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How Peter Donahue Turned a Hobby into One Gigantic Career
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PD: We shot Gigantic in 24 days. Technicolor in New York did the front-end lab work. We did a little fine tuning at Deluxe New York using an EFILM Digital Intermediate workflow. Joe Gawler was the colorist.
MM: Another independent feature that you shot has earned kudos at festivals, and is being scheduled for release. Will you give us a snapshot of $5 a Day?
PD: $5 a Day is a road show comedy with a great cast, including Christopher Walken, Sharon Stone and Alessandro Nivola. Chris plays an older man who is kind of a grifter. He lives in a dingy, low-rent apartment in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Alessandro plays his son. They have been estranged for years but the father tells his son that he is dying and needs to get to New Mexico for a desperate treatment that could save his life. Sharon is the son’s former babysitter whom they meet on the road.
MM: How much time did you have to work on this project?
PD: We had around two-and-a-half weeks of pre-production. We scouted locations with different landscapes and architecture mainly in New Jersey and New Mexico, and a few in Pennsylvania. We shot the film in five weeks. It was mainly interiors with a few exteriors, mostly in the car.
MM: How did you design the visual grammar?
PD: [Director] Nigel Cole and I agreed that we wanted to create a docudrama aesthetic. We shot in Super 16 film format because a little grain looks and feels right for the story. We had to be nimble, move fast and make the most of natural light. We generally used a single camera with the exception of a big dance scene at a corporate party that [the characters] crash.
MM: Cinematographers choose films like artists select paints for their palettes. What was the film palette that you chose?
PD: I used KODAK VISION2 500T 7218 for night and interior scenes, 250D 7205 and 50D 7201 for daylight shots.
MM: Did you do a DI since you shot in Super 16 format?
PD: We didn’t have to do much tweaking of images in DI. Most of it involved what the audience sees outside of car windows as they are driving across country. It was late fall in Atlantic City at the beginning of the movie. We made the colors of trees and other foliage a little more monochromatic. As they drove across the country, we made colors warmer. The warmer look also reinforces that the son and father are growing increasingly friendlier and closer together. We also tweaked some skin tones.
MM: Has your background influenced you as a cinematographer?
PD: I learned about lighting and composition as a still photographer. Documentaries taught me to be unobtrusive and use practical light. When I was a gaffer, I learned to avoid lighting setups that constrict the movements of actors and their ability to see and react to each other. I also learned there is something magical about a film look.
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- Comment by شات on 11/22/10 at 9:11 am
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- Comment by generalvallalkozas on 2/03/11 at 9:35 am
Its not a simple story.Interesting about a nice experience
- Comment by Arbtoon on 3/17/11 at 7:21 pm
thank you a lots
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ون بيس- Comment by kaka on 3/21/11 at 5:44 pm
thank you a lots
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دردشة شموع- Comment by alarabforum on 3/25/11 at 9:47 am
Its not a simple story.Interesting about a nice experience sabaya alarab forum
صبايا العرب- Comment by sniper2 on 9/26/11 at 3:09 pm
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