Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 12:59:00 PM)
Thanks everybody for coming and joining us online. I appreciate all of your
consideration. Let's have a good time.
George Spiro Dibie (Dec 6, 2003 12:59:12 PM)
Hello Jack. I just want to take a moment to thank you for taking the time
to participate in this online chat with our members and friends. Recently,
you helped us conduct an art of lighting seminar for Dreamworks management
and employees. You helped them understand WHY cinematographers light
and the important role they and their crews play in making successful films.
We got a wonderful thank you note from Dreamworks telling us what a good
job we did and how helpful the seminar was. Can you speak about the importance
of getting management to understand why we do what we do? Again, welcome.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:00:49 PM)
Yes. What happens is management hires graduates just out of school with very
little familiarity with film and what makes a film work.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:01:03 PM)
We have to do what we can to make every film work, both economically and
storywise.
And the Dreamworks program was wonderful to be able to teach executives
the importance of the film crew and why films have to look good.
Not just have wonderful actors performing. It takes more programs
like that one, and every studio and every large independent should
have programs just like that.
OT (Dec 6, 2003 1:01:58 PM)
Hey Jack, I just wanted to add my congrats on an outstanding job on Lions.
I've been retired now for 13 years but it's still great to see my friends
from the past get the recognition they deserve.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:02:50 PM)
OT, thanks for the response to Lions - it's wonderful for our age
group isn't it, to see a young boy's coming of age done and performed in
a way that's good for the heart.
Roy G. Biv (Dec 6, 2003 1:02:54 PM)
I really enjoyed Second Hand Lions. It was such a break from all of
the would-be spectacles that fill up our cineplexes. Have you been pleased
with the way it performed during its theatrical run? And what type of response
have you gotten from viewers?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:03:47 PM)
The response has been very, very good, much better than the box office would
allow you to believe. It seems it's getting older people back into theaters
to see the movie – which is wonderful. I love having my aunt and uncle
at the movie, they really enjoyed it.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:04:25 PM)
But I haven't received much response to the visual telling of the story,
mostly storytelling – which is perfect, because it shouldn't affect the
movie - just the story.
SBdp (Dec 6, 2003 1:04:28 PM)
This is a totally esoteric question which you can choose to ignore. It’s
probably something you have never thought about. In retrospect, is it possible
that the time you spent as a barber taught you something useful about studying
people’s faces?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:04:54 PM)
What an interesting question.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:05:05 PM)
I don't think much about what I learned about faces. Certainly how well their
hair looks on film. But the one skill that applies best was people skills.
The ones that make people important. And how to make them feel important
and do important work.
LA Loader (Dec 6, 2003 1:05:29 PM)
You spoke very eloquently about your early experiences working on crews with
Don Morgan, Michale Watkins and a few other cinematographers. Do you think
that is still a viable approach today, or is a young person better off
trying to find jobs shooting?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:05:56 PM)
Another good question!
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:06:07 PM)
It doesn't matter how you get into film. Your desire to get into film is
the motivating factor. I chose to come in through the school of hard knocks.
My children have all chosen to come in through the school of hard knocks,
although my daughter Heather Green chose to go through the Loyola Marymount
cinema program. She actually got the job of loader and then is now a working
second assistant. I think she took my example to work with the crews from
the ground up.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:07:23 PM)
One of the incredibly important issues, or educations, a cameraman can receive
is working every job with every crew member, learning their jobs from a
camera point of view. And then being able to not just see other cameramen
lighting, but how to apply people skills to accomplishing good lighting.
But if you can learn good lighting coming through a cinema program, it's
the getting there that counts.
dalT28 (Dec 6, 2003 1:08:36 PM)
Do you think anamorphic is worth the effort?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:08:50 PM)
Anamorphic is definitely worth the effort.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:09:34 PM)
I think people want to go to see movies and see an event movie in scope.
Little movies, movies that are intimate can use spherical or 1:8:5. But
the anamorphic image is so beautiful compared to a spherical like Super
35. Anamorphic produces such a wonderful clear negative.
Ken (Dec 6, 2003 1:09:39 PM)
I have noticed that more than a few cinematographers who have participated
in these interviews have mentioned an early interest in music. Either they
went to music school, or they play a guitar in a band, or they just have
a passion for it. Do you think there might be a connection between music
and cinematography. Is it the same gene?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:10:12 PM)
Wow! That's a wonderful connection.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:10:45 PM)
Yes, I did study music as a child, taking piano. And then later in high school
in a marching band and in the orchestra, the dance band. Playing trumpet
mostly. I still play harmonica. And music is a wonderful connection to
intuitive creativity – which applies well to filmmaking.
