IEC
From interview [Zinebi Bilbao, 2015]
Born: 1949, Bilbao, Spain, as Juan António Ruiz-Anchía.
Education: Escuela Oficial de Cinematografía [EOC], Madrid [graduated in 1972]; American Film Institute [AFI] [1979-1981].
Career: His ph of the AFI-prod 'Miss Lonelyhearts' [1982, Michael Dinner] won an award at the Cannes IFF, was shown on PBS-tv, and launched his career in Hollywood.
Was a member of the AEC. Member of the ASC since January 1991.
Directed the commercial 'El corte ingles' [with actress Sharon Stone].
Awards: Premio 'Goya' [1999] for 'Mararía'; Silver 'Ariel' Award nom [2005] for 'Voces inocentos'; Zinebi 57, Bilbao, 'Mikeldi de Honor' [2015].
'Innocent Voices/Voces inocentes' [2003]: 'Our goal was to portray the civil war in El Salvador as something that could be happening anywhere on the planet,' says Juan Ruiz-Anchía. 'The specifics, how the war is structured, are in the background. We focused instead on how the war immediately affected the living conditions of children. Children see reality in different ways. There are some amusing moments in the film, but we always tried to make the camera a participant in the events, rather than a passive observer.'
The filmmakers used multiple cameras to capture the performances of the children, who were not actors. A recreation of a fierce battle near a school was filmed with as many as seven cameras. That was one of the reasons why [director Luis] Mandoki and Ruiz-Anchía decided to film 'Innocent Voices' in the Super 16mm format combined with a digital intermediate process in post-production. Ruiz-Anchía used a variety of cameras, including ARRI 16SR-3s, usually in combination with zoom lenses. Cameras were often mounted on Steadicam rigs for smooth movement without laying track. He occasionally utilized Lenny arms and other cranes for a more distant perspective, and handheld shots when the mood called for more energy.
Ruiz-Anchía used a variety of stocks including Kodak VISION2 500T 7218 film. 'I was very pleasantly surprised,' says Ruiz-Anchía. 'I never thought the results could be so incredible with a 500-speed film. Shooting conditions were very difficult. We were filming in jungles, mountains and other places with a lot of variation in light. I had to change stocks a lot, especially when I lost the light. But we were able to match everything through the digital intermediate process used in post-production.'
Ruiz-Anchía and his Mexican crew used a large complement of lights including 12K HMIs to recreate sunny conditions during the afternoon and into the evenings. In addition to matching for continuity, he used the digital intermediate process to fine tune special looks for certain situations.
'We wanted to maintain the beauty of the jungles to help emphasize the horrible situation taking place within,' he says. 'In those scenes we went for saturated, lush colors and additional contrast. In other scenes we desaturated colors.'
Ruiz-Anchía said that grain was not a problem. 'We had the option to control the grain digitally, but as you diffuse the grain, you lose sharpness, so we chose not to,' he says. 'I also created many shadows to enhance separation for photographic reasons. This was not a movie where I could take a lot of time for lighting on the set because then you lose that moment. The small, lightweight Super 16mm cameras combined with the ability to improve the look of the images through digital techniques were perfect for this film.'
'I found Super 16mm to be very useful, and I learned a lot from this project. The process will probably continue to improve as film stocks get better and better. When I see a preview or festival screening of the film, it's impossible for the audience to tell it wasn't 35mm.' [From the KODAK inCamera website, April 2005.]
