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June 1999 Cover Story
An
Attack on The General's Daughter
"It's a change from pure action," says cinematographer Peter Menzies,
Jr. (Hard Rain, A Time to Kill, Die Hard: With a Vengeance). He
met director Simon West (Con Air, The Deceivers) several years
ago, while they were shooting a Ford Quality Care commercial.
"We had a very compatible working style and I respected his approach
to each shot, which always included a great emphasis on visual style as
well as the performance factor," Menzies explains. "Simon and I both come
from a background in commercials, which are so short that often the story
must be told through visuals instead of dialog.
To Menzies, The General's Daughter is a great story, and he felt
the script was really well done. "What made the project most appealing
to me was the fact that Simon would be directing," he says.
"When I read the script, I got excited, because I realized the visual
opportunities Simon would want to take with each scene. I knew it would
be challenging and exciting bringing this story to the screen."
"We always saw this as an anamorphic picture," says Menzies. "So, there
were few tests or discussions. I decided to use Kodak's Vision 500T and
100T stock for most shots, and for some of the night maneuvers, we used
the 800T. I found that the matching was great, even when we used the 800T
at 40 or even 60 frames."
Menzies and West chose Panavision cameras and lenses, "as I have on all
my movies," says Menzies. "We were going to use a lot of Steadicam, but
I also knew we would have a variety of other shots that would require
the `big toys,' such as the Titan and Akela cranes, a Technocrane, insert
cars, Libra 3 remote head, water boxes, and underwater housings."
Set in the South, and shot in July and August in Savannah, Menzies was
constantly dealing with weather problems: fog, thunderstorms, and "heat,
heat, and more heat," he says. "The temperatures were so high that the
ballasts were constantly getting hot to the touch."
While most of the shots already presented certain challenges, Menzies
and his team found themselves dealing with a constant stream of afternoon
showers and thunderstorms. "We decided to work with the weather instead
of trying to fight it," he explains. "We purposely wet the streets and
pavement in the exteriors in Savannah, so that after a storm passed, we
could get right back to work without losing any time and without matching
problems. On top of that, the wet streets looked great, and that was a
plus. The weather did shut us down one afternoon, when a tornado touched
down a few miles from us," he adds. "The entire crew had to huddle in
a small plantation house and garage. Luckily the twister passed us by!"
After they finished shooting in Savannah, the production crew returned
to Los Angeles to complete the film.
"For the all-important introduction of many of the characters in our
drama, we shot a huge banquet at the Wilshire Ebel Theater," he explains.
"This was a beautiful set, designed by Dennis Washington."
It consisted of a main head table where James Cromwell (the general)
and John Frankenheimer (who is very effective in front of the camera,
according to cast and crew) address a full banquet room. Other main characters,
portrayed by James Woods, Timothy Hutton, Leslie Stefanson, Clarence Williams
III and Boyd Kestner, were seated at additional tables in the room.
"We had about 150 people, including most of our principal actors," Menzies
continues. "Everyone was in dress blues, which really looked black. Lighting
the `sea of black uniforms' was challenging, because we were greatly restricted
on where we could put lights and how we could hang them. In addition to
that complication, we knew we only had our lead actors for a very limited
time."
Not only Menzies responsible for getting the cast in and out on a schedule,
he also had to maintain a daylight look, even when he was losing the natural
light.
Because the Ebel is considered an historical landmark, Menzies and team
could not attach anything to the walls. "Fortunately, key grip Alan Rawlins
and Showrig were able to create a rig outside the windows, for a main
source."
The gaffer, Rafael Sanchez, explains that "Peter had Alan and the crew
hang five 18K Sunray HMIs, one for each of the large windows. Each lamp
had to be able to move up and down and left and right independently. So,
once in place, Peter could control the ambience and the sun."
Menzies adds that they had full CT0 gels on the windows, combined with
85 and 81 C-series camera filters. "This allowed us to create a sunset
look, which fit the time of the story."
And for the wide shots, "we hid 5Ks with Chimeras on an upper balcony,
to add just a touch of ambient light," says Sanchez.
All Menzies then had to do was add a little candlelight on the tables
and the crew was ready to take the audience through the introductions.
