Eaglewing Enterprises — Eagle's View Report

Robert McLachlan knows a thing or two about TV. As a cinematographer with dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship — and both ASC and CSC credentials — he's been a key player on shows including ABC's MacGyver and Fox's recent Pasadena. His work on Fox's Millennium earned him three CSC Awards for outstanding cinematography and three ASC nominations in the same category. He divides his time among episodic television, TV commercials and movies-of-the-week, and feature film work, generally with a genre edge [Black Christmas, Final Destination and Final Destination 3]. He recently served time as second-unit director and cinematographer on the massive New Line production of The Golden Compass as well as photographing miniatures for Journey 3D, an upcoming 24p HD release.

But right now he's hard at work on NBC's Bionic Woman, a re-imagining of a TV classic that's throwing its crew some curveballs — the creative team and the visual style were dramatically revamped in the weeks leading up to its premiere this week. McLachlan didn't shoot the show's original pilot, which aired last night, but he did handle the extensive reshoots that were done to retool the story and characters and is shooting subsequent episodes.

Film & Video caught up with McLachlan on the set last weekend, as he was shooting tests to gauge the effect of swapping out the show's 35mm cameras for a more lightweight 16mm arsenal, a potential strategy to match the show's new handheld look. He talked cameras and lenses, described a signature lighting effect he developed on Millennium [and later used for Jet Li movie The One] that uses strobes to add a unique texture to action scenes, and talked candidly about his new mandate to forget about making the show look pretty.

As F&V went to press, McLachlan emailed to say, "I have seen the cut of our first episode and, apart from some lighting issues on the leads, I'm quite happy with it. It seems to be working and everyone is now quite happy."