings two characters into a room. A door slams and the scene cuts to a shot made with a 250 mm lens. There is a very subtle dolly move. The long shot compresses the characters until they seem to be on top of one another. It heightens tension and visually suggests a conspiracy. There are many long, walking and talking shots. “We’ve shot seven and eight pages at a time without any cuts,” he says. “We started one scene at the Biltmore Hotel in a crowded ballroom where the president is finishing a speech. He exits and joins his party in an outer hallway. The shot continues through the hall, down a flight of steps into the kitchen, and then down another flight of steps which leads to a walk through an underground tunnel into an alley behind the hotel where his car is waiting. “We covered several hundred yards with constant dialogue,” says Del Ruth. “The operator, Dave Chameides, who handles both the Steadicam and A camera, did a terrific job of picking up on the fluid moves in tune with the dialog.” Del Ruth believes that West Wing provides a realistic view about the inner workings of the White House. It doesn’t promote a particular political point-of-view, because the focus is on characters and relationships rather than politics. Still, it illuminates some dark areas about our society and manages to be both interesting and entertaining.
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Del Ruth chose cinematography as
a career path when he was 10 years old. He worked his way up through the
ranks as an assistant cameraman and operator
for some 13 years. Del Ruth says that the work he did on The Sand Pebbles,
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Tora, Tora, Tora and other classic films
provided a solid foundation when he started shooting in 1977. He has subsequently
compiled some 70 credits on such films as The Breakfast Club, Stand By
Me and The Running Man, plus movies-of-the week and pilots, including Simon & Simon,
E.R. and The X Files.
Del Ruth says he composes West
Wing in 4:3 format while protecting the edges
of the frame for future HDTV display. That practice has its downside, Del Ruth
says. Luse lights have to be further off the set with a longer throw and more
set up time. 
“The Roosevelt room is my favorite set, because it’s open and it has a real
beautiful texture with the Oxblood-colored walls and slight salmon insets banded
in white. Its a beautiful setting for the meetings conducted in the room. My
gaffer, Jeff Butters, had the art department drill out the backs of the ionic
columns. He used very small lights in those spaces to separate the columns
from the walls. That gives you a sense of depth.”