Visual Pathfinder

With all the respect for who make this job,I would try to write some lines because the amazing night sky during the romantic dialogue between Eady and Neil really bring me to some of what I saw shoot on HD recently,HD really could quick the process but

H E A T

belong to another time;according me the results really anticipated the future and that’s a great example of how film can deal with digital process,so that’s what I mean be Pioneers…

Inspiered by HOT SET by Les Paul Robley AC Jan 1996

“Like no Other Art Form,Film lives on Reality “ The More you believe an act happening on the screen the more you believe the story and the more successful the communication will be the storyteller and the audience” Dante Spinotti says…

Shot on Anamorphic format remarking how the bigger area of negative help to reduce grain for Michael Mann ‘s Heat Dante Spinotti ASC AIC uptaked Kodak 500 ASA 5298 Stock,pushed one stop for night exteriors and interiors but due the high quality low grain and colour the same stock hadn’t change due late day shooting,that’s been a great advantage when a movie is shot entirely on location.Rated at 800 ASA when using particular long lenses the light didn’t need to be increasead dramatically because the stock really work great.
HEAT was shot on Panavision Panaflex Camera at T2 with Panavision’s Primo Lenses(among 75mm),Super Hight Speed T1.4 50 mm Lenses,E SERIES 100mm/180mm at T 2.8,400 mm at T 3.5 and [11:1 and 5:1] Zoom lenses at T 5.6

 

“…a long romantic night scene between Robert De Niro and actress Amy Brennemann on a terrace overlooking the Hollywood Hills,the dialogue makes reference to ocean of city of lights lying all around them. Spinotti suggested to Michael Mann that they shoot the sequence against the greenscreen to maintain the sharpness and brilliance of the backgrounds ,and still add the night sky with its veil-shaped winter clouds . He was also concerned about the exposure and in obtaining a consistent look over the number of days of shooting.”

“..I basically shot the skies at T2 on Primo lenses ,pushed one stop and shooting at 4 frames per second. I then shot the city lights at 12 frames per second ,pushed one stop at T2.Then with a simple lighting ,and again with specific camera angles and heights, we shot two stand-ins against greenscreen. We then moved to postproduction.”
At Encore video we put togheter a number of shots that combined background plates of the Clouds,the city lights and sky.[They were shot with varying focal lengths] ,say, a 100 mm and a 50 mm lens, creating a strong ,romantic pictorialism. We also composed using more traditional combinations of lenses.The two profile side shots which carry focus from the foreground characters to the background seem to be a visual key that really delivers what the scene has to sell”

“Michael Mann wanted to photograph the actors against greenscreen at the actual location on both nights of scheduled shooting.To control the light coming from the city and the house behind Spinotti first lit the actors without greenscreen at level of T 4.7 in order to maintain some sharpness on their faces. The greenscreen was then brought in and lit to key level before the crew and was to shoot.
The Advantage [in using the digital process] is quite evident Dante Spinotti Points out. ”You can go through a number of takes to have the best performance from the actors ,without a change in the brightness of the background.”

IN FACT AS I WROTE IN THIS ARTICLE MANY TIMES AGO..