Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:09:23 PM)

Hello, everyone, I'm sorry I was unable to be in Los Angeles personally with the students, but I'm in Birmingham, AL, to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday.

Moderator (Apr 28, 2001 1:10:33 PM)

You said that the decision to shoot Texas Chainsaw Massacre on 16 mm format on a slow ektachrome film was dictated by circumstances...what would you do differently today...would you shoot it with faster film or in digital?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:11:11 PM)

No, I still would shoot it on film. I would make full use of the whole range of film stocks that are available. At the time that we shot the film in 1973, the original Arri BL handholdable blimped camera was relatively new and there were not that many in the world. And the first Panaflex handheld was extremely new and there were only three or four in the world.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:12:23 PM)

The director knew he wanted to shoot in that cinema verite handheld style and since there was not a lightweight blimped 35mm camera available to us, we were forced to shoot the film in 16. This was even before the invention of Super 16.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:13:05 PM)

So since I knew I had a very small negative that I had to fill the theatre screen with, my decision was to use the finest grain film available. Even though it increased the difficulty for me in photographing the picture. The decision was made with an eye toward the end product.

Pull F.Ocus (Apr 28, 2001 1:13:32 PM)

Do you prefer to work with directors who are trained directors of musicians turned directors?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:14:06 PM)

I have done both and I greatly prefer to work with directors who are trained directors. The musicians are the clients in music videos, and as such have quite a bit of power. But I don't think we should underestimate the time spent training a director.

santabdp (Apr 28, 2001 1:14:41 PM)

How do you think commercials are changing? Are they as experimental as they used to be, or are the agencies dictating the "look" in digital post?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:15:21 PM)

I think a lot of the experimental nature of commercials is born out of the flexibility that we have from digital post. And so I do feel commercials are continuing to be experimental, but I think it's with the help of digital post.

Ed O.P. (Apr 28, 2001 1:15:59 PM)

Have your musical tastes changed because of videos you've worked on?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:16:14 PM)

Absolutely.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:16:32 PM)

One of the great things about my music video career is that it has presented music to me on a weekly basis that I might not have listened to any other way. I'm grateful for that, it's one of the great perks.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:17:00 PM)

I can go back to late 1982 when I was given the track for Police – "Every Breath You Take" - three or four months before the album was released. I was familiar with the Police music but not a huge fan. But when I heard that track, my mind was blown. Everyone who came to my house up until the album was released, I played the song for them.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:17:51 PM)

Also, during the course of shooting music video, I hear a song probably on the average of 50-60 times, and that gives you a real chance to decide whether you like something or not. Something you may hear only in passing on the radio. Probably 95 percent of the time we come away loving the track.

David1x (Apr 28, 2001 1:18:11 PM)

Daniel: was it my imagination, or were there several different versions of 'Every Breath You Take,' each in a different color?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:18:40 PM)

No, that is correct. The edit of the film was the same, but the graphic artwork of the album cover was black-and-white photography, with a band of blue wash, a red wash and a yellow wash.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:19:24 PM)

We did shoot the video in black and white, and as an afterthought, they released it ‹ one with a blue tint, one with a red tint, one with a yellow tint. Basically as a commercial tie to the artwork on the cover. But the one that has survived is the black and white version.

Op Eng (Apr 28, 2001 1:19:47 PM)

I keep reading that cinematographers are the only ones "resisting" the digital revolution. Is it true that cinematographers are resisting the inevitable or are they just not taking things at face value?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:20:19 PM)

Or are we perhaps the ones who realize the advantage of film?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:20:56 PM)

We are experimenting with the digital technology. We've been using it for a long time in telecine. And we still today believe that we get the best results when we start out shooting on film. Cinematographers, by and large, are extremely passionate about their work. The end product is everything to us. And if we thought we would get the same or better results ‹ we would change.

