Cinematography World March 2021 (CW002)

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THE ART AND CRAFT BEHIND THE CAMERA

ISSUE 002 MARCH 2021

INSIDE THIS ISSUE SYLVAINE DUFAUX•JESS HALL BSC•NEWTON THOMAS SIGEL ASC•STURLA BRANDTH GRØVLEN DFF•ANDREW DUNN BSC•KIA FERN LITTLE BEN FORDESMAN•LACHLAN MILNE ACS NZCS•DAMIÁN GARCÍA•FEDERICO CESCA ASK•PAULA HUIDOBRO AMC•SEAN BOBBITT BSC

ISSUE 002•CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD Surround yourself only with positivity… that’s what will drive you to success DP Joel Honeywell

Editor-in-Chief RON PRINCE ronny@cinematography.world Special Consultant ALAN LOWNE alan@cinematography.world Editorial Assistant KIRSTY HAZLEWOOD kirsty@cinematography.world Advertising Manager CLAIRE SAUNDERS claire@cinematography.world Subscriptions & Social Media CHLOÉ O’BRIEN chloe@cinematography.world Art Director IAN SHERBORN artwork@cinematography.world Web Manager IAIN HAZLEWOOD iain@cinematography.world CONTACT US News hello@cinematography.world Ad sales & Subscriptions +44 (0) 1428 746 377 Artwork artwork@cinematography.world +44 (0) 1428 746 375 www.cinematography.world EDITORIAL TEAM Ron Prince has over three decades of experience in the film, TV, CGI and VFX industries, and has written about cinematography for 20 years. In 2014, he won the ARRI John Alcott Award from the BSC. He also runs the international content marketing and PR communications company Prince PR.

THE GREAT I hope you have all been keeping well since we last met through these pages.

I am delighted to announce that Alan Lowne, a well-known industry veteran, fount of knowledge and connections, has now joined our cohort as a special consultant. Having previously worked with Alan for the best part of 20 years, being reunited with him is a great boost as we extend our mission to further embrace the cinematographic community worldwide.

Speaking of which, we have been overwhelmed by the active interest, generous support and positive comments we have received, from far and wide, towards our growing venture in print and online.

From a standing start, and with a purpose to be diverse and inclusive, these are heart-warming rewards that we truly treasure. Thank you. But, perhaps the most important thing we are seeing is the industry steadily returning to work, in no short measure through the resolve, determination and courage of filmmaking collaborators in what are exceptional and difficult circumstances. You have our unqualified admiration.

We dedicate this edition to the memory of Tony Spratling BSC, a kindly, gregarious soul, a talented person and a wonderfully supportive friend. He understood how the sense of community that unites us, can also make us feel as though we are part of something greater than ourselves.

Please make sure to check out the additional articles and news items on our blossoming website, which we hope you will find great reading companions to this magazine. Take care, stay safe, and will see you again soon!

Andrew ‘Elvis’ McGovern is a DIT, represented by Digital Orchard, who works with leading DPs and brings solid understanding of data workflows/ colour management to their narrative and commercials projects.

Carmen V. Albert is the editor of Camera & Light cinematography magazine in Madrid, Spain. She also collaborates with producer/technical organisations, film schools, and leads communications for the Spanish Audiovisual Industry Alliance.

“Count” Iain Blair is a British writer/musician who lives in LA and writes extensively about film/entertainment for outlets including LA Times, Variety and Reuters. He interviews movie stars, as well as Hollywood’s top filmmakers.

Ron Prince Editor in Chief ronny@cinematography.world

David Wood is a freelance journalist covering film/TV technology and production He was a former technology editor at Televisual, and is a regular contributor to Worldscreen, TVB Europe and Broadcast.

Kate Rolfe heads Digital Orchard Foundation, focussing on talent progression for individuals from underrepresented groups in film/TV, and is involved with diversity/inclusion committees of the BSC, PGGB and IMAGO. Kirsty Hazlewood has over two decades of editorial experience in print/ online publications, and is a regular contributor to folk/roots music website Spiral Earth.

Larissa Mori is a trained VFX artist who also writes about filmmaking, computer graphics and associated technology. She is currently based in Lisbon.

Awards Season recognizes excellence. So Do We. Congratulations to this year’s celebrated movies who brought their stories to life with KODAK film. #SHOOTFILM Learn more at Kodak.com/go/motion © 2021 Kodak. Kodak and the Kodak logo are trademarks.

Michael Burns has covered film, broadcast, VFX, animation and interactive design, in print and online, for 20 years, for publications including IBC Daily, Digital Arts, TVB Europe and Broadcast Tech.

Michael Goldman is an LA-based award-winning, journalist/author, specialising in the art, technology and people involved in filmmaking and cinematography. His is a long-time contributor to American Cinematographer and CineMontage.

Natasha Block Hicks is an artist/designer/maker, who spent a decade as a freelance film and TV camera assistant, and indulges her love for cinema and cinematography through research and writing.

Oliver Webb is a film graduate/freelance journalist based in Barcelona, and is the founder/editor of CloselyObservedFrames. His interests include screenwriting, British New Wave cinema and the works of Ingmar Bergman.

Cover: Andra Day as Billie Holiday in The United States vs Billie Holiday.

Takashi Seida © 2021 Billie Holiday Films, LLC

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ISSUE 002•CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

INSIDE

ISSUE 002 MARCH 2021

ZEISS Supreme Prime Radiance Lenses

6 8 20 28 30 32 34 38 44 46 48 50 54 56 58 62 65 66 68 70 72 74 76

IAIN SMITH OBE•VIEW FROM THE TOP

34 WANDAVISION

PRODUCTION NEWS WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE SYLVAINE DUFAUX•ONE TO WATCH STUDENT UNION•AFI CONSERVATORY CHRIS TJ McGUIRE•SMOOTH OPERATORS JESS HALL BSC•WANDAVISION ANDREW DUNN BSC•THE UNITED STATES vs BILLIE HOLIDAY

38 THE UNITED STATES vs BILLIE HOLIDAY

HIGHLIGHT•3LR LIGHTING STURLA BRANDTH GRØVLEN DFF•ANOTHER ROUND KIA FERN LITTLE•ONE TO WATCH SEAN BOBBITT BSC•JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH PAULA HUIDOBRO AMC•CODA LACHLAN MILNE ACS NZCS•MINARI NEWTON THOMAS SIGEL ASC•CHERRY

46 ANOTHER ROUND

BEN FORDESMAN•ST MAUD JOEL HONEYWELL•THE HUE-LIST DAMIÁN GARCÍA•I’M NO LONGER HERE RAFAEL SANCHEZ•THE LIGHT STUFF FEDERICO CESCA ASK•DEAD PIGS INSPIRATIONS•TRIBE7

50 JUDAS & THE BLACK MESSIAH

COLOUR & POST SHOOTING GALLERY•FABULOUS FILM

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VIEW FROM THE TOP•IAIN SMITH OBE

ScreenSkills: supporting growth and recovery UK-wide

GAME PLAN

When I am tempted to complain about the business (which I rarely do by the way), a non-filmmaking friend of mine likes to remind me that, “Adversity shapes the soul”.

Resisting the temptation to punch him, I usually try to change the subject.

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ut, of course, he’s right. Complacency changes nothing. Adversity changes everything.

In our line of work, adversity is a given. We’re reconciled to it. It is a precondition of being in the business. If you’re swanning about having fun on a show then something’s wrong. We all know that.

A film that’s easy to make is, more often than not, hard to watch.

That rather Presbyterian point-of-view has been formed during a long career making movies under difficult circumstances. I genuinely believe that if adversity doesn’t exist, then the chances of success are close to zero.

Having said that, we can get too much of a good thing. Right now we’re living through an excess of adversity in the form of the global pandemic. Covid-19 is changing so many things that we have always taken for granted. Our expectations are being undermined and, postCovid, life and work will simply not be the same.

When the first lockdown happened in April 2020, the British Film Commission, in the best interests of the UK industry, moved swiftly to gather together the widest range of screen sectors to design a set of guidelines that would allow us to return to work.

These guidelines were put together by active, frontline practitioners and were designed to be as pragmatic, as comprehensive and as safe as possible. By doing this we were able to prove to an embattled Government that we, in the UK, are an organised, self-regulating industry, capable of maintaining productivity in the face of existential threat.

Along with the strategic power of the BFI we were able to make a strong case to Government to allow film and TV production to continue in spite of the adverse circumstances. We were almost certainly the first industry in the UK to do this; so quickly, and so effectively.

As a result, the UK Government agreed to an exemption that allowed us to continue working.

It meant that we kept our workforce in gainful employment, whilst sustaining our technical and industrial infrastructures.

It has been neither easy nor elegant, but recently released statistics seem to indicate it has been successful. Official figures, released by the BFI’s Research & Statistics Unit, show a strong economic bounce back in UK film and high-end TV (HETV) drama production in 2020.

The total UK spend on film and HETV production for 2020 was an impressive £2.84 billion. This is £774 million lower than the £3.61

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An industrial strategy that encompasses both the commercial and the creative is what we need billion combined spend for 2019. A drop of 21%.

Which, in the present circumstances, is not bad at all.

In 2020, we started 231 film and HETV productions, 26% fewer than the 311 in 2019, but still a very respectable number. Production spend in the final quarter of 2020 was a staggering £1.19 billion; the second highest three-month spend ever. All things considered, I think we can quietly give ourselves a pat on the back.

But we must be careful. We must not rest on self-congratulation. Complacency achieves nothing. The world around us is changing exponentially and quickly. Rapid globalisation, disruptive technology, political turmoil and changing business models potentially threaten us.

We must learn how to adapt to these changes if

we are to ensure that the UK remains one of the world’s leading production centres.

Easier said than done of course. The future is undoubtedly an exciting one, but it’s not for the faint of heart. We must ready ourselves for the changing world by coming together again, much as the UK filmmaking industry did last year, to work out how we can prepare for the future by making ourselves even fitter for the new world that lies ahead.

We must continue to evolve in order to maintain the progress we have all worked so hard to achieve. There is no time to be lost.

Standing still is not an option. We have an opportunity, I believe, to begin a cross-industry conversation towards evolving a new industrial strategy for film and TV in this country. An all embracing strategy like this has never been attempted before. It would be an enormous stride forward and would equip us all well.

The pandemic provides us with the opportunity to do what we do best. To organise and reexamine how and why we function, and how we can do better. Working out what we’re good at, and facing what we’re not so good at. We need to constantly improve.

An industrial strategy that encompasses both the commercial and the creative is what we need.

One that supports and sustains our homegrown talents, skills and crafts within an intelligent commercial environment. One that looks at how we can properly sustain not only the inward investment business that has enriched us in recent years, but also our struggling British independent industry.

Our indigenous industry has suffered a great deal these past years. To ignore this gradual deterioration is to destroy our filmmaking soul.

We must also continue to increasingly harvest production from overseas and deliver it across our nations and regions. In this way the UK as a whole will benefit.

This process will not be easy. It will take time and will involve a lot of debate, brave new thinking, and painful reappraisal of old relationships and sovereignties.

But, if we can pull it off, the mid to long-term benefits will be considerable for us all; potentially doubling annual revenues and giving us the chance to build a more sustainable and multifaceted industry, for the long-term advantage of our country.

Iain Smith OBE Producer Chair of British Film Commission

You can’t make great film, TV and animation without investing in the people Read the stories of the people we support at screenskills.com

PRODUCTION NEWS

SOFIA COPPOLA TO RECEIVE ASC BOARD OF GOVERNORS AWARD

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creenwriter, director, producer and actress, Sofia Coppola, will receive the American Society Of Cinematographers’ Board of Governors Award at the 35th Annual ASC Awards on April 18, 2021. Her father, director Francis Ford Coppola, received the same award in 1998.

“Beginning with her directorial debut breakout hit, The Virgin Suicides (1999), lensed by Ed Lachman ASC, Sofia has been a powerful influence in the filmmaking community,” said ASC president Stephen Lighthill. “We’re excited to honour her contributions and celebrate her accomplishments.

Her collaborative spirit and imaginative execution puts her at the forefront of a unique cinematic category.”

The filmmaker earned an Academy Award for best original screenplay as well as Academy Award nominations for best director and best picture for Lost In Translation (2003), photographed by Lance Acord ASC. In 2017, she became only the second woman to win the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival for The Beguiled, shot by Philippe Le Sourd AFC. Her credits also include Marie Antoinette (2006), shot by Acord and Somewhere (2010) shot by the late Harris Savides ASC. Most recently, Coppola wrote and directed On The Rocks (2020) starring Rashida Jones, Bill Murray and Marlon Wayans, shot by Le Sourd.

She is currently is in development on an adaptation of Edith Wharton’s classic novel Custom Of The Country as a limited series for Apple.

UK FILM STATISTICS FOR 2020 REVEAL £2.84 BILLION SPEND

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fficial figures published recently by the BFI’s Research & Statistics Unit reveal signs of strong economic recovery in the UK’s film and high-end TV industry following months of suspended production caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Spend on UK shores in 2020 was £2.84 billion, down by a margin of 21% on the previous year. Filmmaking bore the consequences of that decline, being 31% down for the year, with high-end TV down by 11%.

Whilst the UK’s film and TV industries recorded a downturn in 2020, with the pandemic causing a complete shutdown for several months, recovery saw the year ending with impressive numbers. The statistics show that in Q4 production spend hit $1.19billion, the second highest three-month total on record.

However, with cinemas closed for much of the year, box office admission fell dramatically. In total, 44 million admissions were registered, 75% down on 2019.

The total box office of £307million across the UK and Ireland represented an 81% drop.

Jurassic World: Dominion was the first large-scale feature to head back into production in the UK in June 2020, with Universal implementing a set of Covid-19 protocols. This saw more than 40,000 tests conducted at an overall additional cost of around $8million. Fox Networks Group and Canal+’s War Of The Worlds followed this lead as the first major high-end drama to go into production in July.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said, “The impressive figures show the resilience and creativity of the UK screen industries. We’re firing on all cylinders again with the Government’s Film & TV Restart Scheme and £1.5bn Cultural Recovery Fund, which has awarded £30 million in lifeline grants to independent cinemas. The Government’s targeted interventions mean this sector is well placed for future strong growth and job creation.”

Ben Roberts, BFI chief executive, added, “After an unbelievably tough year, the figures show an incredibly vibrant and positive picture for film and TV in the UK. Last spring it was hard to imagine that we would be generating £1billion worth of production activity in the final quarter. This sector is primed to grow with expansion underway in studios and production hot spots across the UK, delivering more jobs and more to the economy.”

MOVIETECH CYMRU CONFIRMS CARDIFF EXPANSION

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ovietech has expanded its Movietech Cymru operation.

Based at Great Point Studios, to the East of Cardiff, Wales, this investment by the camera and grip equipment rental specialists, reflects the company’s on-going support for production in the local area, since establishing Movietech Cymru in 2015.

“Our commitment to Wales and the South West of England remains as strong as ever,” says Movietech MD David Palmer. “At the beginning of 2020 we appointed Andy Clarke as head of our Cardiff-based grip division, alongside Katy Kardasz running our camera department. This year we are delighted to have agreed terms with the studio to increase both our camera floor and office footprint, effectively doubling the scale of our facility. With fantastic locations, studios, excellent business premises, plus a raft of fiscal stimulus, Wales is a successful, attractive destination for filmmakers.”

Movietech marketing director Andy Cooper adds, “The service and equipment mix available through Movietech Cymru remains the very best available. We are consistently investing in equipment and our team here, to make sure we’re perfectly placed to continue delivering total production support, throughout the area.”

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We are extremely proud to have supported Director of Photography Erik Wilson, Gaffer Oliver Whickman, Rigging Gaffer Jason Martin, Best Boy Luke Farrow and the entire Crew on The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.

MBSE Lakeside Road, Colnbrook, Slough, Berkshire SL3 0EL +44 (0) 1753 987 888 mbseco.uk ©2021 STUDIOCANAL SAS – CHANNEL FOUR TELEVISION CORPORATION THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN is produced by Sunnymarch and Shoebox Films and financed by STUDIOCANAL, Film4 and AMAZON STUDIOS. STUDIOCANAL will release in their territories UK, France, Germany, Australia/NZ, selling worldwide. AMAZON STUDIOS will release in the USA.

PRODUCTION NEWS

CHROMA-Q CARBON NEUTRAL TESTING WITH GREEN VOLTAGE

OSCAR, BAFTA AND ASC NOMINATIONS This year’s Oscar, BAFTA and ASC nominations for best cinematography have been announced. They are as follows: Erik Messerschmidt ASC - Mank (Oscar/ BAFTA/ASC) Joshua James Richards - Nomadland (Oscar/ BAFTA/ASC) (pictured) Dariusz Wolski ASC - News Of The World (Oscar/BAFTA/ASC) Sean Bobbitt BSC - Judas And The Black Messiah (Oscar/BAFTA) Phedon Papamichael ASC - The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (Oscar/ASC) Alwin H. Küchler BSC - The Mauritanian (BAFTA) Newton Thomas Sigel ASC - Cherry (ASC)

Baker, whose credits include Wonder Woman 1984 and No Time To Die, said, “I’ve worked with the Brute ForceTM on a number of occasions, so am well aware of their abilities. The convenience of running the fixtures in combination with a Green Voltage power source adds an even greater degree of versatility.”

The Green Voltage VOLTstacks, which are silent in operation, are available in 2kW and 5kW sizes, with higher output additions to the range due in the second quarter of 2021. During testing, the ability to series-link the generator units provided the opportunity to carry out extended runs, allowing the team to properly assess the performance of the configuration in a real world set-up.

“Both the VOLTstacks and the Brute Force units delivered strong results,” added Baker. “Zero emissions and totally silent operation, with absolutely no compromise in the quality of the light output, is exactly what we are looking for.”

Good luck everyone!

Searchlight Pictures © 2020 20th Century Studios

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ED lighting innovators Chroma-Q have been pre-production testing zero emission lighting fixtures, including its Brute Force LED Wendylight alternative, in collaboration with generator manufacturer Green Voltage.

Green Voltage director and dimmerboard operator, Adam Baker, together with a small crew, recently combined a selection of Brute Force lampheads with Green Voltage’s 5kW VOLTstack E-Gen remote power systems. Deceptive in both form factor and output, the Brute Force draws just 15amps at 240V making it suitable for use with the Green Voltage power units.

