使用AMIRA拍摄HBO剧集《球手们》
“我认为AMIRA是用于手持和小空间拍摄最理想的摄影机。”
—— 摄影指导杰米•雷诺索
《球手们》六月在HBO首播之后获得高分评价，于是HBO高层立刻与制作方签订了第二季播出合同。本剧的编剧史蒂芬·里维森（Stephen Levinson）经验丰富，之前曾经创作过HBO喜剧剧集《明星伙伴》，这次的新作《球手们》由道恩·强森（Dwayne Johnson）领衔主演，讲述一个退役的橄榄球员试图经营职业橄榄球俱乐部的故事。
异曲同工：《明星伙伴》带领观众一窥好莱坞电影圈幕后的流水线，《球手们》则揭开了职业橄榄球赛场外的面纱。本剧在迈阿密拍摄，正好将刚刚完成剧集《至亲血统》拍摄的制作团队揽于帐下，其中就包括了摄影师杰米·雷诺索（Jaime Reynoso），他与导演朱利安·法利诺（Julian Farino）一拍即合，立刻开始《球手们》第二季剧情“复苏”的筹拍工作。
“很快，我们就发现彼此很有默契，” 雷诺索说：“他有纪录片工作背景，这正是我在《至亲血统》里的拍摄风格。”自从2012年拍摄完《柬埔寨冬日》后，雷诺索越来越钟爱纪录片的拍摄风格。“我们没有用灯光，甚至是单枪匹马拍摄，这是一种彻底解放的体验，”他说：“它让我找到了早期初识摄影的感觉，以及爱上摄影的原因。”
雷诺索与导演法利诺阐述了他的理念，而且建议事先不要排戏。“我只管拍，跟焦员和掌镜摄影师其实并不知道接下来会发生什么，”他说：“我就爱这种不完美的感觉。”尽管《球手们》需要呈现某种程度上的浮华光鲜，两位主创还是希望这部剧能展现正面力量。“虽然是一部喜剧，但是它还是触及到了一些职业橄榄球大联盟球员的痛处，有些球员两三年巅峰期后就负债累累、伤病缠身，”他说。
当时，雷诺索听说ARRI AMIRA刚刚上市，而Keslow Camera租赁公司正好有全套设备。“我对剧组说，如果要手持拍一部纪录片风格的剧集，我们应该用AMIRA，”他回忆起当时的情形：“他们希望车里多备两台ALEXA和AMIRA的机身以便替换，考虑得很周到。” 给雷诺索留下第一个好印象的是AMIRA紧凑的外形尺寸和轻巧的重量，他将这种特质称作“一个显著的卖点。”
AMIRA同样也非常契合《球手们》主要采用的手持拍摄风格。“我们偶尔会用一点点轨道和少量斯坦尼康，因为‘巨石’强森很高大，所以有时候我们需要用斯坦尼康来把机器升到合适的高度，”他说：“就算掌镜摄影师和强森一样高，跟着他四处移动拍摄也是很困难的事，因此最好用斯坦尼康。” 雷诺索认为，能够和斯坦尼康很方便地配合是AMIRA另一个优点：“我爱AMIRA的底板系统和顶部可滑动的手柄设计，从斯坦尼康切换到手持非常快捷，这套系统太棒了，真希望ALEXA也能加入这种设计。”
可加载LUT的功能帮了《球手们》的大忙。“我们制作了各种LUT，然后导入摄影机就OK了，”他说：“我们可以调用机内的画面风格但是又不影响素材。打个比方：你可以把画面风格写入素材样片，四个月后，当你需要开始调色时，所有的色彩信息都保存得好好的，这就像是开辟了一条直达对方20码线的绿色通道。”
AMIRA的感光度对他来说也是一个“令人愉快的惊喜”。“即使是采用原生的800 ASA，我还是能在遮光斗前面装上偏振镜拍摄室外的夜景戏，”他说：“我一直都装着偏振镜，无论是日景、夜戏，室内或者室外。”为了保证画面尽可能的真实自然，雷诺索对用光非常谨慎：“我是那种宁愿选择一天中合适的时机，也不愿用吊车把灯光挂在窗外模拟自然光的摄影师。当然，我们也带了很多电影灯光设备，不过我会尽量找到一个平衡点不用灯，让太阳做好它的本职工作就行。”
到目前为止，摄制组遇到的难度最大的场景是其中一集故事全部发生在夜间派对里，其中还有部分游艇上的情节。“有一集的内容全是夜景，”他说：“要准备的设备很多，难度非常大。在船上拍摄永远都是很麻烦的，好在第一助理导演理查德·福克斯（Richard Fox）事先就做了万全的准备。难度很大，但结果不错，大家都工作得超开心，拍摄顺利完成。”
经常拍摄一小时时长剧情片和长片的雷诺索说他这一次“发现了半小时剧集的美妙之处”。“半个小时时长的节目是一次真正的解放，”他说：“不见得总是需要慢慢铺垫情节，有些东西就是为了好玩。”至于会不会继续选用AMIRA呢？“当然！”他回答道：“这一点毫无疑问。我认为AMIRA是用于手持和小空间拍摄最理想的摄影机。”
《球手们》预告片
Jaime Reynoso shoots BALLERS with AMIRA
It’s the ideal camera for me for handheld and anything shot in tight spaces.
