January 8, 2025

Media and the Munich massacre: September 5 DP Markus Förderer

The film September 5 is the story of the ABC Sports broadcasting team covering the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics. It was the first Olympics to be broadcast live, when Israeli Olympians were taken hostage at the Olympic Village by Palestinian terrorists. The sports reporting team, initially focused on covering the games, finds themselves suddenly thrust into the role of live news reporters as the hostage situation unfolds. They have to grapple with the terrifying events while trying to inform the world about what was occuring. September 5 focuses on the pivotal role of media coverage in shaping public understanding of the crisis.

While waiting for financing for September 5, cinematographer Markus Förderer and director Tim Fehlbaum spent three years researching and scouting for the film. They obtained permission to shoot at the Munich Olympic village, to fully set the film in the historical context. The television studio and control room were all built on soundstages. Once September 5 was finally green-lit, Markus had only a tight two-week prep period, during which he experimented with his own lens tuning and modifications. An avid lens hobbyist, Markus took some lenses apart, adding dust, smudges and fingerprints to some of the elements to give the film an authentic period look. They shot digitally on a RED V-Raptor on two cameras, with Markus operating one of the cameras himself.

It was important to director Tim Fehlbaum to create a very claustrophobic feeling within the windowless television studio. “Tim was adamant that we only show what the characters would have seen,” Markus explains. “The TV monitors became their windows to the outside world.” The film blends original footage with real, archival news films and meticulously recreated scenes. Markus wanted the visual style to reflect the era, while maintaining a contemporary relevance. Both Markus and Fehlbaum were influenced by the look and feel of Natural Born Killers.

The use of analog technology such as flickering fluorescent lights and TV monitors became an important tool for Markus to create a state of heightened tension. “If we flicker these monitors, which we use as a key light source in the dark control room, the whole image will pulse,” Markus says. “It looked really crazy, but it was fascinating. We synced it so it looks right on camera. As the tension gets higher and higher in certain scenes, like when we see the masked man on the balcony, we dynamically ramp up the flicker frequency of our film lights.”

You can see September 5 wide in theaters January 17th.

Find Markus Forderer: Instagram @markusforderer

Check out Markus’ passion project, CINEFLARES. https://lenses.cineflares.com/

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Sponsored by Aputure: https://aputure.com/

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
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Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

May 3, 2023

Comedian and director W. Kamau Bell on the new HBO documentary, 1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed

Comedian and director W. Kamau Bell has been a fan of documentaries as much as a fan of comedy. As a kid, he would sit down with his mom and watch documentaries on PBS, since there were only a few broadcast TV channels when he was growing up. He came of age at a time when lots of documentary filmmakers were putting themselves on screen and telling personal stories. For Kamau, it’s always about looking at the material and the story you want to tell.  As a comedian, he’s skilled at bringing humor into more serious subjects. But there is a clear difference between something personal that happened to him that he can joke about in his standup act vs. something with more nuance and depth that can be explored as a longer-form project.

1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed is very personal to Kamau, since his children are mixed race. He wanted to talk to his three daughters about their identity and experiences, something they discussed often in their household. He also included interviews with his wife, mother and mother in law. The production team cast several other kids in the San Francisco Bay Area, including friends of his daughters, to expand the focus of the documentary further. The intention was to keep it lyrical and light, and temper any intense or heavy topics with humor when possible. On set, Kamau made sure the kids were as comfortable as possible and that the cameras were always framed at their level so they could look him straight in the eye. The set was a rented house that they intentionally decorated to feel homey and welcoming, and Kamau made the children feel at ease by showing them the cameras and equipment first. The parents interviewed in the documentary found that the project led to them having deeper conversations about their racial identities with other family members. HBO and the producers decided to keep the edited time of 1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed down to just one hour, so that families could sit and watch it together.

Kamau thinks 1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed is just the beginning of what could become a bigger project. He would love other directors to talk to kids in different parts of the country, because there’s lots of kids out there with different experiences than those in the very liberal and diverse Bay Area.

1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed is currently available on HBOMax.

Find W. Kamau Bell: http://www.wkamaubell.com/
Instagram & Twitter: @wkamaubell

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com
Sponsored by Greentree Creative: www.growwithgreentree.com

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

April 27, 2023

David “Gribs” Gribble, ACS on his long career and films Cadillac Man, The World’s Fastest Indian, The Quest, Jesse Stone

David “Gribs” Gribble grew up in Brisbane, AU and began studying photography at night school. He became a photo assistant, moved to Sydney, and found a job at a local film studio making commercials and low-budget movies. At the time, in the 1970’s and ’80’s, Australia was experiencing a resurgence of its cinema, known as the Australian New Wave. The government provided tax incentives for ordinary people to invest in movies, and established the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. The country’s film industry was jump started, and the genre known as Ozploitation was born.

Gribs learned camera operating on the job. His first feature film was The Man From Hong Kong, followed by the Aussie cult classic race movie, Running On Empty. The film Monkey Grip won some awards, and Gribs was asked to shoot his first American movie, Off Limits, starring Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines. He thinks that working with American actors was different than working with Australian actors- the Americans seemed to be more prone to distraction and sensitive about their appearance. Gribs learned to “light faces, not places” since that’s where the dialog comes from, and flattering actors by telling them how great they look in a particular spot, to give them tools to make themselves look better on screen. He also learned that in lighting, it’s better to work with a broad brush and shoot before you’re ready- as a cinematographer, don’t indulge yourself too much.

The movie Cadillac Man was challenging to shoot for a few reasons. The movie takes place almost entirely in one location- at the car dealership. Gribs had to combat flat lighting up against the walls of the office, as well as dealing with reflections from shiny cars and large windows. Director Roger Donaldson shot take after take, because actor Robin Williams was constantly improvising off script. Gribs found him extremely funny, and says there was so much extra footage of Williams that was cut out, it could probably make another movie.

Gribs also discusses working with Anthony Hopkins on The World’s Fastest Indian, Jean-Claude Van Damme on The Quest and shooting the Jesse Stone movies starring Tom Selleck.

Find David Gribble: Instagram @gribshott

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com
Sponsored by Aputure: https://www.aputure.com/
Sponsored by Greentree Creative: www.growwithgreentree.com

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz