To handle the longer surface shots the film required, Butler vigorously reconfigured the standard ‘water box’ casing used to hold a camera in the water.” Sweeney also noted that Butler “heroically” saved footage from a camera that sank in the ocean. Butler created a special camera platform that worked with the water to accommodate both ‘below the water line’ and ‘surface’ shots quickly. Reviewing the “Jaws” Blu-ray edition for the American Society of Cinematographers website, Kenneth Sweeney wrote: “Cinematographer Bill Butler, who worked closely with Spielberg establishing a look for ‘Jaws’ that simulated a person’s point of view while swimming, spent most of his time on the picture in the water with the director. “Michael even climbed the mast and shot from the top straight down. We did things that we probably wouldn’t have tried without the lightweight camera” - a handheld Panaflex.
Recounting the “Jaws” shoot in an interview with Moviemaker magazine in 2005, Butler said, “About 90 percent of the shots on the boat were handheld.” Camera operator Michael Chapman “was intrigued by the idea and was very good at it. He was also nominated in 1983 for ABC miniseries “The Thorn Birds.” On both “The Conversation” and “Cuckoo’s Nest,” Butler was brought in as replacement for the esteemed cinematographer Haskell Wexler.īutler was also the cinematographer for “Demon Seed” and “Capricorn One” in the ’70s, as well as Neil Simon adaptation “Biloxi Blues” (1988), horror film “Child’s Play” (1988), Prince musical drama “Graffiti Bridge” (1990), “Flipper” (1996), “Anaconda” (1997) and the Pate brothers’ well-regarded 1997 murder mystery film “Deceiver,” starring Tim Roth and Renee Zellweger. Butler worked into the new century, by which time he was in his 80s, shooting Bill Paxton’s critically hailed 2001 crime drama “Frailty” and the 2006 Chevy Chase comedy “Funny Money.”īutler also worked a great deal in television, winning Emmy Awards in 1977 for shooting the telepic “Raid on Entebbe” and in 1984 for cinematography on an adaptation of “A Streetcar Named Desire” starring Ann-Margret and Treat Williams.
0 kommentar(er)
