Director: Jim Jarmusch
Cinematographer: Fred Elmes, ASC
Awards Won at Cannes
Film Summary:
Bill Murray in a scene from Focus Features’ Broken Flowers. (courtesy of Focus Features)Broken Flowers premiered at the 2005 Cannes International Film Festival. The film stars Bill Murray as an aging ladies man who receives an anonymous pink letter informing him that he may have a 19-year-old son. He hits the road on a revealing and humorous cross-country journey to visit four former lovers. He is forced to confront errors of his past and the possibilities of the future. Broken Flowers was directed by Jim Jarmusch, and was shot on location in New York and New Jersey. After premiering at Cannes, Broken Flowers was recognized at the Independent Spirit Awards, European Film Awards, British Independent Film Awards, and at the Czech Lions, among others.
Cinematographer:
(L-R) Director Jim Jarmusch and cinematographer Frederick Elmes, ASC on the set of Focus Features’ Broken Flowers. (courtesy of Focus Features)Fred Elmes, ASC studied photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology, intending to pursue a career as a photojournalist. He went on to earn a degree in filmmaking at New York University. Elmes began his career shooting documentaries before deciding to continue his studies at the American Film Institute. Elmes’ credits include Bride Wars, Synecdoche, New York, Hulk, Kinsey, The Namesake, Eraserhead, River’s Edge, Blue Velvet, Reckless, The Empty Mirror and The Ice Storm. He won Independent Spirit Awards for his cinematography on Wild at Heart and Night on Earth. Wild at Heart also earned the Palme d’Or at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1990. Elmes earned an Emmy nomination for In the Gloaming, an HBO movie that was the directorial debut of Christopher Reeve. Elmes recently completed photography on director Jim Sheridan’s Brothers, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman. The film will be released later this year.
“Having a film in Cannes is a brilliant moment in any filmmaker’s life. It puts you in an elite class. It helps chart your course. And winning … when you win at Cannes you are truly acknowledged by your peers. Being at the Cannes Festival with a winning film is like living a fantasy come true. My first time at Cannes, with Wild at Heart, I had packed a pair of shorts and my tuxedo, and I was sleeping on someone else’s floor. Toward the end of the festival, I had the opportunity to meet Sven Nykvist (ASC), a filmmaker I had long admired. He was serving on the jury that year. We had a cup of coffee and talked about our films. I was completely in awe, and he was very cordial. A day and a half later, Wild at Heart won the Palme d’Or for best film. I saw Sven at the celebration afterwards, and he told me that when we had spoken, he knew we had won but couldn’t let on. That was a beautiful moment. You never forget the day your film won at Cannes. That feeling is etched on your brain forever.”
Fred Elmes Takes Us Behind the Scenes
By Bob Fisher
Broken Flowers begins in Don Johnston’s posh living room, where his girlfriend is leaving him because he can’t commit to a relationship. A letter on pink stationary arrives and announces that Johnston might have a 19-year-old son. That sets the stage for a character-driven story that focuses on human relationships.
Johnston is an affluent and self-indulgent bachelor who spends much of his time alone laying on a sofa in his living room, sleeping, listening to music and watching television. Writer-director Jim Jarmusch scripted the role with Bill Murray in mind.
“Bill is in almost every scene,” says cinematographer Fred Elmes, ASC. “Johnston is also conflicted by the notion that he might have a son. He wants to have a son but doesn’t want the responsibility.”
Johnston tells Winston, his neighbor, that the letter could have been sent by one of five women. Winston uses the Internet in a quest to find the women. He discovers that one of them is dead, and finds addresses for the other four women in different parts of the country. Winston prods Johnston to visit the women and discover the truth. He takes the initiative by planning a trip for Johnston.
This marks the third collaboration for Elmes and Jarmusch. Their first venture was Night on Earth, which took top cinematography honors in the Independent Spirit Awards competition in 1993. Elmes also shot most of the eleven vignettes for Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes, which was released last year.