With the Brute Force running at full power, the generators provided over 2.5hours of operation.

The fully-dimmable LED fixture, with its extended CCT range between 2,000K and 10,000K, also underwent additional testing at various colour temperatures and intensities, resulting in even greater operating times.

The BAFTA Awards ceremony will take place on April 10th, with the ASC Awards on April 18th, and the Oscars on April 25th. Articles relating to each of these cinematographers, and their work on these films, are variously contained in Cinematography World Magazine or online at www.cinematography.world.

NETFLIX GROWS PRODUCTION OPERATIONS IN CANADA AND SOUTH KOREA

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will support upcoming Netflix series and films, including the horror anthology series Guillermo del Toro Presents 10 After Midnight and the feature Let It Snow, based on the book by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle.

To meet an increasing demand worldwide for Korean film and TV content Netflix has signed leases for two new production facilities in the Gyeonggi Province outside the South Korean capital Seoul. Netflix will lease six stages and supporting spaces of approximately 9,000sq/m at YCDSMC ¬– Studio 139, and a further three stages covering 7,000sq/m at Samsung Studio.

From 2015 to 2020, Netflix’s investment in Korean content reached US$700m, with more than 80 shows made in Korea and watched by audiences around the world. These include the Netflix Korean Original Series Sweet Home, plus Korean shows including Kingdom Season 2, The King: Eternal Monarch, Start-Up and It’s Okay To Not Be Okay. The streamer is planning to support the production of upcoming Korean original series and films at the new spaces, including the Korean adaptation of La Casa de Papel.

Thanks to your feedback, the most flexible Large Format camera just got better with V6 - Full Frame & Super 35 Modes - 8 Internal ND filters - 500 & 2500 Dual Base ISO - Up to 120fps HFR - Parallel Recording - Detachable sensor for greater flexibility - Cost effective and fast 16bit X-OCN workflow Photo Sweet Home, courtesy of Netflix

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etflix has announced it is opening new studio and production office spaces in Canada and South Korea dedicated to commissioning more local Netflix originals.

The US streaming giant has spent $2.5billion in Canada since 2017 on shows including Anne With An E and Workin’ Moms. Now, the company is taking on close to 250,000sq/ft of studio and office space in Toronto, as part of its agreement to invest in Canada’s entertainment industry.

It has agreed pacts to lease two studio spaces in Toronto - one with Cinespace Studios for around 164,000sq/ft of space, including four sound stages, the other with Pinewood Toronto Studios, also for four sound stages, plus office space comprising around 84,580sq/ ft. These add to Netflix’s existing physical production footprint in Canada, which includes a lease of British Columbia’s Martini Film Studios and production sites it sets up on a perproduction basis.

The new Toronto facilities are set to provide up to 1,850 production jobs per year. Both sites

VENICE

Stay safe while creating emotion in every frame!

PRODUCTION NEWS

SCREENSKILLS SPEARHEADS UK DRIVE TO BECOME GLOBAL CENTRE FOR VIRTUAL PRODUCTION

ARRI LIGHTING STRENGTHENS PRODUCT MANAGEMENT TEAM

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RRI Lighting has added Markus Klüsener as senior product manager for lighting and Dan Reed as product manager of lighting products, network and software control.

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creenSkills is to lead the UK screen industries and education in developing national standards for training in virtual production, backed by the Department For International Trade (DIT) and Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), to ensure the UK is a global centre of excellence in the field.

Alex Hope, former joint MD of VFX studio DNEG and ScreenSkills’ vice-chair, will lead a steering group to agree and share standards across industry and academia. The aim is to ensure the UK has all the expertise needed to maintain its status as a world-renowned centre for production.

Industry representatives who have already committed to this initiative include UK Research & Innovation, Epic Games, Ntropic, Sky Studios and UK Screen Alliance, with leading educators in this subject, such as Bournemouth, Edinburgh Napier, Portsmouth and Ulster Universities, plus the NextGen Skills Academy, also contributing their expertise.

The adoption, by film and TV shows from Disney’s The Mandalorian to BBC’s Match Of The Day, of virtual technology using real-time rendering engines already used widely in game development, opens-up new creative opportunities for production as well as the potential to improve environmental sustainability.

Building on the huge expansion of studio space currently under way across the whole of the UK, technological innovation is set to support continued recovery and growth that will require thousands of screen professionals from entry level apprentices and trainees to upskilled heads of department.

ScreenSkills CEO Seetha Kumar, said: “As with any new technology, it is critical to have national standards. We need a highly-professional virtual production workforce, supported by high-quality training provision based on a common understanding of the skills needed. We want to help build knowledge and confidence about the expertise, so that the UK remains at the forefront of innovation and has the right people to continue making great film and TV.” Photo: MBSi Virtual Production

PANAVISION EXPANDS ATLANTA RENTAL FACILITY

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anavision, the renowned designer, manufacturer and rental provider of highprecision optics and camera systems, and parent company to post-production services provider Light Iron, is expanding its Atlanta facility into an attached adjacent building.

The expansion will commence this summer, with the added space expected to be operational soon thereafter. The combined space will double Panavision Atlanta’s current physical footprint, reaffirming the company’s commitment to supporting the technical and creative needs of the Atlanta and greater Southeast filmmaking communities.

Located in West Midtown, Panavision Atlanta has been servicing productions in the region since opening its doors in 2011. Recent projects supported by the Panavision Atlanta team include Cobra Kai, Doom Patrol, WandaVision and Falcon And The Winter Soldier.

Based in Denmark and ARRI’s lighting office in Stephanskirchen, Germany, Klüsener will help to define the next generation of ARRI LED fixtures including hardware, software and accessories. Located at ARRI Inc, in Burbank, CA Reed will further incorporate emerging technology trends, such as virtual reality and virtual cinematography, into ARRI’s portfolio.

Most recently, ARRI has announce Amira Live, a new version of its existing Amira camera, designed specifically for multi-camera live broadcasts.

Creamsource Vortex8

Together with Florian Bloch, head of product management, Klüsener (right) and Reed (above) will work closely with the team in Germany to further develop light sources and technology, coordinate beta testing, conduct market research and integrate customer needs into products and solutions.

MBSI LEDTRIX 5 COLOUR KITS

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vailable exclusively through MBSE, MBSi has released LEDtrix5 Colour Kits – ultra-compact LED illumination solutions enabling creative freedom in the application of discreet LED fixtures.

At the heart of the kits is MBSi-designed custom control and driver technology, which delivers robust, flicker-free LED performance. The LEDtrix5’s are built around full-colour, single-chip LED sources, and feature on-board wireless control (CRMX), plus direct DMX port. The kits offer an edgemounting system plus a magnetic mounting plate for ease of placement, together with a simple ‘snap-fix’ diffusion configuration, allowing instant softening and adjustment of the light output.

The power and five-colour flexibility, coupled with the portability of these compact, lightweight units make them a convenient, highly-versatile illumination tool. Supplied as comprehensive kits, securely housed in a bespoke travel case, LEDtrix equip the user with a range of practical lighting solutions with which to deliver creative, safe LED illumination.

MBSE technical director Steve Howard said, “It is particularly rewarding to see the high levels of interest in the technology that, through MBSi, we are making available to crews around the world.

“LEDtrix is another example of our commitment to creating products which improve the customer experience. The panels are designed for use in tight spaces and close-up eye lines, such as such as car rigs or cockpits. The light weight, full-colour design and remote battery pack allows them to be used in places where, previously lights couldn’t be rigged.”

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PRODUCTION NEWS

CVP TAKES A GLOBAL VIEW AFTER BREXIT AND COVID

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K-based production solutions provider CVP has recently unveiled a raft of initiatives that it hopes will revitalise customers, and an industry, feeling dazed as a result of the last twelve months.

“Our customers are always at the heart of everything we do and when Covid, and then Brexit, hit we found ourselves in a unique position to further help our customers make it through such uncertainty” says CVP sales director Jon Fry.

“Responding proactively to the Brexit changes and understanding the new procedures has also given us an opportunity to offer the global market the same value as if you’re in the UK.” “Post-Brexit, tariffs in the UK have actually reduced for the majority of the products and categories that we sell,” he says. However global manufacturers often ship kit in through a country in

mainland Europe, so they have to land it subject to EU duties.

“Currently, we buy most of that product dutypaid, but persuading manufacturers to pass that duty saving on is challenging,” says Fry. “We’re actually now effectively penalised.”

CVP is working to get manufacturers to switch from the existing model, so that eventually UK customers can benefit from the savings, but also wants to ensure EU customers aren’t penalised by Brexit.

“We don’t want to lose any of our very good relationships with customers in the EU,” says Fry. “We are working to get the savings directly from the manufacturers, but in the short term we’ll offer those customers a discount to cover the duties.”

To accurately work out the tariffs, CVP had to load each individual commodity code and the correct country of origin for every product it sells onto the new system. “We represent a thousand manufacturer’s products and we have probably in excess of 200,000 stock keeping units,” says Fry. But there’s an upside.

“Now we’ve done it for the EU, it also means it’s far easier for us to transact globally,” he says. “The endgame is that you will have the ability to log on to the CVP website or speak to any one of our 22 account managers, and, wherever you are in the world, get a very accurate cost of purchasing equipment that includes shipping and duties to that country, including your VAT.” CVP is also in the process of setting up a new EU entity, CVP Belgium, through which it can effectively transact with EU customers, in order to make their VAT-reclaiming process as trouble-free as it was before Brexit.

CVP already services its customers on a global basis. “We stock a lot of spares, we have nine fulltime engineers with specialisms working on gear,”

LITEPANELS SCOOPS AN EMMY AWARD AND LAUNCHES LYKOS+ MINI LED PANEL

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itepanels, a global provider of professional broadcast and cinematic lighting solutions and a Vitec Group brand, will be honoured at the 72nd Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards, on October 10th, 2021, for its development of LED lighting for television production.

The award recognises Litepanels’ pioneering spirit as the originator of LED panel lighting and 20 years of continual innovation in TV and motion picture lighting. Starting with the successful 1×1 LED panel, Litepanels has developed ever-more innovative broadcast and cinematic lighting solutions. Its LED lighting fixtures, including on-camera lights, Fresnels, RGB special effects lighting and advanced wireless control systems, have become a staple in productions around the world.

This accolade represents a hat trick of honours for Litepanels from the Academy. The company received a Primetime Engineering Emmy Plaque in 2005, and a received a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award in 2009.

In other news, Litepanels, has launched the next generation of Lykos mini LED lights. The new Lykos+ Bi-colour LED panel is one of the smallest in the Litepanels range but features an output 40% brighter than the previous generation, delivering 2000lux (@3ft/1m) of accurate white light at any colour temperature from 3200-5600K. Weighing just 1lb (500g), and with a compact form factor, Lykos+ is well-suited for remote locations or tight spaces, and can provide over two hours of operation via its built-in L-series/NPF battery mount.

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says Fry. “We can save weeks in turnaround time compared to if it goes back to the manufacturer.

Also, if something breaks whilst shooting, the cost of hiring a replacement is far more expensive than the cost of shipping to CVP in the UK, from anywhere in the world.”

The pandemic has also driven innovation.

“We’ve built a company that, in our opinion, offers an enormous amount of value to customer purchase. However, Covid came along and, all of a sudden, we were having to find new ways of getting in front of our customers remotely, effectively virtually,” Fry says.

The solution was to take the experiential space of CVP’s Newman Street showroom in London, and put it online.

“Our technical consultants provide virtual demos, building solutions for people based on their wants and needs and what they’re trying to shoot,” says Fry. “It’s fundamentally the same tailored customer experience.”

In a similar move the company’s regular events in London have moved online via its Common Room platform, including workshops, demos and training.

“Rather than a presentation showing people the latest bit of kit, our training has evolved now into more of a debate,” says Fry. “The community comes together and shares opinions.”

In a reaction to the chilling effect the pandemic has had on the film and TV production industry, the firm is introducing flexible finance options and expanding the functionality of its used marketplace. Normally CVP will offer a trade-in or buy used kit, clean it up, offer a warranty on it and resell it, but with its new ‘consignment’ model, there’s no cash exchanged up-front.

“Trading on consignment means you don’t have to give it to CVP until we sell it; you can keep using it,” says Fry. “Meanwhile, you’ve got our salespeople working for you. CVP is not purchasing it outright and taking all the risk, so we just charge the commission for the marketing activity, the evaluation of the kit, and the potential clean up and warranty that we add to it when it’s sold. It’s helping the industry get more assets out there to create content.”

PRODUCTION NEWS

12 SHORTS IN 12 MONTHS

DP James Oldham filming Hungry Joe

Manchester-based DP James Oldham wrote in about his plan to progress his career, by shooting 12 shorts in 12 months.

“I’m sure that wherever you are reading this right now, you’ve experienced failures, disappointments and frustrations. What do you do when you find yourself hitting a glass ceiling over and over again, and you can’t seem to move forward and progress in your career? In late 2018, I was asking myself these same questi ons, until I had a sudden moment of clarity. What would it look like if I really pushed myself to shoot 12 shorts in 12 months? Would that make a difference? Would it move my career forwards at all?

Well, here we are, two years later, and I’m on the other side of shooting twelve short films in the twelve months of 2019, plus a debut feature. Suffice to say, it was a bumpy ride, but I certainly feel better for it, knowing that I moved just that little bit closer towards my goal of creating a career and a legacy that will hopefully endure in the years to come.

In January 2019 I made my way to Bristol, with my trusted grip, Jon Head, to work on my first short film of the year, called Hungry Joe, a horror directed

by Sam Dawe and Paul Holbrook, about Laura, a mother who struggles to raise her son who has an insatiable appetite.

It was one of the greatest, most rewarding shoots I’ve ever been on. A true coming together of creative collaborators and outstanding vision from the directors, resulted in it being nominated this year by the London Critic’s Circle as Best UK/Irish Short Film

and being considered for a BAFTA nomination. No small feat for a self-funded indie production.

We shot Hungry Joe on the ARRI Alexa, with Master Primes and Fujinon Premista zooms, provided by the incredibly supportive Movietech. The whole film was shot off the ARRIHead 2 geared head, sometimes on sticks, other times on a 4’ slider as we wanted to keep things as concentrated and distraction-free as possible.

This film wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the kindness and generosity of people with resources We filmed over seven winter days in January, and wanted tell this cold-hearted story of Laura’s slow unravelling visually. Shots draw-on for longer, and uncomfortable close-ups are amplified by an incredible smorgasbord of soundscapes and disgusting eating noises. One scene in particular lingers on Laura as her son chokes helplessly on food, and she wishes she could be rid of him.

We made a choice to shoot quite wide for the whole film, often choosing the 25mm or 32mm for

ASPEC ELECTS DANA HARRISON AS NEW CHAIR Dana Harrison (right), the current director of operations at ARRI Rental UK, has assumed the role of chair at ASPEC, the Association Of Studio & Production Equipment Companies.

Originally from Los Angeles, California, she moved to the UK in 2012, and has over two decades of successful experience in the rental industry.

Harrison, who has a strong sense of devotion to the industry and offers a unique blend of leadership, vision and knowledge to ASPEC, commented, “I am very proud to contribute to this role, and am honoured to be trusted by all the member companies of ASPEC.” She takes over from acting joint chairs Ed Pagett, commercial director of Outback Rigging, who is now ASPEC vice-chair, and Barry Measure, sales and marketing executive for Procam Take 2 Ltd.

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close-ups, and even using a 12mm to further amplify the uncomfortable nature of the visual storytelling.

We had a few HMIs, Source 4s, SkyPanels and textiles from the wonderfully supportive 180 Rental, based at The Bottleyard Studios, Bristol, just next to where we shot. It’s incredible the amount of support you receive when you have a driven team who have a really outstanding vision for a project. People want to get involved, and they want to go above and beyond. This film wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the kindness and generosity of people with resources.

A tough schedule and long days resulted in plenty of enjoyable camaraderie, along with lots of food consumption. My camera team, Kristian Roosmalen (focus) and Ben Davies (loader) were great at keeping things running smoothly along with Samuel Oliver (DIT), whilst Jon Head (grip) enjoyed his teaching role to Lavinia Gavrillovici (grip assist), giving a few inside tricks along the way. Matt Joiner (gaffer) headed up a truly magnificent team of sparks, Michael Sides and Sergejs Bozoks, proving their worth every day with some complex lighting scenarios without a fuss, with humour and very quickly! We lit a huge farmyard in the dead of night with our relatively small lighting package. Filming from the top of a hill 250 yards away, we had a lot of ground to light and came out with a rather impressively lit shot. A great team effort.

I remember journeying back from Bristol up to Manchester with Jon, and remarking to him that it was such a positive start to the year - with new friendships and a brilliantly-envisioned project by the directors Sam and Paul. I then went on to shoot my debut feature in the following days, followed by another 11 shorts, but that’s another story.

What I would say is that after finishing principal photography on all 12 films, I came out of 2019 in a bit of a daze, and began on the road into more longform work in 2020. It was at this time that, instead of momentum building, a worldwide pandemic came upon us. It’s a struggle to remain motivated and to make progress. So I’m reminded of a great quote from Winston Churchill: “Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”

The journey continues through the thicket of disappointments and frustrations. Yet still, there remains the desire to tell important stories, to find meaning, to use the time that we’re given with wisdom, and to always be looking ahead. So here’s to the next thing. To the thing you’re yet to do.”

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PROREPAIRS

PRODUCTION NEWS IMAGO NEWS

TECHNICAL COMMITEE

T

he thought of yet another Zoom meeting might consume you with ennui, dread or both. But for IMAGO’s Technical Committee (ITC), it’s been quite the reverse.

Details of the very latest ITC report, made privy to Cinematography World, reveal its members were pro-active throughout the 2020 pandemic, attending weekly online gatherings and discussing many subjects, not the least of which concerns the significant subject of common understanding. More about that shortly.

Alfonso Parra ADFC

Aleksej Berkovic RGC

As per the end of February 2021, DPs Aleksej Berkovic RGC (Russia), Alfonso Parra ADFC (Colombia), Philippe Ross AFC (France) and David Stump ASC (USA), were elected as new co-chairs of the ITC, following a secret ballot.

