I had shot three pictures for writer/director John Sayles. When he called about Silver City I said “yes––absolutely yes.” He suggested I see Z, a film directed by Costa-Gavras. Silver City had similar thematic elements, a murder mystery with politics interwoven. I didn’t need an incentive to dive into preparation, but the idea of Chris Cooper playing a young bumbling George W. Bush certainly enhanced my enthusiasm.

My first thoughts went to the crew. Assistant Tony Rivetti is always working, but I took a chance and reached him at Panavision. He was on another job, but would be available before our shoot in Colorado.

Tony took charge of putting together the rest of the top union crew. Megan Forste was the 2nd Assistant, Doug O’Kane was the B Camera 2nd Assistant and Ingrid Semler was the loader. Doug was from Denver as was James R. Goldsworthy who was the lst Assistant when B Camera worked. On set, still photographer Bob Marshak would show us incredible digital stills, many taken from our camera angle. Very encouraging to see a shot right from his computer. Besides set stills, he gave us working crew pictures.

Tony Rivetti had talked to Panavision and was able to offer John a terrific 35mm package to fit a very low budget. I always shot 35 for John Sayles. His two most recent pictures were in Super 16 and he was more than satisfied with that look. So was his producer, Maggie Renzi, so we shot Super 16.

Tony was still on another job when we were to begin prep, but he was able to work out a reasonable Birns & Sawyer Aaton package. Fortunately my friend, operator/Steadicam operator Chris Squires, offered to help with testing. Chris was a trainee on Coming Home and many years later he was my assistant on Latino. I wrote and directed that film and Chris was right at my side in Nicaragua as the real Contra war sent mortars and real ammo whizzing by us. Tom Sigel was the DP who, even at his young age, had already shot documentaries under fire.

Years ago, I was part of a team who made the first Super 16 camera by opening up the gate of the NPR Éclair camera. J. P. Carson, the Éclair distributor, and machinist Sylvan Goldis honed out the aperture and re-positioned the lens and I shot the prototype tests. The single perf optical blow up to 35mm was excellent. All of this was at a time when the grain characteristics of raw stock were nowhere as good as what we have today.

I remember J.P. Carson holding up a section of 35mm film with the 1.85:1 aspect ration marked off. He pointed to the frame above and below the lines and said, “This is the Kodak you bought, processed and printed and no one in the theatre will ever see it unless the projectionist misses frames.”

This was before protecting for TV was considered important. When a ceiling was low or I needed a light in what we called the old screen, my assistant, Ralph Gerling, would slip in a hard matte. This was a quick erasure of mike booms, lights, flags or other distractions at the top of the frame. Ralph must have noticed the guilty look on my face when the matte blacked out the potential TV image. Ralph said, “Don’t worry, by the time this goes to TV, we’ll be on another job.” Some Gerling quotes may even be helpful to us today. For example, on a miserably sad and sorry job, Ralph would quietly chant: “I need the money, I need the money.” Then diagonally across the BNC mag, he put a camera tape that read: “God is Love.”

We cinematographers can only do so much with light, T-stops and camera moves. What’s in front of whatever lens determines the image.

Our production designer, Toby Corbett, had just finished The Cooler, a very good-looking picture. On the scout he would sketch out how he would alter one space, hall or warehouse to arrange it to work for more than one scene. Changing locations takes time. I prefer to walk into an apartment, set or a restaurant and switch on the practical lights and have it be photographical. I picked light fixtures with Toby. With 500 ASA [5218] film, we should be able to shoot “available” with just touch up lights. If windows or exteriors are there, we plan where the light is going and try to be ready with neutrals, nets and booster lights to match the sunlight we saw three hours ago.

Most of the Silver City shoot was in Denver, Colorado, 5,280 feet above sea level. The other Colorado location was Leadville at 10,430 feet. That’s getting up there. Advice was to drink a lot of water. It’s difficult to sleep at that altitude. Worse yet, crew trips in the van were often punctuated by altitude flatulence.

Our sizeable Colorado crew was up and running from day one. The crew consisted of five Colorado construction workers, ten set lighting technicians, eleven grips, six in the makeup/hair department, five in the paint department, one prop person, five in our second unit, plus many set decorating and craft service people. This may seem like a lot of crew for a low budget feature, but without them we would never have been able to work as fast. This was a 32-day shoot encompassing 51 locations.

Colorado union workers were eager, knowledgeable and experienced. Gaffer Ray Peschke gave his Colorado crew pre light and rigging assignments so we never went cold into any interior location.

Maggie Renzi, our producer, is very conscious of what could be called a “crew dynamic.” Matewan, The Secret of Roan Inish and Limbo all had happy crews during hard working production days. Locations give us a chance to know each other personally.

Hollywood guys have sometimes been accused of being impatient or even arrogant when working outside our familiar comfort zone. Economics will continue to oblige us to work away from home. Even a tough taskmaster like Ray Peschke was able to contain his very professional impatience. He had none of his regular guys in Colorado, but they learned a lot from Ray, who has gaffed and DP’d all over the world. At any altitude and in three languages, Ray works his social skills as a leader.

We should strive to raise levels of professionalism all over this country and wherever we go. In this globalized world we have to take the I of the IATSE as a pledge to bring all boats up. We can’t afford to be in a race to the bottom.

The Silver City wrap party was like the last day of summer camp. A lot of credit for crew psychological metabolism goes to producer Maggie Renzi. She has said, “It’s my responsibility to make this a good work experience, a good work day in the lives of the crew––a good workplace.” She prides herself on limiting the number of shooting hours. John Sayles says it’s “unproductive,” and Maggie, says, “A 14 hour workday is long enough.” The cast and crew were particularly appreciative for civilized hours when the Leadville location altitude kept many from much sleep.

