Old camera...

Started by kotte, October 17, 2004, 01:50:32 PM

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kotte

What is the camera they filmed the 'Greenberryhill-sequence' with called?

Jeremy Blackman


kotte

might be it...thanks..

ono

I love it that at this site, one immediately knows what the "Greenberry hill" sequence is referring to.  And if you're not sure if it's a Lumiere, I'm pretty sure the camera is mentioned in the "That Moment" documentary.

MacGuffin

Quote from: ptanderson.comThe only section of Magnolia not to follow this progressive color scheme is the picture’s preamble, which relays three bizarre incidents of chance — urban myths, if you will, — that end in tragedy. The first episode takes place in 1911 and deals with a robbery at an apothecary. As much as possible, the pair strove for period accuracy, both in terms of camera and lighting instruments. Elswit shot the scene on black-and-white stock (Plus X for day exteriors and Double X for night exteriors) with a hand-cranked Pathé camera, which he and Anderson had used before to interesting effect with color stock on a Fiona Apple music video.

The director briefly contemplated the Lumière camera, but rejected the idea because it could not accommodate traditional filmstocks. Denny Clairmont and Andre Martin rebuilt the Pathé camera from scratch and took apart and cleaned its two lenses — a 41mm and 50mm. “One of those lenses was actually over 100 years old, and they were uncoated, which is one of the secrets as to why those films [from the turn-of-the century] look they way they do,” the cinematographer observes. “They have pretty good resolution, and the contrast gets a little smeary because they are uncoated. They really have a wonderful quality, especially in the black-and-white interior, which is hard to get now with coated lenses.

“To light close-ups of the bad guys, inserts of signs and other parts of that sequence, we actually used magnesium flares that we got from a shipyard. It’s my understanding – not from talking to anyone, but from reading – that before they had location lighting equipment, magnesium flares would be used for big night exteriors. They just put them up high on parallels and/or parachutes and set them off; they give off an enormous amount of light for a relatively short period of time and don’t flicker too much.”

http://www.ptanderson.com/featurefilms/magnolia/articlesandinterviews/elswiticg.htm
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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