A small number of additional co-chairs will be added to the committee soon, to ensure a healthy balance between geographies and cultural sensibilities around the world. Ron Johanson OAM ACS remains IMAGO’s interim president.

The ITC now has 28 active participants, plus a further 25 associate/corporate members from 21 countries worldwide – covering expertise in lenses, cameras, lighting and colour science.

Proposals are out to encourage additional members from the photochemical and finishing parts of the industry. Decisions have been made for the ITC to hold summits and open events during Camerimage, in Torun, Poland and Cine

MISSION EXPANDS INTO SHEPPERTON STUDIOS

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IT and digital dailies services company Mission has established a dedicated dailies facility on the lot at Shepperton Studios.

In addition to services already provided from its North Kensington facility, and in order to handle the demands and security requirements of modern productions, Mission at Shepperton will offer a dedicated projected viewing theatre, equipped with 4K Grade One Sony BVM-HX310 reference monitors, Symply fibre SAN, high-volume robotic 18 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Gear Expo, in Los Angeles, USA. Amongst other things, the ITC exists to stimulate harmonious co-operation between cinematographers and the manufacturers of hardware/software products used in the creation of moving images, as well as to promote collaboration and understanding with others who are intimately involved with the quality and nature of these images - such as workflow specialists, colourists, distributors, archivists and restoration experts.

As such, the ITC puts great emphasis on research into imaging and workflows, and especially the control DPs have over the technical parameters involved in the creation of images. Following a 2019 survey into how camera manufacturers can improve design and functionality, replies from 597 participants have been whittled down to 17 requests that will be

David Stump ASC

Philippe Ross AFC

formally presented to manufacturers as soon as circumstances allow.

Within these requests, an important goal of the ITC is to encourage a common understanding of terminology and procedures.

ITC’s work aims to reinforce the point that, given the DP’s chief concern is to bring stories to life through creative image-making, a greater knowledge of technical matters and methods - before, during and after the shoot - adds up to increased control and more job security. It a crucial factor for cinematographers in many countries around the world.

Consequently, with the aid of renowned Canadian colour scientist/ITC associate member, Charles Poynton, the ITC has undertaken the definition of 20 of the most commonly used terms in acquisition and post-production. The resulting “Glossary”

LTO machines and high-speed fibre connectivity.

“Building upon a rich filmmaking heritage, the UK is now experiencing a renaissance in digital content creation,” said Mission managing director Mark Purvis (left). “As the appetite for content grows, technological advances have enabled streaming platforms to deliver richer offerings.

This has created an unprecedented demand for service providers that can handle these technical requirements, higher shooting ratios and complex pipeline design. This is an area in which Mission has operated since 2011.”

Recent productions supported by Mission include The 355 (2022, DP Tim Maurice-Jones), Behind Her Eyes (2021, DP Felix Wiedemann BSC) and Rebecca (2020, DP Laurie Rose BSC).

“Having acknowledged the volume of production work happening at Shepperton Studios, we have established a dedicated dailies facility on the studio lot, with the flexibility to continue scaling-up as demand increases,” Purvis added.

In an industry where facilities tend to prioritise ‘finishing’, at Mission we specialise in ’starting’,

is being combined with a “Photon Path” diagram, created by imaging engineer Daniele Siragusano (ITC corporate member, representing FilmLight). Professor Stefan Grandinetti BVK (a full ITC member) and students at the Stuttgart Media University Of Applied Sciences, are in the process of creating a 3D model to deliver the glossary and diagram as a playful, interactive and freely-available educative experience online.

Another remarkable revelation from the ITC’s report is the joint announcement with Sony concerning access to image sharpness controls. Since the advent of digital cameras, and especially large format devices, cinematographers have increasingly sought different ways and means to mitigate the sharpness of imaging sensors – through either production design, make-up, on-set lighting, filtration, lenses, LUTs and post-production tools.

So it is something of a watershed moment that, after several years of talks, Sony has joined the club of sharpening control – opened several years ago by ARRI and Red – by allowing control of the sharpness parameters within the de-Bayer process, via its Sony RAW viewer and SDK. It is understood the ITC is in advanced discussions with other camera manufacturers about this subject.

This is big news for cinematographers as they seek to create more organic and filmic looks, and convey mood and emotion though the textural quality of their images. But who else, beyond the DP, gets to access these parameters, will no doubt be a matter of on-going discussion and debate, as will be the effect on how lenses and other un-sharpening countermeasures are used.

Whilst the ITC has already developed strong links between IMAGO member societies and other filmmaking associations, it has also made admirable strides in forging liaisons with content producers, such as Netflix, and aims to develop similarly strong links with others, such as Amazon, Apple TV+ and Disney+.

Lastly, but by no means least, the ITC has published an extensive report on Sony’s popular FX9 camera, authored by co-chair DP Alfonso Parra. Later this year, it will also publish its Conference Of Light report into LED lighting fixtures and systems, which should also prove to be… illuminating!

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and that will be no more evident than at our new Shepperton Studios premises, and with our roster of experienced DITs and lab operators combined with our proven understanding of ACES and HDR pipelines.”

Below: Eve Hewson in Behind Her Eyes. Photo courtesy of Netflix.

P R O U D LY A P P R O V E D B Y

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE Clockwise: Dan Nightingale on It’s A Sin; Richard Stoddard on Brassic; Tony Kay on Britannia; Jallo Faber & key grip Jonno Lee on Zara Larsson music video

INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH

Our regular round up of who is shooting what and where INDEPENDENT TALENT Balazs Bolygo BSC is shooting Anatomy Of A Scandal, directed by SJ Clarkson. Simon Dennis BSC is working on American Crime Story S3, with director Ryan Murphy in the US. Adam Etherington BSC is prepping ITV’s new series Hollington Drive, directed by Carolina Giammetta.

Cinders Forshaw BSC is shooting the latest series of Vera, with director Waris Islam. Eric Kress is working on S4 of Borgen for Netflix. Suzie Lavelle BSC is prepping Conversations With Friends, with director Lenny Abrahamson. David Luther is shooting First Ladies aka FLOTUS, with director Susanne Bier in Atlanta. John Mathieson BSC is lighting Doctor Strange 2. Mark Waters is shooting Grantchester S6. Maja Zamojda BSC is shooting on The Great S2, starring Nicholas Hoult and Elle Fanning. Chas Bain has wrapped on A Discovery Of Witches S5 with director Jamie Donoughue. Ole Birkeland BSC is in Australia filming Pieces Of Her with Minkie Spiro. Darran Bragg is prepping on The Larkins with director Andy de Emmony.

Bjorn Bratberg is shooting The Long Call with Lee Haven Jones. Jordan Buck was in South Africa with 1stAveMachines’s Tim Brown for Macy’s.

Chris Clarke recently shot spots for Wrigley’s with Somethin’ Else. Ben Davis BSC is prepping My Policeman with Michael Grandage. Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC is lighting Lonely Boy with Danny Boyle. Sam Goldie shot the documentary Big Boys Don’t Cry with RSA director Gray Hughes.

Catherine Goldschmidt is preparing for Chloe, with Alice Seabright and Amanda Boyle. Stuart Howell is shooting The Peripheral with Vincenzo Natali. Roman Osin BSC getting ready for The Last Voyage Of The Demeter with André Øvredal. Mark Patten BSC is in South Africa shooting Raised By Wolves S2, with Ernest Dickerson and Alex Gabassi.

Stephan Pehrsson BSC is shooting SAS: Rogue Heroes with Tom Shankland. Dick Pope BSC is 20 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

filming Graham Moore’s The Outfit. Christopher Ross BSC is in prep for The Swimmers with Sally El Hosaini. Tat Radcliffe BSC getting ready to lens Matthew Warchus’s Matilda. Ashley Rowe BSC is shooting The Last Kingdom S5 with Paul Wilmshurst.

Martin Ruhe ASC is in Boston lighting The Tender Bar with George Clooney. Alan Stewart BSC is lensing with Guy Ritchie on Five Eyes, starring Jason Statham. Erik Wilson BSC is shooting Landscapers with Will Sharpe.

PRINCE STONE Of the agency’s DPs… Laura Bellingham is lighting ITV thriller The Bay, with director Faye Gilbert, in Morecambe Bay. Diego Rodriguez is shooting Juventus: All Or Nothing, a documentary shooting in Turin, Italy, about the legendary football club.

Main: Dan Nightingale on It’s A Sin Below: 1st AC Rupert Peddle on Going Places

Of the agency’s camera/Steadicam operators…

Simon Baker ACO filmed in splinter/2nd unit on fantasy drama The Witcher S2, working with cinematographers Gavin Struthers and Jean-Phillipe Gossart, and is now prepping on Downton Abbey with DP Andrew Dunn BSC. Cosmo Campbell ACO is shooting The Power for Amazon Studios, with DPs Felix Wiedemann BSC and Carlos Catalan, based at Ealing Studios. Matt Fisher ACO is working on the dystopian drama See S2 for Apple TV. Rob Hart ACO recently finished shooting A-camera on the four-part thriller Ridley Road, in Manchester. Tony Kay is shooting the series Annika, directed by Philip John and Fiona Walton, with DP Nic Lawson. James Layton ACO is on the second series of Hulu’s The Great, with director Colin Bucksey and DP John Brawley. Dan Nightingale ACO shot B-camera and Steadicam on Wolfe in Manchester, with director Adrian Shergold and DP Tony Slater Ling BSC. Peter Robertson Associate BSC ACO has gone into prep on The Little Mermaid, a remake of the 1989 animated Disney movie, directed by Rob Marshall, with cinematography by Dion Beebe ACS ASC. Joe Russell ACO is getting ready for Red Gun, the prequel to Game Of Thrones, shooting at Leavesden Studios, with DP Fabian Wagner. Sean Savage Associate BSC ACO SOC, president of the ACO, recently shot on The Witcher S2, and has started work on Citadel, shooting at Bray Studios, with DP Thomas Newton Sigel ASC. Fabrizio Sciarra Associate BSC GBCT ACO SOC is prepping on Dungeons & Dragons, a feature based on the popular fantasy role-playing game, shooting in Belfast, starring Chris Pine, directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathon Francis Daley, with DP Barry Peterson. Peter Wignall ACO is on Save The Cinema, starring Samantha Morton and Tom Felton, with director Sara Sugarman, for production company FAE Film & Television.

McKINNEY MACARTNEY MANAGEMENT LTD Stuart Biddlecombe continues to shoot S4 of The Handmaid’s Tale in Toronto, with Elizabeth Moss and Daina Reid directing. Mick Coulter BSC is lighting Outlander in Scotland. Sergio Delgado recently jumped in as an extra pair of hands and eyes on Annika, and is now prepping on Canoe Man. Gavin Finney BSC continues shooting Tailspin (a.k.a. Suspicion) for Keshet TV in London. Jean Philippe Gossart is on S2 of Netflix’s The Witcher with director, Sarah O’Gorman. Steve Lawes recently started filming The Hot Zone: Anthrax for National Geographic in Canada. Dale Elena McCready is preparing for The Rising, an eight-parter for Sky. Sam McCurdy BSC is filming Scriptures in Canada.

Andy McDonnell is shooting BBC drama, You Don’t Know Me, directed by Sarmad Masud. Mike Spragg is lighting Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist in Canada. Richard Stoddard is shooting the third series of Sky One’s, Brassic, with director Rob Quinn.

Robin Whenary recently finished filming Doctor Who in Cardiff. Denis Crossan BSC and Clive Tickner BSC have been shooting commercials.

VISION ARTISTS James Blann has graded S2 of the TV comedy Feel Good, directed by Luke Snellin, for Netflix. Benedict Spence is shooting TV dram-edy This Is Going To Hurt, through Sister Pictures, starring Ben Whishaw and directed by Lucy Forbes. Jonas Mortensen has been shooting S2 of This Way Up, starring Aisling Bea and Sharon Horgan. Jean-

commercials with Chief. Richard Mott has been shooting TV promos for C4. Arthur Loveday shot TVCs for Halifax, with director Tom Green at CLM. Martin Hill has been shooting heart-rending pieces for the NHS’s focus on the effects of the pandemic, via HLA. Spike Morris has been lensing fashion films for A Cold Wall with Will Dohrn. Tim Green has been lighting for Lurpak and Starbucks. And… new signing, cinematographer Kia Fern Little, has forged ahead shadowing and shooting second unit and additional content on Top Boy S2.

Noel Mustonen FSC is in prep on a new comedy series with director Pete Riski in Finland. Nick Morris is shooting an exciting new BBC comedy series currently under NDA. Courtney Bennett shot an interactive short film with Ruby + Boya of Statix Studios with multiple storylines to choose from, as four teenagers attend their first rave. Dan Atherton shot the Film4 short Beyonce Almighty, with fellow NFTS alumni Alexandra Brodski and Emily Everdee serving as director and producer respectively. Evelin van Rei’s highly-praised short Limbo, directed by Lotje Sodderland through Lief, a social drama looking at care workers in London, has been selected to play at LSFF. Anna MacDonald filmed the satirical behind-the-scenes documentary People Just Do Nothing, directed by Matt Houghton through Rough Cut TV. In commercials, Jaime Feliu-Torres has been shooting drinks spots with Stink Films. Eoin McLoughlin lit fashion ads with Holmes Productions and North Six. Dan StaffordClark has been lensing gambling and tech

ECHO ARTISTS Stuart Bentley BSC has wrapped S4 of Top Boy for Netflix and Cowboy Films, and is prepping Life After Life with director John Crowley for BBC. Nadim Carlsen is shooting with director Ali Abbasi on The Long Night. Carlos Catalan is on Amazon’s The Power, lensing episodes 4, 6 and 8 with director Shannon Murphy. Federico Cesca has wrapped on the feature Ballywater, with director Prasanna Puwanarajah. David Chizallet AFC is shooting a currently untitled film in France. Rachel Clark has wrapped I Am Maria with director Dominic Savage. Andrew Commis ACS is shooting Robert Connely’s Blueback. Nick Cooke is grading Anatolian Leopard. Edgar Dubrovskiy is working on Felicity Morris’ The Tinder Swindler (Working Title) documentary for Netflix and Raw Television.

Lachlan Milne ACS is working on S4 of Stranger Things. Will Pugh is shooting The Story If Sophie Toscan Du Plantier, for Netflix and John Dower.

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WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE Clockwise: Gravy Grips Rupert Lloyd-Parry and Dean Zimarakis on The Statistical Probability Of Falling In Love At First Sight; Petra Korner on Road Dance; Peter Robertson on Cyrano; Ian Forbes with directors Rose Hendry & Isla Badenoch on The Dead Are Jewels To Me; and Franklin Dow

Clockwise: Zoe Goodwin-Stuart; Tómas Tómasson on American Express; and Grantchester 6 crew - 2nd AC Josefine Thieme, operator Rupert Power, grip Henry Stone, 1st AC Lisa Cottington and DP Mark Waters

Maria von Hausswolff is working with Hylnur Palamason on his next feature. Felix Wiedeman, BSC is also lensing Amazon’s The Power, shooting episodes 3, 5 and 7 with directors Lisa Gunning and Ugla Hauksdóttir. Joe Anderson, Bonnie Elliott ACS, David Gallego ADFC, Charlie Herranz, Jo Jo Lam, MacGregor, Lorena Pagès, Christopher Miles, Michael Paleodimos, Noel Schoolderman, Niels Thastum DFF and Sean Price Williams have all been lighting commercials.

GRAVY CREW Peter Marsden is the digital imaging technician for DP Dion Beebe ACS ASC on Rob Marshall’s The Little Mermaid. Peter also recently completed his first commercial as cinematographer, for the Berlin clothing company Monokel, with director Ben Galster. Steadicam Operator Rupert Power ACO recently worked in the B-camera crew on Whitstable Pearl, directed by Chanda Button, with DP Vanessa Whyte, for Mignonette Productions/ITV, followed

by ITV’s Grantchester S6, directed by Jermain Julien, with DP Mark Waters. The agency’s brilliant Gravy Grip and standby team worked on the Apple TV+ series Invasion with DP Laurie Rose BSC. Dean Zimarakis was key grip on Ace Entertainment’s

22 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

feature romcom, The Statistical Probability Of Falling In Love At First Sight, directed by Vanessa Caswill, with DP Luke Bryant, Emilio Schläppi on Steadicam, and Rupert Lloyd-Parry as crane grip.

shooting the series That Dirty Black Bag in Italy, with director Brian O’Malley, for Palomar, TIMVision, and Sundance TV. Jaime Ackroyd is filming the feature Breakfast In Beirut, shooting in Bulgaria, Greece and UK, for Millennium Films and director Tina Gharavi. Catherine Derry is shooting the feature film CURS_D with director Toby Meakins for Stigma Films. Colin Watkinson BSC ASC has wrapped on the first block of Amazon’s The Power with director Reed Morano. Ruairi O’Brien ISC is in prep on the final block of Amazon’s The Power, with director Neasa Hardiman. Joel Honeywell is in Manchester prepping on episode 3 of Wolfe, with director Sean Spencer, for AbbottVision/Sky. Callan Green ACS shot second unit in Cardiff on Extinction for Sky/Urban Myth Films. Matthew Fox lit a spot for Sainsbury’s with Time Based Arts and director Rob Blisham, and another for M&S with director Gus Filagte and Darling. Amelia Hazleigg lit a spot for BBC advocating for mental health awareness director Phoebe Arnstein via Pulse.

Marcus Autelli lensed a Dove ad with Caviar and director Ryan Hopkinson.

WORLDWIDE PRODUCTION AGENCY Kanamé Onoyama is prepping the third block of Netflix’s Top Boy with director William Stefan Smith. Arthur Mulhern is shooting C4’s prison drama Screw, with Tom Vaughn directing.

Tony Slater Ling BSC is shooting the drama Wolfe, with director Adrian Shergold, for Sky/ AbbottVision. Baz Irvine ISC recently wrapped principal photography with director Marc Evans on Manhunt: The Nightstalker for Buffalo Pictures/ ITV. Ed Moore BSC has concluded photography on the third block of post-apocalyptic series, The Last Bus, with director Steve Hughes, for Wildseed Studios/Netflix. Tibor Dingelstad NSC shot on the first block of Hanna S3 in Prague, with director Sacha Polak, for Amazon/NBC Universal.

Mattias Troelstrup continues on the second block of Hanna S3, with director Weronika Tofilska.

