Bones shoots with ARRI Alexa cameras, Optimo zooms and Leica primes. Lonsdale’s two operators use 120EX OConnor heads, supplied by Otto Nemenz, and set them up in completely different configurations. Greg Collier, A-camera/2nd unit DP will tighten the drag quite a bit and operate that way. Andy Shuttleworth, B-camera/Steadicam, keeps his head very loose. “Still, they both do beautiful work,” Lonsdale said.
To keep the series fresh, he often puts his cameras in very challenging positions, especially on shots where the lead actors are investigating some sort of grizzly death. “This is often where the strength of the heads allows us to use the long lenses and to put my Z-plate on the head and hang it upside down with the camera, complete with zoom, skimming across the ground for many shots,” he explained.
“And, I’ve gone to other extremes, putting the camera eye level with water in a stream or lake and have put down a tripod and the OConnor head – all underwater. It was simple. I knew the head would continue to work and that my camera would be supported,” he added.
Bones, a darkly amusing procedural drama based on real-life forensic anthropologist and novelist Kathy Reichs, opened its eighth season on Fox Jan. 14. New episodes air Mondays at 8 p.m.