Scenamaniac (Dec 6, 2003 1:11:02 PM)
I have been following the interviews with Robert Rodriguez, a director who
prefers shooting his own films with digital HD cameras, because he can
work faster and see what he is getting. Do you have concerns as a cinematographer
that producers (and others) will read what he says and believe him?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:11:51 PM)
That's an interesting question because I basically have big disagreements
with Mr. Rodriguez and his approach to trying to make digital imagery so
much better than film. It's a process, like any process, that has to evolve.
And film has been evolving, and continues to evolve, and produces wonderful
images.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:12:25 PM)
Mr. Rodriguez seems to feel, at least in the articles I've read, that he
does everything. Including operating five cameras at one time. That's annoying.
Hopefully, producers see the difference in real filmmaking.
DeepFocus (Dec 6, 2003 1:12:55 PM)
Obviously, a lot of Twister was done in post. How did this affect
the way you shot the picture?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:13:34 PM)
On Twister, fortunately I had a director who had been a cameraman
for a number of years – Jan de Bont. He already had the experience working
with big digital films. My job was to produce as pretty imagery, knowing
that the blend would be done later in digital.
Toda (Dec 6, 2003 1:14:16 PM)
You have a really diverse reel. What is it that draws you to a particular
project?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:14:51 PM)
We have lots of things that interest me. Stories that are character driven.
Stories that feel strong. I'm not big on massive productions. I tend to
like smaller, intimate productions. However, if a story is compelling,
it doesn't matter how big it is. It's going to be a fun one to choose and
then to photograph. Generally I'm motivated by the director and his passion
for the project.
Eric the AC (Dec 6, 2003 1:15:34 PM)
Have you had a chance to work in 24P? What do you think of it?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:15:58 PM)
Like any other medium for producing images, you have to learn everything
you can about all of the processes. I was educated in film through the
school of hard knocks, as I have already mentioned. But I am trying to
learn about all the digital equipment - any new imagery equipment I try
to stay on top of it. Because it's all about the imagery and not necessarily
how you get there. But I haven't had a chance to use any 24P on a project
yet.
dalT28 (Dec 6, 2003 1:17:02 PM)
Its a long hard production, it's the last day of the week, and all your body
wants to do is go to sleep. So is the shot your lighting at the moment
being done by reflex or are you able to still keep your vision of the scene,
the movie, intact?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:18:16 PM)
The prep period of a film is - if you've done the prep of the film properly
- the long hours on the set are much simpler because you're following a
plan that you adjust on the day, through intuition and intuitive response,
to the actors and to the environment.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:18:36 PM)
But you have a plan. So long days, no matter how long they get, you can always
fall back to the plan that you made during prep.
WouldbeaDP (Dec 6, 2003 1:18:41 PM)
I was taken by your wonderful explanation about the role lighting played
in A Perfect World, and the role that subconscious memory plays.
There is very little teaching about that issue going on at film schools,
especially if you are a wanna be writer or director. Where and how can
I learn about lighting as a form of expression?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:19:16 PM)
That's an incredibly hard question to answer.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:20:02 PM)
I wish more schools were teaching the esoteric part of filmmaking. There
is a process you can do all by yourself, and that is to study ancient art
and beautiful still photography in a way that you are pulling out what
memories you draw from that, that strike your subconscious, and impress
your subconscious.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:20:47 PM)
We that have to work for a living on a day-in and day-out basis, try like
crazy to make those moments happen as often as possible. You realize that
given the budget constraints and an AD and a UPM that are trying to drive
the pace of the working schedule, that you really have to fit in your subconscious
efforts, or your efforts to influence the subconscious anywhere you can.
And it's not easy. And it isn't taught, and I don't know where to help
you find out where to learn that.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:21:20 PM)
I would be happy to give classes on everything I know about it. But that's
not happening either. Good question. Thanks.
SBdp (Dec 6, 2003 1:21:27 PM)
How did your original vision of Unforgiven compare with the final
print?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:22:08 PM)
Unforgiven was such an unusual picture, in that the prep
on it was very short. The shoot on it was very short. We shot for
42 days. The whole schedule. Including a move to Northern California
to finish all of the train sequences.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:22:48 PM)
Clint Eastwood has a remarkable sense of beauty and what is the richness
of imagery. And he and I agree so totally on what makes beautiful imagery.