FILMS AT THE EOC | |
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1969 |
El paraíso ortopédico [Patricio Guzmán] still ph; ph: Enrique Banet |
1969 |
Después del tiempo (Experiencias) [Antonio Lara] c.asst; ph: Joaquín Perea |
1972 |
Una escultura [António José Betancor] c; doc/11m |
1972 |
Dos setenta setenta cincuenta y tres, último trabajo [António José Betancor] c; short/22m |
FILMS | |
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1971 |
Noche oscura del alma [Joaquín Hidalgo] b&w; short/18m |
1971 |
Una estoreta velleta [Tomás Aznar] c; doc/13m |
1971 |
Concierto en llamas [Tomás Aznar] c; doc/12m |
1972 |
Desde el paisaje [Manuel Vidal Estévez] b&w; short/14m |
1973 |
Biotopo [Carles Mira] 16mm/c; doc/23m |
1974 |
Módulo '74' [José Esteban Lasala] c; doc/31m |
1974 |
El agua en la vida [Guillermo F. Zúñiga] c; doc/11m |
1976 |
El increíble aumento del coste de la vida [Ricardo Franco] c; short/13m |
1975 |
Un informe para una academia [Carles Mira] c; short/60m |
1976 |
Ciencias naturales [Augusto Martínez Torres] b&w; short/10m |
1976 |
Eh? [Ignacio Amado] b&w; doc/9m |
1976 |
El viaje a Mannheim [Augusto Martínez Torres] c; short/11m; cph: Enrique Díaz de Diego |
1976 |
El desencanto/The Disenchantment [Jaime Chávarri] b&w-c; doc/97m; cph: Teo Escamilla |
1976 |
La historia y la vida extraterrestre [Juan García Atienza & Álvaro Saavedra] c; doc/93m |
1977 |
Chillida [José Esteban Lasala, Rafael Pérez Madero & Tote Trenas] c; doc/10m; cph: Ángel Luis Fernández |
1977 |
Anoche soñé que había vuelto a Manderley [Augusto Martínez Torres] c; short/9m |
1978 |
Espera [Fausto Canel] b&w; short/10m |
1978 |
Mi blanca Varsovia [Javier Quintana] c; short/21m |
1979 |
Érase dos veces... [Iñigo Botas Armendia] c; short/13m |
1979 |
Guerrillero [Juan Piquer] c; short/12m |
1980 |
Un hombre... una ciudad [Joaquín Hidalgo] c; cph: Alfredo Mayo |
1980 |
El regreso [Javier Lucio Ramos] c; short/15m |
1980 |
Tras el mostrador [Jesús Pascual Andrés] c; short/13m |
1981 |
Renacer/Reborn [José Juan Bigas Luna] c; addph: Craig Camp |
1982 |
Sombras de cristal [Felix Murcia] c; doc/11m; cph: Ángel Luis Fernández |
1982 |
Nana para una nube blanca [Jesús Cuadrado] 16mm/c; short/15m; + co-scrpl/co-ed |
1982 |
Pares y nones/Odds and Evens [José Luis Cuerda] c |
1982 |
Valentina [António José Betancor] b&w-c |
1982 |
Miss Lonelyhearts [Michael Dinner] b&w; short/56m; prod AFI; shown as ep of PBS-tv 'American Playhouse'-series |
1983 |
Soldados de plomo/Lead Soldiers/Tin Soldiers [José Sacristán] c |
1983 |
The Stone Boy [Christopher Cain] c |
1983 |
1919 - Crónica del alba [António José Betancor] c |
1983 |
Maria's Lovers [Andrei Konchalovsky] c; 2uc: Hanania Baer |
1983 |
Stephen King's The Woman in the Room [Frank Darabont] c; short/30m; seg of the video 'Stephen King's Nightshift Collection' (+ 'The Boogeyman' dir by Jeffrey C. Schiro & ph by Douglas Meltzer) |
1984 |
Gringo mojado/In 'n' Out [Ricardo Franco] c |
1984 |
George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey [George Stevens Jr.] c; doc/110m; cph: Don Lenzer, Tom Hurwitz, a.o.; see 2001 |
1985 |
At Close Range [James Foley] s35/c |
1985 |
That Was Then… This Is Now [Christopher Cain] c; addph: Bill Carlson |
1985 |
Where the River Runs Black [Christopher Cain] s35/c |
1987 |
House of Games [David Mamet] c |
1987 |
Surrender [Jerry Belson] c |
1987 |
The Seventh Sign [Carl Schultz] p/c; 2uc: Gregg Heschong; vfx ph: Tim McHugh, James Green, Pat Kenly, a.o. |
1987 |
Things Change [David Mamet] c |
1988 |
Lost Angels/The Road Home/Wall Time [Hugh Hudson] c |
1988 |
The Last of the Finest/Blue Heat/Street Legal [John Mackenzie] c |
1989 |
Naked Tango [Leonard Schrader] c |
