"There Will be Blood" Shots with old Pathe Lens

[Joe Taylor]

I posted this originally in the General Section by mistake.

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Been watching There Will be Blood" and have read that the filmmakers used an old Pathe Lens for certain shots.

 

Does anybody know for sure what shots were made with this lens?

[K Borowski]

I just saw this film today in theatres today, the last day at the discount matinee. Interesting sidenote: the projection quality at a $1 show for some reason routinely trumps theatrical showings costing almost 10x as much. . . go figure.

 

The long shot where the main hero err. . . villain and his son are scouting the Sundae ranch you can see vignetting in all but the upper right hand corner, which for some reason looked different.

 

Great use of old glass, it hearkens back to the days of silents for me.

 

The shots of the oil well fire and the men all gathered round to watch, in addition to the reverse angle of their faces as they watch the fire were gorgeous.

 

I'd recommend this film as one to see in theatres if it weren't closed down now :( Definitely catch it in the Cinematheque circuit or at least get an HD-DVD).

 

This film is a gem of cinematography. Also gorgeous were the shots of the interior of the well when the hero is first starting out in the oil business. Unfortunately, I missed the first reel of the movie, so that's where it picked up.

 

Were there any memorable cinematic moments before that time? I didn't miss out on much of the story, fortunately, but I do have one question. . .

 

POTENTIAL SPOILER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He calls his son a bastard at the end of the film and says he found him in a basket, not that his wife had died in childbirth like he says earlier. Is his son really an orphan, or was he just saying a very cliche thing that some fathers say to their sons "You're not my son. You couldn't be mine."?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

END OF SPOILER

[Jonathan Bowerbank]

saw it twice in the theatre and never witnessed any vignetting...I'd check your $1 matinee's projection again ;)

 

But the only shot I know for sure that used that lens was the one where Plainview and baby H.W. are sitting quietly on the train, and the baby reaches up to touch Daniel's face.

Edited April 11, 2008 by Jonathan Bowerbank

[Paul Bruening]

Hey Karl,

 

I saw it a few weeks ago. If I recall correctly, the boy was the son of a worker who died when a well blew it's drill pipes. Lewis's character adopted him for the reasons he later confesses. A scripting device that communicated his inhumanity more than any other, in my opinion.

[K Borowski]

saw it twice in the theatre and never witnessed any vignetting...I'd check your $1 matinee's projection again ;)

 

But the only shot I know for sure that used that lens was the one where Plainview and baby H.W. are sitting quietly on the train, and the baby reaches up to touch Daniel's face.

 

Hey Jonathan. I'm positive it wasn't the matinee projector, because it was only for the one long shot. I didn't notice it in the shot with the baby, but maybe I missed it.

 

It's when Plainview and his son are "quail hunting" IIRC, that I noticed it; after the shot ended the subtle vignetting around the corners disappeared too. I've never heard of bad projection coinciding with just one shot unless it was poorly spliced-in footage, which I can say with certainty is not what I saw.

[Peter Moretti]

The look and pacing of this movie reminded me of Michael Cimino's "Heaven's Gate" at times. Wonder if anyone had a similar reaction? BTW, I thought Paul Dano was excellent as Eli Sunday.

[Max Jacoby]

The look and pacing of this movie reminded me of Michael Cimino's "Heaven's Gate" at times. Wonder if anyone had a similar reaction?

Are there people who have actually SEEN Heaven's Gate????

[John Holland]

Yep i saw it when it was first released did manage to wake up a couple of times during its endless boring length. :(

[Max Jacoby]

So are you up for the 5+ hours cut then?

[Jean-Louis Seguin]

The problems I find with Heaven's Gate are not so much length but:

 

1) It's hard to care about the main characters. The "hero" is too passive.

2) Many roles were miscast in my opinion, especially Hurt, Huppert and Walken.

3) The exaggerated use of diffusion, smoke and dust to the point where you can't see anything.

In the climactic battle, it's very hard to follow what's happening, there is too much dust and smoke. It may have been realistic, but I still think it was too much.

 

Jean-Louis

[Peter Moretti]

IMHO, one of the biggest problems with "Heaven's Gate" was the sound. It was hardly audible at times. And were not just talking levels here, the actors mumbling made long stretches of dialogue uninteligible.

 

That said, there is some amazing work. It's been a long time, but I remember shots in a school like Oxford or Cabridge that were beautiful. And there is a scene with a kid playing a violin while roller skating that was huntingly lovely.

 

You can see how this film looked great in dailies but grew into a disater.

Edited June 27, 2008 by Peter Moretti

[Max Jacoby]

There is a great book on the making of Heaven's Gate called Final Cut by Steven Bach. Tells you the whole story and how it sank United Artists.

[Peter Moretti]

You know, I almost mentioned that book in my post. I read it and really liked it.

 

I loved the anecdote about meeting with Martin Scorcese and Robert DeNiro over "Raging Bull." Bach essentially tells Scorcese and De Niro that Jake La Motta reads like a cockaroach. De Niro says "He's not a cockaroach," rewrites the script into a masterpiece but never takes credit.