And of course, a lot of that picture was exterior, shot in the fall with
the low sun angle. And so you just take advantage of everything that is
presented to you. And Clint knows how to do that better than anyone.
The Schofield Kid (Dec 6, 2003 1:23:18 PM)
Unforgiven is just a brilliant piece of filmmaking. Did
you have any sense - while you were shooting - that you were making
such a special film?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:23:37 PM)
The answer to that question is definitely YES.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:24:20 PM)
Clint and I had discussed a little bit of that issue - making a wonderful
lasting, classic film – because Westerns were under-done at the time. And
Clint had held onto the script for a long time waiting for himself to mature,
and at least look old enough for that part of an old gunslinger coming
out of retirement. And every day that we worked was magical.
LA Loader (Dec 6, 2003 1:24:33 PM)
When you’re shooting a Western, how much of the process is devoted to trying
to depart from the tried and true formula and how much of it is devoted
to incorporating traditional elements of the genre?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:25:24 PM)
Westerns, as are large exterior-scaped movies, are a style all unto themselves.
It requires an appreciation for older, wonderful Westerns. Older, larger-scaped
exterior films.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:25:48 PM)
Both Clint and I grew up seeing lots of wonderful old John Ford Westerns,
and knew that the vista and the scope of the movie has to be large and
visual. That's different from an intimate and mostly interior movie, in
that you are doing a lot more of a smaller lighting set-ups and much less
spread out, way more controlled.
DeepFocus (Dec 6, 2003 1:26:30 PM)
It seems obvious that many of the most artful films are the result of long
collaborations between directors and cinematographers, Storaro and Bertolucci,
Willis and Woody Allen, you and Clint Eastwood, to name a few. Do you think
it is better for a director to find a cinematographer they can stay with
and work with them, or does it depend on the picture. Wouldn't somebody
new bring different ideas?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:27:58 PM)
Certainly the collaboration of a long-standing relationship works to the
benefit of the picture. However, if the director and the director of photography
have a visual dialogue that is the same, that imagery is agreed upon before
you execute the film - then you can make pretty films, visually stunning
films, with any director given that he wants them as badly as you do.
Kristy (Dec 6, 2003 1:28:30 PM)
How do you earn a director’s trust?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:29:34 PM)
Hopefully, if you're a new DP, you have to inspire that director to trust
you through how you communicate. If you don't have a large body of work
to show. But after a number of years in the business, with a body of work
that you can demonstrate different visual styles, then you still use the
communication of imagery to build confidence and trust with a director.
Roy G. Biv (Dec 6, 2003 1:29:43 PM)
What is, for you, the perfect Director/DP relationship?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:30:16 PM)
I've been doing cinematography for 38 years. I've been a DP for 18 years.
The most inspirational director to me is the one who has the most passion
for his project.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:31:33 PM)
For one, you have to get along personality-wise. You have to have good communication
skills. You have to find a director that can give you the emotional feedback.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:32:11 PM)
I like a director who is capable of telling me his true feelings from a visceral
point of view. And less of an intellectual point of view. Although you
do need that too, you really want what they feel about life, not just the
screenplay, in an intuitive way. So you can strike the chords that they
want to have struck.
dalT28 (Dec 6, 2003 1:32:22 PM)
We all learn from our mistakes. Are their any you can share?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:32:45 PM)
Too many to mention.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:33:13 PM)
It's a daily process of overcoming the mistakes. As a matter of fact, an
accomplished director of photography is one who uses the mistakes to his
benefit. You learn from every one and hopefully you aren't making the same
ones twice. I can't specifically think of one at the most, but given some
time I probably could.
Doc (Dec 6, 2003 1:33:28 PM)
I know you work fast. Do you find that you are being pushed to go faster
by UPMs, ADs etc than on the films you worked on 10-20 years ago. What
I'm getting at is the financial bottom line more of an influence now in
the way pictures are made than the images or has it always been this way?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:34:11 PM)
Well the relationship between budget and schedule, and the net worth of the
film, have always been in conflict. But lately the conflict is being driven
by executives that are less educated about film. And so you have to try
and make them understand that you're doing a film as well as you are doing
a budget.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:35:29 PM)
But typically, I'm almost always pushing the first AD and the UPM and the
production designer - I'm almost always pushing them to stay ahead of me
because generally I move faster than they're moving. And that also helps
me keep my work much more intuitive. I'm less likely to overlight.