Marty (Apr 28, 2001 1:21:46 PM)

I've read in interviews that you prefer to push 500-speed film to 1,000 instead of using 800. Is that true? Why?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:22:08 PM)

That is absolutely true. I have for the last 4-5 years photographed everything I shoot in Super 35 format. I tend to shoot a slightly over-exposed or thick negative. My findings have been with the combination of this slightly thick negative and Super 35 format that I am able to shoot completely grainless pictures, pushing the 500 ASA film one stop to 1000, although I must say in all honesty, my rating of the film is probably closer to 800 with the push.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:23:51 PM)

But in comparisons that I've made when the 800 first came out and with the recommendation of several of the top colorists in the industry, that the way I expose the film, we get completely grainless results with the 500 push 1 stop.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:24:30 PM)

Also, no one need be afraid of pushing the 500 ASA or any of the slower film stocks as long as you're achieving a properly exposed negative. The image will be flawless and grainless. However, if you come up short on exposure, that's where grain will be introduced.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:25:22 PM)

I have recently, in the last 4-5 months, began to shoot the daylight 50 ASA, 5245, pushing it two stops for a look. The directors are loving this look and it's still not at all grainy.

fx (Apr 28, 2001 1:25:32 PM)

How do you keep up with all the changes in technology in our industry?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:26:03 PM)

Well, I'm very fortunate to almost always (virtually every year )be asked to be on a panel at the Show Biz Expo. So that event gives me an opportunity on an annual basis to go and see what's new. I also arrange tickets to Show Biz Expo for my gaffer, my key grip, and my assistant cameraman. And all four of us go independently and compare notes afterwards.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:27:09 PM)

Also, because music video is such a cutting-edge technology and again I'm fortunate to hold a position of high regard in that field, so often new technology is brought to me by the inventor or the supplier.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:27:37 PM)

Because it's a pretty safe assumption we will exploit any new technology in the music video world, it's a good idea to get it into the hands of the people who will use it.

radiostar (Apr 28, 2001 1:27:44 PM)

what exactly is an mtv cut and who came up with the term ?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:28:20 PM)

This is more or less of an editorial question, not really my area of expertise. But I would assume it is referring to the sort of very quick editing pace of more up-tempo music. This also owes its beginnings to post-production on videotape, where it's much easier to assemble rapid editing sequences where one isn't searching around for tiny bits of film.

bobf (Apr 28, 2001 1:29:08 PM)

the videos you shoot are popular all over the world, despite the languages spoken in different countries...is there a lesson that that applies to narrative films?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:30:14 PM)

I think that has to do, as much as anything, with the power of pop culture. And I think that as my work takes me all around the world, I find the vast majority of people, particularly the young people involved in filmmaking and the arts, tend to speak English, which I actually attribute to the export of our pop culture.

Diogenes (Apr 28, 2001 1:30:34 PM)

Does great music motivate great videos? Can you make a great video for a bad song?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:30:57 PM)

Great music absolutely does motivate great videos.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:31:12 PM)

From the very beginning we always felt, in music videos, that the filmmakers would always rise to the occasion for a great song. And, in a way, the song is the screenplay or at very least the dialogue of this short film.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:31:47 PM)

Is it possible to make a great video for a bad song? I don't know. Is it possible to make a great film with bad dialogue?

e_double_a (Apr 28, 2001 1:31:54 PM)

Of all the pieces you've worked on, is there any one single piece that stands out as a personal favorite, attached with a higher sense of personal pride?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:32:13 PM)

Yes. I'll give you two answers ‹ one for music videos and one for commercials.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:32:40 PM)

The commercial is more clear-cut. If I have to put it down to one single commercial, I would have to say that Motorola Wings, directed by Marcus Nispel, would have to be my favorite.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:33:16 PM)

In the world of music video, it's a little more difficult to single out one, because I've been fortunate to have worked on several landmark videos. Police, "Every Breath You Take" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger," both directed by Godley and Creme, were influential pieces at the time. Michael Jack's "Billy Jean," I believe opened the door to a new path for music videos ‹ that was directed by Steve Baron.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:34:34 PM)

But if I could only show you one music video to sum up the work of Daniel Pearl, I'd have to go with the Fugee's "Ready Or Not" directed by Marcus Nispel.

fx (Apr 28, 2001 1:34:40 PM)

In feature films, the pictures are generally completed first and the music is added later. But in music videos, you shoot to the music. How does that change the way you think about the photography?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:35:07 PM)

This can be both a blessing and a curse.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:35:27 PM)

The music has a pace and whether we sync up with that pace or counterpoint the pace, that's the director's decision. But we cannot alter the pace. Commercials are similar in that they have a time limit ‹ 30 or 60 seconds ‹ and so we have only so much time to tell our story.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:36:29 PM)

The big difference in feature filmmaking is that there's a lot more flexibility in how long the finished film can be and so the filmmakers have more flexibility with the screen time allotted to tell any particular aspect of the story.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:36:59 PM)

If you think about it, the average song, let's say, is 4 minutes long. You've got to be able to tell your story in four minutes and obviously that's going to have some impact on the type of story you choose to tell. This situation is only magnified for a commercial.

