Ballhaus代表作品：
The Departed (2006)
Gangs of New York (2002)
Air Force One (1997)
The Age of Innocence (1993)
Goodfellas (1990)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
The Color of Money (1986)
Ehe der Maria Braun, Die (1979)
Chinesisches Roulette (1976)
Faustrecht der Freiheit (1975)
Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant, Die (1972)
采访手记：
2007年6月19日，拐得导师处请柬一张，上书“海顿博士邀您出席德国电影周开幕酒会”，心想，采访不成可以蹭饭一桌，何乐而不为？遂邀好友独角兽欣然前往。
到时于前台接待处捞得日后采访重要伪装道具——名片夹一副（走时见接待处没人又顺势捞了几个，嘿嘿）；刚要进官邸，只见旁边大大咧咧目中无人一中年妇女直闯官邸，被接待小姐拦住，询问来路，要求出示证件；只见那人头也不回说道：“我是王安忆。”小姐一时没得要领，继续要求其出示证件，那人有点急了：“我是作家协会的，我是王安忆！”此时从后面上来一撮人解围，对接待小姐好言劝道：“她是领事请来的嘉宾，请柬在这里。”小姐这才作罢，放其入内。我回头问好友独角兽道：“王安忆是谁？”独角兽脸作不屑状，“写《长恨歌》的那B。”我恍然大悟，“哦！前两天学姐还和我说有媒体把《讨人嫌的松子的一生》比作日版《长恨歌》来着！”两人边走边捧腹大笑一场。
到了会场草坪一看，端的是一个好去处，旁边管乐齐奏，席间嘉宾觥筹交错，两边列着一排餐桌，桌上那些个山珍海味往外直冒着那白气，只教人胃痒，今日粒米未进早已饥肠辘辘的我顺手抢起餐桌上刀叉一副，盘子一张，直冲那肉堆而去，忽而前面闪出一拉丁厨师，长相酷似那《快餐帝国》中肉厂工头，满脸严肃道，“Not started yet.”我万般无奈只得放下手中家伙，往西面酒肆处拿得德国啤酒一杯，抓起便往嘴里送，那真是甚为难咽。
须臾，海顿博士上台发表演讲，将嘉宾一一请上，而亏得我眼尖，扫到昔日学校老友Lothar Spree教授也方赶到，遂上前几句寒暄后，便单刀直入道明来意，并问今日嘉宾动向，但教授却说，“罢了罢了，我也初来此地，人生地疏，情况未必有你熟悉。”失望沮丧之余，只见台上海顿博士忽然嗓门来了个高八度，喊道，“各位来宾，德国著名摄影师Ballhaus先生也来到了现场！！！”台下众人遂响起有气无力掌声一片，博士悻悻然下了台。教授使来一个眼色，道，“你果真要采访此人？”我立马接上一句，“那还有假？！”话音刚落，只见于后排的教授如张飞般撇开众人，我紧随其后于万马丛中取得上将跟前。教授递上名片一张与Ballhaus先生，随后表明了我们的来意，激动之余，我顺口操上德语一句，“Konnen Sie mit mir auf Englisch Sprechen？”Ballhaus先生满口答应，我等便三下五除二将来意一一表明，然后在教授的带路下，绕过席间众人，潜入了领事官邸内部。
由于时间仓促，采访进行了40分钟。老先生未得吃上一口，便马不停蹄杀回影城，可谓“鞠躬尽瘁”，尔等晚辈钦佩的紧。访后，我和好友徜徉大街，顿觉舒爽，而独角兽忽然回头一句，“你饿么？”我恍然大悟！俩人又收起步伐，杀回了领事官邸饕餮一顿遂才作罢。
送上详细访谈内容，英文版见下，中文版见链接处。[中英文有些许出入]
时间：2007年6月19日 11：40－12：15
地点：德国驻上海领事馆
采访者：谋杀电视机、独角兽
采访稿整理：magasa、云中、谋杀电视机
校对整理：magasa、谋杀电视机
采访组织协调、摄影：Prof.Lothar Spree（同济大学传播与艺术学院 教授）
Moviegoer(MG for short):A late congratulation, for you receiving the 2007 ASC International Achievement Award.
Ballhus：Thank you very much.
MG:Your parents and uncle are stage actors.
Right, that’s correct
MG:What is the influence of your family's artistic tradition on your later motion picture career?