Gino (Dec 6, 2003 1:35:33 PM)
You've said that on Bridges of Madison County, you wanted to
use warmer light, but not too warm. How do you judge that? Do you test?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:36:14 PM)
I very seldom test for a film, or for a look. I really trust my eye and my
intuitive response to what I feel is happening and how it will translate
to film.
Toda (Dec 6, 2003 1:36:19 PM)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was a beautiful
and gloomy film, what was your vision behind this? Do you think
it was realized in the final print?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:37:24 PM)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was an interesting
project in that it had very little other films in my estimation
I could draw from. I had to draw from lots of smaller pieces of
other films and other experiences to get what I wanted out of imagery
in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I don't think
any cameraman or any DP is ever totally satisfied with the end
product of any film that he does. You can always find many areas
you could have improved something.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:37:49 PM)
However, in the end I did enjoy my accomplishment with Midnight in the
Garden of Good and Evil.
Butch Haynes (Dec 6, 2003 1:37:52 PM)
Is there any film that you really wish you could go back and shoot again?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:38:10 PM)
Most of them!
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:38:28 PM)
As a matter of fact Second Hand Lions is one I wish I could do again
under better weather conditions.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:38:51 PM)
We had such a bad spell of rain – over 25 days of rain on that picture. We
had 11 scheduled days of rain cover, so we quickly ran out of cover sets,
and we were constantly having to make exterior shots look like it wasn't
raining. We constantly had to make interior sets into exterior sets.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:39:30 PM)
And I never felt fully gratified with the imagery in Second Hand Lions,
and I don't feel I ever got to satisfying the director's passion for the
imagery - due to weather more than anything else. I wish I could do that
one again.
HezBean (Dec 6, 2003 1:39:34 PM)
On your new film coming out soon 50 First Kisses with Adam Sandler
and Drew Barrymore you came up with the most ingenious cost saving process
to make it look like you were next to and below a huge aquarium. How did
you marry that with the video images of an aquarium and did you have to match
it to real footage?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:40:09 PM)
Nice question.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:40:25 PM)
First, I believe the studio has retitled the movie to 50 First Dates.
I'm not positive, but I think I've heard that. The interior of the lab, if
you'd like to call it that, with the under aquarium view into the dolphin
tank, was a collaboration between some special effects gurus, who knew how
to do rear projection that would have the sharpness to project a very large
image and still be very sharp.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:41:33 PM)
But interestingly enough, we have all, if we've gone to any aquarium in the
country, we know what that visually feels like. And when you try to blend
that into a set that has another look that can be its own, how you blend
them is very curious, and it was quite a challenge.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:42:10 PM)
Again, I trusted - at an intuitive level - which I did test by the way. I
photographed those projectors before we actually went into production,
so I knew through tests where I wanted to go with their exposure. Then
I blended the interior exposure to what the projectors could provide. The
challenge then is how do you keep it dramatic.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:43:56 PM)
So we came up with this process and with the help of my gaffer, Mark Vieulle,
we tried to use a little bit of light from the creation of light through
a water box that would create the water reflection into the room. We used
interior lights in the room. We used anything available to try and make
the place feel like it was a natural environment rather than a set environment.
I'm not sure that answers your question, but it's as close as I can get.
DeepFocus (Dec 6, 2003 1:44:17 PM)
You addressed the issue of the trend toward digital timing of movies, and
said that it's important for the cinematographer to be there. Obviously
this is going to be an increasingly important issue. I keep hearing that
at least some studios don't want to pay for cinematographers to be there.
Is this something that the guild should work out as a contractual issue
or do you have to do it yourself by convincing the director or producer?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:45:47 PM)
An excellent question, because I'm dealing with that issue myself. And I'm
torn between my responsibility to supporting the best way I know how my
imagery. And typically
when timing a film you're going to invest anywhere from 4 to 10
days you don't get paid for. But now that time has gone anywhere
from 7 to 15 days unpaid. And I'm actually going to talk to my agent
about how other cameramen are handling that.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:46:07 PM)
Because it's obviously something that the two issues are – you want to support
your imagery in the typical way, but you also are supplying an expertise
to how that imagery will work. So it's an interesting issue that will be
settled by most cameramen during the next year or so because certainly
it can't continue to be done by free, it's just taking too much time.