Sally 1st (Apr 28, 2001 1:37:14 PM)

I saw some of your images from a commercial in a museum in New York. Why were those images chosen?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:37:51 PM)

I would assume that that's referring to the Motorola Wings commercial, which is one of three pieces I've done in my career that are part of the permanent archive of the Museum of Modern Art.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:38:29 PM)

That particular commercial was the cinematography honoree ‹ they select three commercials a year to honor in the various production categories, and that commercial was selected as one of the three honorees for 1999.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:38:54 PM)

I'm very honored by this, and also a copy of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was put in the film collection of the Museum of Modern Art shortly after it was released, and a music video I photographed in, I believe, 1981, for the artist known as Captain Beefheart, whose real name is Don Van Fleet, who has become quite a well-known painter, and therefore that music video was put in their collection.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:39:52 PM)

I do consider these three films in the Museum of Modern Art to be quite an honor.

e_double_a (Apr 28, 2001 1:39:54 PM)

What can you say about the story that was being told in the "Billie Jean" video? There was certainly a high sense of emotion behind the song and the video.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:40:37 PM)

Well, what I would say about it is that it was a break from the more linear narrative story that was being told in films at the time, and that was being emulated in music videos at the time.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:41:02 PM)

It's exactly that sort of abstracted, non-linear scenario that blew me away and that made me realize that music videos were going to develop their own form.

bobf (Apr 28, 2001 1:41:08 PM)

steven soderbergh caused a stir by directing and shooting Traffic, and now he's doing it again with Ocean's 11. Are the directors you work with getting interested in shooting Ñ and come to think of it, are you interested in shooting and directing?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:42:14 PM)

I have done some directing and shooting, and found it quite rewarding. But at the same time I found it an outrageously huge task to undertake.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:42:34 PM)

Of course, I'm coming at it from a different direction ‹ I'm a cinematographer who began to direct so I could have complete control of the imagery. So my motivation really was about the camera. I'm not sure why someone who's a director decides to also be the shooter.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:43:24 PM)

I guess they may want control of the camera, or perhaps they want to be able to control the shooting pace on the set, so they're able to decide when it's okay to just walk into a location and roll the camera. With modern-day film, modern-day lenses, there's enough light to expose film most everywhere we go. There are obvious exceptions to this, but most places there are enough.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:44:28 PM)

This is part of the digital video camera argument, that you can go and shoot. There are two things about light and it starts out with quantity. At the very beginning level of cinematography it's about quantity of light. Is there enough to shoot?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:44:44 PM)

But once you've mastered the understanding of the quantity of light, then your entire focus shifts to quality of light. The color. The direction. Its softness or its hardness. Where is light? Where is shadow?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:45:38 PM)

This is what separates the men from the boys. And what's called cinematographer's hesitation to go into digital video is not so much that we're so concerned about which device we use to record the light and shadow ‹ as it is that we continue to be able to control the light and shadow to bring out the beauty and put the emotion into our images.

andyh (Apr 28, 2001 1:46:33 PM)

Are you going to be affected if the writers and actors go out on strike? Any predictions about what's going to happen there?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:46:54 PM)

I don't know what will happen there. And the effects to myself and my crew will be indirect.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:47:32 PM)

The commercial half of our careers has already suffered the Screen Actors Guild commercial actors strike of the spring and summer, which we've managed to come through pretty well. Although we did wind up outside the US a little more often. The music video half of our careers really has no ties to either the Writers Guild or SAG, so it won't be affected at all.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:48:23 PM)

What may happen to us is that our big brother, the feature film industry, may possibly grind to a halt, which will probably triple or quadruple the number of filmmakers

available to work on any given project. Does that mean we'll have to share the work with more people? Does that mean there will be more competition to get work and producers who are very smart will use this to bring prices down?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:49:06 PM)

