By Jack Messitt, SOC
Sons of Anarchy is an adrenalized, darkly humorous drama starring Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal and Ron Pearlman. The one hour episodic airing on FX follows a notorious outlaw motorcycle club’s intent on protecting the simple, sheltered town of Charming, Calif. from advancing drug dealers and local corporate developers.
To help define the visual language of the show’s first season, producers brought in veteran Cinematographer Paul Maibaum (Samantha Who, My Boys).
“The executives liked what they did visually on the pilot (shot by Jonathan freeman and Ed Pei),” says Maibaum. “So my job was to emulate that look for them; dark and edgy. The majority of the show is handheld and the bottom line is speed.”
To help him with this task, Maibaum brought in David Frederick, SOC (My Boys, Women’s Murder Club) on the A-camera [after Mike Rintoul, who operated the pilot, had left for another project] and Steve Fracol, SOC (Land of the Lost, Tyson) for B-camera and steadicam.
“SOA is a very physical show,” admits Fracol. “We are handheld with a 150mm one second, steadicam the next. Then you’ll find yourself on the geared head. There is no specific lens this show uses. It really covers the whole map.”