Eric Steelberg ASC

Saw this tonight (with some fellow Cine.com users, no less) and truly loved the film. Beautifully shot, Eric. The cinematography was perfectly in balance with the story and direction. I was also a fan of the creative opening credit sequence (same design firm that did "Thank You for Smoking" I believe?). Was that entire sequence taken from live action (shot with backgrounds), or was green screen involved?

Thank you Rory, that is the best kind of compliment. I try to remember that what I do is for the story, not my reel. That being said, I think there is a real beauty and discipline in trying to be transparent and lo-fi.

Yes, the opening was done by the same company, Shadowplay Studios. It was pretty incredible how they did it. They took digital stills of neighborhoods, then videotaped Ellen Page on a treadmill in our production offices against the white walls. Once done, they printed frames out on paper, then Xeroxed a few times over, then hand colored them. They cut her out and placed it on the backgrounds. They did that whole process many many times, and it took them right up until the very last minute. I absolutedly love what they did. I had them send me a still from my credit and it's beautiful.

They start rolling out to digital screens this Friday, unfortunately none in the LA area. But there will be digital screens in Chicago, NYC, Phily, DC, most major cities.

I poked my head into a screening yesterday at the Sherman Oaks Arclight and it looked pretty good.

When I was screening a print at Deluxe the right side of the screen was soft so I'm not surprised. I ran into David at the Kodak Vision 3 thing and we were recounting bad projection stories...amazing how common it is.

I can't stand film projection. So inconsistent. For all the drawbacks digital has, you gain so much more in other areas.

Thanks guys! It's been quite a ride with all the reviews and now the Golden Globe noms. I'm trying to find out where it's showing digitally...I saw it at the Arclight Hollywood last week and the projection was actually too bright.

It shows tonight at the London Film Festival. They added a screening on the 1st for which there are still tickets available, in case any of the Londoners here want to try and see it.

Just got home after seeing it... what a fantastic movie!

 

My wife cried... but then again she's a sentimental dork... and the humor was spot on (my wife looked at my incredulously several times as if to say "did she just say that" before bursting out laughing).

 

The projection was atrocious.. The throw seemed off, the focus softish (the first minute or so of the movie was WAY out of focus until the whole theater erupted into chants of "FOCUS!") and the image bleeding off of the screen. The print was also thoroughly scratched.. rarely did a scene escape a running line.

 

Beyond that though, Eric, your work was very beautiful Very balanced and consistent. I love the lightly-handled operation, very well pulled off in the scene with Juno pulled off the road in her van (among other places), subtle nudges. I love good operating, and I also love watching a nice focus pull.

 

The crowd responded exceptionally well and I didn't overhear anything but the most positive of statements and reviews.

 

The movie will very much become a classic with my family and I can't wait until the DVD comes out.

 

Congratulations Eric!

Sorry to hear about the projection. That is why I am such a proponent of digital projection.

I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the film. We went back up to to Vancouver in June just to do the shots of her in the van!

Thanks again.

I'm going to see a shown of it tonight in NYC.

 

I'm very excited!

Me too. It hasn't shown in NY yet. You may be the first or one of the first from the forums to see it.

Enjoy!

Eric, let me be the first on the board to congratulate you, Jason Reitman, the crew and cast of Juno for winning the "best film" award at Rome Cinema Festival.

 

Congratulazioni!!!!! :D

Thanks Fracesco!

You are never really sure how comedy is going to translate into other languages and cultures. The win at Rome reiterates how film can be a great medium for sharing stories around the world...and it doesn't have to be dramatic, but humorous as well.

I'm just amazed it beat out Coppola....even though I haven't seen his film yet.

Up next, London tomorrow and AFI next week.

I just watched the HD version of the trailer on apple's website. It looks really good. How was the orange glow to the sunset achieved in the first shot of the trailer? Was that through the D.I. or filters?

 

I am excited to see it. It seems like the film will benefit from a similar sense of humor to that of Thank You For Smoking, which was both clever and honest.

