Seth Emmons: Please tell us a little about yourself and how you came to be involved with this Morgan Freeman/Nicole Kidman spot that you shot for AFI.

Indeana Underhill: I’m a Canadian-born cinematographer living and working in Los Angeles, but have worked professionally in nearly a dozen countries. I studied cinematography at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and graduated from AFI’s Cinematography Conservatory. I also co-founded Cinematography for Actors, which is a 501c3 non-profit that empowers emerging and underrepresented filmmakers through education and community building.

During my time at AFI I befriended a director named Chris Merrill. Chris is also the director of AFI production, which includes the AFI Awards, AFI Fest, and the AFI Life Achievement Awards. A few years ago I shot a short film that Chris wrote and directed called “The Suck.” We were catching up earlier this year and he mentioned a project related to AFI he wanted me to shoot, but it was all very hush-hush and he wouldn’t give me details until I signed an NDA.

The project was for Nicole Kidman’s AFI Life Achievement Awards presentation. The concept was to do a recreation of the now iconic spot that plays in every AMC theater before each film called “We Make Movies Better” in which Nicole is the star. The goal was to replace Nicole with Morgan Freeman and make it about her and her career. It was a great concept but presented a lot of challenges.

What were some of the challenges on this project?

The original was shot at the AMC theater in Porter Ranch, but we had to do our recreation on a stage using green screen and VFX would add in all the theater elements afterwards. We had 18 setups to capture, but we only had the stage for one day and we only had our talent for four hours. My job was to make all his shots exactly the same as hers; same lenses, frame size, proximity to actor, everything technical and creative. VFX only had one week so I had to nail it as closely as possible.

That does sound challenging. How did you start on it?

I immediately began analyzing and breaking down the “We Make Movies Better” spot frame-for-frame and created a deck that had lighting parameters, lens parameters, and how far off the ground the camera was relative to the eyeline. Then I listed roughly which focal lengths would be needed to make each shot work so I could just fine tune the choice based on Mr. Freeman’s height, face size, and how he likes to be lit.

That last one was really important for me. Yes, I’m trying to recreate something shot-for-shot, but I was also working with one of the most iconic actors on the planet. He’s played the president and God. I wanted to be considerate of how he might prefer to be lit or worked with. Since we were shooting green screen I knew as long as I reduced the amount of parallax and got the sizing of the frame right it would be fine so I could afford to be accommodating.

The real starting point for me though was the eye light. I’ve always used eye light as a cheat code for figuring out how something was lit. Some people start with shadow, but if the lighting is pretty flat it can be hard to tell where the key is coming from. By analyzing the eye light I knew if it was larger or smaller, or at the bottom or top of the eye. There was a class I took at AFI with Jacek Laskus, ASC every Tuesday and Thursday where we would break down why something worked or didn’t work. I loved that because I like seeing the process and it definitely prepared me for this project. When I started Cinematography for Actors our first course was on understanding eye light.

How did you decide what equipment to use to replicate the original spot?

I started researching how the original spot was shot, but there was no information online. All I knew is that Jeff Cronenweth, ASC shot it. Jeff usually shoots on RED Cameras so I reached out to Naida Albright and Andy Aragon at RED. Within an hour Naida confirmed that it was a RED Ranger with Monstro sensor. Andy added that Cronenweth usually rents from Keslow Camera. The pieces were coming together.

I’ve worked with Keslow for over 10 years and was going to use them on this job as well, so I immediately messaged Mel Mathis. She connected me with rental agent Zack Patino who gave me Cronenweth’s lens order, which was the Leitz SUMMILUX-C prime lenses. The full set of SUMMILUX-C is 12 lenses, but I wanted to minimize the decisions on set so I narrowed it down to the 25, 35, 40, 50, 65, and 100 mm focal lengths.

Unfortunately the RED cameras Jeff used were unavailable, plus VFX had asked me not to shoot 8K because of their turnaround time. They specified no more than 4K capture for their 2K delivery, so I ended up using the ARRI Alexa Mini and shooting open gate.

Lighting came together almost at the last minute. I was at the NAB show the week before the shoot and was looking at the new AIRGLOW bounce system from DoP Choice that was paired with a Creamsource Vortex8. It looked perfect for this shoot. I asked Stefan Karle if the AIRGLOW was available in LA and he said this was their only demo unit in the US, but we ran over to Creamsource together because it was going to live in their LA showroom after NAB anyway. Tim Duff and Kat Del Rosario agreed to drive the AIRGLOW back to LA with them. They also provided two Vortex8 units to use as key lights for the shoot. If any young DPs have ever wondered why you should go to trade shows when they can learn about products online, I have developed countless connections and friendships like these over many years of trade show attendance that have helped me in my career in so many ways. Talk with the manufacturers. They’re usually happy to help you if they can.

