Schneider: There were a couple of bad days with a lot of phone calls, but Charlie stood up for the idea, and Ken Miller, the vice president of postproduction at Spelling, was also supportive. While we were shooting, I got a great call from Duke Vincent, a top guy at Spelling, who thought the show looked like a movie. That meant a lot to us. The biggest concern was processing, but Yale Laboratories really came through for us with an extra effort.
Yale is the only lab that is presently processing 35mm reversal film on the West Coast, and it runs about four times slower through the soup. They could only turn out approximately 8,000 feet a day, and would need 24 hours to begin the turnaround. We ultimately convinced those concerned that a one-day delay wasn't going to be the end of the world. We actually came in under budget for exposed film too. At one point on the set Charlie blurted out, 'When I work with you, Aaron, I'm in my minimalist period.' I took it as a compliment. You know, quality over quantity.
Did you do any tests before committing to the idea of shooting with reversal?
Schneider: I shot my standard exposure test using a gray-scale card with a human face and colorful fruit in the frame. I find using real objects of color we can readily identify with is more telling than a color chart. I over- and underexposed five stops in 1/2-stop increments. It's a test that shows not only the shape of the curve but the over- and underexposure latitude, as well as the [equivalent] ASA that makes the film look the way I want it. By "correcting" each over- and underexposure, I can see what the film looks like at different ASA interpretations. Leon Silverman at Laser Pacific, set up a room for studying the developed film on the telecine. From what I learned, I decided to underexpose both films by a half-stop, because it makes the images a little more saturated with deeper blacks — the exact opposite of how negative film behaves.
Two terrific cinematographers, [ASC members] Paul Ryan and Bob Primes, worked with me on the tests. We spent 12 hours shooting at Panavision — Phil Radin was kind enough to set us up with a camera and their shooting stage — and a large part of a day analyzing the results at Laser Pacific. I wanted to find the shape of the [sensitometric] curve. You only have about 3/4 of a stop less under- and overexposure with reversal film, but the shape of the curve is radically different. Negative has a more gradual curve. You lose information a lot faster with reversal film.
How did you handle composition for future widescreen TV broadcasts?
Schneider: I composed with a common top line and sides, and framed the images for 1.33:1. That's the way the program will be seen by the vast majority of people. You can't do a good job of composing for two formats at the same time. If they decide in the future to release this film in HDTV format, I'll be happy to supervise extracting a 16 by 9 image by cutting off part of the bottom of the frame.
What else did you do to get a retro look?
Schneider: On Murder One, we used strong compositions, long lenses and tight headroom for a more dramatic frame. With Buddy Faro, we turned to the older interpretation of composition and camera movement. We also used a bit of what you might call the 'cheesy' elements of some old television shows. At one point, we used a big fat zoom-in on a window for an establishing shot. It took us a few takes to purposefully execute the zoom improperly. The term I used with my camera operator, David Boyd, was 'interestingly cheesy.' We centered heads in the frame and gave them 'too much' headroom. We all had a lot of fun trying to create a subtle comedy in the camerawork itself.
How did you handle camera movement?
Schneider: Camera moves were deliberately self-conscious at times to remind the audience that the reality we're presenting is stylized. In the beginning, the moves were minimal, and we were mainly shooting off a dolly. When Jones and the mystery woman go to Mexico to search for Buddy, the camera gets a bit more playful, but the movement is still sporadic. When Buddy comes back to L.A. and reverts to his old personality, the camera comes alive. It is always moving. It's a 'swank' look, to use one of Buddy's words. We shot with a Steadicam and Technocrane. By the time Buddy's world is back up to speed, the camera was as slick as Buddy himself.
Did you actually shoot on location in Mexico?
Schneider: No, we shot those scenes in San Pedro [in the L.A. port district].
How many days did you have to shoot?
Schneider: We had 16 days, but we had a very ambitious schedule with many moves. There were days we moved twice, and all the way across town. It was all location work. There wasn't a single shot on a stage. I saw all of the locations, but didn't have a hand in selecting them. We shot in garages, motel interiors, nightclubs and bars.
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