MovieChat Forums > The Beastmaster (1982) Discussion > Beastmaster was shot by a master cinemat...

Beastmaster was shot by a master cinematographer


I think that is one thing that helped it out considerably and set it apart from other lower budget sword period pieces. John Alcott definately knew what he was doing, goes to show you how much a world class DP can help you out. It is a very nice looking film.

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Not only that, but it had great pacing. As a kid, I was mesmerized by this movie. Whereas Conan felt like it dragged on too much in a few spots. Conan was good, but Beastmaster is a cult classic.

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I worked in the art. dept. on Beastmaster, it was my first big feature and a great experience. One of the highlights was working around John Alcott. He was a master of light, and lit almost the entire movie with live flames. He had a series of gas torches and flame bars that he used off camera, as well as the torches you see on camera, and was able to adjust the lighting by turning up or down the gas. It was a brilliant system, but it did get HOT in the warehouse in North Hollywood where we built the interior sets! He was also a sweet and funny man, and nice to work with. He even had a nickname for me, which as a young film buff was pretty cool since he had worked on so many important movies!

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There's a curious thing about John Alcott's cinematography on "The Beastmaster" . He started the film using anamorphic lenses and a 2.40:1 ratio, but had to switch to spherical (Zeiss Superspeed T/1.3) and 1.85:1 after a while, when he found it impossible to get enough depth of field with wide-open anamorphic lenses (he needed to work wide-open in order to be able to use actual flames as keylights). An early outdoor scene shot in anamorphic remains in the finished film, but the rest was shot in standard 1.85:1.

The next year, Alcott was asked to shoot "Greystoke" with a 2.40:1 and then he came up with the Super 35 format (which he called Super Techniscope, after the old Techniscope system made popular by Spaghetti-Westerns back in the 60's, which he felt his format was an improvement) as a way to get the wide aspect ratio without the need of using anamorphic lenses.

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He was Stanley Kubrick's DP on A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, and The Shining. Alcott was a master with a stunning eye.

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A really beautiful movie. It's a shame that essentially it's just a family oriented Conan knock-off, albeit a really inventive one. Stunning cinematography and animals of course.

have a nice life!

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