When the cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd teamed up with the director Wong Kar-wai to make “The Grandmaster,” he was expecting a six-month project. Those six months turned into three years, making the production felt as epic as the life story at the heart of the film: that of the kung fu master Ip Man. Mr. Le Sourd, nominated for his work on the film, shot in various locations and sometimes in extreme weather conditions.
He had worked with Mr. Wong on television commercials and short films, but that didn’t quite prepare him for the scope of the “Grandmaster” production. The cinematographer filmed scenes as the director worked on the screenplay, making for unpredictable shoots.
“You enjoyed moments of discovery every day because Kar-wai was writing the script every day, and you tried to figure out how to do the scene,” Mr. Le Sourd said, speaking by phone from his home in New York. He said every day involved some degree of uncertainty: “You don’t know exactly how long you’re going to shoot a scene. It could be one or two days, or it could take two months.”
One of the crucial action sequences, set at a train station, did indeed take two months to film, as long as the entire shooting schedule for some movies. The scene involved elaborate setups, a mix of slow motion and high speeds, fight choreography by Yuen Wo Ping and snow.
Working in northeast China, they found themselves dealing with temperatures that sometimes reached 30 degrees below zero. In addition to keeping the actors warm and active, the filmmakers also had to check on the camera.
“You have to protect the lens and make sure it doesn’t freeze,” he said. “And you have to make sure the film stock doesn’t break.”
“The Grandmaster” is the rare movie to use film these days, but it is probably Mr. Wong’s last using that medium. During production, Fuji informed him and Mr. Le Sourd, that it would be delivering the company’s final roll to them.
“It was a sign for Kar-wai that we needed to finish the movie and we couldn’t shoot for more years,” Mr. Le Sourd said.
That didn’t mean that they cut short other action sequences. One that takes place in the rain required a full month to shoot, working seven nights a week, with the actors in wet clothes. “To work under such hard conditions makes the film something different, because the rain was real, the snow was real,” Mr. Le Sourd said. “You capture elements of the water and the movement inside the camera, and everything was more organic.”
Working without a completed script meant Mr. Le Sourd had to imagine what the film would look like by the end. He also had to keep notes about lighting and setups to ensure consistency. “Sometimes we would have to shoot some close-ups two years later,” he said. “I kept a diary for every shot I was doing to make sure, if I had to redo a shot later, I was able to do it.”
http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/below-the-line-shooting-the-grandmaster/?_php=true&_type=blogs&hpw&rref=movies&_r=0
