Photographing the Dramatic Sequences for The Towering Inferno

The vast scope of Inferno demanded that major shooting be divided between two basic units: "Dramatic" and "Action". Here the Director of Photography on the "Dramatic" sequences talks about his assignment.

By Bob Fisher

This article originally appeared in American Cinematographer in February, 1975.

The Koenekamp name has roots half a century deep in filmdom history. That's why Fred Koenekamp, ASC, keeps meeting people who tell him how young he looks.

Often they are recalling the exploits of his father, who started working behind the camera during the 1920s for the old Vitagraph Studio which became Warner Bros. Later he specialized in photographic effects, and he was still filming commercials until just a few years ago.

During the past decade, the younger Koenekamp has been making his own name a by-word with such cinema-graphic showcases as Patton and Papillon. He is generally mentioned as being in the forefront of the new wave of cinematographers who broke into feature films via television. However, that's a considerable over-simplification.

Koenekamp started at the bottom, working as a film loader at RKO Studios after World War II. He later worked as camera assistant for some of the 3D features that proliferated during that period, and also did some underwater cinematography for Esther Williams films. Koenekamp surfaced as a talented Director of Photography while filming The Man From U.N.C.L.E TV series. From there, he stepped into feature film-making, his dominant occupation during the past eight years.

"I was unavailable when the opportunity to work on the filming of The Towering Inferno was first mentioned," he recalls. "I was under con-tract to Universal but my picture was delayed and they agreed to let me go when Irwin Allen said he wanted me immediately."

The Towering Inferno is a joint venture by 20th Century-Fox and Warner Bros. The companies owned similar books, "The Inferno" and "The Glass Tower", which tell the story of major conflagrations breaking out in the skyscrapers. Under the aegis of Irwin Allen Productions, the two books were merged into a blockbuster film with an all-star cast including Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Bill Holden, Fred Astaire, Faye Dunaway, Jennifer Jones, O. J. Simpson, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Vaughn and Robert Wagner.

"I was amazed by the preparation that was done when Allen invited me to discuss the film," Koenekamp recalls. "Of course, it's common practice for the producer, director and art director to do most of their preparation before hiring a Director of Photography, but I don't recall ever seeing anything so well thought-out at that early stage.

"They had miniatures of every major set down to the smallest details, and Art Director Bill Creber made detailed sketches of each scene." The Director, John Guillermin, and Fred spent hours working with these models and walking the sets, discussing the look and feel of the picture and deciding how they could work with the heavy ceilings that were fireproofed. With the full cooperation of Bill Creber and the Construction Dept., all ceilings were made in removable sectional pieces.

Koenekamp had signed on as part of a unique three-man cinemagraphic team which included Joe Biroc, ASC, and Bill Abbott, ASC. The idea was that he would film the dramatic scenes, while Biroc headed a special Action Unit working directly with Allen.

The Director John Guillermin explains the action of an upcoming scene to Jennifer Jones on the set of The Towering Inferno, 20th Century-Fox and Warner Bros. co-production. Guillermin concentrated on directing tthe straight dramatic sequences, while Producer Irwin Allen personally directed the "action" sequences, involving fire, explosions, etc.

Biroc Action Unit had the responsibility for filming scenes including the fires, explosions and even a flood sequence which occurred on the 136th floor after water tanks were blown up in a desperate effort to control the blaze. Abbott, who came out of retirement to do this picture, supervised all the special photographic effects, including the elaborate use of miniatures, painted backgrounds, blue screen and other process photography.

"It isn't unusual for a major movie to have more than one crew," Koenekamp explained. "However, I can't think of another instance where there has been a team effort like this. We had to practically live in each other's skins.

"Working with Bill Abbott is an experience I'm grateful to have had. He's a genius in his field. I had never worked with the blue screen process before, so I found this very interesting. The results contribute a great deal to the picture."

Irwin Allen set the tone for the cooperative effort when he agreed with Koenekamp to shoot pre-production tests using the new Eastman color negative 5247 and the old 5254 and then compared the two.

Since these tests were made only two days before production started, an honest result seemed impossible to achieve, so the old 5254 negative was the final choice. When he saw the finer grain structure of the 5247, Abbott decided to use the new negative for filming the miniatures.

Besides testing negative, they tested sets, background and fire effects. Experimenting with different colors of gels, Koenekamp determined that an orange-red gel gave the most realistic hue to faces. They also tested for exposure in heavy smoke and fire effects. He shot both normal and one and two stops forced.

