Cinematographer Maryse Alberti has had a diverse career shooting everything from TV shows to documentaries and some memorable features like "Velvet Goldmine" and "The Wrestler."
In 2015 she had a busy year, as three of her movies — "The Visit,""Freeheld," and "Creed"— opened while also finding time to help out frequent collaborator Alex Gibney with some additional photography for his hit documentary, "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief."
Alberti took time out from the latest film she's shooting to tell Business Insider three scenes that stand out from the movies she did this year.
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The final fight in "Creed" required a lot of digital effects, 400 lights and 600 feet of green screen.
Everyone was talking about one particular scene in "Creed," where Alberti shot Adonis Creed's first fight with Rocky in his corner in one continuous long shot. But that wasn't the only sequence that stuck out for Alberti.
The final fight between Creed and "Pretty" Ricky Conlan in a huge stadium still needed to feel intimate.
"It was challenging," Alberti told Business Insider. "There was 600 feet of green screen and more than 400 lights. It was challenging to make the fight emotional and show the drama between the two fighters. We had 1,000 extras and the rest of the audience members were digital effects. We wanted to be in the reality of the fighter. A fighter alone in the ring."
"The Visit" had one scene where the children took the camera and filmed it.
For M. Night Shyamalan's low budget thriller "The Visit," Alberti had to use a found-footage style. She says her documentary pedigree didn't help her and in one instance, she just had to hand the camera over to her child actors.
"The one where they crawl underneath the house and the grandmother chases them was the only time we gave the kids the camera," she said. "We tried a camera operator but it never looked right, so we used them and it turned out very nice. I was really happy how that turned out."
Often times to get the right feel they used what was available on a small digital camera.
"At the end of the film where the grandmother is in the bedroom and going completely mad and the girl comes in, we shot that with only the flashlight that was on the camera. Really, all the evening scenes were shot with only that one light."
In "Going Clear," she shot former Scientology member and "Crash" director Paul Haggis at his house
Alberti has done cinematography for numerous Alex Gibney films, but for "Going Clear," she only came in to do some additional photography. Specifically, the interview with former Scientology member, "Crash" director Paul Haggis.
"We did it fairly early on in production, and it's very basic," she said. "I do remember we tried to find a location to shoot him but we ended up just doing it in his house. We did a long lens to blur the background and some dramatic lighting, and I just sat back and listened. It was a great interview. Sometimes not doing much with the camera is the best option."
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