Vanessa Whyte worked on the third block of Whitstable Pearl, with director Chanya Button, for Buccaneer Media/Acorn TV. PJ Dillon ISC ASC

SARA PUTT ASSOCIATES Giulio Biccari is prepping on Stay Close for Red Productions. Duncan Telford has been getting creative at home and built a tabletop rig with 900-degrees of rotation! Andrei Austin ACO Associate BSC SOC is prepping on The Bubble, a new Judd Apatow film, with DP Ben Smithard BSC. Jon Beacham ACO has been busy working dailies on Suspicion, starring Uma Thurman. Danny Bishop ACO Associate BSC SOC is prepping on All Quiet On The Western Front in Czech Republic. Ed Clark ACO has started on SAS Rogue Heroes for Kudos Productions, with director Tom Shankland. James Frater ACO SOC is operating on the The Witcher S2, which stars Henry Cavill. Zoe GoodwinStuart ACO has recently become a client, and is currently working dailies on A Discovery Of Witches. Ilana Garrard ACO is working on Netflix’s Anatomy Of A Scandal with DP Balazs Bolygo BSC HSC and director SJ Clarkson. James Leigh ACO is still working on Stephen Merchant’s

series The Offenders, for Big Talk and Amazon.

Will Lyte ACO has started on a block of Sex Education. Vince McGahon ACO Associate BSC is operator/Steadicam on Embankment, which stars Gary Oldman. Julian Morson ACO Associate BSC GBCT continues on The Batman. Alastair Rae ACO Associate BSC is working on State Of The Union 2. Aga Szeliga Assoc ACO recently wrapped on a block of A Discovery Of Witches.

Tom Walden Associate ACO did dailies on Sex Education after welcoming a baby girl earlier at the beginning of the year! Rick Woollard worked on spots for Tesco Mobile, Milk and More, as well as dailies on All The Old Knives for Amazon Studios.

LUX ARTISTS Jakob Ihre FSF is prepping for Johan Renck’s new feature Spaceman. Ula Pontikos BSC is shooting

Russian Doll S2, directed by Natasha Lyonne.

Olan Collardy is prepping for Raine Allen-Miller’s currently Untitled feature. James Laxton ASC is prepping for The Lion King follow-up directed by Barry Jenkins. Adolpho Veloso has wrapped on Justin Chadwick’s new series Becoming Elizabeth.

Natasha Braier ADF ASC has concluded on David Hollendar’s series American Gigolo. Rob Hardy BSC lensed a Samsung ad directed by Henry Scholfield, and is now prepping for Men, directed by Alex Garland. Nanu Segal BSC is getting ready to shoot Emily, directed by Frances O’Connor. Steve Annis is prepping Inside, directed

by Vasilis Katsoupis. Manuel Alberto Claro is

lighting Kingdom Exodus, directed by Lars von Trier.

Justin Brown is shooting Willow, directed by Ron Howard. Jessica Lee Gagne continues to shoot Severance, a new show directed by Ben Stiller.

Manel Ruiz lensed a DB Cargo spot directed by Martin Werner. Eira Wyn Jones shot an Uber Eats ad directed by Romain Chassaing. Jody Lee Lipes is prepping for The Good Nurse, directed by Tobias Lindholm. Benjamin Loeb has wrapped on Jesse Eisenberg’s feature When I Finish Saving The World.

Ben Fordesman shot a Skoda TVC, directed by Frederic Planchon. Adam Newport-Berra is shooting Outer Range for Amazon Studios, starring Josh Brolin.

UNITED AGENTS Philippe Kress DFF is shooting the SF Studio/ Netflix film Kærlighed For Voksne, directed by Barbara Rotenborg in Denmark. John Lee BSC is grading Viewpoint with director Ashley Way for Tiger Aspect/ITV. Mark Nutkins is shooting The Last Bus for Wildseed Studio/Netflix, directed by Nour Wazzi. Gavin Struthers AFC BSC has wrapped in Vancouver on Superman And Lois, directed by Lee Toland Krieger. Alwin Kuchler BSC is shooting Falling Blocs for Jon S. Baird in Scotland for MARV. Alan Almond BSC is reading for a variety of projects. Danny Cohen BSC is filming James Hawes’ Slow Horses for Apple TV.

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 23

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE

Clockwise from left: John Lynch on Sky Christmas; Tómas Tómasson on American Express; Ashley Baron ACS; Giuseppe Favale; and A Discovery Of Witches S3/Block2 crew - DIT Christy Kail, DP Catherine Goldschmidt, 1st ACs Damien Walsh & Alex Van Heerden, trainee Farah Rose, operators Agnieszka Szeliga & Peter Wignall, 2nd ACs Sarah Macleod & Amy Yeats, and trainee Liam Morgan

Damian Paul Daniel has finished working with Topher Campbell on Una Marson. Martin Führer BSC is meeting for various projects. David Higgs BSC is concluding work in Malta on Bavaria Fiction’s Das Boot S3. Kieran McGuigan BSC is lighting Mezzotint, directed by Mark Gatiss for the BBC. Laurie Rose BSC has finished on Ray James for Apple TV. Bet Rourich is busy with commercials. John Sorapure is prepping on Disney’s The Little Mermaid in the roles of second unit DP and second unit director. Simon Tindall is prepping on Hidden for Ed Taflan. Ollie Downey is meeting for projects. Laurens De Geyter is prepping a feature for Hans Herbots, shooting in Belgium. Sam Heasman is lensing three episodes of The Sandman for Warner Brothers TV/Netflix.

David Rom is lighting series two of Ted Lasso for Apple TV. Simon Stolland has been shooting a variety of short-forms. Si Bell’s Crossfire for BBC Studios has pushed to next year, so he is available.

Sam Chiplin is reading and meeting for projects.

Charlotte Bruus Christensen is lighting All The Old Knives for director Janus Metz, with Chris Pine in the lead. David Marsh is lighting Black Ops, a pilot for Catherine Morshead. Anton Mertens SBC is shooting a new drama series in Belgium for his regular directors Kaat and Nathalie. Neus Olle is reading and meeting. David Raedeker is lighting drama series The Essex Serpent for director Clio Barnard and Apple TV. Niels Reedtz Johansen is busy with meetings. Kate Reid BSC is doing additional filming on Falling Blocs aka Tetris and 24 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Left to right: Edward Ames on Evie; Si Bell and Thai crew on The Serpent

will light new drama series The Baby for Nicole Kassell, Sister Pictures and HBO. Joshua James Richards is busy with awards press and publicity for Nomadland and meeting for future projects. Miles Ridgway is available. Ed Rutherford is lighting he drama series Serpent Queen for Stacie Passon and Lionsgate/Starz. Anna Valdez Hanks is working on Magpie Murders for Peter Cattaneo and Britbox in Dublin. Ben Wheeler is in Australia prepping on The Tourist for Two Brothers/HBO Max and Chris Sweeney. Barry Ackroyd BSC has been busy with commercials, for Danny Kleinman via Rattling Stick in Prague. Alex Barber shot a Vodafone spot for Vince Squibb through Academy. Philipp Blaubach worked with David Kerr on a Farrow & Ball spot for Hungryman. Simon Chaudoir lit an International Delight ad for Rob Leggett at Knucklehead. Lasse Frank was in Budapest with Andreas Nilsson for Biscuit. Nick Gillespie’s In The Earth, which he shot for director Ben Wheatley, has been receiving great reviews. Nick also directed the feature Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break, which has been selected to screen at SXSW. Alex Melman shot in London with James Rouse on a Walkers ad via Outsider. Ben Moulden worked with Nanette Burstein through Hungryman.

Tristan Oliver BSC shot a Snapple spot with Jonny & Will for Blink Ink. Matias Penachino lit a Ferrero TVC with Reynald Gresset in Dubai for Movie Magic Italy. Jake Polonsky BSC is working on The Great Season 2. Chris Sabogal shot commercials for Knucklehead directors Ben Gregor and Max Fisher in London. Joost Van Gelder is in Spain on an ad with director Fredrik Bond through Henry, Paris. Marcel Zyskind DFF lit a Shiseido spot with director Matthias Freier via Rejell Germany.

MY MANAGEMENT Craig Dean Devine finished off 2020 shooting the BFI/BBC-funded short Canvas Five, with director Karla Crome, and started 2021 on a BBC comedy pilot Dinosaur with Two Brother Pictures and Ladhood director Jonathan Schey in Glasgow. Filip Marek collaborated with director Marek Partys on a charity film and a dance project in Prague, shot a Skoda ad, directed by Lubos Rezler, via Stink, and then a Lego spot directed by Mathery. Sam Meyer started the New Year with music videos

for Nathan Dawes and KSI x Anne Marie, both directed by Troy Roscoe, and lensed a Facebook spot directed by Someyah. Sy Turnbull has been working with Great Guns on shoots for Amazon and National Rail, directed by Duncan Christie and Calum Macdiarmid. Dominic Bartels continues his collaboration with Black Lab Films, and director Marcus Thomas, shooting various campaigns across the UK. Tuomo Virtanen joined forces with The Family and director Luis Cervaro for Mutti and Iperceramico ad campaigns, both shot in Milan.

Nicolaj Bruel DFF was in Italy and France on a Dior campaign with Matteo Garrone through Archimede, a Credit Agricole spot directed by Martin Werner through Henry, and a part three of a Mulino Bianco campaign with production

company BRW Filmland and director Gabrielle Mainetti. Adric Watson started 2021 with a trip to Liverpool for an Alex Bank shoot with production company Madam, producer Michelle Stapleton and director Ahmed Hussein. Ahmet Husseyin shot in Ipswich and London on the music video for Fredo x Dave Money Talks with director Edem Wornoo through Lowkey Films. Over in New York, Pete Konczal lensed a Gap campaign, directed

by Mark Selijer. Robbie Ryan BSC ISC teamed up with Molly Burdett to shoot an emotive piece for Women’s Aid – a special collaboration between Engine, No.8 and Spindle, highlighting the massive increase in domestic violence during lockdown.

Robbie also shot the ‘Hope’ music video for Arlo Parks starring BAFTA-winning actor Molly Windsor,

and the ‘Loneliness’ music video for singer Birdy, directed by Sophie Muller through Prettybird. Jallo Faber FSF has been lensing with director Otto Bathurst for ROTG Pt II in Slovenia, via Smuggler, lit a Doritos TVC in Mallorca with Object Animal director by Filip Nilsson, a DNM commercial with Einar Films and an OLW ad with director Robert Jitzmark. Arnaud Carney has been in Barcelona shooting with Skillsprod TV and director Marcelo Melo for fashion brand Berluti. Following two shoots in Miami for Stuart Weitzman shoes and Aveda with director Jennifer Massaux, Gaul Porat headed to Dubai with director Nico Kreis to lens a Nismo spot, followed by an Amazon Prime piece for local production company Déjà vu and director Shahir

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Zag. Hakon Palsson was in Iceland shooting second unit on the latest series of Stella Blomqvist, starring Heida Reed as a hard-nosed, quick-witted lawyer with a dark past, fluid sexuality and a taste for whiskey and easy money. Ashley Barron ACS has graded The Tailings with colourist Trish Cahill for director Stevie Cruz-Martin. Ekkehart Pollack worked with Marken Film in Hamburg on an Idealo. de shoot with Cadmo Quintero, followed by a trip to Cape Town with director Daniel Warwick to lens a Ford ad through Zauberberg Production. Paul O’Callaghan shot in Yorkshire with Curly films for a BAFTA shoot directed by Dominic O’Riordan, followed by an Autotrader ad with Omni, and a Mini TVC with Derry Girls director Michael Lennox

at 76 Ltd. Following a Freenjoy shoot in Atlanta, directed by Nabil, production company Tool enlisted the talents of Todd Martin for a Corona beer shoot in Miami with director Wes Walker.

Ben Coughlan collaborated with Vevo to continue filming their long running DSCVR Artists To Watch Programme – all artists chosen benefit from working with Vevo to create engaging, high quality, live performance content to expose them to new global audiences. Tomas Tomasson went to Egypt to prep on new thriller action series the Octet, about arms trafficking, betrayal and vengeance, directed

by Ahmed Medhat. Darran Tiernan has been busy in LA shooting HBO’s psychological thriller, Red Bird Lane, with director David Slade. Todd Banhazl has

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CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 25

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE Clockwise from top: Olan Collardy; 1st AC Nicholas Turner and central loader Julian Zarzoso-Lowe on Vengeance; and Invasion crew - grip trainee Nele Wöhlk, best boy grip Rebecca Horsburgh, B-camera grip Louisa Court, crane grip James Powell, key grip Steve Pugh, standby rigger Sean McKeown, and standby carpenter JP McHugh

been in LA shooting with director Alex Ferguson for Starbucks, and a collaboration with Prettybird for Indeed with Columbine Goldsmith directing. Isaac Bauman teamed up with director Morgan Harary for a Budweiser shoot in LA through production company 1st Avenue Machine. Jo Willems is in Toronto with director Francis Lawrence shooting an adaptation of Windsor Mccay’s Little Nemo In Slumberland, starring Jason Momoa, Kyle Chandler, Chris O’Dowd and Marlow Barkley, telling the story of a young girl searching for her missing father in a mystical dreamland with the help of a large half-man/half-monster creature. Daisy Zhou was in New York shooting with director Charlotte Rutherford on an Urban Decay commercial produced by Good Company. Petra Korner AAC has wrapped on The Road Dance in the Hebrides, with director Richie Adams. Allison Anderson

recently lit a Legal Zoom shoot in Austin, Texas with Epoch Films and director Zacharay Heinzerling.

Ian Forbes took a trip to Northumberland and the Wirral for a National Lottery shoot with production company Vice and director Ian Robertson.

WIZZO & CO Welcomes Seppe Van Grieken SBC, who shot The Serpent alongside directors Tom Shankland and Hans Herbots. Aaron Reid is shooting Stephen for director Alrick Riley, and Oli Russell has wrapped on Sex Education S3. Hamish Anderson is shooting a feature for director Alistair Siddons produced through Emu Films. Luke Bryant lit the feature The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight, directed by Vanessa Casill, and has graded Rashah for Colin Teague. Nicola Daley ACS is shooting Gentleman Jack S2 with director Amanda Brotchie, and has graded Terence Davies’ Benediction. Steven Ferguson is grading Sliced S2, and Adam Gillham is doing the DI on Danny Boy for director Sam Miller. Charlie Goodger is shooting an untitled feature, and Håvard Helle is shooting The Loneliest Boy In The World with director Martin Owen. Ryan Kernaghan is lensing Ted Lasso S2, whilst Molly Manning Walker is shooting Superhoe for director Dawn Shadforth.

Diana Olifirova is grading The Band for Working Title, and Karl Oskarssson IKS is grading Cheaters for Clerkenwell Films. Nick Dance BSC is shooting on Gentleman Jack S2 with director Ed Hall. Christophe Nuyens SBC is shooing an embargoed Netflix drama. Jan Richter-Friis DFF has graded Cobra S2. Susanne Salavati is prepping Back To Life S2 alongside director Ella Jones. Gary Shaw has completed the grade on Sky’s Intergalactic. Tim Sidell has graded the National Theatre feature production of Romeo & Juliet. Fede Alfonzo shot for Simon Ratigan and Will Bex for Camilla Zapiola. Ruben Woodin Dechamps for Max Weiland and Patrick Meller shot for Nicolas Jack Davies. Joe Douglas worked with director KC Locke, and Franklin Dow with Joe Connor. Theo Garland shot with Niall Downing, Arran Green with Charlotte Regan and Peter James with Hoku & Adam. Ben Magahy shot with Stylewar, David Procter with director Iain Morris, and Antonio Paladino shot with James Marsh.

Matthias Pilz shot main unit days on a C4 drama, and Sverre Sørdal FNF is grading the short film Pops alongside Lewis Rose.

BERLIN ASSOCIATES Edward Ames recently shot the feature Evie for Full Circle Films, with directors Dominic Brunt and Jamie Lundy. Sarah Bartles Smith worked on Inside No. 9 with director Guillem Morales, and Queens Of Mystery S2 for Sly Fox Productions with director Ian Emes. Alvaro Gutierrez is shooting Desde La Sombra in Spain with director Felix Viscarret. Nick Martin is filming The Offenders for Big Talk with director Stephen Merchant. Toby Moore was on Call The Midwife and is now working on Fisherman’s Friends S2 for Fred Films.

Trevelyan Oliver is filming Hitmen for Tiger Aspect. Neil Oseman is shooting Hamlet for Bill Kenwright Productions, with director Sean Mathias.

Tom Pridham and Andrew Rodger have been shooting commercials. Benjamin Pritchard lit Teacher with director Dominic Le Clerk and is now on Deadline with director Gareth Tunley, both projects for Clapperboard Studios. Pete Rowe has completed shooting Partridge for Baby Cow Productions. Simon Rowling recently shot Jeepers Creepers: Reborn for The Well Productions. James Swift worked on Jamie Johnson and a block of All Creatures Great And Small for Playground TV. Simon Walton shot Lagging for BBC with director Julian Kemp. Matt Wicks lensed The Forest for Expectation Entertainment, followed by Buffering. Phil Wood worked on block 2 of S13 of Doctor Who.

What’s Next.

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26 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

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ONE TO WATCH•SYLVAINE DUFAUX

SYLVAINE DUFAUX•ONE TO WATCH

PASSIONATE CINEFILE

Left: Sylvaine filming with father, cinematographer Georges Dufaux.

Below: on The United States vs Billie Holiday.

Bottom Sharing a word with Director Ron Howard on Solo: A Star Wars Story.

All pictures kindly provided by Sylvaine Dufaux

chance to work with taught me something and, probably, I needed that time in the shade to observe and learn being part of the tribe.

Where do you get your visual inspirations?

Reading, walking around, observing people and how they act or interact - on the bus, in the tube, in a park or a museum. I look at photos and paintings of how the body moves, as well as the language of the body in things like contemporary dance, for example, the work of German choreographer Pina Bausch.

When it comes to the technical aspects of my work, between shooting on film or digital, my search is for images with texture. When we shoot on film, the filmstock itself brings texture. In the world of digital, lenses will bring those layers. My search is to find lenses with artefacts that will give us images that breathe and give shape to images that make the story.

Who are your DP/industry role models?

