April / 2010

From the President

February 5 to 8, the Canadian Society of Cinematographers sponsored an important 3D workshop for professional cinematographers, directors, producers and camera assistants led by the acclaimed U.K. cinematographer Geoff Boyle (Dark Country 3D) at the Pinewood Toronto Studios. The course operated in two streams, one for cinematographers and one for camera assistants. Both streams came together on the final day to accomplish camera setups in a variety of configurations including Steadicam and crane, with a selection of different 3D rigs.

The four-day course introduced the participants to the theories of stereography and how they relate to storytelling: Should you shoot parallel or converged? Is breaking the frame edge a problem? What about the 4th wall? What are interaxial and convergence and how do they affect the image? By reviewing the results in a 3D post-production suite, participants gained an important, in-depth knowledge into the art of storytelling in 3D. There will be a full report and wrap-up of the workshop in an upcoming issue of Canadian Cinematographer.

In this issue, Tammy Stone writes about Sherry White’s low-budget feature from the Rock, Crackie, DOP Stephen Reizes csc. Crackie made its debut at TIFF 2009 and was chosen as one of TIFF’s Top Ten Canadian features of 2009. White is a multi-talented writer, director and actress from St. John’s and Reizes is the in-demand DOP on the popular Flashpoint series produced out of Toronto. Matthew Phillips csc reports on his experiences filming A Cruel Wind Blows, a documentary about the near total radioactive contamination of a large swath of the nation of Kazakhstan during the Soviet Era when the locals were subjected to over 400 atomic bomb tests. It’s an unsettling report on an under-reported man-made ecological disaster.

Lance Carlson interviews Adam Swica csc about working with the master of the contemporary Zombie film, George A. Romero. Romero has moved his Dead franchise to Toronto, and Survival of the Dead, due for release in 2010, is the third Dead film he has produced in Canada. Canada has a 50-year history of making films in the horror genre, beginning with The Mask 3D in 1961, lensed by CSC co-founder Hebert Alpert csc, asc. In addition, this issue of Canadian Cinematographer highlights some of the more memorable Canadian horror films shot by CSC members.

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