DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY MARK SCHWARTZBARD (LEFT) OBSERVES THAT “FOR ALL THE TALK ABOUT CAMERAS AND LENSES, THE BEST SCENES IN THE FILM ARE JUST WHEN THE CAMERA GETS OUT OF THE WAY. THIS MOVIE LIVES AND DIES ON THE CHARISMA OF THESE ACTORS.”
“First AD Mark Anthony Little was phenomenal,” Schwartzbard describes. “We’re all over New York City throwing water around, and Mark has it all in a scheduling grid. Camera and Art needed to make sure there were various levels of the storm at various times of the day and night and with different characters. These locations – for Mae’s apartment, for Michael’s brother’s apartment where Mae and Michael end up the night of the storm and for Christina’s Eames Soho loft – were all selected so that we would feel the storm happening outside. That meant massive amounts of windows and having to really shoot at night instead of being able to tent.” Five lifts were positioned on the darkened street: two Condors with Rain Spiders on them, two Condors with backlights, one at the north end of the block and one at the south end of the block, along with a scissor lift for Ritter fans to blow all the water at the windows (which also meant they had to be careful of the locations they chose because they’d need to withstand the water pressure). “It was definitely a challenge,” Newell imparts. “Those windows [were there] by design to really feel the storm rain and wind, but it was tricky to find a way to backlight the rain without polluting the
apartment with stray light. We used a few lifts as lighting platforms to get the right angles and also lit from the street at the fourth-floor level. Also, all that glass made for a reflection nightmare, so we had to carefully hide the interior lighting with some well-placed practicals; Mark’s batterypowered Quasars came in handy.” Newell helped to keep the interior tonally warm against the cold storm outside with what Schwartzbard calls their “go-to interior light,” a booklight with a SkyPanel S60 off muslin and diffusing through an 8-by-8-foot or 6-by-6-foot grid cloth. Beyond the complex technical aspects was the central goal of everyone eager to help Meghie bring these characters to life with empathy – with hopes and dreams, loves and losses, portrayed by actors shown in a new light. “This is a drama,” Meghie concludes, “and Issa and Lakeith are both more known for their comedy work. Sometimes it can be jarring to see them together, so it was important to create a world that felt uniquely theirs. [I think this film] feels fresh [and sexy], you know? Like they’re meant to be in that timeframe [with a] deep attraction, and how connected they are through the movie. Everything we did was to push that story forward – of them falling for each other despite themselves.”
LOCAL 600 CREW Director of Photography Mark Schwartzbard A-Camera Operator/Steadicam Rod Calarco, SOC A-Camera 1st AC Zach Rubin A-Camera 2nd AC Chris Cafaro B-Camera Operator Rob Pagliaro B-Camera 1st AC Paul Colangelo B-Camera 2nd AC Derrick Dawkins Loader Christina Carmody Still Photographer Sabrina Lantos
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