Director/EP Mike Figgis, DP W. Mott Hupfel Said 'No Way' to HD

Director Mike Figgis may be best known for the acclaimed hit Leaving Las Vegas, which ushered in a continuing renaissance in Super 16 film production that began in the mid-1990s. Figgis has earned a reputation since then as a technology-savvy artist and iconoclast, so maybe it’s not surprising that, when Sony Pictures insisted that his latest TV project, Canterbury’s Law, be shot in HD, Figgis defied the order.
The pilot’s director of photography, W. Mott Hupfel, recalls that Figgis was adamant about shooting film despite Sony’s HD decree. “Mike said, ‘No way,'” says Hupfel. “He felt that Super 16mm film would give us a unique look and allow us to do less lighting than video would have required. Luckily we had great allies at Apostle Films, which produced the project. When Sony pressured us, we put our foot down, and they agreed to Super 16mm.”

Figgis executive-produced the series – which stars Julianna Margulies as a Providence, RI-based D.A. who takes risky and unpopular cases – and directed the pilot, working with cinematorapher W. Mott Hupfel, III. Tom Houghton shot the weekly episodes.

Hupfel and Figgis agreed that the pilot would benefit from a spontaneous approach that included little or no lighting and shooting with at least two handheld cameras at all times. “We knew the Super 16 format would handle highlights better than video, and make something beautiful of the shadows,” explains Hupfel. “We used the new ARRI 416 cameras with a variety of short zooms, and [Kodak VISION2 500T] 7218 and [Kodak VISION2 250D] 7205 film stocks.”

Their working method included a long rehearsal, after which blocking and coverage were discussed. Usually Figgis wanted to be able to shoot in any direction, at any time. One example was a courtroom scene that was shot in a location with wood-paneled walls and large windows.

“We shot the whole thing with basically nothing on the floor,” says Hupfel. “We had five 18Ks coming in through the windows that were four stories high on three condors. As a backup, my grip, Billy Miller, hung sources that came through lighting fixtures in the coffered ceiling. Amazingly, we usually just went with the light through the windows, with a handheld card for fill.”

Figgis sometimes operated the camera for the first shot of the day. “He would literally just move around the room covering everybody, with seemingly very little regard to what was being said at the moment,” Hupfel observes. “This was a little tough for the actors and the camera assistants, but it created a style in which no two takes were ever the same. It also expanded the options in editing by delivering excellent material of any person at any time.”

The lighting for many other scenes was even more minimal. A night exterior scene was illuminated by practical headlights, police lights and industrial worklights that Hupfel’s crew bought at Home Depot. In another scene, a frightening confrontation occurs in a basement hallway where Canterbury is confronted by the father of a murdered child.

“That scene was lit completely by the existing fluorescents, and covered mainly with one camera with a 6 mm fisheye lens,” says Hupfel. “The lens was very often within four inches of the guy’s face, and when necessary, slowly finding Juliana to register her reaction to his threats.”

For a scene in a basement holding cell, Hupfel strived to create ugliness through his lighting to underscore the drama. The camera had to see 360 degrees, so lighting from the ceiling was the only option.

“There was a lot of discussion about what the lighting fixtures would be in the set we were building,” says Hupfel. “Mike and I had to push and push to get the ugliest, most non-filmic fixtures we could get. Mike wanted the place to be very inhuman and uncomfortable. We settled on industrial parking lot lights that are incredibly hard, with no diffusion and a terrible yellow glow. They made the whole set a sickly yellow, with hot spots beneath them that were up to five stops overexposed. These were mixed with normal blue fluorescents in some of the actual cells.”

Hupfel says shooting in Figgis’ rough-and-ready style was difficult but fun. “The best thing for me was how consistently creative and energetic Mike was,” he remarks. “He would really never allow us to settle into anything even slightly normal or boring, and he always had ideas to make the show more interesting. He was always pushing me to do less, and to make the look more edgy and unique.”

The series premiered March 10 on Fox. Houghton says that the cinematography of the episodic series echoes the look of the pilot, but is being adapted to the different schedule and storytelling demands of a series. He describes camera movement as having a degree of arbitrariness without being too aggressive. The frame is rarely static. There are usually four Arri 416 cameras available, including one for Steadicam use. The cameras are usually mounted with zoom lenses. Images are framed in the 4:3 aspect ratio and protected for 16:9 for airing on some HD channels. Houghton uses Kodak VISION2 500T 7218 film in most interior situations, and the 7212 stock for most exteriors.

“The look includes a degree of grit and grain,” says Houghton. “I think grain is organic. It’s photochemical, and it fluctuates and moves around. If you want grain you’ve got to put it in the negative.”

Canterbury’s Law is produced mostly at locations in New York City. The location work includes plenty of courtroom scenes, many of which are done in a real courthouse in Yonkers. Houghton calls the courtroom scenes “classic theater.” The cameras see in every direction.

To light, Houghton often puts a 20K and a MaxiBrute on a lift outside the windows simulating sunlight. The windows are gelled with a ½ 85 and fitted with working shades. He uses as many as three balloon lights inside the courtroom. “The balloons are very helpful,” says Houghton. “The ceilings are 30 feet high. You can tuck the balloon lights in and control them with skirts to keep spill off the walls.”

Shooting film can provide more latitude to create interesting images, Houghton notes. “The fast stocks are a great help at practical locations,” says Houghton. “The other day we had a scene in an interior where we covered the windows with ND9. There were buildings outside that were a couple stops over with the ND9, but it just looked a little dull. I took the ND off, and told the colorist I wasn’t treating the windows except for the 85. The resulting images looked terrific. The windows were hotter, creating an interesting ratio and a mood, rather than just evening things out. The colorist was able to maintain some detail. There were buildings and greenery and a very realistic texture visible outside the windows. That would have been trickier with HD cameras, because if you clip anything it won’t come back.”

Front end lab work and dailies are done at Postworks in New York, with final color correction and timing done at LaserPacific in Los Angeles. Canterbury’s Law is produced by Sony Pictures Television.