Digital in the Arctic

The Fast Runner proves that DV can handlefeature-film-style scenery and color.

The camera captures several shades of the icy white scenery forThe Fast Runner, one of the first truly film-like DV features.

As a DV filmmaker, I am interested in DV features. In fact, I havewatched movies solely because they were shot on DV. The quality of DVfeatures varies, but it's always been obvious that the movie was shotdigitally, usually because it lacks the crispness and depth of film.The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat), a three-hour epic from Lot 47Films, was a surprise: I could not tell it was DV. Though I knew it wasshot on video, I had to keep reminding myself that I was not seeingfilm.

The Fast Runner tells the story of two brothers divided by awoman and bitter revenge. Set against the backdrop of the Arctic Circle(Baffin Island in northeast Canada), the story is based on ancientInuit legend and was written by the late Paul Apak Angilirq — whounfortunately died of cancer before production began — anddirected by Zacharias Kunuk. With a modest budget of only a few milliondollars and shooting in a climate where temperatures normally fall inthe negative double digits, the subtitled movie is truly a personalvision come to life. The technical achievements that brought this storyto the screen are frankly amazing.

New York cinematographer Norman Cohn used Sony's DVW-700WS, adigital Betacam camera that supports widescreen. “At the time webought it in early 1998,” Cohn says, “it was the bestportable video camera available in the world — the first digitalBetacam with obvious advantages over previous analog SP. It was alsofirst with a 16:9 widescreen option, and we liked that feature at thetime, knowing we may have a possible transfer to film in the future ofour productions.”

Now, whereas many independent domestic filmmakers are stocking up onPAL equipment, the NTSC Betacam unit has had its true feature-lengthtest and passed with flying colors. And the scenery could not have beenmore challenging. With a combination of stark icy whites, contrastysunlit scenes, and low-light nighttime shots, the range of lightingcould not have been more diverse. The Sony unit is pricey (a quick Websearch showed $250 to $750 a day rental rates): not exactly a drop inthe bucket to a video producer with a several million dollar budget,but it may be a wise choice for those wanting to cover the gap fromvideo to film. What this particular camera offered the production wasthe ability to shoot at such a high resolution that the typical softfeel or grainy atmosphere in low-light situations is almostnonexistent.

“I have to admit, the digital camera was superb,” Cohnasserts. “It was very reliable and especially good in low light,as well as in high-contrast situations. Really problematic is the highcontrast in the whites, especially when the sky is slightly overcastand becomes indistinguishable from the snow. I got excellent resultseven with +6 gain; in fact, I often used +3 in low light, and resultswere great.”

Although Cohn downplays the Arctic cold experienced duringproduction, the weather conditions had to be taken into account.“Actually, believe it or not, video works well in thecold,” Cohn says. “You just have to keep your batterieswarm, as well as your hands. You have to be especially careful withwires, because believe me, they can freeze and snap like dry spaghetti.In addition, you have to be careful with moisture and condensationevery time the camera comes indoors from the cold. But in general,video works fine to about 30 to 35 below, after which, it starts to getweird!”

One thing that strikes you when you watch the movie is the style inwhich it was shot. Rather than doing traditional back-and-forth cuts,most of the scenes in The Fast Runner are shot wide andatmospheric or close up and intimate. There are shades of adocumentary, but the movie is pure narrative. It's a question ofapplying the knowledge of videography and transferring it to a motionpicture for the big screen.

Cinematographer Norman Cohn, on location in northeast Canada, usedhis experience as a video installation artist to shoot the movie.

“Atanarjuat [The Fast Runner] is a long-form dramaticvideo made by experienced video makers thinking in videoaesthetics,” Cohn explains. “The unique look is least ofall ‘technical,’ as most people can't see the difference inthe film transfer, and mostly in the style of shooting. It's in theperspective of the eye through which the audience gets to see: longrealtime takes with fewer quick cuts, lots of unplanned shots, a‘living’ camera that gets inside the action rather thanwatches passively from the outside.” Cohn adds that because theywere shooting on video, they were allowed more takes and alternate waysto shoot various scenes. “We definitely had more risk-taking inthe shooting because of less fear of waste, in the mentality of a videoshooter compared to a film shooter. We could also be more aggressive inthe use of the camera. These are hard things to explain in words, butas you see in the film, they are real visible differences, whichresults in a huge impact on the final dramatic effect.”

Cohn primarily attributes his shooting style in this movie to whathe has been shooting for three decades as a video installation artist.The audience for his work is limited because video art generallycirculates in a marginalized world, but Cohn feels this backgroundbrings a lot to his filmmaking. His less traditional cinematic filmmovements, with a dizzying array of cuts and pans, attempt todiscreetly record the lives of the subjects. So the focus is on thecharacters and not on the amazing camera calisthenics. Cohn does notknow video any other way.

One part of the magic of The Fast Runner and what sets itapart from other DV features, is the look of the transfer, which wasdone by Digital Film Group, Vancouver, British Columbia. They used aproprietary method called Smooth Motion that converts the 60 fields ofNTSC-interlaced video to 24fps of film. The process maintains all theresolution and eliminates the motion artifacts typically seen in DVfeature films, improving the resolution and giving the video a filmlook.

Cohn offers some final advice for videographers who want to make theleap into feature films. “Always use the best camera you canafford,” he says. “There are good reasons why the high-endand low-end digital cameras have a $100,000 spread. And bear in mindthat when you get a camera that good, digital shooting requires adigital shooting style, neither film nor TV, but more like guerrillavideo from the old days.” Applying your video skills set to thefilm medium works in ways you might not have imagined.

“Professionalizing a video aesthetic is what allows digitalfilmmaking to have an original look,” Cohn adds. “This lookis obviously not for every subject matter or shooting style, butrecognize that film and video are not the same medium. When we shotThe Fast Runner, I wanted our film to look not quite like video,not quite like film, but something distinct and visually equal to orsuperior to either: a new format. And in the end, it did.”

To comment on this article, email the Video Systems editorialstaff at vsfeedback@primediabusiness.com.

The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat): www.lot47.com/thefastrunner
Digital Film Group: www.digitalfilmgroup.net