This is the first post in our series which follows the Secret Movie Club’s “Ford Fundamentals” year-long program. Given the name of SMC’s program title, I’ll spend some time after each screening to discuss something I learned from the film, be it technical or intellectual.
Fundamentals:
Infrared film stock:
Fort Apache’s cinematographer Archie Stout utilized infrared film stock to achieve the stark, almost imposing look of the film’s most dramatic sequences and climax. As I was watching, I was thinking that it was the use of rear-projection that was so artfully crafted. Upon some research into the making of the film, I discovered that through the use of red filters in conjunction with Kodak infrared stock, the filmmakers could achieve a day-for-night look unlike any other. The blue sky would photograph not as white, but black, or dark grey. Skin tones and lips were kept neutralized by application a dark brown makeup. Any props with high levels of red, in fact, leaves, were spray painted brown to avoid a “chalking” of the features.
Why is this important? Because filmmaking is almost always a low-budget, high-minded endeavor. As filmmakers, we have to finagle ways to shoot more cheaply, to shoot more efficiently and effectively. We have to always come up with creative solutions. I’m sure Ford could have shot at night, but why bother? We work in a photographic medium–in an expressive medium–and we should find ways to be expressive.
Infrared stills from Fort Apache
Story Structure:
For the first hour of the film, we live with the realities and growing relationships/tensions with the film’s stars. It’s not until a little after the mid-point that we see any Native Americans on screen – the “antagonists.” (Fort Apache is known for its sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans). By today’s standards, an antagonist would be introduced within the first act, never mind half way through the film. I thought this was a reminder of the beauty of sitting with a film and entering it. In Hollywood’s non-stop beat factory, it was actually refreshing to watch a film from a time when people expected a more deliberate film.
Techniques:
No green screen, LED volumes or computers whatsoever here. Now, I’m a proponent of digital cinema while having an abiding love for celluloid. Digital is a powerful tool for all filmmakers to exploit to tell their stories. But we must never forget the sheer awesomeness of a camera tracking on the bed of a truck, in the middle of Monument Valley–horses speeding by at 40 miles per hour–and seeing it all unfold before us, in camera, in real time. We can feel the excitement (it’s the same reason Spielberg shot Jaws on the open ocean). Cinema is a game of tricks. But there’s nothing better than a master like Ford throwing the tricks away and bringing us along to experience it.