AC_in_NY (Dec 6, 2003 1:46:34 PM)
You made some interesting observations about your experiences working with
Bruce Surtees, and at the end you said, ‘you would rather work on the edge.’
Can you can be more explicit, maybe citing an example or two from your
experience? Is that even possible today with the economic pressures to
work faster and cheaper?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:47:47 PM)
Actually, I find working faster keeps you more in your intuitive reaction
to lighting. And imagery. And you have, if you use it, an opportunity to
not overlight.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:48:55 PM)
Working on the edge, to me, is the difference between having a very dark
exposure in the shadows, to having no exposure in the shadows. And that
edge is a very, very fine edge. And sometimes you don't want to see in
the shadows and sometimes you do. That edge, to me, is the edge that I
speak to.
dalT28 (Dec 6, 2003 1:49:16 PM)
Clint is well known for his "one-take-let's-move-on" shooting style.
Obviously, you are in accord with that. But sometimes do you feel you need
a safety take or that he should spend a little more time on a scene?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:49:53 PM)
I guess over the years I've gotten so used to it I don't even think about
it anymore.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:50:05 PM)
When on a film where directors do multiple takes, it can lead to impatience
on my part. However, I realize Clint is a really unusual director, trusting
the one-take theory. Every now and then that will jump and bite him right
on his _______. But it's very rare.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:50:44 PM)
My reaction has always been if I wanted a second take - for any reason -
it had better be good. And the explanation ironclad. Or you're going to
live with the mistake. That was true when I was an operator for him for
14 pictures, and it was true as his DP on 14 films.
Plotinus (Dec 6, 2003 1:51:26 PM)
I was impressed by learning that you turned down Clint Eastwood when he asked
you to shoot Honkytonk Man. Did you pay a price for being patient
with your career?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:52:12 PM)
This is all terrific, looking back with hindsight at the career. I did make
a good career choice then and I have no regrets. I would have been an unemployed
DP for over a year because nobody knew any of other work that I did.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:52:39 PM)
And so I actually made a good decision there. A regrettable decision because
I wish I could have done that picture as DP. But I got to operate on it.
And I worked with Bruce Surtees on another picture then.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:53:10 PM)
And moving up on Heartbreak Ridge I had a little more maturity. And
had done a little more planning for the unemployment period of time between
the ending of that picture and the beginning of another.
Eric the AC (Dec 6, 2003 1:53:18 PM)
I’m guessing that many of your films have been converted to DVDs. Are you
typically invited to help with the timing or to make comments on the DVD?
Is that an area cinematographers should be involved with?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:53:38 PM)
Definitely. It's still protecting your images. Every time you let somebody
else do that job, there will be people making judgments on your work based
on somebody else's adjusting your work.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:54:28 PM)
So I have always done my telecine and my own digital - for all of my films.
Because it is still your imagery and you don't want it translated through
somebody else's eyes.
bobc (Dec 6, 2003 1:54:36 PM)
Jack: I've been a commercial director/cameraman who operates. I'm making
a transition into features. What do you look for in an operator? Do you
feel they have to come up through the ranks?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:55:56 PM)
No. Your qualification is your ability to operate and not just to have technical
skills but to have a positive attitude and a creative, collaborative attitude
with the DP and the director, as the camera operator. A good camera operator
comes from all fields. A good DP can come from all fields. It's a desire.
An opportunity. Being provided with an awful lot of good luck.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:57:16 PM)
I really like the collaboration with the camera operator. And I like the
camera operator to collaborate with the director and be part of that process.
I include my key grip, who almost always is Charles Saldana. And Mark Vieulle,
and my camera operator has been Steve Campanelli, who was a camera assistant
for about 10 minutes.
SBdp (Dec 6, 2003 1:57:22 PM)
Speaking of DVD's... has Bird been made into a DVD, and did you record
a commentary?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:58:20 PM)
No, I don't remember ever making a commentary. I remember being interviewed
for something else they may have used. But I've never been put into commentary
on any DVD I've done.