Broken Flowers was produced on a modest budget by Focus Features at practical locations in New York and New Jersey. The crew spent one day on sets built in an empty warehouse. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Cannes International Film Festival.
“It’s a low budget movie, but Jim attracted a terrific cast,” Elmes says.
Sherry is played by Julie Delpy, Winston by Jeffrey Wright and Johnston’s four ex-lovers are portrayed by Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy and Tilda Swinton. Stone plays Laura, a sensual widow who has a daughter named Lolita. Conroy plays Dora, a former hippie who is now a realtor. She lives in a model home with her partner/husband. Lange plays Carmen, who sells her ability to communicate with animals to troubled pet owners. Swinton portrays Penny, who is down and out.
Murray was instrumental in the decision to produce the film in New York and New Jersey because it was close to his home. Elmes lauds the New York technical support infrastructure. He says that working in the state gave him the opportunity to organize a talented and experienced crew. His crew included camera operator Sandy Hays, assistants Carlos Guerra, Liza Bambenek and Angela Bellisio, gaffer Jonathan Lumley and grip Bob Andres.
Elmes was born and raised in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey. He studied still photography at Rochester Institute of Technology. After his interest shifted to motion pictures, he enrolled in the graduate film studies program at New York University and subsequently earned a fellowship at the American Film Institute, where he launched his career shooting independent features with fellow students David Lynch and John Cassavetes. Elmes’ body of work includes many commercials and music videos and more than thirty narrative credits, including Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, The Ice Storm, Hulk and Kinsey.
“Jim asked me to read his script for Broken Flowers,” Elmes says. “It’s a psychological character study and also a road movie that is somewhere between a comedy and a drama. He wanted my opinions about how to shoot it, and was wide open to discussing my ideas. We looked at a few Japanese films that Jim admires and studied moments in them where characters feel lonely in the frame.”
Elmes initially suggested framing Broken Flowers in a widescreen aspect ratio, but following their research and discussions, he agreed that the 1.85:1 format was the right frame for this story. Jarmusch wanted to cover scenes with a single camera whenever possible, which enabled them to optimize composition and lighting.
“We didn’t have room for a second camera at many locations, and most of the staging was very simple,” Elmes says. “There are many dialogue scenes with two or three characters reacting to each other rather than cutting away to close-ups.”
Elmes shot extensive costume, makeup and hairstyle tests with the characters, in addition to testing paint colors, wallpapers, wood trim, bricks and different camera films.
There are a number of brief dream sequences that give the audience glimpses of Johnston’s memories. Elmes decided to record those scenes on 16 mm Eastman Ektachrome (7240) film that was cross-processed. He also undercranked those shots at 16 or 18 frames per second and sped up the sound in some cases, so the audio is slightly warped.
“The Ektachrome film has a very saturated look in comparison to the negative stock we recorded the rest of the movie on,” he says. “I decided to use the 500T (Kodak Vision2) 5229 negative for the entire rest of the movie, because we wanted a very consistent feeling in terms of grain, sharpness and the color palette. The 5229 film records slightly less saturated colors and the flesh tones and contrast are more subtle.”
Elmes had previously worked with production designer Mark Friedberg on The Ice Storm and Ride With the Devil and segments of Coffee and Cigarettes. Friedberg did considerable research with the goal of creating different worlds for each character.
“We chose locations very carefully, and then created color palettes that complimented the character’s lifestyle,” Elmes says. “When you meet each of these characters you learn a lot about them by the way they are dressed, and the neighborhoods and houses they live in. Their position in life becomes clear in a couple of seconds.”
Stone plays a character whose ex-husband was a stock car driver who crashed. She’s single again and has a daughter. They live alone, probably somewhere in the South. She doesn’t have a lot of money and is self-employed. Their house is a little bungalow with bright colors, including very flowery wallpaper.
Swinton’s character lives on a very run-down farm that Johnston has a hard time finding. Her current boyfriend is out back working on motorcycles. They are playing loud rock-and-roll music.
