THE TERMINAL
 • page 2
 • page 3
DVD
 • page 2
 • page 3

Working in the standard 1.85:1 aspect ratio, Kaminski filmed The Terminal on Eastman EXR 200T 5293, and his Panavision package consisted of Panaflex Millenniums and Primo lenses. "We shot quite a bit with the 14mm, 17mm and 21mm, but we would go longer on the romantic scenes," says Kaminski. "We were trying to make a relatively simple movie within Hollywood conventions." Although the cinematographer is known for using Christian Dior stocking filters behind the lens, he eschewed that technique in favor of Tiffen Classic Soft filters. "I felt the Dior was a bit too heavy," he explains. "The Classic Soft effect was much more appropriate, and it didn't flare the windows as much."

Kaminski shot most of the film with 85 correction on the lens, and he typically lit foreground action with tungsten sources through 1/2 to 3/4 CTO to add warmth to romantic moments between Navorski and his love interest, a flight attendant named Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones). As the scenes progressed into evening, Kaminski would switch out the 85 for an 82 or eliminate the correction filter altogether to get a cool ambience.

"This is a very simple, sweet story about a man who is lost in a new world where he manages to find himself and love, and I felt I understood it from beginning to end," observes Kaminski. "Visually, I wanted the picture to progress from slightly cool, which suggests Viktor's feelings of displacement, to warm, which suggests his increasing familiarity with his surroundings. As the romance blossoms, the image becomes warmer and warmer, and our darkness becomes more velvety and elegant.

"As a cinematographer, I love to find the visual cues that will help tell the story," he continues, "and on this film, I always had Viktor and Amelia bathed in warm light while the world around them was a bit cold. Of course, I tried to keep this very subtle. The story is always the most important aspect of my work, and it always leads me to find the visual style that works for a given movie. Sometimes cinematographers get caught up in doing lighting that looks nice but doesn't reflect the story. For me, finding a visual approach that's relevant to the story is the part of my work that's the most fun."

Within the terminal, Kaminski maintained a T2.8/4 split. To create hot, direct sunlight, the production obtained 65 18K HMIs and three 15-6K BeBee Night Lights from Paskal Lighting. "The BeBee is a great source, but it's only about 15 feet wide," notes Devlin. "When you've got 400 feet of windows, you're going to pan through a 15-foot source in a second, so we needed a few BeBees and about 65 18K HMIs to create washes of direct sunlight."

Once the terminal lighting was in place and principal photography began, Kaminski found himself in the unfamiliar position of battling boredom. "Because the picture called for a single location, it wasn't quite as exciting as some other movies I've done with Steven," he confesses. "It was a very impressive set, but the excitement of that wears off after the first few days, and then you realize you have 60 more days to go in that same location! Once we did everything we needed to do to create the general look, our work became a matter of keeping that look consistent.

"It's a delicate situation, because it's easy to lose concentration when you're just doing the same thing over and over again," Kaminski continues. "And if you lose concentration, you're not going to do a good job. After all, if you lose concentration while you're driving, you're not going to be a good driver. During the color-timing, I could tell where I got a bit arrogant and didn't pay enough attention! When you're in a situation like that, you really have to focus on the obligation to do your very best every day."

Fortunately, within the terminal space there were small areas where Kaminski was able to give the lighting more character. For example, Navorski eventually makes a home for himself at an unused gate and begins to redecorate. "One wing of the airport is under construction, and Viktor begins to convert a gate area to fulfill his needs," explains Kaminski. "We had some night scenes there involving classical, moody, bluish night tones. There is another night scene that shows Viktor lying in bed in front of a frosted-glass wall, and a huge jet taxis down the runway behind him. We did that shot in a very low-tech way, with a couple of guys pushing lights on stands. It was all very crude, and to be honest, I wish I were more technologically adventurous! I sometimes get very jealous when I see some of the amazing lighting diagrams in American Cinematographer. For me, it's still very much the 'paper-and-glue' techniques - on Steven's movies, we move so fast that I usually turn to the simplest techniques to get the job done."