 

-Patrick

For some reason the trailer of JUNO on Apple's site it very magenta in the skin tones. Every other version, incuding my dvcam, is fine so I don't know what happened especially since Apple made their quicktimes from a D5, I'm told.

We didn't know we were getting a DI until after the film was finished so becasue of that I did everything in camera...so the orange sky was filtered...I think a sunset 3 grad with an 81C or an 812. That shot was also made on the 20mm prime panavision made for us...I think the only shot we used the 20 on that made it into the film.

I don't think it is quite the same humor as Thank You for Smoking, but it is very clever amid an honest and sweet story. Very different movies, IMO.

I saw the same thing on a new Sony Bravia showing the HD-DVD of Mission Impossible 3. It looked dreadful...no motion blur. Looked as if it was shot on an HD consumer camcorder. The salesman asked "doesn't it look good?" I replied "no actually, it looks terrible and if anyone one who made that film saw this they'd make you turn it off."

After all these years trying to get the "film look" on video cameras, not the displays are trying to take it away. I don't get it.

Just received word there will be digital projection on a few screens...

...very excited about that as the DCI master I saw for the trailer looked amazing. I'll post details of which theaters when I know.

The trailer looks great Eric, I can't wait to see it. The cast is really impressive, and J.K. Simmons is probably my favorite character actor working right now.

Congrats on the movie.

Thanks Patrick. I don't like that it's in flash video though...it seems to have lost a lot of it's warmth and overall saturation in the encoding. I'm eagerly awaiting the Quicktime versions. The studio sent Apple a D5 master and they make all HD and standard quicktimes from it.

I just got an email saying JUNO got 1st runner up at Toronto yesterday behind Cronenberg's film. Pretty cool for an "indie dark comedy" in the company of 355 other films.

Trailer now online...

JUNO trailer (flash)

Interesting question...

My opinion is that 35mm slide film is best because it forces you to get your exposure right and is less tolerant of error. It costs more than digital but it is that cost which will force you to stop and think about every shot's composition, lighting, and exposure.

With digital SLRs, like video cameras, students tend to just shoot and shoot cause there is essentially no cost. So without the restraint of cost and a finite amount of frames on a roll of film, one tends to go crazy shooting for volume and doesn't develop the discipline shooting film provides.

On the other hand, digital is good because it allows for essentially endless and free experimentation along with instant feedback if one already has skills learned from shooting film.

So my answer is start of film, slide film is best, then move to digital once you have the discipline of proper exposure and composition.

Now that the film has premiered, will you be able to post any shots of your setups? Congradulations on the great reception in Toronto.

Hmm, good question....

I don't think I can show any of the actors or the stand ins....and I can't find the few pics I took of the overall lighting setups. I only found one pic I think I can get away with showing, though it's not very revealing..

There is also a recent pic the director took of me on his iPhone during the DI. He calls it 'Minority Report' and posted it on his blog on the Juno website.

I looked at the DCI (digital projection) master of the trailer today. I can't wait for digital projection. It looked gorgeous. The process used to make the DCI is that the DI files (2k in my case) are projected as they are during the DI, but this time instead of a Kodak LUT, they use a LUT that represents the DCI xyz color space. There is an interesting article discussing the DCI conversion process here here.

What I would give to have the actual film shown digitally in selected theaters.

Opens December 14th but was also just announced as part of AFI Fest in November.

I thought it was interesting when Gweneth Paltrow at last year's Oscars, prior to announcing the nominees for Best Cinematography, remarked "anyone with a cameraphone can be a cinematographer." Wow, thanks Gwen. That's special.

You guys wanna buy some tape? ;)

 

Thank you Eric, I'm glad you guys are being real with me here! Would you mind if I emailed you my resume just to have on hand?

Wouldn't mind at all.

Keep in mind most employers out here require or expect employees to have a car.

Also...if this writer's strike does happen, there may not be a ton of work come spring of next year.