As a camera operator, second unit or splinter unit DP, I have worked for some great directors of photography - Ed Lachman ASC, Matthew Libatique ASC, Tom Sigel ASC and Bradford Young ASC, amongst others. It is a privilege to observe their work and share a set with them.

Cinematography includes for me not just the notions of light and camera movement, but also storytelling

28 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

When did you discover you wanted to be a cinematographer?

My father, Georges Dufaux, was a filmmaker, director of photography and also a director of documentaries, during the generation of The Candid Eyes in the ‘60s and ‘70s in Quebec, Canada. He travelled the world with his camera. I was seduced by the freedom it represented.

Where did you train?

I took the long road, by being a camera assistant, second AC and focus puller for a few years.

Then I went to camera operator and then DP, and discovered the joy and power of telling a story through a frame.

social injustice, in narratives and documentaries. I like the New Wave generation of filmmakers, such as François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.

Some of my favourite films are: Breaking The Waves (1996, dir. Lars Von Trier, DP Robby Müller), The Piano (1993, dir. Jane Campion, DP Stuart Dryburgh NZCS ASC), The Thin Red Line (1998, dir. Terrence Malick, DP John Toll ASC), Chungking Express (1994, Wong Kar-wai, DPs Christopher Doyle/Andrew Lau), Fish Tank (2009, dir. Andrea Arnold, DP Robbie Ryan ISC BSC) and The Rider (2017, dir. Chloé Zhao, DP Joshua James Richards).

What quote/mantra do you live by?

Cinema is a world of collaboration.

What’s the best advice you were ever given, and from whom?

“There is no little film - a film is a film!” - from DP Pierre Letarte.

What are you favourite films?

I am a ‘cinephile’ and like all kinds of films for different reasons. Growing up, I discovered the power of film to tell stories about dreams and

What is one thing you wish you knew when you were starting out?

I would probably push myself to become a DP sooner. At the same time, everyone I had the

For you, what are burning issues in cinematogaphy, filmmaking and cinema?

The line between film and TV series is getting smaller as the world of distribution is changing, but the goal is still the same - to share a story in order to bring knowledge or entertainment. The industry sometimes forgets to trust the curiosity of the public.

A project is made from a vision, a sensation, a point-of-view on a story.

me and a great experience. One of the beauties of our industry is that we work and meet people from different generations and different horizons, and everyone brings something to the others. I hope I brought something to those students as much they did give me by their ideas, questions and curiosity.

What’s the best/worst things about being a DP? I have had the chance to travel and to meet people and crews around the world. I always remind myself what a privilege it is to make a living by doing this job, whilst discovering different countries and their cultures.

Also, as a DP, the joy is the collaboration and the journey with a director on a project, the challenge of understanding and finding the right point-of-view, and also the challenge of the budget, time, locations, etc.. The difficult side is when you are confronted by shooting to a schedule and forget about the story.

What lessons has your working life taught you?

The word cinematographer includes for me not just the notions of light and camera movement, but also storytelling. The one thing I really love is when a director and I discuss the best way of looking at a scene - the ambiance, the movement, what we show, what we suggest, what we don’t show. And then,

Who is your agent?

Frank Balkin & Brian J.Goldberg at WPA in Los Angeles.

What is your URL/website address? www.sylvainedufaux.com

on the shooting day, we look and see, and often discover the accident of a frame, or a source of light, that tells us what we were looking for. We still need to tell stories and we still love to receive those stories.

A few years back, I taught one semester at Université du Québec à Montréal. I learnt myself by reading, looking at films, being on a set and watching the work of others. So, teaching was a surprise for

Selected Filmography: as cinematographer: The Republic Of Sarah (2021, TV series), Future Man (2020, TV series), Pink Ribbons, Inc. (2011, documentary), La Fille De Montréal (2010).

As DP and A/B-camera operator on main/splinter units: The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021), Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014), Source Code (2011), Napoléon (2002, TV series), Nuremberg (2000,TV series).

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 29

STUDENT UNION•AFI CONSERVATORY

AFI CONSERVATORY•STUDENT UNION

HARVARD FOR FILMMAKERS

AFI stars, clockwise from left: Stephen Lighthill ASC, Ludovica Isidori, Haris Zambarloukos BSC GSC, AFI dean & executive VP Susan Rushkin, Ayinde Anderson and Polly Morgan ASC BSC

By Larissa Mori

In 1969, the AFI Conservatory opened its doors to an inaugural class that changed the course of film history: students included DP Caleb Deschanel ASC (The Right Stuff, The Lion King), along with the directors/screenwriters Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line, The Tree Of Life) and Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull).

I

t was an impressive start for any film school. For the American Film Institute, however, it was more than just a start. It was the unveiling of a new standard.

It has now been over 50 years since that first class, and AFI has trained hundreds of other notable alumni, including cinematographers such as Robert Elswit ASC (There Will Be Blood), Haris Zambarloukos BSC GSC (Mamma Mia!, Thor), Polly Morgan ASC BSC (Lucy In The Sky, Legion) and Rachel Morrison ASC (Mudbound, The Black Panther), plus directors including David Lynch (Dune, Twin Peaks) and Patty Jenkins (Monster, Wonder Woman).

With such a star-studded fame, it is easy to see why the AFI Conservatory is considered one of the best film schools in the world. As to the secret to its success, that’s simple: full-on immersion.

Nestled in the hills above Hollywood, the school’s eight-acre campus hosts less than 300 students. Each is enrolled in a practical, two-year MFA programme focussed on one of six key disciplines: cinematography, directing, editing, producing, production design and screenwriting.

By the time fellows obtain their degrees, they’ll have had experience in creating up to 175 finished movies a year.

THE CINEMATOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE The establishment is prep for the industry like no other. An AFI alum in one of its six disciplines has been nominated for an Academy Award every year for the past decade. Since the AFI Conservatory began in 1969, AFI alumni have received 34 Best Cinematography Oscar nominations and seven wins.

“AFI was the perfect stepping-stone,” begins Polly Morgan, who is now the only woman to be accredited by both BSC and ASC, and the youngest member of the latter. “Attending helped me push my skill set further, to become the DP that I always wanted to be.”

The first year, she remembers, involved working every single day of the week. “You do classes from Monday-to-Wednesday, which frequently involve industry guests. Then, you either shoot your own film, or act as crew for others, from Thursday-to-Sunday.

Each film student’s produce is screened, then 30 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

critiqued through regular narrative workshops.”

By the second year, fellows are expected to use all they’ve learned to then develop two bigger, career-launching films: a thesis, and a 35mm visual essay shot with no sound.

“It was just an amazing experience,” Morgan continues. “Your life is completely dedicated to learning the craft. That’s why I think it’s one of the best film schools out there. Because you’re literally learning by doing all the time.”

What we teach first and foremost are storytelling and collaboration. Those are the two essentials to really being effective in the industry Along with the practical education, another life-changing benefit to attending AFI is the deep exposure to the industry provided through working lecturers, industry guests and the extensive alumni network. Between her first and second years, Morgan spent the summer working for Wally Pfister ASC, another AFI alum, as he shot Inception for director Christopher Nolan. And it was Haris Zambarloukos BSC, who also attended AFI, who recommended the school to her in the first place.

“Three months before I attended the school, I saw Visions Of Light (1992) at the cinema,” Zambarloukos remembers. “It was a documentary film produced by AFI and screened all over the UK – and it was incredibly inspiring. I felt like I was going to a school where they were truly catering to, and celebrating, cinematography. And I knew it was the perfect post-graduate course to recommend after working with Polly on-set.”

Like Morgan, Zambarloukos learned from pioneers in the field whilst at the Conservatory.

“Every week there would be a new cinematographer to come in and talk to us, from Conrad Hall ASC to Dariusz Wolski ASC,” he explains.

“I’ll give an example of a workshop. The faculty made up a one-page script. Then, they invited three cinematographers to come in on three separate days and shoot that script, with us students being the crew members.

“The first day, Dean Cundey ASC came in. The second day, Michael Solomon ASC came in, and the third day, Dariusz Wolski ASC came in. And that was just a small, three-day workshop! I ended up focuspulling for Dariusz. I still remember that he ordered f/1.1 aperture lenses and lit everything with a candle and a match. It was literally a baptism by fire.”

AFI’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE YET For this and next year’s crop of graduates, of course, the AFI experience has been slightly different to Zambarloukos and Morgan’s.

“There is no way for us to sugarcoat this – it’s been a very difficult time,” reveals DP and cinematography discipline head at AFI, Stephen Lighthill ASC, also the current president of the ASC. “We have a very large international population on our campus. In the cinematography discipline alone, around 40% of students come from countries other than the US, so pandemic restrictions have made a huge impact.”

Amazingly, it took less than two weeks for discipline heads and staff to put safety guidelines in place. Three committees were formed to design stringent safety protocols for all production work.

All classes were then converted for online learning through a combination of Zoom calls and Frankie sessions.

“You have to try doubly diligently to make those connections with your students,” says editor and senior lecturer at AFI, Matthew Friedman. “The good news is, the students are actually getting more educational time than they would have without the virus. They’re still going to get all the teaching they would have had if the pandemic hadn’t happened – it’s just delayed. The school is committed to not charging for the fact that what was a two-year programme has turned into a three-year

programme. And classes aren’t being postponed: they’re continuing online anyway. It’s essentially an extra year for online learning.”

As well as additional contact hours, online learning has benefitted the students in other ways.

“There was a beautiful coming together of the industry to help that next generation through this difficult time,” remembers Susan Ruskin, dean and executive vice president of AFI. “We had several generous equipment donations for fellows to work from home, and an even more high-profile guest list than usual. It allowed us to organise many excellent conversations between the industry and the fellows.”

An example was the launch of AFI Movie Club, where every day somebody from the industry talked through a movie they loved. “It’s become a focal point for people to check-in and create community, even though we’re far apart,” Susan continues.

“We also did week-long programmes around feature projects. One of these was David Fincher’s Mank (2021). Fellows from each of the different disciplines were able to have one-on-one conversations with David along with the producer Eric Roth, the cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt ASC and the production designer Donald Graham Burt.”

It’s been such a success, Ruskin adds, that AFI is now considering continuing to offer supplementary online courses in the future, including classes on

emerging game-engine technologies, or the benefits of background LED production environments.

“I think, because of what this current crop of students has been forced to do, it’s really strengthened their ability to accept new technologies and new ways of doing things,” she explains.

CHANGING THE FUTURE For the fellows, these are experiences that could one day even change the future of film as we know it. After all, whilst students around the globe have overcome huge disruption, it is film students like the AFI’s who have the power to tell the stories about it.

As the Conservatory sifts through its biggest and most diverse application pool yet for the class of 2023, there’s no mistaking the shift in focus.

“What we teach at AFI, first and foremost, is storytelling and collaboration,” says Lighthill.

“No matter what the discipline, those are the two essentials to really being effective in the industry.

We’ve had a year of real political upheaval, and tragedy in our society. It’s made students very socially conscious - I think they all are anyway, but this generation is particularly so. I think it’s the generation that’s going to ensure the industry makes some necessary changes that should have been made before. Our stories are going to change and evolve. And stories are what AFI is all about.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 31

SMOOTH OPERATORS

SMOOTH OPERATORS Opposite: Chris keeping it low on Darkest Minds (photo Daniel McFadden) Below left: Following Will Smith on Bad Boys For Life (photo Ben Rothstein)

Phoenix (2007, dir. David Yates, DP Sławomir Idziak PSC). “Walking onto the set of Harry Potter was amazing. That kit opened-up doors to engage with people I would never normally have had access to.”

Soon after, McGuire moved to LA. “I was the guy with this new piece of equipment and I was doing my damnedest to get it out there. I worked with DPs like Paul Laufer and Colin Watkinson, shooting commercials and music videos. That’s when I met Julio Macat ASC and filmed Thick As Thieves (2009, dir. Mimi Leder) with him. Julio helped to sponsor me into the union in LA, the Local 600.”

SHARP SHOOTER

By Natasha Block Hicks

C

hristopher TJ McGuire ACO SOC is midway through a six-night week, operating on Ms Marvel, the Disney+ TV series based on the first Muslim Marvel superhero, as he kindly takes part in my inquisitions about his career trajectory to becoming one of the world’s leading camera operators.

“It’s a big thing for Marvel,” says McGuire, “in terms of showing off the Muslim culture here in America.” On this project, he is catching up with director duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, with whom he last collaborated on the action comedy Bad Boys For Life (2020) and their fellow Belgian, cinematographer Robrecht Heyvaert SBC. “There was a shot I did last night on the Technocrane,” McGuire relates with a sense of wonderment, “where we are looking down at people running out of a building. We hold for a moment, then the crane crashes down with the camera following one character, flies over some cars and lands in a group shot, then pulls back out again to a wide. That moment - where you’re the guy and you’ve managed to get the shot – that’s what you live for as an operator.”

McGuire has come, both literally and figuratively, a long way from Poynton, the town in Cheshire, UK, where he grew up. Early inspiration came from his father’s fascination with video cameras. “He had a SL-F1 Betamax camcorder system, and that was the beginning for me,” remembers McGuire.

At first, McGuire says he explored animation.

“I tried to create montages with little plasticine characters,” he laughs, “and soon realised I wasn’t patient enough for that. It was trying to visualise an idea with the camera that really interested me. So, one time I went up to Lyme Park with an actor friend and filmed him turning away from camera, looking into the lens and all these other visceral pieces.

I loved doing that and figured it was the way I wanted to go.

32 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

“Later, I managed to hijack my way onto a twoyear course at Northenden College, in Manchester.

I just went to go and enrol. The lecturer said, ‘You should have had an interview first,’ and I was like, ‘This is what I really want to do!’. But, I got in and had access to the proper stuff there.”

McGuire eventually got his hands on a Sony BVW 507 Betacam camcorder. “I did a news conference on Joe Bloggs, the ‘Madchester’ clothing company, for Granada news,” he says. “It was my first job as a cameraman. It was really scary, to have that responsibility. But I enjoyed being a

Movies have always been a passion for me.

All that information coming through what I’m doing with the camera is pretty sensational part of the team and shooting with the camera. The camera was always going to be the conduit for me working in the business.”

Cameras may have been the conduit, but it was as a ‘purveyor of camera stabilisation’ that McGuire was to make his initial mark. “I started with an SK2 Steadicam rig from Tiffen,” McGuire recalls, “and operated it on a show called Planet Pop for a while.

That was a real learning ground for me.”

However, McGuire found that he quickly outgrew the SK2, designed for small camcorders.

“To upgrade to the next level rig was a huge

investment,” he divulges. “I got in with Howard Smith who was a Steadicam operator in Manchester.

He was developing a modular system, which was awesome because it meant that I could gradually build the rig and it was affordable to me.”

This prototype was to become the MK-V AR, the auto-levelling ‘Revolution’ system, with the camera mounted inside a powered gimbal on a post that could swivel 360°.

“Howard and I shot all the demo films for the AR system together, and I ended up attending a lot of tradeshows with him, like IBC in Amsterdam and CineGear in Los Angeles,” says McGuire. “That’s where I met Randy Nolen SOC who did Bonfire Of The Vanities (1990, dir. Brian De Palma, DP Vilmos Zsigmond ASC HSC) and Larry McConkey SOC. To me Larry was like, ‘Wow. This is the guy who did the ‘one-er’ on Snake Eyes (1998, dir. Brian De Palma, DP Stephen H Burum ASC)’.”

By ‘one-er’, McGuire is referring to a long, single-take, often handheld or Steadicam shot that requires, not only exhaustive rehearsals, but great skill and stamina from the camera operator to physically follow the action, whilst keeping frame and avoiding other crew members often close by.

“At the early stage of my career I was doing television stuff,” continues McGuire, “I was kind of content to a certain extent, but it wasn’t movies and movies were my passion. To be sitting there having breakfast at Bob’s Big Boy Diner in Burbank with Jeff Mart, the Hollywood legend who would operate a Steadicam riding a bicycle, to me was just like, ‘Wow, this is superb’.”

Smith and McGuire took any opportunity they could to showcase the AR system. “We would go down to Leavesden Studios with the kit and demo it when they were filming Harry Potter,” relates McGuire. “David Yates and the other directors, they were starting to come around to the idea of using it.”

McGuire was eventually invited to operate the kit on the fifth Harry Potter film, The Order Of The

McGuire started to train himself in the disciplines of conventional camera operating. “I really had to knuckle down and learn the wheels,” he admits.

He was called again by Yates to fly the AR in the last two Harry Potter films, but by the time the first of the Pitch Perfect (dir. Jason Moore, DP Julio Macat ASC) movies came his way in 2012, McGuire had largely made the shift to A-camera operating.

“Yes, I’m sad that I don’t do it as much anymore these days,” McGuire says regarding the AR, “but I’m happy seeing other people championing it.”

In 2014, McGuire claimed his own renowned ‘one-er’ on HBO’s crime anthology series True Detective S1/E4, with a six-minute shot with Matthew McConaughey. “He’s in the projects, raiding a stash house. Two of the suspects escape, running through houses and along the street, dodging people, cop cars and police helicopters.

They end-up climbing over a fence. That was Steadicam with one of the first ARRI Alexas. We used a Titan crane at the end to get over the fence.

The shot was counted out at nine minutes, but

www.mk-v.com

ended-up being six because they were so fast although to capture the shot I had to be even faster.”

In the last five years, McGuire has clocked-up a plethora of noteworthy credits, such as Jason Bourne (2016, dir. Paul Greengrass) and Detroit (2017, dir.

Kathryn Bigelow), both lit by Barry Ackroyd BSC, “who was just lovely”, and Hillbilly Elegy (2020, dir.

Ron Howard) under the auspices of renowned DP Maryse Alberti ASC. “Terminator: Dark Fate (2019, dir. Tim Miller, DP Ken Seng) was also a dream to shoot, working with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton,” remarks McGuire.

“Movies have always been a passion for me, and being the conduit, with all that information coming through what I’m doing with the camera, is pretty sensational.

“The jobs that I do now, they carry cranes and remote heads,” says McGuire, “and you try to do the master shot generally with the crane.”

Being at the helm of a remote head has other benefits. “Before Covid I’d started using a remote head more because it meant I didn’t have to be uncomfortable on a dolly. Now, I like to have the camera in with the actor and me well away with my mask on. With Steadicam I learnt early-on to operate off a monitor. I like a mid-sized monitor where you can see everything quickly, as you’re constantly scanning the frame.