I grew up in a theatre company in Germany. When I was a young boy, I wanna become an actor like every young kid who grows up on stage. Then when I was 18, I had the chance to watch a movie shot, the movie Lola Montes, directedby Max Opüls. So that was a major event for me,and that was like a turning point.So,from that moment on, I knew that I wanna become a cinematographer.
MG:The Departed was the first feature digital intermediate(DI) for you, what do you think the high-end digital technique can do to improve the visual image quality of movie? Whether it can increase your power as a cameraman?
It depends on the subject. It depends on the movie. I know that when Marty did his last movie before that(The film Mr.Ballhaus mentioned here is The Aviator)what was the title, it doesn’t matter. On The Departed, we didn’t have a lot of work to do on the DI. For two reasons, one is that we didn’t have much time because Marty was shooting until his last minute, and then, the timer, the colorist who did the DI, he looked at all the dailies of the movie, and basically transmitted that into the DI, so when we saw the print, it looked almost perfect. So normally you shot there for like 3 or 4 weeks, then we did it in 3 sections in New York, and there was it. So we didn’t do a lot of changes, because the dailies look so perfect, and what I like to do as much as possible in camera and so is with the lighting, and not much to rely on the DI to change things later.
MG:The editing of The Departed is very fast, statistically the average shot length of roughly 2.7 seconds. I think that I can greatly influence the camera movement, when the camera moves a bit, there comes a cut, again and again, so the viewer may feel some discomfort occasionally. As we all know, Mr. Martin Scorsese has been always fascinated with and skillful in camera movement, is there any conflict between shooting and editing? If so, how would you and Marty solve it?
I had the same feeling as you that there were no movements in the movie anymore, because they cut so short. And sometimes I missed it and was, you know, little sad that all the great moves that we had in the movie were gone, but on the other hand, the movie was too long, and he had to cut down to 2.5hrs which was already long, because the studio said they wanted only a 2hrs movie. So he just cut very short and I think it helped the story, because it was going fast, you didn't have time to think and I think it was part of the success of the movie that it was so fast. And that wasn’t important for Marty, but it was a little sad for me.[smile]
MG:Unlike the films Scorsese made before,since The Color Of Money, we observe that there are less and less movements particularly in conversation scenes, the actors only sit or stand to deliver their lines, but more and more cuttings instead. Let's trace back to GoodFellas, maybe that's his turning point. Sorsese once said that the film was sort of his MTV, in despite of an old-fashioned one.And did you notice any changes in his storyboard or shooting-script these years around?
It depends a little on the subject, on the story. You’ve remembered Goodfellas,it wasn’t cutting very fast,but it was still kind of slow in The Age of Innocence. And had still a lot of movements, but then it got a little faster in Gangs of New York. It was cut already very fast, almost too fast I felt,[smile]because again we lost a lot of. It’s always the problem, because when you do a movie with Marty, he always shoot like a 5-hour movie, and then he had to cut it down to 2.5hrs, and that was always the problem.[smile]He wants to keep everything, because he loves every shot. And that makes them very short, but I think for The Departed, it worked, the style worked. It was fast and it was OK.
MG:How do you keep your own visual style?(If I might say so.)In the choice of camera,film-stock,lens and movement and so on, are all these technical details nearly the same in every film you made?
No, I mean I change. I always update my equipments, so to speak. When I worked with the lastest and best equipment,the last couple of movies I shot with the Arri-Cam, which is the best camera on the market I think. I always worked with the best lenses,so on the last movie I used the Master Primes,the new generation of the Zeiss 1.4,lenses who are the best and execellent.And in general,I always say that I don’t have a style because that all my movies should look a little bit different,because when you look at The Goodfella and The Age of Innocence,that’s a big difference.
MG:Pardon me,so that means in every Marty’s movie,they’re different.
Yes.
MG:They don’t have the same style in your opinion?
No,the style is always a little different.You know like Goodfellas,it’s a very dirty movie in a way:it has dirty lighting,and The Age of Innocence is very rich and very elegant. So it’s always different style,and The Departed is a different style again. So it’s never the same,and I hope every movie looks a little bit different.[smile]
MG:How do you design your shooting plan?How do you coincidence with the lighting and art-direction staffs?
I normally have like 10 weeks’ preparation,and normally Marty does a very elaborate shot-list,so once I get the shot-list,I can prepare myself how to do it,what the equipment I need for that,how I think about the lighting,and all that.So then I start with the prodution designer,I start to talk with the costume department,and then I talk to my crew:to the gaffer,to the key grip,and we prepare elaborately the shooting, like for instance,on The Departed,we started it on stage, the police station,did you see the movie?