- Jaime Reynoso
HBO debuted BALLERS in June to high ratings and immediately renewed the show for a second season. The series, which stars Dwayne Johnson as a former football player trying his hand at financial management for pro football players, is the brainchild of Stephen Levinson, who previously produced ENTOURAGE among his other credits.
The comparison is apt: Whereas ENTOURAGE takes viewers behind the scenes in Hollywood moviemaking, BALLERS unveils what happens off the field in professional football. Shooting in Miami, BALLERS was able to bring on the crew that had just finished up BLOODLINE. That included cinematographer Jaime Reynoso, who immediately hit it off with director Julian Farino as they approached the second episode, “Raise Up.”
“We found very quickly that we saw eye-to-eye,” says Reynoso. “He has a background in documentaries and that is the style I was doing on BLOODLINE.” Reynoso gravitated to a more documentary style after shooting A CAMBODIAN WINTER in 2012. “We shot it with no lights or crew, and I found that to be a liberating experience,” he says. “It brought me back to my early relationship with image and how I fell in love with image.”
When Reynoso spoke with Farino, he described that philosophy, as well as his preference to not rehearse. “I just shoot, and the focus pullers and operators don’t know what will happen,” he says. “There are all these imperfections that I love.” Although BALLERS certainly has a layer of gloss, the two wanted the show to have a backbone. “Although it’s a fun show, it touches on the tragedy of all those NFL players who, after two or three years are broke and have health issues,” he says.
Reynoso knew the ARRI AMIRA had just come out and Keslow Camera would be able to support him with the package. “I said, for a handheld show with a documentary look, we should go with it,” he recalls. “They wanted to have a couple of ALEXA and AMIRA bodies in the truck so that they’d be interchangeable, which is very smart.” The first thing Reynoso liked about the AMIRA was its size and weight, which he calls “an obvious selling point.”
The AMIRA was also a good match for BALLERS’ largely handheld style. “We did a little dolly here and there, and a little mild use of Steadicam, because the Rock is tall, so sometimes we needed the Steadicam to bring it at the proper height,” he says. “Even with an operator as tall as he is, it could be hard to walk around him and do moves, so we’d do it on the Steadicam.” Use of Steadicam was made, easier, says Reynoso, by another AMIRA feature. “I love the AMIRA system of plates in the bottom and top to slide on and off handles and mounts so you can change it from Steadicam to handheld very quickly,” he says. “It’s a very good system and I hope they add it to the ALEXA.”
Being able to load LUTs was another advantage on BALLERS. “We create LUTs, load them into the camera and then off we go,” he says. “We have options for looks that are in the camera but aren’t burned in to the look. You can put it on the dailies and, four months later, when you go to color it, it’s all there. It’s like a path to yard 20.”
He was also “happily surprised” with the AMIRA’s sensitivity. “Even though it’s 800 ASA by the book, I could shoot exterior nights and keep the polarizing filters in the matte box,” he says. “I used polarizing filters all the time, day, night, inside, outside.” To keep the look as real as possible, Reynoso was circumspect with his lighting. “I’m the kind of cinematographer who, rather than put up a crane with a light out the window, I’ll choose the right time of day to shoot it,” he says. “Of course there was a lot of film lighting, but I found a middle ground where I tried not to bring any lights on the set. I let the sun do what it was going to do.”
The most challenging scene so far was an entire episode that was a nighttime party, part of it on a yacht. “We had one week of nights,” he says. “And we had a lot of extras, which can be challenging. Shooting on boats is always difficult but the first assistant director Richard [Fox] was good at seeing where the challenges would be. It was difficult, but good. Everyone was super fun and the shoot was blessed with harmony.”
Used to shooting one-hour dramas and features, Reynoso said he “discovered the beauty of the half-hour show.” “A half-hour show is really liberating,” he says. “Not everything has to push the plot. Some things can just be fun.” And would he use the AMIRA again? “Certainly!” he says. “No doubt about it. It’s the ideal camera for me for handheld and anything shot in tight spaces.”
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