Bending the Light Page #4

that my father and I used to have.

My father took this one,

and the long shot of

the greenery was mine.

Mine has a two-dimensional effect,

but my father's has a 3D feel

and has much more depth.

- [Voiceover] So who's

the better photographer?

- (laughs) To tell the truth,

my father wins.

(ominous music)

(people shouting)

- [Voiceover] Why are

photographs important?

- On 3/11, when we had

this devastating tsunami,

the images in papers and on television

brought the reality of

it all into my mind.

My grandmother lives in Miyagi Prefecture

which is near the epicenter.

I couldn't get in touch

with her for a week,

and we didn't know whether

she was still alive

but the photos gave us

a lot of information

until we found her safe.

The images were very important.

Not just for us who lived through it,

but for future generations.

I feel it's important

that these photos exist

as a testament.

(background chatter)

- Looked like semaphore for a minute.

Okay, thank you.

Or I just open it up slightly.

I was working when I was like, 17, 18,

and I got some jobs at Chaton Studios

as a special stills photographer.

I just liked the family feeling on set

and I went to film school.

At film school there were a couple of

fellow students who

went on to make movies,

and I came in on their coattails.

My real break was this sort of

anthropological documentary in Peru

which was so dangerous the

director was hospitalized.

He nearly died, and I nearly died

during the making of this documentary.

Just awful.

And I decided on horseback

that I'm not gonna do this,

I'm gonna do commercials.

I met Brian Gibson who's

an old colleague of yours.

- [Voiceover] Yeah.

- And Brian and I did a bunch

of commercials together,

and then he got a feature.

And then Tony Scott got his

first feature, The Hunger.

And then I got lucky and

then I got a phone call

and I picked up the phone and said,

"Are you available to

speak to Francis Coppola?"

I thought it was someone

of the crew just...

- [Voiceover] So that was a big break.

- It was a big break.

- [Voiceover] Were there

a lot of surprises?

- Well yes, I mean, I went

to calministori studios

and it was supposed to

start shooting in six weeks.

So I knew that it should

be busy at this point.

There were no sets built,

there were just two,

two chippies, two carpenters

idly banging nails

into a piece of old timber.

And I thought, "This doesn't

look like a real film at all."

And I met Francis and we

got on like a house on fire,

and he looked me in the eye and says,

"This film is going to happen."

And I said, "Absolutely, I'm your man."

But in fact, it was a scam.

And all the people involved in the film

had written their own contracts

that they'd be paid off

for enormous sums of money

if the film didn't go.

Francis was the one who had to shoot

and he insisted we shot and he did.

And so on the first day,

when one of the actors

didn't turn up because

he had script approval

and there was no script, Francis said,

"Well we'll shoot everything

from his point of view.

"And then when we get him

we'll do the reverse."

So that's how we started.

- [Voiceover] Did you

think that was the norm?

- I knew it wasn't the norm,

but I thought it was a

good way to get going.

So I just went with it, I thought,

well, let's shoot it that way.

I mean, this guy's much

better than I am, Mr. Coppola.

So he liked that attitude.

- [Voiceover] So you

really learned the business

by the seat of your pants.

- Totally.

(background chatter)

They come, they will see this.

- [Voiceover] What are you looking for

when you choose material?

- Well I mean, I've done

those big films where

it's actually complete rubbish

and you're only doing it for the money

and it made me very unhappy indeed.

But I'm trying to do something which

excites me on a dramatic level.

I'm far more interested

in how I respond to

the script as a story.

The best thing is when you go on location,

sometimes I'll volunteer with a designer.

We'll go there and we'll

walk around with the script

in our back pockets or in our heads but,

and we'll see what we can find

and for me that's the

best way to look at things

is though a lens.

It's a shortcut to my subconscious.

When I'm taking the photograph,

I feel something directly.

On Get Up Up, this film I

just finished last week,

I did over 40,000 which

is not that difficult

with motor drive and stuff.

Tate Taylor who directed it, he wanted

to have some time-lapse,

and I found these scientific

time-lapse cameras

that use, actually Canon Rebel

still cameras inside them

but they're powered by a solar panel.

So I could put it in

the Mississippi jungle

and set it and it will take

a picture every five minutes

and switch off when it gets dark.

That's serious business,

to trust your equipment

and trust your lenses.

And so then I saw that

Canon was going into my game

and I was interested to see what's up.

This film I've just finished,

the first day shooting

was in a helicopter.

It used a purpose-built ALEXA M

in the nose of the helicopter.

I said, "What lens is on this thing?"

And they said it's a 10-to-1 Canon.

30 to 300.

And I said, "Oh all right,

that's interesting."

And then I saw it projected,

it was just beautiful, just gorgeous.

- [Setsuko] My name is Setsuko Sotome,

and I'm making lenses for movie cameras.

- [Voiceover] Do you enjoy your work?

Is it fun?

- Well, it is very challenging

because a lens is very delicate.

So it needs a lot of concentration.

I enjoy the work but I

wouldn't describe it as fun.

A cinema lens weighs over 5 kilograms,

so it needs a lot of strength.

It's hard work.

I've been working for about 30 years.

- [Voiceover] Have you

ever chipped a lens?

- [Setsuko] Yes, but it

happened when I first started.

I've only had one lens

rejected this past year.

- [Voiceover] Are you a perfectionist?

- [Setsuko] Not with everything.

I collect coffee cups.

I've got 30 of them.

Well, china heals me.

Unlike lenses, they're

all different shapes

and that attracts me.

- [Voiceover] Would you

like to make some yourself?

- Maybe, when I'm retired someday.

I assemble every part of the lens

from top to bottom on my own.

I'm the only person in my

department who does this alone.

There are many women who assemble

some units from the lenses

but I don't think there's any one woman

who can assemble from

the beginning to the end.

- Two different lenses have

different characteristics.

The character of flare, for example.

Sometimes, try as you might,

with some modern lenses you

can't get them to flare.

Whatever you do.

Billy Bids had described

how he invented backlight.

He was just testing some new lenses

and everyone had broken for a picnic lunch

and he turned the camera on Mary Pickford

and the was backlit by

the California winter sun.

At that point, no one had ever

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