MG:Yeah.
So in the police station,that was all built on a stage,so we pre-lit the whole stage for like 2 weeks,and everything was ready to go.We had lights in every room,the whole set with lit.so was there short time to get ready for the shooting.
MG:Does there any changes in transferring the framework or storyboard into actual shooting?
We don’t do a lot of storyboarding,because you know I shot 7 movies with Martin Scorsese,and he does that as a shot-list.That tells me everything,so I don’t need to have a storyboard.I know the frames,and where to find the frames and we’re very much in think on that.
MG: What's your opinion about the use of light,do you prefer using more light to make your images more delicacy?(The depth of field.)
Well,I don't believe much in depth of field,normally shooting stuff on stage it’s more like between 2.8 and 4,I am not the big fan of that like a lot of depth of field,if I am outside,I never shoot that with an 11 or so.I always felt it down if it’s too bright,like the high stop I uses probably between 5.6 and 8.It depends also on the lens a little bit,if it’s a long lens sometimes,you have to use an 8 or so,but……
MG:I know that Marty likes complex following track shots?How do you together made the brilliant works as the famous following shots in the street fighting scene in Gangs Of New York ,and the ballroom scene in The Age of Innocence.I think it’s very complex.
It’s very complex,and it’s very complicated.It was done with Steadycam.Very good Steadycam operator who did that,and we like this kind of long moves going through,like the ballroom and see the paintings from all that,but the next shot inside the ballroom is a tracking shot and goes around and around,and around,and introduce all the different characters.
MG:How many cameras did you use in German, only one or more?
I normally in Germany used one camera most of the time.In America,I always have two cameras on the truck,or 3 cameras.But as much as possible I’m using one camera.Only for scenes like two actors don't repeat their lines the same way,I try to do with two cameras,the two over-shoulders,specially with Jack Nicholson and Leonardo scenes,most of them I did with 2 cameras.
MG:What's the difference in shooting a wide-screen film and a academy-ratio one?
I normally use shot that not with anamorphic lenses,but with the regular lenses.For two reasons:one reason is that the anamorphic lenses,they’re not as many lenses,and they’re not very fast.They started 2.8,sharpfully you have always do 5.6 or 8 which I hate,and also you need a lot more light.What I do I shot it in super 35,so called “common-top”,that means I moved the frame up,so that the top,the head……
Yes.Then I have things on the bottom,like very much on the bottom and much on top.[smile]And when it goes to television,I just open up the bottom and use that part,so that the composition stays the same,that the top of the scene and the sides,the basic of the scene sometimes you move in a little.If you shot anamorphic,not a one-frame and if you go to television,not one composition is the same.because always panning and scanning,so that I hate that,because that’s not my image anymore.
MG:Let's talk about the Germany film tradition, a generation of filmmakers like Volker Schlöndorff, Fassbinder or you, where to place the old Germany masters in your film pantheon, for example, Max Ophüls and Fritz Lang?
They perhaps like,if I told,a big influence on my career,because I like these movies a lot,I like the old masters in Germany.But later then,when I started my career,I was more influenced by the nouvelle vague in France and by the Italian movies.
MG:The Neo-Realism.
Yeah,the realism.And by the cinematographers like (I’m very bad with names)the famous Swedish cinematographer Sven Nykvist.I like his works a lot and I saw all his movies.And I like,you know the nouvelle vague cameraman and the Italian cameraman,so I watched a lot of movies and did never go to the film school.I shot my first movie when I was 25,and learned by doing it.[smile]
MG:It seemed that Fassbinder's mise-en-scene style is so much alike the German "Klappe Filme",putting all the characters and conflicts in a room or inner space. Die Bitter Tränen der Petra Von Kant is one of the representation.How do you design the framework with Fassbinder in this film whose scene is just a single-room with 2 hours?
It was not easy.[laugh]We shot the movie in 10 days.The budget was 200,000 DM.And we had to figure out what’s possible in a room like that,but we managed to do a pretty good job I think,because (it’s) very stylized,very composite.And we had very little shots with very long shots you know.The dance sequence was alike 4 minutes,we had like 4 shots in this movie that with 4 minutes long.So total of this whole movie has 112 shots.And compared to The Departed,to this movie has 800 or thousands cuts.[laugh]
MG:Fassbinder once confirmed that he got influence from Douglas Sirk's films in his late works,could you tell some technical changes in his late works,comparing with his early works,because of that influence?