"As James Cromwell made a very grand entrance down the main staircase,
proceeding past our main characters, we used a combination of Steadicam
and dolly shots," says operator Robert Presley. "This brought him down
the stairs and to the main table. Dolly grip Mike Eply did a really great
job of moving the camera through a very narrow corridor of actors and
chairs, with only a couple of inches clearance on either side of the dolly-and
without the aid of a track!" Presley says.
But when moving in for the close-ups, "we let the windows fall off and
used 2K Zip lights and 5ks with Chimeras for the close-ups of our lead
actors," adds Menzies.
In The General's Daughter, sequences setting up the heroism and
empathy for the title character were paramount to the story. One of the
more memorable shots starts with a close-up of the general's daughter
(Leslie Stefanson) being rescued after the assault.
"The shot seems designed to showcase the features of the Akela with the
Libra mount, in addition to showcasing some great helicopter piloting,"
Menzies explains.
"Leslie is lying on a stretcher with the camera in a close-up on her
face. As the camera pulls up and back, it also rotates. This reveals her
two rescuers, one holding a red signal flare. As the shot continues to
widen and the crane reaches a height of about 85 feet, the rescue helicopter
flies across the frame, entering from the top left corner and appearing
to be under the camera. To the viewer, it may seem rather simple, albeit
visually interesting," says Menzies. He calls it a transition piece, but
says that the reality of trying to coordinate such a shot is truly a credit
to teamwork, which is what makes it so memorable.
"It was magic hour, and we were racing against time. The actors had to
be dead on with their performances. The crane and camera moves had to
be perfectly synchronized. The helicopter had to be cued at the right
time and the pilot had to fly in just the right position to allow the
timing of the shot to work. In addition, each actor and technician had
to carry off their role perfectly, or it would ruin the efforts of everyone
else. There was no time for mistakes. When shots like that work out, everyone
goes home with a renewed respect for everyone else."
Presley admits that "From my perspective, this was one of the best shots
we did on the film. Not only was this a technical challenge, but it told
the story in an exquisitely simple manner. It is heartbreaking to see
this woman bruised and battered in a close-up, and as the camera pulls
back it really isolates her and reinforces the life-altering event that
she has just gone through. It was amazing, to see this huge Akela crane
rise up and actually have a helicopter fly underneath the camera. It was
also a real credit to Leslie, that she could lie there and stay in character,
while the helicopter landed right next to her."
Ask Menzies what his favorite shot in this picture is, and he will probably
tell you it has to do with the night maneuvers location. "It's a panorama
of soldiers walking through a field at night during a training exercise.
There are about 150 soldiers walking in an open field, some holding up
yellow flares as explosions go off around them. The shot itself included
a visual area of half a square mile. We tracked with the soldiers, through
the field with a dolly shot of at least 100 feet," explains Menzies.
"This was one of those scenes that you know is visually very special,
when you look through the eyepiece," says Presley. "With the spotlights,
flashes, smoke and all of the soldiers in the field, this scene had a
very surreal quality and really set up the tense and vicious scene that
follows with Leslie.
Menzies adds, "I think the audience will find this scene very disturbing.
Peter and Rafi really did an incredible job of adding to the horror with
the way they played the light in the foreground and background."
Additional coverage for this scene was done simultaneously, with B-camera
on a Titan crane. The crane shot started behind some soldiers' backs,
and craned up about 30 feet, revealing the entire field of soldiers and
the bombs exploding.
"In addition to the flares in some of their hands," says Menzies, "the
scene was lit by one 6-Lite and one 9-Lite in the background tree line.
The lights were gelled with a mixture of half, full and double CTS, providing
a warm and fiery glow. Smoke tubes were laid in front of the tree line
lights, creating a foggy backlit background for the entire shot. As an
overall back light, half of the area was lit with one 18K gelled with
full CTS. Additional sources of light were the propane and magnesium `bomb'
explosions set off by special effects. The propane bombs would explode
in a burst of orange color, while magnesium bombs were white explosions.
The explosions were timed to go off as the soldiers walked by, so they
would momentarily be illuminated in a glow of orange or white."
Menzies recalls the scene as colors constantly changing and melding as
the bombs went off or as one of the soldier's flares crossed the line
of an explosion. "The scene was shot at 40 frames per second, and we used
the new Kodak 800T stock to allow us to shoot at 40 frames per second,
without having to sacrifice the surrealistic look of the scene by adding
too many large light sources," he adds.
