ARRI News - June 98 - Wing Commander the Film
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Thierry Arbogast
Wing Commander The Film
PHOTOS: BLACK BOX PHOTO, ETIENNE BRAUN
That’s right: when you hear the title WING COMMANDER you first think
of the very popular computer game of the same name. It has now been
adapted for the cinema in a suitably ambitious way, using state of the art
technology. It is the year 2624. In the universe a war is going on. The
heroes – stranded war veterans and daring young pilots – get involved
in risky battles with each other and survive dangerous missions. Exciting
fights and the struggle between good and bad are at the heart of this saga
in outer space. “The story borrows from the film, THE BOAT, adapted of
course for outer space”, Chris Roberts describing his feature film. It is
the first time this American has directed a film – he also developed the
computer game series of the same name.
WING COMMANDER was filmed in Luxembourg.
With a budget of 45 million DM, it
is the most expensive film project to date
made in the Grand Duchy. The film was
produced by the Carousel Picture Company
(AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN PARIS) which the
Luxembourger Romain Schroeder founded,
together with his partner Tom Reeve in 1995.
The main roles are played by Freddie Prinze
jr. (I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER)
and Matthew Lillard (SCREAM), two of Hollywood’s
rising stars. In supporting roles are
Jürgen Prochnow (THE BOAT) and Tchéky
Karyo (NIKITA). For his debut, Chris Roberts
hired some of the best international specialists.
In the team of over 170 people, such
well-known names as Peter Lamont and Michael Ford can be found. They were
responsible
for the design of the buildings and
details of the set construction. Both recently
received an Oscar for their work on the
mega-production TITANIC. In total, 25 people
who worked on the TITANIC production
were hired to work on this project. Césarwinner
Thierry Arbogast (films include THE
FIFTH ELEMENT, LEON, SHE’S SO LOVELY) was
responsible for image composition. He shot
WING COMMANDER with ARRIFLEX 535B
and 435 cameras. Robert Wiesmann, head
of the ARRI Camera Rental Park in Munich,
spoke to him:
R.W.: Your last film, THE FIFTH ELEMENT was
the same genre. Can we assume that Science
Fiction is your preferred film genre?
Thierry Arbogast: No, it was more a
coincidence that Luc Besson made a Science
Fiction film. As I had often worked with him
before, it was also clear that he would ask
me if I wanted to make the film.I very much
like the type of cinema which in France is
called genre films – for example period dramas,
thrillers and of course also Science
Fiction, which provide a particular challenge.
I mean, I love films which belong to
a precisely defined category.
R.W.: And what films do you like to go
and see?
Thierry Arbogast: I think highly of Francis
Ford Coppola’s THE GODFATHER, Michael
Cimino’s HEAVEN’S GATE and also Clint Eastwood’s
PALE RIDER. As a visual person I
prefer this style – when beautiful images are
shown. In general these are North American
productions.
R.W.: On WING COMMANDER you also
support Chris Roberts in directing, as he is
actually a computer games programmer
and this is his first time directing. How did
you cope with this extra function as well as
your tasks as DoP?
Thierry Arbogast: Oh no – you can’t
claim that I directed on WING COMMANDER
in any way. I just very much enjoy discussing
with the director how a sequence should be
shot. Or what possibilities existed to further
tighten up a sequence.
With Luc Besson it’s completely different as he has a very exact idea of how a sequence should be shot. Often he even operates the camera. And then I’m the one who has to run after him. But I am, of course, very interested in the discussion with the director, as that is also part of filming.
And although this was his first film, Chris Roberts is a brilliant director, especially technically. He is very enthusiastic about the cinematic medium. And there were already many filmic sequences in the WING COMMANDER games, so you could say he has definitely a certain experience in directing.
R.W.: On the set it was noticed that you
let the operator work the camera, although
particularly in Europe that’s not very common.
Thierry Arbogast: First of all the sequence
is discussed with the director to get
a common understanding of it. Then, of
course, I reach for the camera to establish
the image composition. Then I leave the field
to the operator and tell him: that’s exactly
what we want.
The actual operating of the camera is a job which I don’t necessarily have to do. Sometimes it is also simply better to have an operator on the scene.
R.W.: You shot WING COMMANDER and
THE FIFTH ELEMENT on Super 35. Who decided
on this format?
Thierry Arbogast: Well, it wasn’t my personal
choice. On THE FIFTH ELEMENT the
recommendation on format came from Digital
Domain, as with anamorphic lenses the
special effects would have been more complicated.