Are you "always looking" enough you would do the same for me? I'm dying to get some better gigs. I'm not a union member yet, though.

Yes of course I would, but everything I've been doing in the last couple years has been union. Occasionally there is something...but yes, I'll take resumes and pass them on. People passed me around long ago and it's good karma to do the same for others.

You need a car, period. Sell some AC gear if you have to, it's that important. You will not be able to work without one.mLAmis about 15 times the size of NYC with comparably pathetic public transportation. All you need is one person to say you don't have a car and word will get around and no one will hire you. If you can't get a car, you're not ready to move here.

If you can get a car, great. I'll throw your name to some of my ACs. We're always looking for loaders and 2nds.

"...to the off beat and colorful cinematography..."

 

Sounds like you did well and set the film apart from other comedies. Congrats!

That was definitley a goal of mine. The script, to me, felt more dramatic punctuated by hilarious beats...very dry humor. Colorful I get, not sure what off beat means....maybe not typical for a comedy?

JUNO premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last night. To be there with all the others who made the film, most of whom I call friends, and see the enthusiastic response by the audience made the night unforgettable.

I knew it was going to be special when I saw people lining up from two blocks away. There must have been 2000 people. I knew we were getting buzz but this was incredible. All the actors were there doing their thing on the red carpet as I found my way inside...oh look, it's Roger Ebert sitting in the back row. (deep breath...and exhale) Big screen. And a balcony. (deep breath) The actors came in and sat..Jen brought Ben so there was a bit of a commotion trying to get everyone seated so we could begin. Girls seemed to be equally interested in a view of Michael Cera.

Jason, director, gives the intro. Lights down, the Fox Seachlight logo/intro...love that theme. Goosebumps, fingers crossed the projection is good. Guys running around in night vision goggles looking for pirates.

90 mins later, fade to black. Standing ovation. Still going...and going....and going....credits at the "Thank You.." and lights come up. Jason basks in the response as he is invited back up to the stage. He brings up myself, producers, editor, PD...then actors one by one. The view from stage was amazing. 99% of the seats still filled, good for any Q&A. Big theater.

The party after was amazing and underscored a night to remember. Lots of pictures and good conversation.

Next morning, waiting for my plane, I overheard a few people talking about how it was the best film they've seen all year.

Ebert's brief review

another report from the premiere

I don't have any secrets to keep. I'll tell anyone anything as to how I shot something because they aren't me and their circumstance won't be the same as mine so they won't get exactly the same results anyway. My value as a cinematographer to a director goes way beyond technique. I learned because other cinematographers have shared their knowledge with me, or to the filmmaking public in general, so I want to repay the favor.

I more or less feel the same. I will get hired not only for my technique, but also my personality, management, and overall approach to the process. Budgets, equipment, crew skill, actors, etc will always be different. That being said I would actually be quite proud if someone took one of my tricks and used it better than I have. We all take from and get inspired by those we admire and sharing/advice is very important to promoting our craft.

Chris Menges, Allen Daviau, or Emmanuel Lubezki (Adrian Biddle would have been on this list)

Thanks for the update Eric

 

For the prints, are you going to strike them directly off the new neg or will you have to go through IP/In stage?

 

Was the filmed scanned at 4K then downrezzed to 2K I presume?

I wish. Another Searchlight mandate is for IP/IN distribution. We pushed for multiple negs but the reality is that this is a small film and I guess the cost is just too prohibitive. I will say that the Tulluride and Toronto prints are from the neg directly and look very nice (as much as they can).

We scanned at 2k. I post schedule was rushed to meet Telluride and there simply wasn't the time to scan, render, and record 4k. I actually prefer the 2k in our case since the 5229 stock I used tends to be a little grainier and the lower resolution helped out in that regard. That being said, it's also worth mentioning that I opted to add a very small amount of digital grain reduction.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that I did a IP/IN test with Kodak where we pulled the IP 1/4 stop to lessen the contrast from the IP/IN stage and it worked very nicely. I'm sure we'll be doing that.