“The next job I’m doing is Black Adam (dir.

Jaume Collet-Serra) with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. The cinematographer for that is Lawrence Sher ASC, who did Joker (2019, dir. Todd Phillips) and Godzilla: King Of The Monsters (2019, dir.

Michael Dougherty). He and Jaume, the director, are very specific about framing. I always like to get little tweaks, and when you get a certain amount of critique, you realise they’re actually watching what you’re doing.”

Despite his full-on schedule, McGuire has an interesting sideline in creating T-shirts and hoodies emblazoned with bright graphics of anthropomorphic animals and other entities brandishing camera stabilisation rigs.

“I did a short film with Shane Hurlbut ASC, all with the AR. I had it fully-extended and was doing my dance with it. He called me a ‘Steadicam Warrior’ and I liked the way that sounded. So, I started a new T-shirt label for our industry.

“But the Steadicam Warrior brand is not about me. It’s really about my brothers and sisters who are Steadicam operators, the kind of characters they embody when they’re flying the rig.

Via the online shop we are sending T-shirts as far away as Australia. It’s nice to have another creative outlet.”

Whilst the movies are his day job, going to the cinema is still a thrill for McGuire.

“I try to forget everything and watch the movie for what it supposed to be - a window into another world,” he explains. “I still get more excited about it than anybody else. As a kid I watched Star Wars over and over again, it never got tired. My aspiration was to work on something like that myself.

And I did: Bad Boys For Life.I don’t seem to get bored of that one.”

info@mk-v.com

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 33

WANDAVISION•JESS HALL BSC ASC

JESS HALL BSC ASC•WANDAVISION

QUIRK, STRANGENESS AND CHARM

Jess Hall BSC on set with Director Matt Shakman.

WANDAVISION exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021.

All Rights Reserved.

By Michael Goldman

complexity. However, the hardest thing we needed to do was to create some sort of unity across that palette, something that was coherent and balanced over nine episodes, but which could also evolve appropriately as the different sitcom eras developed. In that regard, I had a lot of lensing choices to sort through.”

The quirky nine-episode Disney+ show, WandaVision, has thrown some new and unexpected curveballs into the bloodstream of Marvel’s wider, cross property launch of the next phase of its film and TV empire.

T

he acclaimed show tries something virtually unprecedented - mixing comedy and drama with old and new Marvel plotlines, as well as characters from across the comic-book and motion-picture universes, all whilst paying a loving homage to, of all things, famous family-oriented sitcoms from the 1950s through to the early 2000s.

The show examines whether grief-stricken superheroine Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olson) is good or evil, sane or crazy, and connected to the real world, or consumed by a fantasy sitcom-like world in which she clings to an idyllic life with her supposedly dead husband, a synthetic being known as Vision (Paul Bettany), and their two mysterious children, despite the outside world aggressively barging into her fantasy.

For cinematography aficionados, Wanda’s issues are nothing compared to the challenges faced by the show’s cinematographer, Jess Hall 34 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

BSC ASC, and his crew, in terms of how they filmed a unique show that liberally mixes looks, eras, and stylised visual references to famous TV sitcoms and multiple Marvel movies. Hall’s WandaVision journey may well be as complex as anything seen on television in a long time, if ever.

That journey included a lengthy prep involving, amongst other things, extensive study of the history of classic sitcoms from various eras. He spent a great deal of time analysing images from such shows to figure out how best to combine elements of those looks for certain sections of the programme with his own aesthetic sensibilities, which would ultimately fit the show’s unique narrative.

Hall also had to sort out a wide range of on-set workflow and lighting issues, unique post-production requirements, and more. He first chose ARRI’s Alexa LF Studio and Mini systems as his camera platform, capturing everything in Open Gate mode. But his biggest initial task lay in figuring out how to lens a

show that evokes programmes captured on film in different periods of history – including a B&W debut episode shot live in front of a studio audience along with major VFX-oriented feature films captured digitally, in three different aspect ratios, namely 1.33:1, 1.78:1 and 2.39:1.

The cinematographer calls WandaVision both “a jigsaw puzzle” and “a hybrid fusion of a show, made at cinema quality,” and says the lensing piece of the puzzle was crucial to unlocking solutions to various other creative and technical challenges.

“I knew I would have to use one camera platform, because I didn’t want to try and use 10 different formats – I needed a simpler approach,” Hall explains. “I knew early-on that I was going to be capturing RAW colour data on the Alexa platform, and then employing all the tools of cinematography to bend that data into a period envelope. There was a huge range in the material we would be shooting, which added great

ADAPTIVE OPTICS After spending significant time “excavating the vaults” at Panavision Woodland Hills for both vintage lenses and glass used on more recent Marvel movies, plus doing extensive testing, Hall finally decided, in collaboration with Dan Sasaki, Panavision’s VP of optical engineering, that the only way to achieve the myriad of visual goals set out before him was to turn to the concept of adaptive optics. Hall says this essentially means “adding elements to existing lenses, rather than trying to modify period lenses” in order to achieve performance and flexibility that goes beyond traditional tuning methods - in this case, adapting the technology from Panavision’s Primo line of lenses.

“All told, I used 47 different lenses across the production, which were grouped into three series,” Hall states. “The series one lenses covered episodes one, two, three and five (referencing sitcoms from the 1950’s to the 1980’s). They were custom-constructed lenses that I worked with Dan to develop, with characteristics from those eras.

They were adjusted in terms of softness, edgeto-edge focus fall-off, lens curvature, highlight halation, and softening in selective colour.

These lenses were also configured on a scale that increased the lens characteristics in relation to T-stop. I could vary the lens personality by shooting at a specific stop, thus enabling me to create different looks across four eras using just one set of glass.”

Hall elaborates that the second block of lenses were an existing set of high-speed Panaspeeds used for episodes six and seven to emulate more modern sitcom visuals. The third block of lenses consisted of a set of Ultra Panatars, originally developed to shoot the Marvel features Avengers: Infinity War (2018, DP Trent Opaloch) and Avengers: Endgame (2019, DP Trent Opaloch), albeit strategically altered by Panavision. Hall says their use enabled him to better capture the look of the familiar MCU that fans were used to from the Marvel films for portions of the last three episodes, as well as sections of other episodes that take place outside of Wanda’s magical sitcom environment - essentially “encoding MCU material within a familiar visual language, and one that enabled a clear differentiation between the various realities inside and outside of Wanda’s fantasy world, known as ‘The Hex’.”

“By using Ultra Panatar lenses, I switched for the first time in the show from spherical to 1.3X

All told, I used 47 different lenses across the production, which were grouped into three series Anamorphic to give the audience a perspective change in terms of spatial distances,” Hall relates.

“Of course, when it came to actual execution, we certainly used more camera movement, more CG camera moves, more interactive lighting, and more contemporary framing than the sitcom sections of the show, more like the Marvel movies. So we have an aspect ratio transition as the show goes along, but also a lensing shift. By introducing Anamorphic lensing for the critical differentiation between the sitcoms and the MCU, I was actually trying to change the way the audience perceived space, perspective and depth within the frame due to the inherent compression and unique characteristics of the Anamorphic format.”

Sasaki emphasises that adapting the Ultra Panatar lenses to create the MCU look was the project’s “most challenging exercise” on Panavision’s side of the equation.

“Jess wanted to use the Ultra Panatars as the ‘reveal lenses’ that made use of a larger format sensor and presented an image with higher clarity, but with an organic, cinematic feeling,” Sasaki explains. “However, although the Ultra Panatar lenses are Anamorphic, Jess wanted to avoid photographing too much horizontal flaring, and also to reduce the amount of glare resulting from the cylinders. Due to this consideration, we needed a new, modern version of the Ultra Panatars to fill the void.

“We utilised the same technology that is at the heart of all our Anamorphic lenses, but the path we used to create the WandaVision Ultra Panatar lenses was an educational one that paved the way for other lens ideas. We started by increasing the progression of power to make the weaker 1.3X Anamorphic squeeze have the look of a stronger-squeeze Anamorphic lens. Next, we had to address the coatings on the cylindrical elements to reduce the amount of flare and veiling-glare artifacts. The hardest challenge was addressing the apparent sharpness of the lens. Jess wanted a lens that had good contrast and resolution, yet at the same time, he was leaning toward a look that would not be interpreted as being synthetic and flat. So the idea behind using the Ultra Panatars was to provide an enhanced look that offered a noticeable visual difference from the images of the other timelines.”

LOTS OF LUTS Meanwhile, in order to keep track of looks from multiple eras and shows during production, Hall worked closely with Technicolor colour scientists Josh Pines and Chris Kutcka. With their help, in a digital intermediate environment at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta, where much of the show was shot before finishing up in Los Angeles, Hall utilised an astounding 23 different look-up tables (LUTs) during filming.

“Those LUTs included the SDR HDR, and different camera input LUTs for each look,” explains the show’s digital imaging technician, Kyle Spicer. “For me, as you can imagine, this created an interesting challenge in terms of keeping up with all the moving parts. Each show LUT consisted of an SDR version, a 600-nits CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 35

WANDAVISION•JESS HALL BSC ASC

JESS HALL BSC ASC•WANDAVISION Main Left: DP Jess Hall BSC Left and right: Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettnay play Wanda and Vision Below: Teyonah Parris gets hands on with the Hex. Photos courtesy of Marvel Studios

By episode three, the first episode in colour, the show begins to cut back-and-forth from particular sitcom eras to the MCU universe, and the lighting focus therefore transitions accordingly. Vecchio used ARRI SC-60 soft-top boxes at 5,000K, Big Eye 10K key lights with a combination of cosmetic peach and burgundy gels, and 4K Softlight with a cosmetic rouge gel was used for fill.

“As this was the first episode in colour, Jess took full advantage of mixing soft blue top light with cosmetic gels on our key lights, and then filled with soft rouge gel,” Vecchio elaborates.

HDR version, and a 1,000-nits HDR version. We ultimately decided on 600 nits as our on-set master.

We all felt this gave us the best range, whilst also allowing the HDR to have a very cinematic effect.”

Spicer adds that one goal for WandaVision was for the entire show to be mastered in HDR from beginning to end. “That’s different from most current shows, which still use SDR as the master, with a trim pass being applied to the HDR in the DI process.”

To allow on-set monitoring that would clearly pick up such nuances, Spicer says the production used two Sony BVM-HX310 monitors on-set, viewing everything in true 4K HDR, and two Sony PVM-A250 monitors to simultaneously view imagery in SDR. “The Sony BVM-HX310 monitors really are a gold standard for all HDR viewing and finishing on-set and in the DI,” Spicer elaborates. “Using both HDR and SDR monitors gave Jess the ability to look at all possible outcomes, and have confidence that what he was seeing on-set would translate to the final image. However, that also meant we had to view both the HDR and SDR versions of the LUTs at the same time, and that, in turn, doubled the amount of LUT boxes needed. I used TVLogic 4K IS-minis for the HDR side of the world, and regular IS-minis for the SDR material. Since we treated the show like a feature and didn’t shoot it episodically, we jumped around a lot. To make things as consistent as possible, we took thousands of stills, both in HDR and SDR, to reference as needed.”

Speaking of reference material, Hall says a key part of his process was the construction of reference books of still photographs from the various time periods the show pays homage to - “iconic looks,” as he puts it.

“When it came to the colour work, I was able to take those stills and actually analyse RGB values in the colours I was seeing, and basically refine them into a 20-colour palette for each era,” Hall says.

“This formed a template which I shared with the art 36 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

The early B&W looks were based around appropriate film stocks; the ‘80s look had curves more akin to video cameras

department, costume designer, and VFX supervisor.

I knew that restricting the colour palette was the best way to take control of the image, and give it period integrity. Colour is viewed subjectively, and the period work is extremely subtle, so establishing an absolute scientific value was essential, as it left no room for interpretation, and enabled great crossdepartmental collaboration.

“Each episode had that process. I would look at the reference material, refine it into key still frames, extract the RGB values of the colours within the stills, and then refine them in collaboration with our production designer, Mark Worthington. Then, we built the LUTs working with Technicolor, and worked on lensing.”

Once Hall figured out his colour palette for each era, he and gaffer John Vecchio relied on lighting instruments or approaches “that were periodappropriate, and part of the filmmaking vocabulary of those periods.” For example, the show attempted to avoid LED until episode seven.

“We started with early Tungsten fixtures, like Mole Richardson 8K Softlights and Big Eye 10K’s,” Vecchio explains. “And I used for those sections traditional diffusion materials, as well. Then, as the timeline develops, we go from a traditional highkey lighting style where key lighting is achieved with big lights on the floor to using a more modern environmental approach, which was largely motivated by practical lights. The point was to create clear contrasts between the eras.”

Vecchio says that for the first B&W episode shot in front of a live audience, his team rigged 8K Softlights as key lights on catwalks, 4K studio Softlights as fill, also on catwalks, and 2K studio Fresnels with tough-spun diffusion as backlights.

“All those lights were on dimmers for adjustment, as well as scene changes,” Vecchio notes. “The large soft lights provided a very even light in the style of the TV shows of that era.”

BIG FINISH With all the different looks, eras, styles, colours, shifts and visual effects (about 3,000 VFX shots over the whole series, more than in the entire Avengers: Endgame movie) in the nine WandaVision episodes, the digital intermediate/ mastering process was of crucial importance. The show is the first one finished entirely in-house at Marvel’s new DI facility in Burbank, and the first Marvel show finished exclusively using HDR files.

Evan Jacobs, Marvel’s post-production supervisor on the project, emphasises that colourist Matt Watson had to adjust numerous shots to fit particular eras and story concerns, ensuring that the HDR gamut and range could be strategically massaged for shots from eras where overt high dynamic range would not have been possible.

And so, the DI team avoided baking too many permanent image decisions into entire sequences.

When files came in for finishing, Marvel often had to add grain, chromatic aberrations, gate weave, and so on. Jacobs says the studio utilised a suite of image degradation tools to fit each period, “but those effects were often dialed-in per shot.”

“We opted for a per-shot LUT and CDL approach, instead of baking-in most image decisions, which we had never done before,” Jacobs says. “We were also tracking the different aspect ratios. All this required a lot of organisation to track from the shoot to Technicolor’s dailies team, to our internal plates lab, VFX vendors and ultimately our finishing team. Going this route helped Matt Watson avoid getting backed into a corner from a colour standpoint.”

Watson says that a lot of his efforts revolved around massaging looks from each era as specified by Hall.

“The looks themselves were designed around both the original capture format and transfer method of those original shows,” Watson explains.

“For instance, the early B&W looks were based around appropriate film stocks and very early telecine processes; the ‘80s look had curves more akin to video cameras, with more aggressive highlight clips and heavy chroma crosstalk. Then, the early 2000’s look incorporated a 16mm curve, as well as a harder telecine clip. The advantage

of dialling-in these looks early meant that Jess had full confidence that his lighting would hold true from the images he was seeing on-set to when he was in the DI. In the final grade, we were able to take these looks further by dialling spatial components into the looks, chroma bleed, film halation, telecine weave, resolution restriction, and more.”

Watson and Jacobs add that Marvel utilised a remote workflow to allow all relevant parties to weigh in on shots, sequences and episodes earlier and more often than would be the case with a typical television workflow. This allowed the production to engage in what Watson calls “impromptu DI sessions” along the way, essentially “opening the DI very early in the post process,” as Jacobs puts it.

“We were doing VFX tests in DI well before a typical show would turn over a conform,” Jacobs says. “And we had episodes up on their feet in DI much earlier in the process, which really meant more hours of grading and a more refined final look.”

Jacobs adds that Marvel’s software

development team made important strides to help finish WandaVision.

“One of the exciting things about building our internal DI was that our software development team was able to deploy a system we call Jarvis,” Jacobs explains. “That started as essentially an automated timeline generation tool. You feed it an editorial turnover and it gathers and moves all the files needed. It requests any missing shots from our plates lab, builds a DaVinci Resolve timeline for final colour grading, adds metadata like VFX status and notes, along with all the ALE data, and applies the per-shot LUT, CDL and framing.

“However, our team then extended Jarvis to leverage a little-known DaVinci Resolve feature called Take Selector. For each VFX shot, Jarvis can load Take Selector with all previous VFX versions, as well as the original plate, so that our team can quickly compare other versions of a shot, or even change versions on the fly, without going back to conform. This feature allowed us to move much faster than a traditional conform/DI workflow.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 37

THE UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLIDAY•ANDREW DUNN BSC

ANDREW DUNN BSC•THE UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLIDAY

WHAT A PERFORMANCE

By Ron Prince

The resonance of the past can be a very powerful thing. It certainly proved a major lure to British cinematographer Andrew Dunn BSC when it came to shooting The United States vs. Billie Holiday, and finding himself very much in tune with its director Lee Daniels and titular star Andra Day. For connective emotional and period effect, the cinematographer captured the story on celluloid film using vintage Anamorphic lenses.

Right: Andra Day stars as Billie Holiday All photos: Takashi Seida/Hulu © 2021 Billie Holiday Films, LLC The United States Vs Billie Holiday only on Sky Cinema from 27th February

38 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 39

THE UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLIDAY•ANDREW DUNN BSC

ANDREW DUNN BSC•THE UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLIDAY

Opposite: Hats off, DP Andrew Dunn BSC Below: Andra Day in the spotlight

O

“

n Sunday mornings I distinctly recall my father playing Billie Holiday records, and I was brought up as a youngster with the magical sound of her voice wafting through the house in North London,” Dunn remembers. “It was very intriguing to me who this person was.

I spent a lot of time listening to her songs, looking at the album covers, and wanting to lean more.

“So when Lee first mentioned five years ago that we might do a film about her, I fondly thought of my father, who had passed. And, the prospect of shooting this story on film made me wonder, whether I was dreaming.”

An independent, bought by Paramount and streaming on Hulu and Sky Cinema, The United States vs. Billie Holiday follows the legendary Holiday, one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, who throughout her career was adored by fans across the globe. Beginning in the 1940s and mainly set in New York City, it is a dramatic and emotional retelling of how the federal government targeted her in a growing effort to escalate and racialise the war on drugs, and its particular vendetta to stop Holiday from singing her controversial and heart-wrenching ballad, ‘Strange Fruit’. Holiday’s non-compliant defiance through music would help usher in the civil rights movement.

