Michael Tsimperopoulos SOC

It is a masterfully executed steadicam shot by Scott Sakamoto, who was riding a crane and stepped off, as Tom Hanks turned to his left to enter the room. It was a set, and as the crane was high up, there was no ceiling. As the crane was dollied and kept coming lower and lower, you can see how tight the headroom in on Hanks, as the ceiling pieces were rushed back into position. A pan is always the best moment to conceal a crane step-off and Sakamoto's execution is flawless. The shot was done on a 21mm Primo.

And since we are on the subject... Despite the countless times that I had seen the film, my eyes were always glued to the main character on the right side of the frame. But if you let your eyes wander around a bit and look to the left side of the frame, you'll see the steadicam operator (Brad Shields) flanked by three other crew members, shooting a different part of the mayhem.

From the February '99 ASC magazine: "In fact, for one Akela shot of the soldiers climbing up the hills, we waited specifically for a light change to happen. The scene starts out in heavy cloud cover, but the sun comes out and reveals these guys sneaking through the grass. That particular light change worked well for us." John Toll, ASC You can read the whole thing at http://www.theasc.com/magazine/feb99/war/index.htm . The specific quote is in the middle section of the third page. I clearly remember being in awe of that shot as I was watching it in a theater back then. For a brief moment, the soldiers were kind of "safe and protected" by the relative shade, but then the sun revealed itself, striping them of their cover, and exposing them as sitting ducks in a truly hopeless situation. I seem to remember that the transition from dark to bright, was much more impressive (and menacing) on the silver screen, than in any of the subsequent DVDs that I watched. Maybe in the transfer they toned down a little bit the two extremes.

Ten minutes ago, Athens, Greece.

I just got news that Laszlo Kovacs died yesterday. A true Master is no longer with us. So so sad.