The Skull of a genius, interview with cinematographer Ari Chaimowitz

[Music] [Applause] so one day out of the blue I get a phone call from Baro hi aria how are you we want to make this big film and I want you to be part of it part of the team part of the film crew and I'm thinking to myself it's just another moisted it's bigger than regular but it's not like something extraordinary and I said yes of course spark was a very good friend I remember the first day that I arrived on set so I arrived at this remote address in the middle of the of the woods in the middle of nowhere and I see another car and another car in another car and then I come inside and I see all these people the first thing I saw was the team of Poonam caduceus and when she Greenfield of course first of all the good friends I I wasn't I didn't really know that he's gonna be part of this but he was there with the full gear I right away realized that this is gonna be from the olden days so they needed real makeup and real costumes and and it was everywhere it's like they opened a shop a Broadway shop over there there was so much going on and and the makeup was consistent there was music blasting and everybody was such a good vibe and there were so many people I was so taken back by that cuz III didn't expect it at all and you know I'm arriving there expecting something small and all of a sudden I'm a part of this big team it was just one big happy family over there I think it was roughly four hours makeup every day we shot and we had a crunched time to shooting we had a very crunch timeline and we had to get it done and we were all overworking but with a lot a lot of satisfaction real satisfaction because it was just it was like our our mission we were on a mission together to get this done right it was such an exciting vibe over there everybody was so into actually getting the shots done right and everybody was helping each other with advice with let's say we had to set up a set everyone from the top producer to the smallest bystander everybody was into design for example the show the show was one of the first sets we designed and it was so much detail that we needed to do over there like this forum and the candles and lighting him up and and and changing the tables of the set and dragging closets and there was an old old place are all set so there was so much heavy heavy furniture and all things to move around everybody was in for the for the task everybody was helping each other but it was joking around and I thought okay this is only the beginning but as the hours kept going I mean Boroff does not know when to stop so he just keeps going I mean it's night but today it's night again it's day again he just keeps going so we were rolling day after day after day after day the makeup took a major amount of the time to make sure it's perfect and we always had to match the faces to make sure they match each other match the first shot the second shot so for example if we had different locations at different days shooting we had to make sure I mean putting publishers had to make sure I had to make sure to stand there some some of us some sometimes I was filming behind the scenes but the makeup crew had to make sure to have pictures of everybody's face and match it up so if they had a bruise or they had a certain thing and and of course touch-ups with the sweating were they suits our TV monitors borsa oh poor borsa he he was sweating in his costumes it was it was horror to watch it I felt so sorry for I kept helping him fixing him just a very very friendly environment it was a big honor we really I mean I want to say I can't wait for the next one but I'm still so excited about that one and I'm still getting so much good feedback about it so he was a great great energy added to this film I'm sure somebody already said that he we we flew him in from Israel I mean they flew him in from Israel especially for this film and we had a blast with him I mean so much energy only Israelis have this energy you know only Israelis got it Tom Brown really surprised me by how naturally he was with the camera and how creative he was with not only the what we're gonna shoot them where we're gonna shoot it from but with his ideas on set to improvise to get better results and sometimes add his own taste and it's not his own twist there was so much again and it's so much to the whole scene to the whole film heinki heinki heinki thank you I have no idea I'm sure after we finished filming this buffer time Ken needed to sleep at least for two months just to relax some old energy gave out but he gave it a hundred and ten percent he was working so hard he he just kept going he didn't complain for one second it was so much going on and and of course he was in most of the scenes so sometimes like actors would get a break between scenes he never got a break we kept him up all night and even when I crashed after 18 hours filming straight I just I couldn't anymore I think I sat down on the couch for one second and I woke up two hours later something like that so in those two hours he had to keep going I mean everybody the time Ken had to keep going at all times he did a phenomenal job and he's a natural he's a real natural he was so he gave him the cue I think he's the only one that remembered his lines today he he remembered his lines just like he read them this just like he's reading it off of paper it was so much math to work with him was so much easier than sometimes you know you need to read it out to the the actors with him no issues hey Lydia morale was amazing you know when he stood there in that standard and he was screaming sheera my boys wow it actually got me and we were staging it I mean I was standing there and we were we said action and everybody just started going like this I mean it's an act at the end of the day but