I don't know. I wouldn't bet on it, but I do believe there will be a strike and it will have some sort of impact.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:49:49 PM)

The one thing I can say ‹ and I don't mean this in any way to say that the cinematographers known as the "feature guys" are not great shooters, they are fantastic shooters ‹ but for the most part they have not made a big mark in music video. And I'm not even sure why that is.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:50:27 PM)

Perhaps because the shooting style is so entirely different. Feature filmmaking is a very controlled, preplanned version of filmmaking. And music video often starts out with both of those as its intention, but can rapidly become much more of a "from the hip" shooting style.

Op Eng (Apr 28, 2001 1:50:30 PM)

How do you select your colors and your look for a project? Is it dictated by the client or do you have some creative freedom?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:51:01 PM)

It's a bit of both. Virtually every project I do, whether it be commercial or music video, will start with me receiving a treatment and/or storyboards. If it's a music video, I may also receive a copy of the track.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:51:38 PM)

The next step, and this is probably why I am so successful as a cinematographer, is that I very much like to be set off in a direction. So the next step will be a meeting or a phone call with the director, who will run down his vision on the film we're about to make.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:52:04 PM)

He may speak to me in terms of another feature film. He may speak to me in terms of another commercial, another music video, a painting by an artist whose work will be our inspiration. He may show me a still photograph he likes. He may show me something from a coffee table book, or sheets torn from a fashion magazine. Anything to communicate a look ‹ something from his head, a dream he's had in which he saw certain colors. It may be a briefing similar to one he received from his client.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:53:26 PM)

Now, this is a step where I now have taken in this information on the shape of the film as it has evolved so far by the time it comes to me. At that point I then assess what I've been told and usually try to take it even yet another step. More often than not that's greatly appreciated and we go with it. Sometimes the vision is very rigid. So whether I’m to do as I'm told or have any freedom, and it ranges quite a bit, no matter which the situation is ‹ to be successful, we do it to the best of our ability.

qwest (Apr 28, 2001 1:54:26 PM)

With all the technical controls in post, are filmmakers losing sight of what can be achieved at the moment of photography?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:54:43 PM)

I think not. I think that the cinematographer is always looking at the situation as it exists right before him. And I think it is more the director and the editor who see there's a world of possibility beyond that.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:55:28 PM)

As cinematographers we realize that a very golden sunset can be turned into an icy blue scene in post. But, at least speaking for myself, I believe we focus on what's in front of us and we're taking pictures of what's at hand.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:56:20 PM)

In my case, this may be because I often shoot color Polaroids throughout the day of shooting and I don't have the post abilities there. So that I'm always striving to make a beautiful Polaroid, even knowing that in post it could be taken someplace else.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:56:59 PM)

I realize the pictures I take belong to the director and the director's clients and so I understand they are free to do what they want with the pictures. We just have to hope their vision is pure and that they're not going to completely destroy our work. I don't feel that's happened to be very often. For the most part, I've been fortunate to work for directors who have a good vision.

CameraGirl (Apr 28, 2001 1:57:37 PM)

There are so many artists you've been photographing for years, like Mariah Carey. Obviously they trust you. How do you build that special trust with a subject?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:58:21 PM)

Initially that took some time. I'll go back and explain the beginnings of my learning to do beauty photography.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:58:35 PM)

My wife Linda Pearl basically taught me how to photograph women about 21 years ago. She was a model at the time and I was a cinematographer with about 7 years' experience. We had met on a shoot and had begun to date, and I had to shoot some tests and asked her to be the subject.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 1:59:45 PM)

When she arrived at the studio where I was shooting the tests, she hit the mark, looked up at the lighting, and said, "You can't light me like this." I must say, this is before video assists. She just stood there and looked at the light and proceeded to tell me I'd have to move the key light around. At the time I was 30, she was 20, and I thought to myself, what does this kid know?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:00:18 PM)

But she stood her ground and eventually I moved the light. There was an instantaneous light going off in my mind I saw exactly what she was talking about. This is important to the answer to this question in that the beautiful women of the fashion and music world, have been photographed many times. They can tell if they're being lit properly or not. They can tell by how it feels when they're standing in the light. If they walk onto a set and the light feels right to them, they know it.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:01:09 PM)

And there are several things about beauty that create a successful beauty close-up.

