I'm still blown away by this scene in The Master
I'm still stunned by how incredible this scene looks, as if it were truly lifted straight from the 1950's.
Because his usual cinematographer Robert Elswit was unavailable, Paul Thomas Anderson worked with Romanian DP Mihai Malaimare Jr. (who had been recommended by Francis Ford Coppola) for The Master.
A great rundown on how it all happened
>*Malaimare explains how he tested many lenses so they could switch back and forth between the two formats and not notice a difference. They deliberately went for a very narrow depth of field. Hassleblad and Schneider lenses were Panavised to use with the 65mm cameras. They also used super speeds said to have been used by Gordon Willlis, an 80mm East German lens from 1960’s “ that was very sharp and had some nice flares” while parts of the movie were shot with a set of 35mm Zeiss Jena spherical lenses and a set of Zeiss Ultra Speeds MK IIs. Some location scenes were shot with a 19mm Kowa lens, and an Olympus 24mm lens. For close ups and for the portraiture, they used the 300mm lens which was a Hasselblad telephoto lens with Zeiss optics.*
>*Most of the film was photographed on Kodak Vision3 50D (5203) and Kodak Vision3 200T (5213), but for some scenes and the night work, he used Kodak Vision3 250D (5207) and Kodak Vision3 500T (5219). They did extensive testing (with lenses, formats, film stocks) but Malaimare says he relies on his experience working with film emulsions and this also helps him determine the lighting package. On the 200 T stock, they were shooting wide open at 2.8, which of course presented challenges to his focus puller especially when shooting on the 300mm lens.*
>*The lighting package included : 18K HMI Arri Maxes, 12K HMI Pars, HPL Maxi Brutes, 4K HMI’s, 2K Blondes, many 10K’s, 8 x 20K’s, 1K Pars, 9 Light Maxis, 1000 Watt Chinese Pancakes, VHO 120 Lite Ribbon LED’s, 100 Watt Dedo Lights, 500 Watt Rifas, LED Based Kino Celebs, 12X12 Light grids, Kino Flo practicals, clip lights and 200 Watt tungsten bulbs. Malaimare’s lighting package on The Master was much heavier than those on his digitally captured or low budget projects, but necessary to work with the slow film stocks negatives and not inappropriate for a $ 30million budget .*