WEISS: How did you get started in cinematography?
LANDAU: I was born in Kfar-Saba, Israel. I always wanted to be a professional soccer player, and even played professionally when I was in my late teens. My father worked as a film producer, so I was always hanging around sets, but never had any thought of working on them. When it was time to enter the Israeli Army, that put an end to my dreams of playing soccer. Three and half years later, after I left, it was very hard to go back and play soccer again. After the army, I wandered around for a while and started working on film crews, first as an electrician. I started to like the feel of filmmaking and worked my way up to 1st assistant cameraman. Then 7 or 8 years after I started, I became a shooter. I shot news, short docs for Channel 1, which is a big television station in Israel- similar to PBS here. I started by shooting on 16 mm film and then on 35 mm. I shot a lot of documentaries about the lives of people in Israel- a documentary on the high tech industry in Israel, political stories like following the campaign of Netanyahu in 1996 and a lot of music videos.
WEISS: What brought you to New England and what has your experience in film been like here?
LANDAU: I came to New England because my wife is from here. I lived here for the first time in 1988 when we got married. I worked as a PA in local companies because people didn’t know who I was. I made good friends that I still have and work with today. I shot a couple of short films for Brad Anderson, the director of NEXT STOP WONDERLAND AND SESSION 9, and another local guy, Brad Jacques, who directed SERIAL INTENTION. Then I was back here in 1992 and shot television for Channel 7 and local production companies like Home, Inc. Most recently, I returned in the summer of 2000. That’s when I started to do DV (digital video) films for the first time. My first experience with DV was DANCE BY DESIGN. It was a great experience because I never thought that you could use these cameras for more than home videos or pre-production. Then I got a chance to shoot two more films on miniDV, NOW AND THEN? directed by Lisa Frenchik and SCRATCHING THE SURFACE directed by Rob Johnson. Then I worked on another feature on this format called LCOAL HONEY directed by Tim Wojick and finally shot two shorts for my old friend from 1988, Dave LaRue- POTLUCK and BIT MY PRETTY LITTLE HEART IN TWO. I also got a chance to work with Hi Definition video when I used the HD900F on Element Production’s shoot of FIVE DAYS TILL SUNDAY at the Newport Film Festival. It is an exciting medium and I hope that I get the chance to work with it more. My experiences since I have been back have been great because I have had a chance to meet wonderful people who are very excited about their work.
WEISS: Wow, that’s a lot of experience with DV. What is it like to work with the digital video and how do you get the picture to look so good?
LANDAU: MiniDV is a small format and very fragile. You can’t work fast. You need to take good care of the lighting and filters and have to work really hard to get a decent quality picture. Digital video is less forgiving than film, so you need to light like you would for film. In fact, you have to do everything like it is for film- rehearse like for film, find the right locations, makeup. You really have to nurture the format. Too many people use it as an instant format. You have to be careful and treat it like it was 35 mm, and work very closely with the picture on the monitor. I shot most of those films using the Canon XL1 camera. The XL1 does not have professional lenses so you have to also be careful about that. Another major problem with shooting video is that everything is sharply in focus. I try very hard to break the video contrast with soft filters and lighting. In the end, with these films, we ended up with very nice pictures and I was pleasantly surprised.
WEISS: What are the major differences between working in Israel and New England in terms of working style, visuals, and inspiration?
LANDAU: In Israel, I worked with the same people all the time. It was like a family run business. It is chaotic on the set. People do it for the love of it, the fun of it, no other reason to do it. I like working here because I am very open-minded and there are so many new things to see and hear, like the language, the music, even the lighting is different. In Israel, it is a harsh desert light. The lighting here is much softer and here it is green outside, while in Israel everything looks burnt. I love to work in the desert because it is an exciting, challenging place. In Israel, I was very interested in doing documentaries because in such a small country all the social issues affected me personally. Also in Israel, there are a variety of immigrants from around the world all living in a small place. Everyday something new is teasing your mind, even though you have lived there all your life!
WEISS: Who are your favorite cinematographers?
LANDAU: My friends from work at Channel 1 are my favorite. They are the ones that exposed me to this great field and have had the most important effect on me. Other favorites include Vittorio Storaro (APOCALYPSE NOW, THE SHELTERING SKY) because he has a very independent way of seeing things, his own language that he created. I met him in Israel once. My other favorite- and again, there are many, but I choose these guys because I saw their work when I was just starting out so they had a big effect on me- is Nestor Almandros (DAYS OF HEAVEN, KRAMER VS KRAMER), a Cuban cinematographer. He also has his own way language that he shoots in. I wish that I could simplify things the same way for myself!