Elmes describes Johnston’s home as womb-like. The audience mainly sees him in the comfortable living room on the couch, where he occasionally sleeps, and where he has his stereo and big screen TV. He’s a very solitary person.
Conroy plays a fragile character. She and her husband live in a model home that is pristine and stark. The signature colors are beige with white walls. The location was an unfinished housing development with no shrubbery and nothing on the walls. The walls were white, and the carpet was beige.
On the other sets they repainted walls, put up wallpaper and changed the furniture. In some locations, they also redressed windows and added or took away foliage on the outside.
“One of the running jokes is that the letter is on pink stationary,” Elmes says. “Johnston’s neighbor is a would-be sleuth. He has him looking for any sign of pink. One of the women has a pink motorcycle and another one is wearing pink clothes, so the way pink photographed was important. The negative we were using didn’t record pink the way we thought it would. The answer was to create a pink letter that was much brighter and more vibrant in order to get it to register on film the way we wanted.”
There were no storyboards. The filmmakers scouted locations and discussed how they could block scenes in those spaces. Elmes notes that Jarmusch and Murray were constantly talking about the character and where the story was going during rehearsals. The director also solicited opinions from the other performers and was constantly tweaking the script.
The camera was an ARRICAM from CSC in New York. Elmes says that it’s a quiet and compact camera with a bright viewfinder. He used Zeiss variable prime lenses. Elmes explains that the jib arm combined with the lenses enabled him to make little adjustments in framing from one take to the next. He could decide that a 32 mm lens was the right size for one take, and instantly shift to a 37 mm frame without changing a lens or moving the camera. The two takes were just slightly different.
“The camera was usually an objective observer,” he says. “Movement was planned and carefully thought out, because Jim doesn’t like to leave those things to accident. Wherever possible we put the camera on a jib arm on a dolly that I could use to make subtle adjustments if an actor leaned this way or that way during the shot.
“There are subtle things that we did to help the audience listen to the story,” Elmes says. “One take may be a little wider and another a little tighter, but they cut together seamlessly. There is also silent dialog told with expressions on faces. It was wonderful seeing Bill work. He’s a magician when it comes to subtle humor.”
Angles of photography reflect moods, including the emotional state of Johnston’s mind. There are moments when he’s feeling low and beaten down, where Elmes made a conscious effort to have the camera look down on him and to put him a little lower in the frame. Other moods and emotions affect where and also how big he is in the frame.
There are close-ups of all different sizes designed to make slightly different impacts. There are moments in Johnston’s living room when the audience sees the entire room with a very small character lying on the couch in a spot of light. At dusk, the rest of the room has fallen into complete darkness. Elmes explains that the combination of his size, framing and lighting reflects his state of mind.
“Lighting is always interpretive,” he says. “It is motivated by natural and practical sources, but we get to decide as filmmakers whether sunlight is coming into a room through windows, or if it’s a cloudy or rainy day, or if the scene happens at sunset. We also get to decide how shadowy a room is even if it’s a sunny day.
“You have to manipulate the light on a character’s face to help tell the director’s story and to support the mood and emotion of the scene. Jonathan Lumley is a wonderful gaffer whom I’ve known for many years. I relied on him and everyone else on the crew. I strongly believe that I would be nothing without them. I had lofty ideas about how we should shoot this film, but the grip had to get the camera there, and the crew had to flawlessly compose the shots and pull focus or it doesn’t work.”
The dream sequences recorded on Ektachrome are interspersed throughout the film. During airplane trips Johnston sometimes nods off and relives moments from his past romantic encounters, which embellish the mystery of whether or not he has a son.
Scenes where Johnston is driving a car were mainly staged in daylight. The car was generally towed on a trailer with HMI lights rigged to come through the windows. Elmes was riding on the trailer, keeping an eye on the light inside the car. Close-ups of Murray behind the wheel and point-of-view shots show enough details outside the windows to give the audience a sense of where he is. In one scene, the exterior was a generic mall. Another time he was driving near an ocean. A third setting was beautiful countryside in the fall when the leaves on trees were changing colors.
Shots done in the converted warehouse include scenes of Johnston on an airplane flying to meet one of his former lovers. He was used to flying first class, but his neighbor booked the trip for him in the economy section of the airplane. Murray was filmed sitting in a row four seats wide, sharing the space with several children and an old lady who was nodding off with her head on his shoulder. The set was part of an airplane cabin, including the seats, aisles and roof. The filmmakers put the seats slightly closer together than normal to make it feel a little more cramped and uncomfortable.
In a night scene on the airplane set, Elmes put a very deep blue backing outside the window, because the sun had set, but it wasn’t quite pitch black yet. The interior of the cabin was lit by the overhead reading lights on the plane. Elmes believes that all of those nuances contribute to the audience’s sense of realism.
There were just a couple of other small scenes filmed on stages, including close-ups of maps on the car seat. They wiggled the seat and jiggled the light to simulate movement of the car. Other pickup shots included a scene in a motel room. Elmes explains that they had filmed a scene in an actual motel, but couldn’t get back when a couple of pages were added to the script, so they built a two-wall set.
“Some locations had very low ceilings, including Sharon Stone’s house,” he says. “We had some night interiors where we wanted a warm, glowing, soft light coming from a fixture in the ceiling. The problem was that the ceilings were so low that the soft light I would normally use overhead was too big. Jonathan (Lumley) welded a metal frame that was four by six feet long. It contained smaller bulbs and a different kind of diffusion. We were able to squeeze it into a space a couple of inches below the ceiling. It was a wonderful source of soft light that we used it at several locations.”
Elmes says that Jarmusch liked to be very close to the camera, where he could watch and listen to the actors perform, while staying in close touch with them. He occasionally referred to a small, portable monitor, but there was no video playback.
“He felt that video playback was an unnecessary expense,” Elmes says. “He wanted to put that money on the screen. We had a monitor that was always set up next to the camera. If it was a dolly shot, Jim was usually riding on the dolly, watching firsthand. I think that was important, because so much detail is lost when a director is watching performances on a video monitor. You can learn so much more by watching the subtleties of the actors performing and being close enough to hear and see what’s happening. He trusted the crew, and they never let us down.”
Elmes says that Jarmusch relied on rehearsals and talking with the actors rather than multiple takes to get the right action. They typically rehearsed once in front of the camera to get the technical part down. Jarmusch generally got his shot in just a few takes.
The front-end lab was Technicolor in New York. Jarmusch and Elmes wanted to see film dailies to judge how the action played when it was projected on a screen. Even though it was a relatively low budget film, the director insisted on printing selected dailies on film, using a new sound syncing system with the audio on a CD. They used screening rooms at the lab and also in the neighborhood where Elmes lives. Sometimes everybody came, including the crew, depending on the schedule and shooting location for that day. Jarmusch was present as often as possible.
“We chose to do a traditional optical finish,” Elmes says. “We did our testing upfront. We knew the looks we wanted, and we were seeing film dailies, so there was no need for a digital intermediate. Deluxe Labs in Toronto handled release printing. They flew the timer and answer prints to New York for post production and mixing.”
Elmes observes that it was a difficult movie for Murray, who is in almost every scene. “It was very wearing on him,” he says. “I think he took this film because he likes Jim Jarmusch and respects him as a director. It was also a role that he could really throw himself into. He was a real trooper. He worked hard and was completely professional. All the actresses were also a joy to work with. I’d say, ‘If you don’t mind on the next take just give me another inch here, I need a little more room to get you in the right part of the frame.’ On the next take, they gave me that extra inch we needed.”
Elmes concludes that while many scenes derive humor from putting Johnston into awkward, unexpected situations, without giving the ending away, he says that Broken Flowers is a story about human nature that becomes evident to the audience. (This article was originally published in August 2005 issue of ICG Magazine).