On a side note, in the “Brent’s Rule” documentary about sleep, the crew would seldom talk about No Doze or Red Bull. Usually, there’s a lot of coffee at the 12th hour. Getting to sleep fast and ready for the short turnaround often requires pills. Kids’ getting ready for school or your wife trying to keep them quiet is a too common wake up! Thank the actors for occasionally helping us with more civilized turnaround. The lost weekend––hours into Saturday are not too kind to family life.

But back to Silver City. On the scout, I note compass bearings for ideal light. After John says what he wants to see in an exterior, I let the 1st assistant director know my desire for the time of day. This spoken very quietly knowing full well we’ll shoot it whenever we get to it.

John often decided certain scenes would be shot with two cameras. We all know the plus and minus of multi-cameras on interiors. Depending on the frame, a backlight becomes a front light; the boom is set for the wider shot and the close-up sound lacks proper perspective. An old electrician in Chicago described the chaos, which multi-cam interiors can cause as “tripping over your own doniker.”

But there are many advantages to two camera shooting. Some directors end up shooting two cameras side-by-side, loose and tight. I believe this is a misuse of two cameras––it will not have a decent cut. The image can only jump straight in or straight out.

Chris Squires was the Silver City operator, Steadicam man. We hired an excellent 2nd Unit Director of Photography, Edward Done of Denver. He had a complete unit and did some beautiful second unit work. Tony Rivetti and I assumed he was a Local 600 member. He never said he was. It wasn’t until we returned to LA weeks later that I learned he was not a member. I believe Ed Done is now a member, but I want to acknowledge our mistake. A Local 600 member should have had the job. I, and all California based D.P.s, have to be aware of competent members available all over this country.

John occasionally asked that I pick up a second camera. I shot with Megan as a lst assistant. Often it was with the A-Minima.

Silver City’s toughest location was Leadville at 10,430 feet––it’s the highest incorporated city in the U.S. Working quickly, just moving quickly, had to be tempered with individual adaptability. We had Dr. Pagel and a local medic standing by with oxygen. I had a UV filter on the lens to knock down the altitude ultra violet.

There was a difficult scene where actor Danny Huston falls into a dark watery tunnel. He had a small flashlight with him while he struggled chest deep against an underground current. Floating by him were drums of “deadly toxic waste.” I set some back cross lights to give the tunnel photographic shape, but John didn’t like the way it looked. “John, you will barely see the shape of the stone tunnel, otherwise we are shooting against black velvet.” It was one of the few times I gave John Sayles an argument. He made it clear he just wanted the flashlight. We reshot the scene differently. Tom Lembcke stood just out of camera with a mag lite, a flashlight much bigger than the piddling little one Danny Huston waved as he struggled in the water. Tom’s brighter and wider beam flashed the water and tunnel.

Taped to Tom’s foot was an underwater light that simulated flashlight glow in front of the actor occasionally silhouetting him. Ray Peschke and I were dry at the dimmer changing the intensity of the foot light. John liked it and Ray and I enjoyed ourselves while Chris and the boys were immersed in the cold water. John Sayles approved the different lighting.

Years ago in Chicago, a director asked me to do a shot that I thought was totally stupid. I wrote on the slate: “Shot under protest.” It turned out to be the best shot in the little film. I never wrote that on a slate again. Certainly with John, I wouldn’t even think that. Just figure out another way, make it work, and maybe learn something too.

More than 60 percent of the Silver City crew lives in Denver. Everything I could have asked for and more was available locally. That included camera cars, cranes, dollies, all grip equipment, 16mm and 35mm cameras. Because they’ve done so many commercials, we had well-trained, very competent people. Many of them had not worked for a while. They were concerned about their health insurance with commercial business very slow. Chevy commercials were going to Canada as were other regular Colorado jobs.

Colorado has the same roads and mountains as Canada. Our union brothers agree, if it were widely publicized that the all American Chevy commercials were made elsewhere, GM might reconsider where they shot their commercials. Union citizens don’t have much political clout these days. We can be a force as consumers.

Some in our union have worked in Canada and have helped train less experienced guys. They have friends across the border. It’s a difficult part of Globalization. Corporations are International; workers are not. Union brothers in Canada are not our enemy. They are, indeed, brothers with the same problems we have; yet they have it with guaranteed health care. Our Local is national, which should make us stronger. Grips and electricians are still confined to very local Locals. So, while our employers are international, we still remain like craft unions of the old AFL.

Silver City was shot on Super 16, then transferred to a digital intermediate and edited on the Avid before being blown up to 35mm for theatrical projection. This was my first experience working from a digital intermediate. We were able to see dailies on a big screen with depressingly poor video projection. However, the cutting room had a big monitor, which looked terrific. I am not sure exactly what the process was for the widely distributed release prints. There is much there that I need to get up to speed on. I do believe the 16mm format has little image degradation and offers more flexibility than shooting high definition video. Apart from saving approximately 60 percent in developing costs over 35mm, Super 16 allowed us to move very quickly and work at very low light levels. The technology of hi def video is advancing at an incredible pace. At least at the time of Silver City, John Sayles made the right decision to shoot Super 16.

When John and Maggie were in Florida shooting Sunshine State, many people told them it wasn’t about chads, it was about how many African-American people didn’t get to vote. By June, they agreed they had to make a movie that questions where America is going. John said, “There’s always been corruption and corporate interests, but the mainstream press has never been lazier and more compromised than it is now.”

I believe as privileged professionals, as artists, we have an obligation to ourselves, to our union and to our country. We should be concerned about the character of our work experience, about what we do, as well as how we do it.