The screenplay, which weaves the story of Holiday’s troubled and turbulent life amongst glittering performances of some of her most famous hits, was originated from a single chapter in Johann Hari’s 2015 book Chasing The Scream: The First And Last Days Of The War On Drugs, by Pulitzer-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. Andra Day, who made her acting debut in the film, became the first Black best drama actress winner at the Golden Globes in 35 years, and stars opposite Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund, Tyler James Wil-liams and Da’Vine Joy Randolph.

Dunn has served as the DP on nearly 60 feature-length films, including L.A. Story (1991), The Madness Of King George (1994), Gosford Park (2001), The History Boys (2006), Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) and The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (2012). The United States vs. Billie Holiday represents his fourth collaboration with Daniels, after their work together on Precious (2009), The Butler (2013) and the pilot episodes of the Sky series Empire.

40 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

There is a human aspect to film in the way that the layers of emulsion marry together, along with the grain, to give a more natural looking result

Dunn says working with Daniels is “a symbiosis of understanding, in which Lee gives hints and ideas and allows me, along with the other collaborators on the film, the room to trans-late those into cinematic images.

“On this project in particular, Lee’s main goal was to take the audience on a journey back in time, to anchor the film around Andra’s performance as Billie, and to have an intimate connection with the subject. The intention was not to look at Billie, but to be with her and her emotions.

“So, long before we started production, I made a point of learning about Billie and her life as much as I possibly could through books, documentaries and films, including the biopic Lady Sings The Blues (1972, dir. Sidney J. Furie, DP John Alonzo ASC), starring Diana Ross, which was one of the first films I saw growing-up.”

The United States vs. Billie Holiday was shot in Montreal, Canada, with city streets doubling for period New York, and rural locations for different parts of the US. Based out of Mels Studios, near Montreal’s downtown area, filming began in October 2019, concluding seven weeks later in December.

“In the run up to production, there was quite a bit of discussion about whether we might shoot in Glasgow, Liverpool, New Orleans, Atlanta or Philadelphia, which can all stand-in for New York,” says Dunn.

“But Montreal turned out to be perfectly good.

Being based at Mels Studios meant we were wellsituated to film in the countryside, in the city – where existing theatres that could be easily dressed and digitally manipulated to replicate places such as Carnegie Hall – or on the stage sets themselves, which was where we built Café Society. We also used the lab at Mels to develop the film negatives and deliver DVD rushes.”

The cinematographer reports that whilst production was a five-day-a-week affair, some days could be extremely long, often concluding in the wee small hours of the morning, due to multiple changes in wardrobe, hair and make-up.

Dunn says he and Daniels took visual cues for the production from a wide range of sources – footage and stills of the legendary performer, photographic images of period New York, as well as frames from music performance films. These included features such as Funny Girl (1968, dir.

William Wyler, DP Harry Stradling Sr. ASC) starring

The quality of the light was very important, and for the look of this particular film there was nothing better than the Fresnel Barbara Streisand and Victor/Victoria (1982, dir. Blake Edwards, DP Dick Bush BSC) with Julie Andrews.

A technique in La Vie En Rose (2007, dir.

Olivier Dahan, DP Tetsuo Nagata AFC), in which Marion Cotillard plays the French chanteuse Édith Piaf, helped show them how they could shift time periods within a single take, for one idea they had planned. And, for a scene in Club Ebony, where Holiday returns to live performing after losing her cabaret license, they also considered Faces (1968, dir. John Cassavetes, DP Al Ruban) for its handheld style.

Dunn lensed the movie on Kodak 35mm in 4-perf, using vintage C-series and E-series An-amorphic lenses, and shooting with up to three cameras at a time for some of the musical performances. The cinematographer also used a clockwork Bolex 16mm camera, harnessing its juddering roll-up-to-speed, to depict some of the darker and more troubled moments in Holiday’s life and psyche.

The cameras and sets of Anamorphic lenses, tweaked for visual consistency across the different focal lengths, were provided by what Dunn calls, “the Panavision family working at its best - namely Dan and Amanda Sasaki in Woodland Hills, together with Hugh Whittaker and Charlie Todman in London.”

Dunn shot A-camera throughout the production. His crew included locals from the Montreal area: Dany Racine as first AC A-camera; Yoann Malnati as B-camera/ Steadicam operator, assisted by Nicolas Marion; operator Sylvain Dufaux, for when a third camera was required; loaders Isabelle Lauzon and Christian Caperaa; key grip David Dinel; and gaffer Eames Gagnon.

“I had never been to Montreal before, and although I did not know any of the crew beforehand, they are real filmmakers and this project was clearly very special to them,” says Dunn. “Whilst they were very supportive to me, above all, I credit them for stripping away the ego of the camera and building an environment of trust that enabled Andra to perform at her very best.”

In regard to moving the camera for storytelling purposes, Dunn reveals, “I love to move the camera in empathy with what you might call ‘the symphony of highs and lows’ in the narrative, but it has to be well thought through. On Billie’s performances, we used cranes quite a lot, which

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 41

THE UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLIDAY•ANDREW DUNN BSC

ANDREW DUNN BSC•THE UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLIDAY

I have to say that Andra was so extraordinary, and just recalling her now, gives me goosebumps Below: Cinematographer Andrew Dunn BSC ready to roll

operator Yoann Malnati. “It was a very complex shot, but after two or three takes, Yo-ann and Andra got themselves in complete in sync, and I am very pleased with the result.”

Aiming for a textural image, with sumptuous warmth, that would be inviting to the eyes, Dunn started production using Kodak 250D 5207 stock, to shoot a scene featuring Holiday and Tallulah Bankhead walking through Central Park, full of colour at Easter time.

“I found the result was not quite to my liking, too harsh and with too much contrast,” he says.

“Consequently, for the rest of the production, I switched to Kodak 500T 5219 Tungsten stock, which, in combination with the finessed lenses and the lighting, was perfect for capturing the colour of Billie’s world, especially at night and on stage.

There is a human aspect to film in the way that the layers of emulsion marry together, along with the grain, to give a more natural looking result than digital, and this really helped to immerse the audience in Billie’s space.”

He also believes that the discipline, rhythm and pace that comes with shooting on film was an absolute advantage when it came to capturing the music performances.

“There’s an certain aura that comes over the set when you shoot on film, which brings a positive focus to the crew and the cast,” he says. “The pauses for thought and reflection you get during mag changes, were important for us all, but they also gave time for Lee to speak with Andra, and to get her ready to go again. When you keep shooting with the digi-tal camera, things can all to easily become a frenzy of impatience.

“I have to say that Andra was so involved planning choreographed manoeuvres that searched for her over the stalls and circled around her on the stage – all whilst taking into consideration the physical dimensions of the auditorium, the background, the extras and Andra’s performance.

The start points were important for both the actors and audience to respond to, so we spent a good deal of time discussing where we positioned for those first shots.”

One of the most striking scenes in the film, and one of the most difficult to shoot, involved a three-and-a-half-minute Steadicam shot, inspired

by Cassavetes Faces, following Holiday from her tour bus in the Deep South to the stage at Carnegie

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Hall. During this sequence, of real and imagined experiences, she witnesses a brutal lynching, observes traumatised children, wanders through a sharecropper’s shack where, in different rooms, traumatic memories of her drug use are replayed, before she finally steps into the spotlight to sing ‘Strange Fruit.’

For the sequence, production designer Dan Dorrance created a set inside a wooden shack, adjacent to where the lynching was staged. Dunn says the shack itself was like a maze con-taining each of the different vignettes.

“It took quite a long time to find the right location, and then to work out and build the different

extraordinary, and just recalling her now, some sixteen months after the production wrapped, gives me goosebumps. She really knew how to perform as Billie and gave it everything she had.

Although she was oblivious to the camera, she allowed the lens, and thereby the audience, to get within her character.”

In regards to lighting, Dunn says, “The quality of the light was very important, and for the look of this particular film there was nothing better than the Fresnel, which we used focussed or openeyed for the different musical stage performances, together with period fixtures that you see in shot, all sourced by Eames.

“That quality of Tungsten light, passing through the lens and recorded on to the film emulsion, was fundamental in the human connection we wanted to achieve. However, I kept the level of our energy

sections within it, as each had its own particular set dressing and lighting require-ments,” Dunn recalls.

“Although it looks quite a big and deep area in the final film, it wasn’t a large space at all. Eames, my gaffer, and his team built lighting rigs on four ceilings, with alternating hard film lights and softer practicals. Dan and the set designers con-structed the stage entrance at Carnegie Hall in the shack. A 2K Par provided the sharp spotlight that Billie encounters, and, with a quick edit to a separate shot of her dressed ready to perform, she steps out in front of the audience to sing her protest song.”

After lighting the location, Daniels and Dunn choreographed the scene with Day and Steadi-cam

consumption very much in mind, and used LEDs where I could, such as Litepanels’ Geminis and Astera tubes for fill lights. LEDs get better by the week, but issues with discontinuous spectrum can affect the look. You cannot spot this when shooting on film, of course, until you see the rushes. So you do still have to be mindful.”

Dunn conducted the DI in the summer of 2020, working remotely from his home on the edge of Exmoor, West Somerset, with colourist Tim Stipan and Company 3 in Los Angeles.

“It was a little strange occupying a darkened bedroom during the warm summer weeks, using an iPad Pro and a live voice link, but it worked really well, especially after I had the broadband supercharged.” Dunn laughs. “However, I did make a point of reviewing the final colour on the big screen at Company 3 in London.”

Looking back at the production, and despite some long filming days, Dunn says The United States vs. Billie Holiday proved to be a very happy and rewarding experience, in part due the the commitment of the grip, electric and camera crew, but in the main because to the spirit Daniels engenders on-set.

“Lee creates a magical environment during filming, that allows everyone to do their best,” Dunn remarks. “I think that has very much to do with him working closely with the actors, cajoling them about their performances and encouraging spontaneity. It meant that every day was different but always special. His boldness and confidence were important, because that is reflected in the final film, and the film itself will be around forever.

I’d says the stars collided in a very good way.”

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CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 43

HIGHLIGHT•3LR LIGHTING

3LR LIGHTING•HIGHLIGHT

LIGHT EMITTING ENTERPRISE

By Michael Burns

You may not know the name yet, but you’ll probably know the people behind the growing UK lighting rep firm 3LR. Michael Burns looks at how the company hopes to get cinematographers to give the green light to deep red LEDs.

3

LR stands for third light receptor, a reference to the third photoreceptor in the human eye that affects body functions like circadian rhythms and behavioural responses to ambient lighting conditions.

“It’s lighting by emotion,” says 3LR Lighting director Matthew Lloyd. “LED is a false light so you must manipulate it, and it’s very important to get the emotional connection right.”

The company operates under the manufacturer’s representative model, working with US lighting and rigging giant ETC and complementary brands, advising cinematographers and gaffers as well as studios on the best lighting fixtures and design for their requirements.

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“Our job is to make it really easy for the customer to interact with these brands,” says Lloyd.

“We’re not trying to get a purchase order, we don’t have to do a hard sell. We’re saying, ‘look at this product, we really like it, and here’s why’.”

FIRM FOUNDATIONS Although in operation for just over a year so far, Lloyd and his team at 3LR represent a wealth of experience. Lloyd has a background in theatre lighting, then rental firms, before co-founding specialist LED lighting manufacturer Global Design Solutions (GDS) in 2004.

“We built that company up to just under 50 staff with a distribution network in 38 countries,” says Lloyd, who is also currently vice chairman of PLASA

(the Professional Lighting & Sound Association). “We were making the world’s first LED auditorium lighting system (the ArcSystem launched in 2011) and we won 16 Innovation Awards, and some sustainability awards. We were a very exciting, dynamic brand.”

ETC, keen to get into architectural lighting at the time, requested the rights to manufacture the ArcSystem in North America. GDS, equally keen to break into the US, agreed. The decision proved highly-successful.

However in 2018, differences of opinion arose between the GDS co-founders. Lloyd left the company, selling the global manufacturing and distribution for ArcSystem to ETC in the process.

Then, after a period of Lloyd consulting for ETC, the company proposed a move to the manufacturer’s representative model, and 3LR was born.

Below: 3LR’s Barry Grubb (left) and Matthew Lloyd (right) Opposite: FoS/4 studio line of fixtures. Bottom: adding technology to the 3LR product mix.

“We’ve had a great time with ETC,” says Lloyd, over a year on. “Their architecture sales have increased significantly. We’re now doing a lot of work on cruise ships and theatres. It’s growing really nicely.”

As part of this growth, 3LR hired Sean O’Callaghan, formerly of Rosco, as business development manager for Architectural Lighting & Control in November 2020. 3LR Lighting also became the sole UK and Ireland manufacturer’s representative for Rosco’s architectural lighting range.

At the same time, ETC asked 3LR to consider how it could help grow its presence in the film and broadcast market.

“They were bringing out some exciting fixtures, but I knew I had to find the right person,” says Lloyd. O’Callaghan recommended Barry Grubb, formerly of Rosco and Rotolight, an industry veteran of 25 years who subsequently became business development manager for ETC Film/ Broadcast lighting at 3LR in November.

“Taking on Barry, it’s become really apparent that there’s a great camaraderie among the community of cinematographers and the community of gaffers; although it’s a global industry, everyone knows everybody,” says Lloyd.

“It was nice to get back on board and talk to the DPs. I’ve loved the film industry ever since I was a kid,” says Grubb. “It’s only been three months, but it’s been a very busy time, and it’s been amazing to have made an impact to the business.”

According to Grubb, the lighting market suffers under the weight of a high number of brands and people over-marketing their products – gaffers and DPs don’t believe the hype and just want to cut through to quality.

“However ETC are publishing truthful numbers and good figures with their lights,” Grubb says.

“ETC is a brand that people can trust; they prove that with their 24-7 support and a ten-year warranty.”

The latter point is especially important to Matthew Lloyd, who holds all companies he works with to a high standard of sustainability, while 3LR received Albert Certification in January.

“ETC is taking this really seriously, they really make a long-lasting product. Also, if you’re a rental company or a studio and you’re going to invest in ETC equipment, you can put that as a depreciation of 10 years because the fixture is warrantied for ten years,” he adds.

As an extension to ETC’s sales and marketing arm, and its exclusive representative for the whole of the broadcast market and film and TV market in the UK, 3LR works very closely with the manufacturer.

“We have access to all their resources,” says Grubb. “From loan stock to their studio in London, to training and education. We consult, educate and inspire and demonstrate ETC fixtures, and then when someone says, ‘I want to buy’, we point them towards an ETC dealer or a rental house. ETC has signed up some UK film/TV rental partners during the pandemic. We know it’s driven by demand. So it’s all about working with the DPs and gaffers, and also working with the new talent coming into the system and educating them about what’s so good about the fixtures.”

One such emerging cinematographer was NFTS graduate Lily Grimes, who used two ETC panels (the FoS/4 PL16 and FoS/4 PL8) on the recent artist film Horsepolish. Grubb also reports strong interest from other working DPs.

“There’s no hard sell,” says Grubb. “We believe, and so does ETC, that today’s DP wants something just a little bit different as a quality light source.”

With over a decade of research by ETC behind it, Grubb believes the FoS/4 studio line of fixtures offers that quality. Introduced in 2020, the range of Fresnel and Panel lights are designed specifically for the broadcast and film market, with attributes such as an eight colour LED mix (including a deep red LED) and intense brightness.

“We have a six chip fixture for brighter, whiter tuneable whites, whilst the eight-chip fixture will produce lovely warm whites, but also produce rich colours,” says Grubb. “ETC has managed to

ITV’s This Morning, one of the longest-running daytime programmes on British TV, featured FoS/4 Panel lights on a number of segments broadcast from London’s Television Centre studios.

“We had two 24 x 24 size with the Daylight HDR Array, and two of the 8 x 24 with the Lustr X8 array,” says Matt Carter, head of lighting for ITV Daytime. “I was immediately impressed by their output level, how flattering the softness was on the faces of our presenting talent, and the quality and depth of the colour tones. In the eight-colour LED versions in particular, flesh tones were warm and even, and the even wrap of light was particularly good on camera.”

improve the wider spectral content by stretching that deep red in the fixture. This generates more long wavelength colours, so you get improved saturation.

“It also speeds up time in post production during colour grading, as you get more natural flesh tones because of the deep red. It just makes the lighting a bit more natural to the eye.”

The FoS/4 Fresnel is proving especially popular with cinematographers. “The Fresnel format has been around for years, a very theatrical based fixture, but now it’s becoming loved in a film circles too,” Grubb observes. “It’s a nice way to shape the light. It allows them to be more creative and have more control over the light source itself.”

More Fresnel models are on the way in 2021.”

It’s still early days for the film/TV side of 3LR, but there’s already been recognition. In December,

ITV Daytime has now placed an order for three of the 24 x 24-inch and two of the 8 x 24-inch fixtures, all with the Lustr X8 arrays.

Before the latest lockdown, 3LR had access to the ETC ‘The Playhouse at Gypsy Corner’ studio demo facility in London, but under Covid restrictions Grubb has been ably demonstrating fixtures remotely over video, as well as lending kit out.

“We have a very big demo pool,” he says.

“The ETC rental programme is also starting to roll out, and our partners have access to a lot of products, such as White Light, Black Light, TLX and TLS. In the next few months they’ll all be rolling out FoS/4 Panels and Fresnels. We hope to get some more traditional rental houses online as well, and supply some fixtures into them and grow the business.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 45

ANOTHER ROUND•STURLA BRANDTH GRØVLEN DFF

STURLA BRANDTH GRØVLEN DFF•ANOTHER ROUND

TIME GENTLEMEN PLEASE

Left and below: A lot of bottle, Mads Mikkelsen in Another Round.

Right: Aerial photography.

by DP Sturla Brandth Grøvlen DFF. All photos: Henrik Ohsten.

Courtesy of STUDIOCANAL UK

By Ron Prince

I

ntoxicated and intoxicating are two adjectives that can be used interchangeably to describe the cause and effect of Sturla Brandth Grøvlen DFF’s stylish handheld camerawork and cinematographic efforts on Another Round (Druk). Directed by Thomas Vinterberg, and loosely rooted in Dogme filmmaking conventions, the feature has been variously called an ode to the spirit of life, friendship and alcohol, and is Denmark’s official entry in the Best International Feature category at the 2021 Oscars.