Obviously, the subject brings quite a bit through their natural beauty ‹ their skin and hair and complexion. The wardrobe dept has made their contribution. The make-up artists have made their contribution. The director and cameraman have made their contribution in terms of the angle, the focal length of the lens, the lighting. And when all these departments have done their best in terms of what works best for that particular subject and the emotion we're trying to portray at the time ‹ these great beauties, and I do mean great beauties ‹ they sense this. And they let the last element out. When they feel secure, they let their inner beauty out. And that's when it all works.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:03:46 PM)

I'm very fortunate to have built a reputation for successfully doing this over the years, and consequently have a headstart on the process in that they pretty well know when they show up that they're going to be taken care of. So I believe they look forward to the results and consequently I feel I'm often able to get them to release this inner beauty.

Barney Asst. (Apr 28, 2001 2:03:57 PM)

Are there any music videos you won't shoot because of the content?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:04:39 PM)

Well, it's a bit tricky. I’ll be frank here. When people call up to hire a cinematographer they don't always tell us everything there is to know about a job before they hire us. They tend to call and ask if we'll be available on such and such a date. I don't think I've been asked to shoot very many videos where I had an objection to the content.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:05:16 PM)

As an aside, I'm not even sure if I would shoot the Texas Chainsaw Massacre if it was offered to me today.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:06:03 PM)

But one thing I can say I'm not very happy about when I find out I have to shoot it is a large roomful of people in a party situation. Just not my idea of a pretty picture. But for the most part we just try to make the absolute best we can out of every situation. Fortunately, music videos have to be aired on commercial television stations, so the natural censorship of the FCC tends to keep the subject matter from getting too out of line.

rza (Apr 28, 2001 2:06:38 PM)

What«s the trick that make your videos so stylish and "clean"?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:07:16 PM)

I do consider myself a "clean" shooter. And I do feel I’m a lot about bringing light to the subject. If I were to criticize myself, it would be that I first think about where is light and not where is shadow?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:08:22 PM)

The combination of that train of thought and, what I touched on before, about my method of exposing the film ‹ that makes a clean and "snappy" image. I would not say I'm the right guy to get if you want a sort of dirty, gritty picture.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:09:11 PM)

I've had directors ask me to shoot gritty, grainy photography, and in fact the 5245 ASA 50 daylight stock pushed two stops technique is born out of my desire to find an alternative look to satisfy the director's desire for the images to somehow look different.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:10:03 PM)

About 18 years ago I was shooting "That's All" for Genesis, in which the members of Genesis were playing basically some hoboes. And Phil Collins mentioned to me that he thought there should be some grain in the film, and my response was that I thought there should be some hiss on the track as well. He looked at me and smiled, saying, "I see your point."

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:10:27 PM)

I'm not saying it never works. I'm just saying that in everything about what I do, I look toward silky images. That's what I try to be about. That is not to say that I don't play with contrast. I think my work is often very contrasty. But still, contrast is just another form of sharpness really. If the image is very contrasty, it has an apparent sharpness.

Mover (Apr 28, 2001 2:11:14 PM)

Does cinematography have a future or are we all going the way of digital mastering?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:11:54 PM)

Well, I believe that of course cinematography has a future.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:12:03 PM)

We didn't all become painters once the magic marker arrived on the scene. No matter what the art form, there will always be those who excel at it. Perhaps more than anything, what makes cinematography unique is that ours is perhaps the most technical of all the arts.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28,

2001 2:12:50 PM) And what makes cinematographers sort of weird entities is that we are perhaps artistic nerds. We have to have a foot in the arts. We have to understanding painting. We have to understand light. We have to understand architecture, interior design. We have to understand even poetry and literature because we have to take pictures that match the emotions of our scripts. So in a way we're Renaissance artists, or at least we have to have an understanding of the arts that affect our work.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:13:52 PM)

But at the same time, we're mathematicians and scientists. The technical side of our job is extremely math intensive, and everything about light is ruled by the laws of physics.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:14:18 PM)

So what makes cinematographers unique is that there are many people who are artistically inclined, and there are many people who are mathematically and scientifically inclined.

