|
The old cistern in Istanbul is the setting for the murder scene. Photos © Reiner Bajo/Ziegler Film GmbH & Co KG |
Mordkommission Istanbul-Die Tote in der Zisterne is a German TV murder mystery surrounding the discovery of a body in the Turkish capital’s famous Yerebatan Sarayi cistern. The dark subject matter wasn’t the only challenge faced by cinematographer Heinz-Dieter Sasse.
“The look of the movie was stipulated by the TV channel [Das Erste (ARD)],” he explains. “The demands have been to deliver family entertainment with bright colours and warm skin tones as well as to create a good atmosphere for the crime story.”
Knowing that he had to do justice to the crisp visuals necessary for primetime TV and also highlight the film noir elements of the story, Sasse used a combination of three film stocks for the shoot. KODAK VISION2 100T 7212 was employed for the daytime exteriors and KODAK VISION2 250D 7205 for daytime interiors, but for the difficult night scenes Sasse turned to the new KODAK VISION 3 500T 7219 film.
|
Actor Erol Sander as Kommissar Mehmet Ozakin explores the gigantic cistern. Photos © Reiner Bajo/Ziegler Film GmbH & Co KG |
“In the Yerebatan Sarayi, the VISION3 7219 was a tremendous help,” Sasse says of his first experience using the stock. “My exposure meter was set on 1000 ASA, and I often did not get any reading at all when we scouted the place! But I had to use this faint existing light as there were no other possibilities for the location.”
The fact that the shoots had to take place overnight, when all the tourists had gone home, certainly didn’t help. “We had to shoot four scenes and 28 set-ups,” Sasse explains. “My gaffer Theo Oppenlander and his team managed to bring in 20 PAR 64 bulbs, one 5K lamp and some small tungsten lights and run cable all over the place, and then bring it all out again in the same night! We really did not bring in much light for such a gigantic cistern, but in combination with the fully open Zeiss High Speed lenses the KODAK VISION3 7219 gave us a tremendous result, particularly with the details it picked up in the shadows.”
|
Cinematographer Heinz-Dieter Sasse. Photos © Reiner Bajo/Ziegler Film GmbH & Co KG |
Also pleased with the result was the film’s director Michael Steinke, who worked closely with Sasse to achieve the right visual balance for the film. “The principal aim was to create a crime thriller that stood out from similar movies,” Steinke explains. “It was to be as soft as possible, therefore, without the use of excessive violence. The colours were to be shiny, bright and intense to show off Istanbul’s highlights rather than portray it as a criminal hotspot.”
“There was never any question about working with Kodak, particularly with the murder scene in the old cistern,” Steinke continues. “You usually pre-light such a set with thousands of columns, taking a minimum of two days, but in our case we only had three hours! So the DP had a very difficult task, especially considering that the columns were standing in the water and that each column has only one spotlight, meaning that we had a lot of light hotspots while the rest was completely dark. Only the new KODAK VISION3 stock could help and it worked fantastically. We worked with a lot of backlights and created the depth effect using colourful Cinegels.”
Although it took a great deal of effort from all concerned, Steinke is clearly delighted with the finished look of the film – and he isn’t the only one. “The result was unbelievable for us and audiences have been flocking in, with rates being so high that the production company, Ziegler Film, has asked for two more movies set in Istanbul!”
|