His early works,from the camera style,fairly steadic,and not very elaborate in a way.Once we started working together,it got more and more movement into the scene.He was very ambitious and he always asked me what would you do,and I always said the idea what to do and he always wanna to be better,and he always made it more exiting,so I got better in my ideas,so he got better.So we (would be) kind of climbed-up.[laugh]The movies got more and more sophisticated in the move I think.When you look at The Marriage of Maria Braun.It’s a pretty sophisticated moves and compositions,and all that which I liked a lot.
MG:Could you tell me some details about your shooting in Maria Braun?
Yeah, The Marriage of Maria Braun was not a very easy movie for me,because he was not into it.He didn’t want to shoot that movie.[laugh]Funny enough.Because he wanna to shoot Berlin Alexanderplatz.He was writing the scripts for Berlin Alexanderplatz in 3 months,and his brain was filled with that,so when he came to the set like a daily-forward we started to shooting,because the producers scared to him so they said “OK,if you don’t come,I direct it.”Then he came the next day,so he said to me,”Look,I can’t tell you every shot in Berlin Alexanderplatz but what are we doing here?”[laugh]So he looked around the location,and found some he like,and some he didn’t.He said “What that is!You wanna shoot this here?” “Yeah,why not?It’s right for the time and the period.”He said,”It’s boring,let’s do it somewhere else.”[laugh]So there were a lot of changes,and he was on drugs,you know.He was writing the scripts on cocaine.And so it wasn’t easy because he changed his mind a lot,but finally it was a good movie and it was a brilliant movie.And then he slowly came on board,and then it went OK.You know the later it went in the process of the movie the better,and……Yeah,that was my last movie with him.
MG:Maybe that’s not your last (coorperation) with him,you still were as a cameraman in Lily Marleen,but you’re uncredit.
不对，《莉莉·马莲》是他一个人拍摄的，没有我的份。
MG:Yeah?But some articles said you’re one of the cinematographers.
不是的，不对。
MG:Well,let’s go back to the Douglas Sirk.Did he sometimes insist on shooting some visual motives like the mirror,or something?
He did insist,and he did it he had to insist.I like it very much to shoot in mirrors and so.While in thinking on that,that we both liked mirrors,we both liked a lot of depth in the frame and a lot of different angles.So I liked it very much what you wanna to do there.It was difficult sometimes,but I never was shy of doing difficult shots,so……
MG:In the late 1970s and early 1980s, many leading European cinematographers, for example, Robby Müller, Néstor Almendros, Sven Nykvist, Vittorio Storaro,of course and you went to Hollywood, some critics exclaimed foreign lensers dominates Hollywood, the question is what are you able to do in Hollywood but cannot do in Europe and, in contrary, what are the advantages for a cameraman in Europe over in Hollywood? And which place can make you more comfortable?
The difference between Europe and Hollywood is that you have lots more money in America,because the budgets are very very big.In Europe the budgets are limited.So that limit is also your possibilities what you can do.So what I liked a lot when I started working in the States that there’s no limitation in technical things.If you want to create,if you want Steadycam,and if you wonna helicopiter you can have it if it's good for the story.In Germany,they always said that “we don’t have it in the budget”,so (for)your limitation,you don’t think wide anymore,if your cost were limited.That was the biggest experience I had when I started working,even in low budget.That films in America when I started.The difference is that sometimes you have to compromising your lighting because if you work with stars,in Hollywood stars have to look beautiful.OK,I did that and it worked.[smile]But in Europe,it's more about the story,it's more about the substance of the script.And it’s not important that the stars in Berlin always look beautiful,even if she was very sad or whatever.So these are the little compromise what you have to do,but you know,I’ve worked with wonderful directors in America and I was very lucky doing like 38 movies in 25 years with the best directors,and had a lot of fun.And I couldn’t have had that chance in Europe,no way.
MG:The last question, many cinematographers like to direct few films himself, but you didn't, except for a TV documentary, why?
Because I always felt that I worked with the best directors in America,and I never know if I could do a job as good as them,why should I change,because I like my job,and I was always partner to the director.And I never was a frustrated D.P.(director of photography),and if I had worked with the bad directors,I would probably had to start directing very soon in my career.But because if you worked with the best,why change?Why do something else that you don’t know if you’re good at?What I did,I thought,it was OK what I did.
So that’s it!I have to go.
MG:Thank you for your interview.Looking forward to your next film.
OK,it was a very very good interview,very much about my works.
MG:Cuz I am one of your fans,thank you very much.Porfessor.（Prof.Lothar Spree）
终于得见这篇采访了。