The cinematographers are the few that are both.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:14:59 PM)

Everyone should remember in their high school physics class, there's a moment when the physics instructor mentioned the inverse square law. This is the point at which two-thirds of the class said to themselves "what the hell?" and turned and stared out the window. The third of us who understood it, had a chance to become photographers and cinematographers.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:15:47 PM)

It's a rule that says, the inverse square say you're going to double the distance. You invert it and square it. So if something is twice the distance from a light, it winds up with one-quarter of the light. This is physical science, a law of physics, that you cannot change. We can trick it with our equipment, but we cannot change it. And it rules what we do as artists.

bobf (Apr 28, 2001 2:16:13 PM)

I notice that you have around 17 feature film credits, but none for awhile. What would it take to tempt you back into shooting features?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:16:53 PM)

Probably a really good screenplay with a really good director, would have me consider going back to features. Features are extremely hard on a person's family life. And I'm very happy with my wife and daughter and I get my artistic gratification shooting music videos and commercials and, for the most part, choose not to test it.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:18:12 PM)

When you take on a feature that becomes your life for 5-6 months. And unfortunately, so many features are outside of LA where my family lives. And they're products of such mammoth proportions that they require outrageous amounts of concentration.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:18:33 PM)

In fact, all films do. But if it's a 3-4 day shoot, it's easier to withdraw into your work of filmmaking for a week or two and resurface to spend time with your family. When you're pulled into that world for 5-6 months, it's harder to get back out gracefully. And you start to lose touch with your family. Although it seems right at the time, my feeling is that its' just very difficult.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:19:49 PM)

What's temping is that my daughter's become quite a film enthusiast, so I guess if I thought the screenplay was great, the project was great, and I was going to make a great film, that perhaps she would forgive my absence if she found something great about the film.

rza (Apr 28, 2001 2:20:01 PM)

When using greenscreen, isn’t it hard to get the exact same light on the subject as the background, so it look realistic?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:20:31 PM)

I don't think so. The problem is that more often than not, the background plates haven't been chosen. Your question assumes the proper plan, that you know what the background plate is, and then you're asked to light that, to match that. That's our job as cinematographers. We have to understand the light of the background plate and match that in the foreground.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:21:18 PM)

And I would say that anytime someone can show us what the background will be, we're very good at matching it. What may look like an inadequacy of the cinematographer to the viewer, probably more often than not is a lack of information for the cinematographer at the time of shooting. It's when you walk into a studio and don't know what the background is ‹ it's a rather lonely moment for a cinematographer.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:22:18 PM)

You stand there staring at a gigantic green or blue screen which says nothing to you. It doesn't speak to you about time of day.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:22:21 PM)

It doesn't speak to you about quality of light.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:22:28 PM)

It doesn't speak to you about surrounding architecture. Locale. It says nothing.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:22:37 PM)

The same thing an artist must experience when he faces a white canvas.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:23:15 PM)

If the artist has been commissioned to paint a certain picture, he knows what he's doing. If a cinematographer is instructed to shoot whatever subject in front of a green screen, that they'll put the footage together with something later, or perhaps it may be designed to be put into one scene and they may change their minds about that later, then it will appear the lighting doesn't match.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:23:51 PM)

I think it's a bit tricky in green screen because the viewer is aware when it doesn't blend seamlessly and often unaware of when it does blend seamlessly. I'm sure everyone has seen shots that actually are composites that they may not realize were composites.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:24:20 PM)

In my mind, the best and most pure use of green screen technology is when you use it to achieve the impossible. In those situations, you're seeing the impossible take place on screen, then you know you're in a green screen situation and you can evaluate whether it's been done well or not.¨

e_double_a (Apr 28, 2001 2:24:47 PM)

Coming from a soon-to-be college graduate, I curious if you could impart some wisdom, some advice to someone interested in entering "the industry". My angle happens to not be directing/producing, but writing, but from a wise man to a young buck, what advice or warnings would you issue?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:26:57 PM)

Probably the least-developed side of the artistic-mathematician is literary and the area you are choosing to pursue is the opposite side of the spectrum from my personal sensibilities.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:27:11 PM)