1990 |
Liebestraum [Mike Figgis] c; 2uc: Andrea Dietrich |
1990 |
Dying Young/The Choice of Love [Joel Schumacher] c; addph: Martin Schaer |
1991 |
Glengarry Glen Ross [James Foley] s35/c |
1991 |
Mr. Jones [Mike Figgis] c; originally scheduled as a project for dir Martin Ritt in 1989 |
1992 |
A Far Off Place [Mikael Salomon (replaced René Manzor)] p/c; 2uc: Mark Koninckx & Peter Robinson; sp vfx: Wade Childress; replaced doph Pal Gyulay three weeks into filming |
1993 |
Two Bits/A Day to Remember [James Foley] p/c |
1994 |
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book [Stephen Sommers] p/c; 2uc: Peter Robertson (India + 'b' cam op & Steadicam op UK/India crew) & Michael Benson (USA); addph 2u USA (+ vfx plate superv): John V. Fante; uwph (India): Mike Valentine; vfx superv: Peter Montgomery |
1995 |
Perdita Durango/Dance with the Devil [José Juan Bigas Luna] announced; filmed in 1996 by dir Álex de la Iglesia and ph by Flavio Labiano |
1995 |
The Adventures of Pinocchio [Steve Barron] p/c; 2uc: Mike Brewster |
1995 |
Death in Granada/The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca/Muerte en Granada [Marcos Zurinaga] p/c; 2uc Spain: Teo Escamilla |
1997 |
Mararía [António José Betancor] scope/c; 2uc: Juan A. Collado |
1998 |
The Corruptor [James Foley] s35/c; 2uc: Craig Haagensen |
1999 |
The Crew [Michael Dinner] c; aph: John Trapman |
2000 |
New Port South [Kyle Cooper] c |
2000 |
Focus [Neal Slavin] c |
2001 |
He Walks in Beauty: The George Stevens Production 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' [Michael Arick] c/V; doc/48m; uses interviews ph by J. Ruiz-Anchía & D. Lenzer (see 1984); other ph: Gerald Cotts, Tom Hurwitz, a.o. |
2001 |
No Good Deed/The House on Turk Street [Bob Rafelson] c |
2001 |
Darkness Falls/Don't Peek [Jonathan Liebesman] s35/c; prologue & end titles ph; ph: Dan Laustsen |
2002 |
Confidence/Confidence: After Dark [James Foley] s35/c |
2002 |
Off the Map [Campbell Scott] c |
2003 |
Spartan [David Mamet] s35/c; 2uc: Alan Caso |
[Right] with dir Luis Mandoki - "Voces inocentes"
2003 |
Voces inocentes/Casas de cartón/Innocent Voices [Luis Mandoki] s16-35bu/c; see above |
2005 |
September Dawn [Christopher Cain] c |
2006 |
Dirty Hands [Cetywa Powell] pre-production; status unknown |
2006 |
Caminando [Daryl Lynn Matthews] scheduled to start shooting in August; status (2009): All major talent and elements are fully committed and standing ready to resume rehearsals and pre-production in Madrid, and Andalusia'; in 2010 ph Vittorio Storaro came on board |
2006 |
Sleepwalking [Bill Maher] c; 2uc: Mark Dobrescu |
2007 |
I Come with the Rain [Anh Hung Tran] HD (Genesis)-to-35mm scope/c |
2008 |
Bunraku [Guy Moshe] s35/c; 2uc: Guy Livneh |
2009 |
Pure Country 2: The Gift [Christopher Cain] c |
2010 |
Blackthorn [Mateo Gil] HD (Sony F23)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c |
2013 |
A Book of Common Prayer [Campbell Scott] pre-production; scheduled to start filming in June 2014; status unknown |
TELEVISION | |
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1984 |
Single Bars, Single Women [Harry Winer] tvm |
1985 |
Noon Wine [Michael Fields] tvm |
2010 |
Outlaw Country [Michael Dinner] pilot/HD; extensive reshoots in 2011 dir by Adam Arkin; for FX-tv (2012) |
2011 |
Phil Spector [David Mamet] tvm/HD (ARRI ALEXA); for HBO-tv |
2015 |
Clan of the Cave Bear [Pierre Morel] pilot/HD; for Lifetime-tv |
MISCELLANEOUS | |
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1970 |
Estado de sitio [Jaime Chávarri; short] 2nd c.asst; ph: Enrique Banet |
2007 |
The Persistence of Memory [dir + prod; feature] announced for August start; status unknown |