Vanity Fair : The Hitchcock Portfolio
Art Streiber Recreates Famous Hitchcock Movie Moments for Vanity Fair and Casts DigitalFusion in the Supporting Role.
| Client: | Vanity Fair |
| Photographer: | Art Streiber |
| Subjects: | Seth Rogen, Emile Hirsch and James McAvoy |
Perhaps one of the most famous scenes in all of movie history is the the chilling bi-plane scene in North by Northwest in which Carey Grant is chased by a dive bombing biplane in the middle of an open field. Recreating this shot was an exacting challenge for Vanity Fair regular Art Streiber and DigitalFusion.
In the March issue of Vanity Fair, Streiber not only recreated the bi-plane chase, but also tackled the intimate lunch meeting between co-conspirators from Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train. For both shots, Streiber insisted that every detail be perfect, from finding the right location, to mimicking the composition, lighting and final color of both originals.
North by Northwest — Photograph by Art Streiber.
See the original still: Cary Grant. MGM/Photofest.
"These were absolutely two of the coolest assignments any photographer could get," says Streiber. "When I got the call from Vanity Fair to recreate North by Northwest and Strangers on a Train, I went to work watching the DVD's in order to study Hitchcock’s lighting and POV’s, and to get at the character’s motivation so that I could appropriately motivate the actors in front of my camera.”
Getting the shot. Photograph by Elaine Browne.
That was just the beginning of the process for Streiber, who precisely researched vintage costumes and props in order to pay homage to the famous movie director. Shooting with DFPro gave Streiber the freedom and flexibility to concentrate on capturing just the right moment as seen in the films.
"DigitalFusion shows up with all the right gear and expertise and it really helps make my shoots go smoothly." says Streiber. Natalie Moy of DF·Pro recalls, "When Art told me about the shoots — I knew that this was going to be an amazing project. We assigned Art one of our experienced digital technicians and prepared our doubly redundant camera and lens package so Art had a the entire range of digital medium format lenses at his disposal. That way he would be covered once he chose to shoot wide, medium, or close-up. It was also crucial that he had backup gear ready to go on set — we wanted him to feel secure in knowing that he was being completely supported by our company."
That support also came in handy when Streiber wanted to review and share the work with his team while he was capturing it. Streiber continues, "It was critical that we be able to review the biplane images while we were shooting them because the framing need to be so precise — I wanted it to be very compelling and authentic with Seth Rogan as Carey Grant, seeing the fear in his eyes because the bi-plane was strafing him all afternoon. Seeing it immediately on the monitor gave us all the peace of mind to know we were getting what we wanted"
Strangers on a Train — Photograph by Art Streiber.
See the original still: Farley Granger and Robert Walker. Warner Brothers/Photofest.
When it came time to edit his work, Streiber logged in to his DF Studio account and began sifting through the shoots. He was able to edit and send his selects in a matter of hours, and the Vanity Fair team responded to the image messengers with notes for post production.
The files then went to DigitalFusion photoshop artist Angie Kershaw. Angie carefully controlled the contrast and shading to enhance the vintage lighting effects Streiber had created on set. “We played the original film along side the monitor as we worked, and Art paused to get screen shots of the precise moments that we were chasing. We worked together to finesse the digital files to closely match the iconic Hitchcock frames. Art's attention to detail is amazing! We worked diligently to ensure that we took that as far as we could so that the images are authentic and true to the scenes in the original films.”
You can see more about this amazing shoot at the Vanity Fair website:
Web special: Video from the making of the Hollywood Portfolio.
Plus: The portfolio images, and the stills that inspired them.
For more of Art Streiber's work, visit: artstreiber.com