How did the lenses contribute to the project?

I needed to light Mr. Freeman the exact same way as Nicole, but I also needed to make him look good. Obviously they are completely contrasting in skin tone, but I knew the Leitz SUMMILUX-C lenses would be a perfect fit as they have an inherent softness when it comes to fine details.

I had used the lenses previously on a short called “Pretty as a Picture” and was confident I could shoot them clean without any filtration, which was important because there wasn’t going to be time to mess with filters. They’re also incredibly consistent through all the focal lengths. Sometimes with vintage lenses you might have a 25 mm and an 85 mm with different colors and different skin tone rendering, but the Leitz lenses removed that issue completely.

The other big thing was knowing that I could open the lenses all the way up when I needed an extra stop and it would remain clean and the edges wouldn’t be compromised. All of this was super important for making the work of the VFX artists easier so we could meet our deadline. The Leitz SUMMILUX-C lenses ticked all the technical and creative boxes and looked great.

What were the notes ahead of time from VFX?

Because this was a shot-by-shot recreation, there was a lot of conversation up front with our VFX artist Patrick Longstreth. He asked me to not recreate the camera movement and instead shoot everything locked off, except for the push in at the end, which is the money shot in both pieces. He also asked me to use a black background instead of green for some shots. There was a bunch of stuff. I included a VFX column in my shot list with all his requests.

How did those 4 hours go?

Quickly? (laughing) We had 18 setups which included us moving cameras, switching lenses, but also being polite and giving Morgan time. He needs time to get his makeup done, get last looks. Sometimes we needed to talk through the shot first or look at the reference because there weren’t any prep calls. He just showed up and got to work. He’s in his late 80s but such a professional that we were able to make it happen with sometimes as little as four or five minutes actually doing the shot, which is crazy.

Having the stage the whole day allowed us to prep before Morgan arrived at noon. I started blocking out my builds with my gaffer and ACs taking notes. My gaffer would mark the leg position on the floor with an X with notes saying, “Shot 1, 50%.” My AC’s notes would be “35 mm lens, camera height 24” off the ground, tilting up this way…” It was so nice having lenses that were consistent across all focal lengths because I felt comfortable pulling any of them out to fit the shot we needed. By the time we started shooting we got through half the shots in the first hour because we had already blocked it perfectly.

Although it could have come off as a super hectic situation, I think it was my AFI education and training matched with my Canadian politeness that sold it as a success to everyone on set. Maintaining a consistent, positive outlook is important for me when I work. Then using my AFI shot analysis and technical training set us up for success on the day. But what was really important is that when I was hiring the crew I asked for referrals for people that were not just good at their job, but chill in stressful situations because the worst thing that can happen is hiring a crew that freaks out or back talks to you when you need to move quickly. On this set there was no challenging or struggling with authority. We were running as a team. Yeah, it’s stressful, but we’re making it look fun. 

I was really happy with how the spot turned out and it played really well to the audience, but what I was most proud of was that at the end of the shoot I knew we got everything we needed and Morgan, his producing partner Lori, and his manager Stan Rosenfeld all came up and shook my hand and thanked me for creating a safe and pleasant environment for them. At the end of a day like that, if the director is happy and the client is happy and the talent is happy then I’m happy.

Did you have any big takeaways after the shoot?

Yes, listen to your VFX team. Without their guidance in the beginning we would have never been able to move as quickly and get the shots they needed, which would have killed the turnaround time.

Also, I can’t overemphasize how important the consistency of color and skin tones of the Leitz SUMMILUX-C lenses across all the focal lengths was for this project. There’s a strong trend right now with many DPs but especially younger ones toward vintage lenses. Vintage is cool right now and people get very excited about artifacts or unique characteristics. Those things are great, but if you don’t have the time and/or the budget they can raise the stakes into dangerous territory and really screw you up.

I know a lot of older DPs probably know this so maybe this is just a message to younger, newer DPs. A lot of those vintage lens sets are not consistent from lens to lens. And what might have been a subtle characteristic at T4 might become unmanageable when you need to open up all the way and then you’re fighting extra hard to get the shot. If I wanted to add something extra to SUMMILUXES on this project I might have added nose grease or Vaseline or filtration, but you can’t really go back the other way. We all want to have authority over the image, but consider the people involved and the level of the output you’re creating too. If you go too far, you’re putting yourself at a high risk.

The original AMC spot: AMC/Nicole Kidman “We Make Movies Better”

Indeana’s spot for AFI: AFI/Morgan Freeman “She Makes Movies Better”