Luc Besson finally made the decision.
Personally I also like anamorphic lenses because of the aesthetic reproduction – they create something bizarre in the image which I find interesting. The same with zooms which cause the image to no longer look quite as natural. I would also like to try out the Variable Primes one day.
R.W.: You shot both THE FIFTH ELEMENT
and WING COMMANDER with ARRIFLEX
435 and 535 cameras – how did you find
them?
Thierry Arbogast: To be honest, if I
have the choice between various camera
systems, I prefer the one with the better viewfinder.
That seems to me to be the main trump
of an ARRI camera, as I like viewfinders on
which the image seems very close. It is a
little bit as if with an ARRIFLEX you are sitting
in the fifth row of a cinema and with
other cameras at the back of the cinema.
Some cameramen like that because then they
can assess the image globally and at the
same time keep an eye on the contours. But
that is rather a view of many operators.
When I work as an operator, I prefer to see
the image close up.
Another point is that the viewfinder can be pivoted to the other camera side. Sometimes you end up in the corner of a room and are forced to use the viewfinder on the other side. It doesn’t happen very often, but on WING COMMANDER that’s exactly what happened three or four times. And that alone justifies the system.
R.W.: You also had a special ground glass
which darkened the surroundings to neutralise
everything which wasn’t in the image.
Was that the operator’s wish?
Thierry Arbogast: No, that was my idea.
I hate seeing things in the camera which are
outside the image. For me only the image
counts – only the image composition and
nothing else around it. I would even like the
surrounding area to be completely black.
R.W.: Doesn’t it bother you, for example,
to only see the sound assistant’s microphone
once it comes into your image?
Thierry Arbogast: What can you do to
stop it? All you can do is pivot to the ground
when you see a microphone coming towards
the image, and that creates a bad image
composition. To me it makes more sense to
say: OK, let’s repeat the scene. It certainly
doesn’t justify leaving an edge around the
actual image. However, I accept having very
dark grey shadows to enable the operator
to at least have minimal points of reference.
R.W.: On WING COMMANDER there were
very many camera moves. Sometimes, for
example, the camera rotates on its own axis
with the Scorpio-head. Doesn’t that later
cause a problem for animation?
Thierry Arbogast: No, not necessarily.
On WING COMMANDER the special effects
were much more easily adaptable than, for
example, on THE FIFTH ELEMENT. The technical
development of special effects moves
very fast. With increasing experience people
now have far less fear of many things.
R.W.: In the jets’ cockpits you also left the
glass panes in the set. Doesn’t that normally
create problems for post-production?
Thierry Arbogast: Yes and no. If the
glass panes are kept, some of the set will
also be reflected. That doesn’t affect the
Green Screen’s performance though. But if
we take the glass away, we would have no
reflections, and they make everything look
far more realistic.
R.W.: The budget of WING COMMANDER
was much smaller than on THE FIFTH ELEMENT.
Did that cause limitations?
Thierry Arbogast: As a DoP you don’t
have a lot of influence on the production’s
problems. The limitations exist and you have
to live with them. But that also happens on a
large film and it’s not necessarily a question
of budget. In any case you have a certain
responsibility to the production company.
And that means, if I don’t really need something,
I don’t take it. Even on a big film.
It is correct that less money was available
for WING COMMANDER than for THE FIFTH
ELEMENT. Despite this, relatively speaking
the budgets for both films were very small.
On WING COMMANDER we shot for 9 weeks with 4 cameras, on THE FIFTH ELEMENT it was 20 weeks, again with 4 cameras.
R.W.: Which of your own films is your
favourite?
Thierry Arbogast: I very much like the
films which Luc Besson directed, because he
is an extraordinary director who teaches me
a lot technically. It is a great pleasure to work
with Luc. There is a film called LE BRASIER by
director Rick Barbier which I also enjoyed a
lot, or HUSAR ON THE ROOF. But somehow
it’s strange to say that a film is your favourite.
That is like deciding which child in the family
is your favourite. I really like all the films
I make, even the little productions, such as
for example THE APARTMENT by Gilles Mimony.
R.W.: Thank you very much for this interview!
Thierry Arbogast’s next project will
again be with Luc Besson, who after THE
FIFTH ELEMENT, LEON, NIKITA and THE BIG
BLUE will begin filming JOAN OF ARC this
summer.