Scenamaniac (Dec 6, 2003 1:58:23 PM)
Have you ever shot an IMAX film and would you? What would it be?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:59:10 PM)
Years ago I worked on an IMAX film Over Niagara. This goes back when
I was a camera assistant with Tyler Camera systems in 1971 or so. I was approached
not too many years ago, maybe 8 or 9 years, to direct and photograph a 40-minute
IMAX film. That was when IMAX was trying to put together a short feature
film for their theaters.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 1:59:47 PM)
Nothing ever came of that. And I would love to do an IMAX film. But the storyline
would have to be of incredible scope. And you'd want to have it full of
lots of – as a matter of fact, similar to something like Unforgiven with
lots of grand vistas.
Cydney (Dec 6, 2003 2:00:10 PM)
In Girl, Interrupted, the setting was largely a mental institution
and the movie obviously surrounded around themes and characters of the mentally
disturbed. How did this element play into the lighting, shooting and your
overall vision of this film?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 2:01:06 PM)
Girl, Interrupted was an unusual film for me in that I was
given plenty of prep. Because the set was an actual abandoned mental
hospital that had to be rebuilt for the film.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 2:01:36 PM)
We shot this film in Harrisburg, PA, at their state hospital. And the production
designer, Richard Hoover, and myself, along with the director, would take
daily walks through the hospital to talk about the built-in lighting scheme
for every scene. And Richard was able to find period pieces of lighting
that we could use.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 2:02:33 PM)
And that worked to help present us with a bright enough image to photograph.
And combining some more normal film techniques, along with the atmospheric
practical lighting that we did during the preproduction part of our work. Girl,
Interrupted was a fairly easy film to do.
bobc (Dec 6, 2003 2:03:49 PM)
Jack: read an article by Tom Stern in American Cinematographer about
how Conrad Hall had told him his technique for lighting a room was to go
about lighting each piece of furniture, I think he called it "painting
a room" where he'd place a small light in the ceiling and adjust ambient
light through it. Have you heard of that? and how do you approach a new setup?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 2:05:41 PM)
That question sounds a lot like an answer Bruce Surtees might give. He was
such a film artist that when he would tell the gaffer, Tom Stern most of
the time, how he would like his lighting set-ups, he would almost always
use painting descriptions.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 2:06:56 PM)
And use his body like a painter, gesturing where his paint strokes would
go. And he would always *light the environment, a little broader strokes
than it sounds* like Conrad Hall was talking about. Typically, if Bruce
walked in and saw four lights lighting a set-up, he would say, this is
wrong, let's turn one off. And he'd turn a light off. He always lit with
three lights. He said there was no set around that couldn't be lit with
three lights. Although he broke that edict many times himself.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 2:07:37 PM)
The system Tom Stern describes is a typical system. It's a grid work that
goes into a ceiling or on a set, and then you attach lights and you light
where the actors will be. But you also are lighting the environment at
the same time. So I have heard of the system. It's used by most cameramen.
But almost never used as well as Conrad Hall.
HezBean (Dec 6, 2003 2:08:08 PM)
Is there a certain style or look you haven't tried yet but would like to?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 2:08:57 PM)
My experience is that after 35 films roughly, as a DP, and never wanting
to be accused of being a stylist, I've tried almost every style. Except
for an all soft light style – which was very popular for a number of years.
And I'm not going to try that one, because I didn't like it. I am, however,
going to go and shoot a film that's going to be all hard light with no
soft light fairly soon.
Gino (Dec 6, 2003 2:09:44 PM)
If you could invent your own special project what would it be? What type
of film, and are there actors or directors you would like to work with
on that project?
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 2:10:30 PM)
I don't have a specific answer on that. I love the process of working on
the set with enjoyable people. The passion of the director is always a
wonderful thing to witness.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 2:11:36 PM)
So I would like to do a Western again. And I would love to direct it myself
and photograph it myself.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 2:12:11 PM)
If you could conjure up some actors out of the past and directors out of
the past, I would love to work with John Ford and John Houston. There are
probably more directors that are gone from this world that I'd like to
work with than are still here.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 2:12:37 PM)
I did have a wonderful experience on Lions with Tim McCanlies who
was directing his second film. If I could have more experiences like that
one, I would be a very happy man. But the process of making a film and the
people that make it, are of equal importance to the visual style and imagery
and I don't have, other than what I've already mentioned, anything in particular.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 2:13:25 PM)
Thank you so much for the wonderful question. And thank you for the stimulating
conversation. I certainly appreciate all of you for being here.
Jack Green (Dec 6, 2003 2:13:28 PM)
See you on the set!
