Exclusive Photo: Unit Still Photographer Dale Robinette Provides a Sneak Peek at ‘Wonder’

CHICAGO – When we last caught up with “Uncle Dale” Robinette – Unit Still Photographer in Los Angeles – it was Oscar time in February of this year, and he talked to HollywoodChicago.com [20] about his iconic “dancing” photo from “La La Land.” Well, Uncle Dale is back to provide an Exclusive Photo as a preview to the new film “Wonder,” opening nationwide on November 17th, 2017.

“Wonder” features Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Mandy Patinkin and Jacob Tremblay (“Room”), and is a warm family story of a boy (Tremblay), seeking acceptance in a new town after a series of operations for a facial disfigurement. It is based on a novel by R.J. Palacio, directed by Stephen Chbosky (“The Perks of Being a Wallflower”) and one of the screenplay adapters is Steve Conrad, a writer living in Chicago.

Action! ‘Wonder’ Opens Nationwide on November 17th
Photo credit: Dale Robinette for Lionsgate

Dale Robinette has plied his skills in Hollywood as a Unit Still Photographer since 1988, after a career as a stage and television actor in New York and Los Angeles. Starting as a photographer with a TV short called “The Big Five” (1988), he has worked his way up the ladder, and has built an impressive photo resume through familiar films like “Donnie Darko,” “Thank You for Smoking,” “Southland Tales,” “Red,” “W.,” “Up in the Air,” “The Help,” “Draft Day” and of course, “La La Land.”

The photo is of a modern “slate” or clapperboard. Its purpose grew to importance in the early days of sound films, when the picture and audio were recorded separately, and needed to be synchronized. The “clap” of the slate board was shown to the camera before each take of a scene (with the scene information written in chalk), and then in post production visual and sound were brought together by matching the film of the clap with the sharp sound it made on the audio track. The modern clapperboard shown in Dale Robinette’s picture includes time code information.

[21]	By PATRICK McDONALD [22] Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com [21]