"Peter wanted to use interactive lighting for both of our night maneuver
sequences," says Sanchez. "Both used the interactive lighting from Lightning
Strikes combined with Data Flash units, deployed to augment the explosions.
The helicopters were equipped with NiteSuns, and those were augmented
by computerized Xenons from Xenotech, to enhance certain shots. The computerized
Xenons were mounted in the baskets of 80-foot Condors, to add the element
of the helicopter light, even though the helicopter was not flying. It
also added the illusion of more than one helicopter. Also, there were
four 80-foot Condors with Super Dinos to give a base overall exposure
to the scene."
Presley adds that another scene that proved challenging to the crew was
a night scene "in the forest. This one involved John Travolta, Madeline
Stowe, and Timothy Hutton. It is the climactic scene of the film, and
most of it takes place in the rain. Because of the extensive dialog, we
shot much of this with three cameras, which is always difficult to light,
but it was also difficult to keep the cameras and lenses dry and clear."
Because of this, "we had to build the light level to accommodate 120
frames per second," adds Menzies. "We placed lighting towers around the
set, each equipped with two or four 1,500 watt quartz industrial worklights.
Then we carried through with the multi-layered CTS gels and background
fog."
Add several shots of Timothy Hutton looking straight up into the rain,
and it makes it "difficult to keep from seeing the drops being cleared
by the spray deflector," adds Presley. "Tony Rivetti did an amazing job,
not only of keeping things dry and clear, but also pulling focus in a
heavy downpour sometimes, on a 180mm anamorphic lens!"
Many of the shots take place outside: forests, military bases, swamps
and towns. "One of the most interesting locations built outside of Savannah
was the military drills practice field," says Menzies. "It was a three
street site, with buildings on various levels. We put camouflage over
the street to take away the moving shadows, which allowed us to do shots
that had a fluid look."
Sanchez adds that their goal was to get as much depth as possible, "again,
at night. But the set was in a swampy area of Georgia. Condors were not
practical, so we put a combination of 9-Lites and single MolePARs on the
entire perimeter of the set. Located about 300 yards away from the camera,
they were perfect, especially when the smoke was set in between lamps
and set. We then built practicals into the set itself. By doing this,
we were able to create great depth and an interesting set."
Quite a bit of Steadicam was used on this set during the investigation.
Adds Presley, "It helped add some tension to the scenes. There is a very
frightening scene where Madeline's character is there at night, alone.
With the distant lights and fog, there was a very creepy mood emphasizing
her being alone."
"We helped add to this tension by shooting almost all of this on the
Steadicam," adds Menzies. "It was the camera's point of view we wanted,
as much as the floating quality of the Steadicam. It created a necessary
tension."
There was no lack of visually interesting shots in The General's Daughter.
For the crew, especially operator Robert Presley, one of the more visual
points was when John Travolta's character is sleeping in his houseboat
and the villain (played here by Peter Weireter) tracks him down to kill
him. Travolta makes a narrow escape from the boat and into the water,
where the villain continues to shoot at him as he swims under the dock.
"Weireter eventually ends up in the water with John, where there is a
vicious fight, ending with a gory death in spinning propellers.of course,
Travolta isn't the one who dies," explains Presley.
The sequence was filmed on location in Savannah, as well as on Paramount's
stages. The sequence starts on stage, with Travolta asleep in his bed
on the boat. "We shot this with the Steadicam," adds Presley. "This allowed
us to simulate the movement of the boat in the water."
Atmospheric smoke was used throughout the sequence, which created the
challenge of matching the level of the smoke over a several month period.
"We used the Weaver-Steadman remote head on a crane to get shots of John
running across the roof of the houseboat and then jumping into the water
(at the Savannah location) to get away," Presley adds. "After some great
underwater work by Mike Thomas (in the tank), John surfaces under a boat
dock, where the bad guy gets dumped in and the fight ensues. This part
was done at the Paramount tank and takes place around a small boat with
the propeller turning."
They began by using the Technocrane to set up the fight. "This allowed
the camera to be right on top of the action," explains Presley, "something
Peter and I did extensively on Hard Rain. We also used Panavision's
water box to get those surface shots that really put the audience in the
middle of the action. Again, Mike Thomas did some fabulous underwater
work during this final struggle. This really helped show the brutal fight
that went on under the water. John and Peter were really good sports to
spend that much time duking it out!"
