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| Photo by John McElroy |
| Motion picture stills photographer Jasin Boland on the set of 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor' in Tianmo, China. |
Q: On average, how long do you spend working on a particular film? Are there particular scenes or interactions that you must get? Is there a formula or is every film different?
Every film and every day is completely different. The only formula is to be prepared for anything!
I generally work on big budget action movies and these do take time to make. There is an incredible amount of time that goes into creating an action sequence. During The Matrix we did this huge fight scene between Neo and Smith in the rain that took a month to shoot and that was probably on for less than three minutes screen time.
On average the films I shoot take between four and six months of principal photography then like in the case of the Bourne Ultimatum we may be called back for additional photography. It's amazing to think that the whole process to create a film can take years, yet in a matter of weeks it can be finished screening in the cinema.
Q: Are you responsible for editing and toning photos as well, or is shooting your primary responsibility?
I am bit of a purist when it comes to my photography. I do a thorough edit, but by thorough I only mean I get rid of the junk I would die if I saw published. As far as cropping, toning and other post processing, I shy away from that and try and get it right in the camera. My time after shooting is so precious the last thing I need to be doing is fixing up mistakes that could have been done correctly in the camera in the first place.
I come from a newspaper background from the days when we had to do our own darkroom printing, and you learn pretty quick that getting a correct exposure in the right light saves you time in the darkroom and gets you front pages. That and the fact I can't stand spending time in front of the computer. I have a Dell but don't ask me what it does; I only use it for my rough edit and for transferring images to external hard drives for shipping to my lab in LA.
I do all the manual work myself. I don't like leaving anything to risk so I end up doing all the hours. I will use a few assistants if I have a big specials shoot to help with setting up lighting but apart from that I am a lone ranger! I find it more satisfying to nail it than to correct or change it. I am not an art photographer. I essentially do PJ (photojournalism) work; I put myself on a set as if it is a real environment. The director and director of photography create a game park and with my Nikons I get to go hunting.
I love finding a little pocket of light and waiting for an actor to move his face an inch to the left or look 3/4 high to the right. You would be surprised how often this happens, and it's so satisfying to see that image used on a poster or magazine cover.
When you are working on a studio film there are so many good people in the photo departments that keep a very close eye on all the art coming in. If I have a problem with a hard drive I know about it within an hour of them taking delivery.
I do a lot of work for Universal studios and the head of the department there, Bette Einbinder, is amazing. Bette and her team can be overseeing a myriad of films at any one time. Amongst the daily tasks they look after approvals, editing and fielding requests from the studios various departments for marketing and advertising needs, both for international and domestic release.
The studio's photo departments have a colossal workload. At the end of the day, we shoot what we can find, but they have to find what we shoot. By that I mean any one of a number of departments might have an idea for the creative art and put in a request for a specific image. It's the photo department that has to scroll through every one of the 40,000 or so images delivered trying to find art that matches the thoughts of a creative director.
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| Photo by Jasin Boland/Sony Pictures |
| Jamie Foxx, Jessica Biel and Josh Lucas walk the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln located off the coast of Mexico during the filming of Stealth in 2004. |
Q: How often do you find yourself traveling? Have you ever turned down a project to spend some time at home?
I spend at least 10 months of the year on the road. At the moment I am working on The Mummy 3. We started in July in Montreal when my fiancé Maria was pregnant with our son Hunter. She had to go back to Australia six weeks before the birth, as the airlines don't let you fly after that.
I flew home six days before Hunter's due date. He was the perfect film baby: working to a schedule, he arrived on his due date and four days later I headed off to China for seven weeks to finish up the film.
I miss them terribly but as Hunter will grow up in the film family, I am sure he would never have wanted his daddy to miss out on photographing that action sword fight in Mummy 3 between Michelle Yeoh and Jet-Li.
As a fan of these films I think it will be one of the most wanted and anticipated film fights of all time. Our director Rob Cohen structured it like the Beijing opera; it's going to be very beautiful and cool on the big screen.
So far I haven't turned down a project to spend time at home. Maria and Hunter will be traveling with me from now on and as a family we all head to Spain in January to start shooting Greenzone.
I also have a fantastic support group at home. My business partner and brilliant photographer in his own right, Paul Broben and I have run our company Frontline International together for 18 years. Paul does mainly magazine and television network specials. Every day that we have been running the company together we become better friends. He looks after all my personal requirements at home as well as being my sounding board while I am away and fitting in his share of the company's photography. Without him watching my back, my life and career would be much more complicated than it is.
He also wrangles the Fantastic 4, our contract photographers, Vince Valitutti, Ben Rothstine, Rene Skalka and our new little guy Ben Timony; they shoot our additional magazine, television and film stills.
Q: You spend a lot of time around cast and crew; are there any celebrities that you consider close friends?
The film industry is like the circus of old; we really are just one big global family. Frequently I am the only Australian on a set but in the last six or seven years I have always known at least a half dozen crew and those that I don't know always know someone that I do.
We spend a lot of time together and we are also quite insular, a film in town and the crew literally takes over the place. We work together, eat together, there's not too much we don't know about each other. We show pictures of our families, our houses, and our friends. Many even post our personal location shots on Facebook. Everyone has great stories from other projects, everyone is generally interested in each other's lives and being on location only amplifies that family need.
Members of the cast are no different than workers in anyone else's work environment. Some mix more than others but as a general rule if you want a drink at the end of the day the entire company will end up in the same place.
I have many friends in the film industry from grips to directors, producers and cast, guys that I consider friends for life. I love working for actors Matt Damon, Joan Allen, Michelle Yeoh, Brendan Fraser, and Tom Cruise and John Hannah, adore directors Rob Cohen, Paul Greengrass and John Woo, and would work on any project producers Frank Marshall, Bob Ducsay, Sean Daniel, Pat Crowley, Paul Sandberg or E. Bennett Walsh offered me. I love the light and friendship from directors of photography Simon Duggan and Oliver Wood. Oliver paints light like Raphael and Simon can light anything like a grand master. He is the only DP I know that can give the light on an action film a personality!
I also enjoy dinner and a beer or two with all of them too. I hate to break the bubble but generally everyone gets on real well.
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