From interview [Zinebi Bilbao, 2015]

 

   


JUAN RUIZ-ANCHÍA   ASC

 

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

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

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

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

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