Sanchez says that for the underwater sequences, "we used a combination
of underwater fluorescents and underwater PARs. We augmented them from
the surface with Mole PARs and an interactive lighthouse effect, which
we established in Savannah, in the exterior boat sequence. For this exterior,
we mounted a 7K computerized Xenon in the basket of a 120-foot Condor,
for our lighthouse effect," says Sanchez. "Then, on stage, at Paramount,
we incorporated a 4K Xenon to keep that lighthouse feel going in the water.
By the way, if this isn't confusing enough, we had Showrig design and
build a 110 x 110 x 40-foot high tent, for the tank at Paramount," adds
Sanchez.
This complicated scene ends with the villain being pulled out to sea
by the boat. "In Savannah," adds Menzies.
"Got that?" is the universal comment from the crew on this film. It could
have been confusing, but thanks to the pre-production organization, everything
came off without a major hitch.
As complicated as the matching sequences may have been for Menzies, he
recalls a rather nerve-wracking setup. It was a simple dolly-in on the
general (James Cromwell), while he is listening to a tape recorder. "It
was shot in a transport plane mockup on stage. What made this shot interesting
was the guest appearance of the director, Simon West, as the only extra
in the sequence. With all due respect to James Cromwell, it was one time
when the lighting on the featured extra seemed almost more important,"
says Menzies. "This is one time I sat nervously through dailies the next
day. I hoped Simon would like the way he looked.and we still had our jobs
after dailies," Menzies adds, "so I think he was pleased!"
Another interesting area in Menzies's memory bank is the use of cutaways
and establishing shots, done by both main and second unit. "Simon and
I always agreed that the `inserts' would be an important storytelling
element," says Menzies. "We chose to run our insert unit, headed by operator
Joey Maxwell, alongside the main unit. The inserts in the film are not
afterthoughts, or `filler' deemed necessary once they started cutting,
but were orchestrated elements we went after while covering the main story.
When I saw the first rough cut, I was happy to see that the editor, Glen
Scantlebury, had left in a lot of the `pretty' cutaway shots, and although
they are not key to the dialog, they are really important in making the
viewer feel like he has been taken to this place.
Menzies felt that the insert shots really helped to establish the heat,
the swamps, the rain, battlefield, etc. "They make it a visual adventure
for the viewer. So often those shots end up on the cutting room floor.
But Simon and Glen really appreciate the extra texture those shots can
give to a film, and as the cinematographer, I am always happy when the
pretty stuff is left in!"
Presley and Menzies, who have done five films together, reflect on the
special nature of filming The General's Daughter. While this film
is primarily a journey through a military criminal investigation, coverage
of the violent crime and some of the other scenes in the film were disturbing
and emotionally draining for everyone on the set. The talents of the actors
to open up emotionally made the scenes very real and frightening, both
on the screen and in the atmosphere in which they were filmed. Despite
this, the production crew was able to create an environment in which everyone
was able to do his/her best work.
"There are many people to thank for that," says Menzies. "Robert Presley,
of course. Most importantly, the leadership of Simon West. Thanks also
to the organizational skills of the AD, and the production departments
for their fabulous work. Thanks to first assistant Tony Rivetti, second
assistant Frank Parrish, loader Ingrid Semler, B-camera operator Joe Maxwell,
B-camera first Fred McClain, B-camera second Megan Forste, and gaffer
Rafael Sanchez, key grip Alan Rawlins and dolly grip Mike Epley."
Filming a movie involving such emotional depth can be wearying for the
cast and crew, and both Menzies and West agree that "you don't want to
have an actor be subjected to another take because of a technical problem."
They maintain that the camera crew and other technicians were amazing
in their professionalism and respect for the actors-a true example of
teamwork.
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She
was a West Point graduate and the army's `golden girl.' She was also the
general's daughter-raped and murdered by one of the army's finest. The
investigation is led by a member of the army's elite undercover investigative
unit (John Travolta), who is assisted by a rape specialist (Madeline Stowe).
It is a high-adrenaline action drama, with strong characters and performances,
mixed with elements of mystery and suspense.
Although
there was a lot of action, including army battle sequences at night encompassing
over a square mile, there was also a lot of information and dialog to
get through, explains Menzies. "I knew, with Simon at the helm, that there
was no chance it would turn into a `talking heads' drama. That meant combining
simple two-shots and conversation close-up coverage with high energy expansive
excitement, using a wide range of cinematic tools and techniques.