it actually got me the people were screaming the morale was screaming I actually started saying share I'm honest with them it was it was emotionally fantastic it's mama she grass everything for me was like helium Kippur Neela it was amazing I stood there forgot that I'm behind the camera I just forgot that I'm behind the camera it was such an amazing experience the market the mount market actually after first of all designing the market took forever its it was a big project a big production a lot of people more people than any other set many hours to to actually design it right and that there was the goats in that made a mess and and there was a lot of fun the book home were chasing the goats back and forth and fighting with them and what else do we have over there the horse and buggy of course every time we had to do another take read it but tell the horse to go back this horse was giant he took up the entire space of the market and then the Sun Direction and the lighting of course that that was on our side tough but working with the greatest people there was re Abramowitz that came in for that scene and a bunch of other actors that for the market to fill up the market we had fresh fish or by the time we filmed there were dead and stinky and a bunch of raw items or vegetables and fruits and just remembering all these details were so phenomenal to see how we actually put together this entire thing the bread remembering exactly how the bread looked like and the baskets for the bread and everything and of course my chagrin for that was very involved in designing everything as well there's a lot of good talent on set to help constantly was - was upgrading the entire point on Felucia steam did the same thing constantly thoughts and adding and the smoke and that we added a smoke to the burning fire in the market and the challenge was walking backwards with the camera and the gimbal and not hitting the fire or the coats or what they left on the floor it was a lot I think that was the best day we had the the most exciting was the castle but the biggest I think that would pose were both very big yeah they were both very big I'm sorry for stuttering not a little bit caught take it out the castle actually took him back in the aging days in the more dark side there was dr. Scholl offski the creepiest man on earth which we were for a long time trying to find the best way to reveal his scary face the cast lots so many options over there that was so like every corner you turn it was was curved out of the dark old churches and then on the other side we had this Jewish Old Market in Prague that actually also had a very very strong vibe of the old days so actually even if you knew that you're not yeah you're kind of a like wood but when you walked in into there when we walked into the set after we started shooting it was amazing it was it was like we were in a real market the noise that was going on and everything was so natural everything was so professional the castle was one one space that I actually felt detached from reality did the entire environment and the remote spot it was and the way it looked and designed the way it was designed it was extremely remote by the way I mean Google Google Maps only takes you there certain point and then it just just find your way I mean you start riding up this hill and up and up and up and up and if you up there was like it was like we were spaced out or we were taken to a different time and age you were taken to a different reality and we really felt it so the set itself really set a certain tone for everyone although were so many people were all in like in the zone we were like much more relaxed it was so real over there and then the costumes whoof the costumes in the castle and the whole environment it was just like like the perfect aroma to make this work and there was not much needed I mean all you had to do is press record and say action and let let the people start walking it was beautiful it was did everything the way was designed the fires and the woods and the trees in there we were shooting in the middle of the night we couldn't see a inch further like nothing I didn't even want to go out to the car at night I mean who knows what it is out there was so remote one of the things I saw immediately when I arrived was a two giant dogs what was their names that Kim I said I think was German shepherds two giant German shepherds and that's that's that was the gift from Baro to me for coming out all the way to wherever we went to the castle to like George those two dogs were giant I was so scared I mean until at age 22 I never seen any dogs I thought they belong in the zoo wherever where I lived there was no dogs ever so for me they were just that every time they came out of that room had to hide and wait for them to pass by it was a crazy production back there I mean we dragged out half a liquid to that castle and barked did remember each one what his job was I don't know how and he was supposed to be the therapist as well because because he went for I think I don't know it felt like 48 hours straight filming but I think it was 18 and then a break from two hours and then we went for another four hours I think that's what it was the main thing that I was very surprised is how professional everything was rolling and how he had borrow of course had the right person for the right thing like Evie Evie Evie Department had his own thing running and everybody was helping each other so we were very well linked and the second thing I was surprised about how he selected his people to make it such a a borough such a bish Makaha borough o Baraka I thank you from the bottom of my heart for bringing me into this because I really it was a pleasure and honor and life memories and I can't wait for the next one so when are we starting to shoot [Music]