‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Cinematographer Eric Steelberg Discusses The Latest Installment in the Franchise
FilmSpeak gets an exclusive chat with cinematographer Eric Steelberg about his collaboration with director Gil Kenan on ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’.
Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
Cinematographer Eric Steelberg returns to the world of Ghostbusters with the franchise’s latest installment, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, after working on Ghostbusters: Afterlife with director Jason Reitman.
Director Gil Kenan takes over the franchise from Reitman and wanted to maintain visual continuity from what was established in Afterlife to Frozen Empire, according to Steelberg, who spoke with FilmSpeak .
“Generally speaking, Gil was also interested in continuing the visual approach from Afterlife to Frozen Empire. If there was a big difference between the two, Gil really wanted to maximize the location of New York City, try to capture it as they did in 1984 and 1989, and make it a character.
We also wanted to focus on showing the firehouse because it’s always been a character and a central location for all the movies, but it's never really been explored. And so we talked a lot about shooting the house and how we give fans more access to the firehouse and show them more of it. We spent a lot of time talking about that. In fact, we shot everywhere, including the attic, which nobody ever knew existed, which was a lot of fun. I think focusing on the firehouse and making sure that we open to the city of New York as much as possible not only acts as a reminder that ghostbusting is back in New York but also just how much of a character it plays in the Ghostbusters universe.”
In showcasing the firehouse, one particular shot follows Phoebe Spengler (Mckenna Grace) as she goes down the firepole to the kitchen, which Gil Kenan envisioned in one of the first meetings he had with Steelberg:
“He actually scripted the single shot of the camera following Phoebe down the fire pole. That happens in the beginning, and it helps to start the movie with a certain amount of energy, showing that we're in the firehouse and not going to try to do any tricks like blending sets. We wanted to show the audience that we were in one big two-story structure, and there were no blends or anything that we could connect different parts of it. That was a fun way to do that early on and for real.
“It was very difficult. We spent much time figuring out how to do it and set it up. Ultimately, it combined stunt camera operators, regular camera operators, pulleys, and stabilized cameras. It was pretty fun to try and figure that out.”
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire also goes back to the early 1900s, as its opening scene immediately establishes the threat of Garraka (Ian Whyte). In shooting the flashback, Steelberg explained that it gave him the opportunity to do something completely new in the Ghostbusters franchise:
“The flashback was very exciting to read because it gave us a whole different texture and palette that we hadn't been able to explore before in Ghostbusters. It was really fun trying to figure out how to make something feel old and part of a Ghostbusters film. You don't want to make it really easy to make it feel old and dramatic – like a period movie.
We talked about how we could make this scene feel elevated and fun. For me, it was figuring out how to control the color and what the camera movements would be. It was fantastic. Shooting it in the UK certainly lent itself to those older, old-timey locations we found, which worked well for us. When we actually got in the room, that was a set built on stage, designed by Eve Stewart, our amazing production designer. We shot that scene before the movie's finale, which obviously involves a lot of ice, and it was our first big set that was supposed to look cold. I talked a lot about how to make a location look cold, beyond ice spears and things like that, which was a challenge. But through conversations with the special effects team, we devised a plan, and I think it worked well.”
During the interview, FilmSpeak and Steelberg also discussed the challenges of having a second unit crew film in New York while the main unit is in the United Kingdom, the process of shooting Phoebe’s possession, the firehouse climax, and more.