Since shooting The Towering Inferno, Koenekamp has used the new 5247 negative and is very pleased with the night effects. By coincidence the other picture had a fire sequence and the new stock handled it beautifully.

Koenekamp felt this movie had some of the most elaborate sets made since Lost Horizon. They occupied three full sound stages and part of a fourth at the 20th Century-Fox lot in Los Angeles where the majority of the interiors were shot.

The most elaborate of all is the Promenade set, which is the entire 136th floor of the building. The set has four walls and a high ceiling, in addition to painted backgrounds of the city of San Francisco. The latter went nearly 360 degrees around the outside of the set and was filmed through the windows.

Except for one day at the 20th Century-Fox Ranch, Koenekamp's crew divided its time between working on location in San Francisco and the sets at the lot. Three weeks were spent filming the exterior of the building and some backgrounds in San Francisco. In addition, several other location sequences were filmed to help establish the San Francisco setting. This included some filming done in a private home, and also inside the Hyatt-Regency House lobby where the inverted pyramid architecture created quite a lighting challenge. Here, Panavision's high-speed lenses proved their real value as he worked to maintain a very natural look and feel.

The main exterior setting was a blank building set about half a block from the corner on a plaza. The first three stories of the building are used and Abbott had a matte painting for optically super-imposing the rest. The most difficult location sequences, Koenekamp felt, involved night filming of several scenes, including one which documents San Francisco fire trucks responding to an alarm.

"The result was like lighting a city block" he explained. "Not only did we light two corners of the plaza but the interior of the lobby had to be lit at the same time. I can't remember ever using so much equipment on location."

The latter included three cameras — a Panavision PSR sound camera, a Mitchell Mark II and an Arriflex — three generators, 12 arcs and some additional portable quartz lights. The first two cameras had 40-200 6:1 zoom lenses. Koenekamp pointed out that he could have worked with less light by choosing faster lenses, but he opted to light at 100 foot-candles and have the laboratory force-process the film one stop instead.

There was lots of activity shot on the corner, in the plaza and around the front of the building and he wanted maximum flexibility for capturing the excitement documentary-style. Multi-camera use and the zoom lenses gave him that capability.

On the lot Koenekamp and Biroc worked in close cooperation. "We started shooting before the other unit because they generally didn't get a set until we were done with it. Remember, when that unit worked on a set, it meant that there was going to be a big fire, an explosion or a flood."

Biroc generally showed up early each morning to get the feel of what Koenekamp was doing. They discussed ideas for lighting and camera positions, and Biroc rarely missed Koenekamp's dailies. "By the time his crew took over a set and picked up a scene where we left off, he knew the mood I was creating," Koenekamp comments.

"I have a way that I like to work, but I don't like to be stereotyped. I'd much rather have a good understanding with the Director to make certain I know what he wants, and then let circumstances and conditions dictate how we will light and film each scene. For Inferno, I started shooting every-thing bright and full, as I wanted a strong contrast for the sequences to follow. First of all, most modern sky-scrapers are rather dimly lit to emphasize the view. Also there are many stories within this story and some of those suggested low-key lighting."

Early in the picture, Koenekamp did have a chance to shoot some low-key effects — a love scene starting in an office and moving to an attached apartment was staged after closing hours, so the building lights were dim and only one lamp was on in the office. He used the lamp as a reason for creating a single source pool of key light. However, the only illumination in the apartment came through the picture windows from the city lights and the moon. Koenekamp used filtered low-key lighting through the window and the characters, Robert Wagner and Susan Flannery, moved from the shadows through the low-key light throughout the scene.

Both Allen and Director Guillermin liked the scene, which helped to establish the lovers' relationship, and also created a sympathetic identification between the audience and two of the fire's first victims. It also set the tone for the rest of Koenekamp's work.

" I felt this was a picture where the cinematographer had some real opportunities to make a contribution," he explains, "and Allen gave me that chance."

Even with the multi-million-dollar cast, the building itself was in a big sense the star of the film. It is presented as the ultimate in posh highrises; the wave of the future. Yet, except for the three floors filmed in San Francisco and the interiors, all the audience ever sees of the building is Abbott's miniatures and matte paintings, although a full-scale four-story section of the building was actually built on the Fox Ranch.

Koenekamp contributed to the illusion in a subtle manner early in the film. It is one of the few interiors shot while it is still supposedly daylight. The scene takes place in Architect Newman's main office. Outside, the glass and gold building shimmers in the sunlight, but the scene is being filmed inside.

