Montreal: Cinematographer Pierre Gill had to be at the top of his form working with director Christian Duguay on the Alliance Atlantis Communications historical spectacle Joan of Arc. Duguay’s vision tends towards the outsized and the demanding, and capturing the story of the 15th century French teenager and her messianic crusade against the English invaders was itself a major physical battle of building, staging, mounting, shooting and post-production.

‘We had one day where there were 1,000 extras, and everything for Christian is complex because of the vision,’ says the Montreal-based dop.

Not to put too fine a point on it, Joan of Arc was a painful, visionary experience for Gill, who at 35 has emerged as one of the country’s top shooters.

In turn, Gill says he’s earned the director’s respect, and the relationship was renewed this fall on the big-budget Filmline International action movie The Art of War, starring Wesley Snipes.

‘What’s important for dops other than technique,’ says Gill, ‘is to know film is about relationships, about being able to share your vision and your passion. With Christian, we felt good together. I felt he trusted me, and we were very quickly able to work [on our own]. We were so busy. On the set [things] go so quickly, you can’t talk that much, either.’

Gill says he shares Duguay’s passion for filmmaking, ‘but he’s a beast.’

After the wars of Joan of Arc, Gill says ‘everything else has become so easy.’

The castles of Prague

Prior to the start of principal photography, Gill spent a month and a half in the Czech Republic prepping locations, equipment packages and local crews. Digital cameras were used on location sorties, photomontages were mounted, and the scenes that had to go to studio were promptly marked off. The director and screenwriter were also present, but they had their hands full dealing with an overlong script.

The four-hour miniseries was shot from mid-December to the end of March ’99, the right kind of wintry atmospherics for the gray-blue, smoke-filled skies of European battlefields.

(Weather: snow, -5¡C to 5¡C, cold and very humid, especially in the castles.)

Camera & lens packages

The basic camera package used on Joan of Arc consisted of two Arriflex 535s, one Moviecam sl (the Steadicam unit) and an Arriflex 435, shared with the production’s second unit. The mini

series’ biggest battle scene was filmed with nine cameras.

Gill used Arriflex’s VP Variable Primes (VP 1, 2 and 3 16:30, 30:60 and 60:120), which he now says he’ll never go without.

The cinematographer’s choice of film stock for Joan of Arc was Kodak Vision film – 500T (5279) for candlelight night shooting and 250 Daylight (5246) for exteriors.

‘I do a lot of tests and I know the range of colors,’ he says. ‘I went with Kodak because I wanted to keep it more natural. If I go with Fuji it’s because I want an edge that’s more funky. Kodak is more brownish, warmer. There was no need to punch anything out.’

The choice worked for the production’s period design, a mix of rich and dusky brown landscapes and costumes recreating medieval France.

Gill used an 82A Tiffen filter for much of the 250D footage, creating a cool-blue feel. ‘Later in transfer [film-to-tape] I could warm it up, which gives me a colder [purer] black. I hate brown. I like warm, but I don’t want my blacks to be brown.’

Strong Czech tradition

in filmmaking

The dop’s work in commercials and music videos has given him a lot of experience in film-to-tape transfer and he was most impressed with the URSA Gold job done by the big Barndov studio and lab in Prague.

‘I was blown away [with the dailies], and what I found out was the Czech Republic is like Poland. They have a great cinema tradition,’ says Gill.

There was also a set of primes for the Duguay-operated Steadicam and an Angenieux 25:250 long-zoom lens.

Each morning the camera crew prepared the Moviecam sl, then mounted the 535 on a 30-foot cam-remote crane while the other 535 was used on a dolly.

For exteriors, Gill used hmi lighting with the 250D film because he needed power to light large places and scenes.

The 14th century Czech castles used in Joan of Arc were entirely real, unmodified locations, always way up in the sky somewhere, and dark and narrow enough to make the intrusion of a lighting crane impossible.

To compensate, Gill and crew also used a floating 12-foot helium balloon with internal 2.5 K hmi lighting, and a package of 6K par lights for basic ambiance. Much of the production’s realistic feel was created with genuine firelights, oil-fueled torches and candles, often held close to actors on close-ups.

Gill says he was thrilled with a Magic Gadget Shadow Monster, a high-range flicker device used as an original source light; and a self-styled device called the dynamite-light, essentially 10 candles all taped together as a complement to the artificial lighting.

Busy times for Gill

Gill logged a career-altering 200 shooting days in 1999. His recent filmography includes the Charles Biname feature trilogy Eldorado/Le Coeur de Point/La Beaute de Pandore, and Jean Beaudin’s Souvenirs intimes, for which he won the Prix Jutra for best cinematography. His next shoot is the hbo movie Xchange, directed by Allan Moyle.

Joan of Arc/Jeanne d’Arc was filmed over 95 grueling days in ancient Prague and throughout the Czech Republic.

At more than $22 million, Joan of Arc was cbs’ biggest miniseries investment ever, and a definitive measure of aac’s international ambitions. The production received 13 Primetime Emmy nominations, including outstanding miniseries, best lead actress (Leelee Sobieski), best supporting actor (Peter O’Toole) and best direction for Duguay.

Other credits on the shoot go to designer Michael Joy, costume designer John Hay, makeup designer Benjamin Robin, editor Ralph Brunjes, and composers Tony Kosinec and Asher Ettinger.

Joan of Arc’s special visual effects were created by Gajdecki Visual Effects. Casablanca Sound and Picture managed the extreme post-production business back in Toronto.