The only advice I can give is that if you really love this, pursue it to the best you can. Never give up and to meet and speak to as many people as you possibly can about it. That saying about being in the right place at the right time is absolutely true. Probably when you least expect it you'll get your chance.

rza (Apr 28, 2001 2:27:54 PM)

I know you are kind of keen of Jordan Cronenweths work in Blade Runner. Have you ever used that style (harsh background lightning) in any of your vids or will you?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:28:32 PM)

You're absolutely correct, I believe that Jordan Cronenweth's work in Blade Runner is a turning point for modern cinematography. Even more impressive about the artistic nature of his photography is the technical fact that he's done all of it with a normal speed film stock. I find that mind blowing.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:29:19 PM)

His use of zenon lights, contrast, harsh background lighting, amazing catch lights in the eyes of the actors ‹ the work is flawless Many of the music video treatments I have read will refer to Blade Runner at some point or another in the treatment. I think it's pretty well regarded by most of us as a visual masterpiece. The more anything I shoot reminds someone of Blade Runner, the happier I am.

bobf (Apr 28, 2001 2:30:22 PM)

At NAB in Las Vegas last week, George Lucas was the star of a Sony press conference, where he repeated his mantra about HD looking as good as film, and that the cinematographers are the only ones resisting his revolution. In the Los Angeles times report the writer said it isn't necessary to light with digital...does that propaganda ever get you down?

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:31:05 PM)

It doesn't get me down at the moment, because people keep asking me to shoot film.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:31:41 PM)

I was recently asked to be part of a panel for the AISCP based upon HD as the future of the commercial industry. The symposium didn't draw enough interest to actually happen ‹ cancelled due to lack of ticket sales. In the interim, between being asked to be on the panel and the time it was cancelled, I figure I should find out what's going on. If I'm asked to speak on a subject, I should know what's happening.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:32:59 PM)

So I went to Panavision to see the 24F camera, a Panavised version of Sony's HD camera, and I worked with the camera for a while in the studio and I viewed side-by-side comparison tests shot by Alan Daviau. I admit that I was impressed with the camera, and that I wouldn't be afraid to use the camera if someone asked me to. I felt as if the results could be good.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:33:53 PM)

I guess that the fear that cinematographers have is that because the monitor represents the finished image, and because we are artists working in an art form that is also a business, the real fear is will the business side dominate the art. What I mean by that is will the money side of the process of filmmaking be standing there at the monitor telling us that something is good enough, roll the camera when we know that another 5 minutes or 10 minutes of lighting will make a more beautiful and perhaps more pertinent image? At the moment the process is such that the cinematographer is the one person on set who truly knows what the finished image will look like. As captured on the negative.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:35:17 PM

And again, this is because of this artistic/technical sensibility. But in a way we're regarded as magicians by the rest of the filmmakers. Everyone's decided how to comb their hair, so they know how the hair should be. Everyone's got an opinion on how the make-up should be. Everyone's chosen who to date so they know a bit about casting. But very few people know about lighting. So for the most part, we're sometimes guided, but allowed to be the ultimate judge on the lighting.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:37:09 PM)

So I guess if there's any hesitation on the part of cinematographers to use HD, it's that the monitor on set represents the finished product and we remove the mystery, and therefore opened up the potential for what I think most of us would consider to be an inferior product.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:38:04 PM)

I guess the best thing I can say about this is if you go to Italy and you visit the Duomo iCathedral in Milan, you'll see that every square inch of this cathedral has been sculpted. If you go to the Alhambra in Grenada, you'll see that every square inch of that has been sculpted. And both of these were made at a time when there was just a hammer and chisel.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:38:30 PM)

Somehow, as man has developed motorized tools, faster and better ways to sculpt, to carve, what have you, somehow our artistic sensibility has gone to flat planes of glass buildings. So we probably have a fear that new technology, which should simplify our artistic task, somehow seems to dilute the artistic integrity of the end product. I guess that's the fear cinematographers have about HD.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:39:37 PM)

But I have to be optimistic and think that the quality of an image will always be important. After all, cinema started out as escapism and if it becomes too mundane, it may lose its ability to provide an escape.

Daniel Pearl (Apr 28, 2001 2:40:39 PM)

Thank you very much for joining us today. I enjoyed the session immensely.