After some experimentation, Koenekamp came up with straw-colored gels which filter the light shining through the windows and curtains. The result: bright light pouring through the windows appears to reflect the gold quality of the building.

The fire begins in the building's generator room. Koenekamp showed the lights beginning to flicker and go out on the sets where there are established characters. From that point on, he has a situation where the only lights in the building are supposed to come from candles, the outside or from the fire itself.

All of the sets have at least three walls and a ceiling. The ceilings are made of sections of plaster sprayed with a fire retardant. This makes them very heavy. During the big fire scenes, the ceiling sections have to stay in place to help contain the flames. Pre-planning the ceiling shots now made it possible for Koenekamp to remove some of these and he replaced them with overhead key lights. He also used some spreaders hidden behind ceiling beams, the tops of curtains and whatever other natural obstructions he could find. That lighting is supplemented with the judicious use of 10K quartz lamps on the ground.

"There were limits," he admits, "because the Director had us shooting up frequently to establish the ceiling. Audiences are used to seeing movies filmed on location and they are sensitive to such things. However, with careful planning there were ways to light realistically."

For example, one establishing shot is made through a window into the Promenade room, where the gay party is turning into a scene of panic. Koenekamp notes that his widest angle covers the entire room but only half the ceiling. "without that type of edge," he says, "I think we could have ended up with some very flat lighting."

The toughest scenes, he recalls, involved crowd scenes in the Promenade Room. As stated before, it is a huge set covering nearly the entire sound stage. Furthermore, the back-ground painting of the city has to appear realistic through the windows. The key to this, he relates, is keeping the lighting on the backings in balance.

About two-thirds of the time, he worked with two Panavision PSR sound cameras in the Promenade Room, although that wasn't the original plan. "One camera was focused on master shots, and the other concentrated upon cameos of pockets of people and individuals in the crowd," he states.

The key to success in lighting these scenes, Koenekamp says, is combining overhead key and sidelighting with believable parameters and avoiding front and fill illumination as much as possible. He finds that the 5254 film gives him tremendous latitude.

There were also various smaller sets, where the first unit documented the heightening danger to the individuals that they had helped to establish earlier in the story. "We worked with a lot of smoke and also started almost all of the fire sequences," Koenekamp states.

Smoke was a particular problem, especially on the sets where parts of the ceiling were opened for lights. The heat even from the smaller fires acted like a funnel carrying the smoke up. The only way to keep enough in a room was to keep pumping the smoke guns. The result was that there was always a lot of smoke near the ceiling shielding some of the key light.

One scene where this was a particular problem involves the rescue of two small children from an apartment. Paul Newman (who played the role of Doug Roberts, the building's architect) and O. J. Simpson (Jernigan, a security man) break into the apartment and try to find the children in the dense smoke. "We had to keep pumping smoke so the audience could see the difficulty they were having finding the kids. Yet, the more we did, the more we reduced our key light," Koenekamp states. It is his feeling that if you're working for an effect it is best to go a bit over, as it looks more realistic on the film. Numerous discussions on this subject were held with Producer Allen and Battalion Chief Peter Lucarelli of the Los Angeles City Fire Department. Gratefully, he would like to say they had100 percent cooperation from both Los Angeles and San Francisco Fire Departments.

There were also some physical barriers. For example, the Promenade set was built eight feet off the ground. The reason, of course, was to con-tribute to the illusion of height. When people looked out of the window, they were naturally looking down. This did create an obstacle when he wanted to do some small boom shots on the set. For the solution to this and similarchallenges, Koenekamp has liberal praise for his crew, especially gaffer Gene Stout, operator Tom Laughridge, and key grip John Murray.

"There was real teamwork," Koenekamp states, "starting with Allen — whose concentration and creative energy was contagious — but involving everyone in the cast and crew. If I have one regret, it's that I didn't get to work more on the action sequences. I keep telling Joe that he had most of the fun."

"We worked with a lot of smoke and also started almost all of the fire sequences," Koenekamp states. Smoke was a particular problem, especially on the sets where parts of the ceiling were opened for lights. The heat, even from the smaller fires, acted as a funnel, carrying the smoke up. Smoke had to be pumped in constantly, shielding some of the key light. The more involved fire sequences were filmed by the "action" unit, with Joseph Biroc, ASC as Director of Photography. Koenekamp says: "Joe had most of the fun."