Conrad Hall HELP! (too)

pretz · July 29, 2004

I also might need to make a 10 minute presentation on Conrad Hall and his style.

Going to be using Road to Perdition and American Beauty for him...

I am supposed to show clips and talk about his specific style and things that you can see across his films.

Any ideas? What is he known for? What do you see? Everything from stocks to lighting to cameras he likes to use to filters etc... Resources to check out? ANYTHING would be helpful!

Carlos M. Icaza · July 29, 2004

American cinematographer magazine practically dedicated a magazine on his greatness. check www.theasc.com and look for the magazine. Same goes for Janus. They are good sources as well as the web, and the dvd's ..

The latest Saving Private Ryan 60th Anniversary Edition has tons of stuff on the camera/lighting/etc from Janus.

Also check imdb.com for additional trivia and stuff on each one of them....

Hope the following asc magazine archives link helps

http://www.theasc.com/magazine/index.htm?j...index.html~main

May 2003 ASC Magazine, Artistry and the "Happy Accident" High Points from the career of Condrad Hall.

August 2002, ASC Magazine Road to Perdition

C.-

David Mullen ASC · July 29, 2004

Wouldn't it be a good idea to do a presentation on a cinematographer you already know something about?

As for Conrad Hall, you can start by reading the interviews with him in the books "Masters of Light" and "The Art of the Cinematographer" as well as watch his interview on the documentary "Visions of Light." The May 2003 issue of American Cinematographer has some good memorial articles.

John Pytlak RIP · July 29, 2004

Conrad Hall:

http://www.kodak.com/country/US/en/motion/...lForeverP.shtml

http://www.kodak.com/country/US/en/motion/news/hall.shtml

http://www.kodak.com/country/US/en/motion/...rdition2P.shtml

Bill DiPietra · July 30, 2004

It might also help to, um...watch some of his films...?

pretz · August 1, 2004

I have watched the films, I own the films.

I am asking for opinions, thoughts etc.

I figured this would be a good resource for other opinions/ideas.

David Mullen ASC · August 1, 2004

Read the interview with him in "Masters of Light" and you'll get a lot of insight into the way he thinks and works.

Another important work from him was "Searching for Bobby Fisher."

Hall was not very stuck on one approach so he's hard to typify. You can't spot a Hall-shot movie like you can something shot by Storaro or Willis. He liked an overexposed negative, he liked to shoot at wide apertures on fast film. He liked small, overexposed areas in the frame, often from spotted-in lamps (you see a lot of use of Tweenies at full-spot in his night interiors). He sometimes used light diffusion, like a 1/8 ProMist filter. But he was not a formalist, he did not work from some sort of dogma or heavy intellectual conceit. He was very improvisational and spontaneous. He endeavored to be non-technical about the process although he was a master of it.

mbelli · August 1, 2004

I had the pleasure of interviewing/filming Conrad Hall, ASC a couple of years ago or so, I can't remember how long after that he died. It was for a series here on Independent Film Channel, Canada called "Make Your Movie" that I directed/shot/wrote and was one of his last interviews I believe.

Hall, was nice enough to come to Mole Richardson LA where we were doing all our interviews at the time. He spent about an hour or so with us, I've got him on tape for a good 40 minutes, the show segment featuring him is around 8-minutes and also includes Ira Tiffen and a feature on 3 point lighting.

Anyway, Hall was a really nice, soft spken, unpretentious individual. Some comments/observations:

- He had just seen a final print of Road to Perdition, and remaked what a talent Sam Mendes was, Hall had great respect for Mendes and considered him another Orson Welles

- I knew this before, as I had a friend who was a stand-in in "Bobby Fisher" and he told me this in regards to Hall's method of working on that film, Hall would spend hours first thing in the morning, discussing set lighting with the director before a single shot was taken, my friend remarked on how long these discussions took, you know, just sitting around sipping coffee, discussing the best way to light a scene for the story

- Hall loved using small well placed hard lights all over the place in combination with very directed bounced light from walls, ceilings and so forth

- Hall talked about how he focuses lights, using very narrow beams and uses the edge or center of the beam for different effects, he particularly loved having actors pass through these narrow beams and get hotter, cooler

- He using mirrors a great deal and using gobos to shape light bounced from mirrors, he liked mirrors beccause they are very directional light sources, he uses them a lot

- his main motivation in lighting is real life, he's not influenced by painting other movies, he pays particular attention to how light looks in the real world, makes mental notes and tries to use it in his work

- he owned two Spectras and one spot meter, I had to laugh when Hall commented he had no idea how to use his spot meter, it's digital and he doesn't like that -- he's an old school analog man so his assistt reads the spot meter for him

I was very impressed with Conrad Hall as a human being, a very nice, nice man. I learned he often went to schools to talk to kids about cinematography.

We had some difficulties with the ASC in regards to our show and interviewing world class DPs which we originally were going to film in the ASC clubhouse, but Hall was right there for us.

Can't say enough good things about the guy. Really sad when I heard he passed away.

Anyhow hope this helps you.

MB

pretz · August 1, 2004

Thx that is all very great.

All very useful.

I watched Road to Perdition last night again, great film, looks great. Reading the one article while watching the film was very interesting.

Anyone have any ideas where I can find the information on the stocks, lenses, lighting the like for American Beauty? I am having trouble finding anything more than references to it in articles about Hall... I can't believe someone didn't do an indepth look @ it?