The film follows four middle-aged high school teachers, and longterm friends, at different levels of existential crisis, who start to consume alcohol on a daily basis to see how it affects their social and professional lives. Their experiment is distilled from a theory, by Norwegian philosopher Finn Skårderud, that humans are born with a blood alcohol level that is 0.05 per cent too low. In other words, humans need about two glasses of wine to feel better and boost their creativity, courage and open-mindedness. And so, the guys go about their daily lives at various levels of mild and extreme inebriation, discovering both the joy and mortal dangers of drinking, including wetting the bed.

Made for KR33.5m Danish krones/£3.5m UK pounds, Another Round is an international co-production between Denmark, the Netherlands

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and Sweden. The screenplay was written by Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm, and stars Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang and Lars Ranthe in the four main lead roles.

It had its world premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, and has proven a winner at film festivals around the world.

Vinterberg became known in the 1990s as the co-founder, alongside Lars Von Trier, of the Dogme 95 movement in filmmaking, which established rules for simplifying movie production, by eschewing expensive and spectacular special effects, and embracing the traditional values of story, acting and theme, as a means to better engage the audience. Whilst Another Round is far removed from the austere principles of the original Dogme 95 Collective, Grøvlen says that something of its minimalistic aesthetic agility did find its way into the making of the filmmaking process.

“When we first discussed the look and feel of the film, Thomas was clear that he wanted the story to be told through character-focussed cinematography, using a live, handheld and intuitive style of camera, combined with a naturalistic look to the lighting set-up, that would give the cast and the crew as much freedom of movement as possible,” says Grøvlen.

“Essentially, he wanted a to create a space in which the actors were free to act, and where

I could follow them around, to capture their performances in a natural and honest way, using plenty of mid-shots and close-ups on faces.

“We also came up with concepts as to how the image might look when the characters were drunk as opposed to when they were sober. How to make them stand out from their environment and how they sensed themselves when they had a drink, and how they would blend in when observing no alcohol. We didn’t want to force a ‘drunk-cam’ on to this film, but there are moments when the moves are definitely tipsy.”

For visual references, Grøvlen considered stills taken by Swedish photographers from 1970s and 80, particularly the work of Anders Petersen and his seminal photos of the late-night regulars in Café Lehmitz for their “rough but expressive wit, absurdity and darkness.” He also absorbed “the brilliant and gritty”, handheld camerawork of DP JP Passi on The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki (2016, dir. Juho Kuosmanen).

After seven weeks of prep, production on Another Round took place over the course of 35 shooting days, in the Hellerup district in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen along with multiple locations in Sweden. In keeping with the honest and natural ethic, the production was framed in 2:1 aspect ratio, which Grøvlen says “was a nice format in-between widescreen and

1.66:1 for the close-up and wide shots, and felt just right for the intimacy of the story.”

After testing, with equipment supplied by rental house Kamerarental in Copenhagen, Grøvlen ended-up shooting using an ARRI Alexa Mini - rated at 800ISO and capturing in ProRes 4444 XQ - and vintage Canon K35 lenses.

“I have developed a special configuration for the Alexa Mini that feels comfortable and is adaptable for extended handheld projects, which is just as well as, because shooting that way for 35 days is quite a proposition for any camera operator,” he explains.

“My camera is stripped down to the bare minimum. In order to lighten the load as much as possible I carry the batteries and othe r accessories on a belt. I also use adjustable Shape handles, as well as different eyepieces and monitors, so that I can be versatile and change position from the shoulder, and shoot in multiple different ways – from the hip, in a squat near the ground and even above my head standing up. I generally have a small clipon matte box and a variable ND filter so that I can always change exposure without changing the filter in front of lens.

“Essentially, it’s like a fast documentary like set-up, that allowed me to drift in empathy with the characters, manoeuvre around the table in the lengthy restaurant scene, and follow Mads’ crazy choreography in the final scene.”

As for his lens choice, Grøvlen remarks, “I like vintage lenses that have flaws, and every lenses in the K35 series has its own particular, random characteristics. At T1.4 they are fast, so I knew they would be fine for our night and darkly-lit scenes, and their close focus is great, which meant I could get very close to the actors, and immerse myself into the emotional space of the actors.

“For the sober scenes, I shot with more depthof-field to purposefully blend characters into their home or school environments. However, I went much shallower - between wide open to T2.5 – to separate them more from the backgrounds to depict how the alcohol heightened their sense of self.

“I have to say that Mads is so good at sensing the handheld camera and reacting with it during his performance. It is rewarding as an operator to work with an actor who is so aware of the position of the camera, perceiving little movements I might make, whilst also creating his own - it’s like a symbiosis and it is great to experience that.”

Grøvlen developed a trio of LUTs - for day exterior, day interior and night work - at Copenhagen post house Zentropa, working in collaboration with skilled Swedish colourist Emil Eriksson, who also conducted the final DI colour grade.

“I shot some side-by-side tests on 16mm film and Alexa, and then worked with Emile to create LUTs that would mimic the look, feel and texture of film – all very gentle and natural-looking.”

When it came the lighting the main idea was to idea was to illuminate for 360-degrees, whilst maintaining a naturalistic look.

“We shot the exteriors as much as possible in natural, available light, and hardly ever supplemented those scenes with any sort of fill or kicker,” says Grøvlen. “On the school and home interiors the lighting was essentially a secondary consideration, in that the actors had no marks and we explored a scene with the them and the camera, rather than

It is rewarding as an operator to work with an actor who is so aware of the position of the camera requiring them to find a particular lighting set-up that we had figured out beforehand. And even these interiors were barely lit, with either practicals, fluorescent tubes in the ceilings, or some basic HMIs pushing in bounce light for the sake of consistency.”

He does, however, admit to harnessing a hardlighting trick from a master of illumination, Robert Richardson ASC, for the restaurant scene using Par cans over each table and white tablecloths to reflect the light up and on to the actors. “It’s so simple, and there’s a natural warmth in the light too.”

Grøvlen’s crew included John Frimann Rasmussen as 1st AC, gaffer Aslak Lytthans and DIT Allan Legarth Nielsen. DP Manuel Claro DFF was called in to operate B-camera on a small number of sequences, include the movie’s concluding dance scene.

Although production on Another Round set-off perfectly well for the first few days, an unexpected tragedy suddenly hit the proceedings. Vinterberg received a call from Belgium, where he learnt, that his daughter Ida had been killed instantly in a car crash. She was 19, and had been due to make her acting debut in the film.

“Ida’s death affected everything, and production went on an immediate hiatus for two weeks until after her funeral,” says Grøvlen. “When we came

back to work, Tobias Lindholm handled the shoot on the days when Thomas was overcome by grief.

For the cast and the crew the normal pressure of the filmmaking became meaningless. We were vulnerable in front of one another, and loving towards one another, like I have never seen before.

“Another Round was always a film about embracing life, but because of this tragedy, it became a film about embracing life on a magnitude we did not anticipate. As devastating as things were, the atmosphere was strong and it brought us together. I think it changed the focus even more towards the film having a spark of life and, in memory of Ida, I would like to think it became much more beautiful as a result.”

“Every film has its challenges, lessons and takeaways,” Grøvlen concludes. “Working with Mads, and learning how the calibre of his performance could positively affect my operating, was very interesting. Despite the rain, and constantly changing light on the final scene, things worked-out well and it is a stand out, life-affirming scene with warmth and energy. But, of course, the melancholy surrounding Ida’s death was on an altogether different level, and the human connection we all had because of that became amazing. Sometimes out of great blackness some good can happen.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 47

ONE TO WATCH• KIA FERN LITTLE

KIA FERN LITTLE•ONE TO WATCH Left: Kia shoots “Raw Thoughts” Baby Queen Promo. Dir Hannah Berry George. Photo by Tamia Diaz.

Centre top: Hope Tala promo.

Dir Anna Fearon

T-STOPPER

When did you discover you wanted to be a cinematographer?

From the age of 13, I would document my friends on a crappy camcorder and cut little edits together.

I thought that I wanted to be a director, until I loaded a Bolex and fell in love with the mechanics and practicality that comes with shooting on film.

Where did you train?

I studied cinematography at Bournemouth Arts University. We learnt predominantly by doing and were lucky enough to shoot a lot on 16mm.

I attempted to make my way up the ranks but soon realised I made a terrible AC! It’s been a winding journey of trial and error, but I’ve learnt mostly on the job and from the support and advice of my peers.

If I had the chance to do it again I would come up through lighting.

How did you get your first break?

It’s been an accumulative process - being recognised/signed by Vision Artists, who have been amazing and super supportive of my growing ambitions, as well as the opportunity to shadow and shoot B-camera for the wonderful Stuart Bentley BSC on Top Boy S2.

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Organisations like Sporas and Hue-List are doing amazing work and give me hope What is one thing you wish you knew when you were starting out?

Keep it simple, ignore the politics, and say ‘Hi’ to everyone.

Where do you get your visual inspirations?

People watching, observing natural light and countless incredible photographers What are you favourite films?

One From The Heart (1982, dir. Francis Ford Coppola, DPs Vittorio Storaro AIC ASC/Ronald Víctor García) - for the spectacle, long takes, and the super-cool in-camera lighting changes. It flopped and bankrupted Coppola, but the fact that it’s so uncompromising in its vision is what makes it so inspiring!

You, The Living (2007, dir. Roy Andersson, DP Gustav Danielsson) - I love a tableaux. A super-economical and humanistic approach to filmmaking by allowing scenes to play out.

Memories Of Murder (2003, dir. Bong Joon-ho, DP Kim Hyung-koo) – for the blocking! Everything in the frame counts rather than relying on coverage.

Mommy (2014. dir. Xavier Dolan, DP André Turpin CSC) - it’s so beautifully crafted, the placement of the camera, the use of soft directional light, it feels like medium format photography and captures the characters in a very honest, human way.

What is your most treasured cinematographic possession?

My Braun Nizo S800. It’s in perfect nick and a gift that I cherish.

What advice do you have for other people who want to become cinematographers?

Keep an open and inquisitive mind. Be pleasant to work with, and trust your gut.

What was the biggest challenge on your latest production?

We needed to create the effect of our artist floating horizontally across the floor with the camera fixed above her on a super small budget.

Luckily we had a wicked grip/magician, Mack Behan, who custom built us a magic carpet.

What are your current top albums?

Men I Trust “Oncle Jazz”, The Death Of Pop “Seconds”, Rosalia “El Mal Querer”.

Tell us your most hilarious faux pas?

Starting out as an AC, I accidentally gave a card to B-camera that A-camera had just shot with. In my naivety I couldn’t figure out why footage was missing, thinking it must have been a faulty card.

Needless to say I’ve never made that mistake again.

Labels are your friend!

Tell us your hidden talent/party trick?

I often spot fleeting supporting artists and can recite what o ther films they’ve appeared in.

Totally useless skill but deeply satisfying.

What’s the worst thing about being a DP? The lack of a routine, missed grading sessions, selfdoubt, being flaky with friends and family.

Who are your DP/industry role models?

Robbie Ryan BSC - for his use of natural light and humanistic visual storytelling.

Stuart Bentley BSC - for his nature, intuitive operating, visual authenticity and how he works with space and actors.

Melissa Giles - my long time collaborator, friend and producer, for always treating crew with fairness and respect, and pushing for what best serves the story.

What was the worst knock-back/rejection you ever had?

Not the worst, but the most awkward. I accepted a last-minute job shooting a micro-budget promo.

Despite the director and artist seeming genuinely happy with my work, the producer actively disagreed with my decisions and would shout across the set to openly raise their concerns. At one point the producer took the camera and shot one of the takes.

When saying our goodbyes, all they said was: “Thanks for trying”. I can laugh about it now, but I’m definitely more picky about who I agree to do favours for!

What have been your best/worst moments on-set?

Best: the Director’s face when you’ve helped achieve their vision, or after working long hours and the team has turned happy-delirious.

Worst: when you’ve shot something you’re really proud of, but it never sees the light of day.

What’s the best advice you were ever given?

“Pick your battles”

What’s the best thing about being a DP? So many things, but mostly working with people you respect and enjoy spending time with.

Tell us your greatest extravagance? £7 tubs of ice cream and Polaroids.

Away from work, what are your greatest passions?

Dancing silly, laugh-crying, crafting, Sichuan food, tapas, dreaming about which dog to get.

What are the top things on your bucket list?

To explore Japan and rural China. I’d love to visit Guangzhou, which I only recently discovered is where my grandparents emigrated from.

What’s the best freebie you ever blagged?

An Aaton LTR 54.

How do you keep yourself match-fit?

Jasmine tea and working out with @Soulsisterfitness.

Give us three adjectives that best describe you and your approach to cinematography?

Considered. Compassionate. Resourceful.

Who would you invite to your dream industry dinner party?

Other than the role models previously mentioned, Bong Joon-ho, Sir Roger Deakins, Hayao Miyazaki. I’d bring back Robin Williams and Kubrick. Paul Dano, Yorgos Lanthimos, Michaela Coel. How big is this table? Spike Lee, Wim Wenders, LuLu Wang, Tiffany Haddish. What are we eating? Jordan Peele, Xavier Dolan, and my partner in crime Oliver James Robbins so we could jointly stare in disbelief, and so he can do the seating plan.

What are the most important lessons your working life has taught you?

Look after your body, know when to remove yourself from a situation, and appreciate the people around you.

If you weren’t a DP, what job would you be doing now?

Cold case detective.

Keep it simple, ignore the politics, and say ‘Hi’ to everyone

What are your aspirations for the future?

To work on meaningful longer-form projects, collaborate with inspiring people, to keep growing my visual language and to speak fluent Spanish.

What do you consider your greatest achievement, so far?

Honestly, just making it through 2020 with my partner in one piece. Despite the mental, emotional and financial challenges, I’m really grateful for a lot of personal triumphs last year and I’m thankful to feel mentally stronger now.

For you, what are burning issues in the world of cinematography/filmmaking?

The industry still feels like an exclusive club that’s difficult to break into. There are some great schemes targeted at young people to learn filmmaking, but less so for adults who want to pursue a career in this industry. The lack of representation on and off-camera is a continuing struggle and changes happen at a glacial pace, though organisations like Sporas and Hue List are doing amazing work and give me hope. Lack of financial support for independent cinemas through Covid. Basically more opportunities, platforms and financial backing needed for everyone!

Who is your agent? Vision Artists What is your URL/website address? www.kiafernlittle.com

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 49

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH•SEAN BOBBITT BSC

SEAN BOBBITT BSC•JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

DOUBLE CROSS

By Ron Prince

“I believe this is an incredibly important film for everyone to see,” says cinematographer Sean Bobbitt BSC, regarding director Shaka King’s acclaimed feature Judas And The Black Messiah.

Main: Daniel Kaluuya (left) and Lakeith Stanfield (right) in Warner Bros. Pictures’ Judas And The Black Messiah.

Below: DP Sean Bobbitt BSC making a point with Director Shaka King.

Photos: Glen Wilson, courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Within five minutes of meeting Shaka for the first time, his phenomenal passion, knowledge and commitment to the project were crystal clear to me

I

“

have been fortunate to have had opportunities to work with people who are real visionaries, and to make movies with them that hopefully have a meaning and make people think - and this is definitely is one of those.”

The $26million, Warner Bros. Pictures’ biographical drama, focusses on the betrayal of Fred Hampton - chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in late-1960s Chicago – at the hands of petty-criminal-turned-FBI-informant William O’Neal. It stars Daniel Kaluuya, who has already won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Hampton, along with Lakeith Stanfield as O’Neal, Jesse Plemons as Roy Mitchell, O’Neal’s FBI Special Agent handler, and Dominique Fishback as Hampton’s girlfriend Deborah Johnson.

Hampton came to prominence for his work with the Black Panther Party and the Rainbow Coalition, an influential multi-cultural political organisation including the Black Panthers, plus other white and black groups, all agitating for social change and justice.

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In 1967, Hampton was identified as a radical threat to national security by the FBI, which then actively tried to subvert his activities, by sowing disinformation among these groups and placing a counter-intelligence operative in the local Panthers.

On December 4th, 1969, Hampton was shot and killed in his bed during a pre-dawn raid at his Chicago apartment, by a tactical unit in plain clothes, under the initiative of the FBI. Black Panther Mark Clark was also killed and several others were seriously wounded in the assassination, which was later ruled to be justifiable homicide.

Speaking about his initial introduction to King, Bobbitt says, “Within five minutes of meeting Shaka for the first time, his phenomenal passion, knowledge and commitment to the project were crystal clear to me. And, he is such a nice guy to boot. He was looking for reality - to recreate that period and those events with a very intimate approach to the characters and the storytelling.

It was a no brainer for me, and I signed up immediately.”

Well before production began, Bobbitt, who is known for his work with British filmmaker Steve McQueen on Hunger (2008), Shame (2011) and the triple Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave, immersed himself into the history of the period.

“Although I was born in Texas, and am an American, I grew up in Saudi Arabia and the UK, and have spent almost all of my life outside the US,” he says. “I had no idea about this slice of American history. So I spent a good deal of time educating myself about the social and political culture of that time.”

Bobbitt was aided in this research by a compendium of several hundred B&W and colour photographs assembled by King and production designer Sam Lisenco.

“It was a remarkable contemporary chronicle, with a plethora of powerful, evocative images of the Panthers and the downtrodden in Chicago and across America in the 1960s,” he remembers. “We also watched a number of documentaries, including the PBS series Eyes On The Prize, about the civil

rights movement in the United States, which includes an interview with O’Neal. We shot several short excerpts emulating that interview, which appear in the final movie.

“Early-on, I suggested that we capture Judas And The Black Messiah in B&W, but Shaka was adamant that colour was a more a realistic representation of life at that time. There were plenty of colour images amongst our references, shot on Ektachrome and Kodachrome, and those become the visual touchstones in terms of our overall colour palette.”

Production on Judas And The Black Messiah took place in Cleveland, Ohio, over 42 shooting days, between October and December 2019. The only set build, in an abandoned warehouse, was the meticulous recreation of Hampton’s Chicago apartment. The filming of this crucial scene involved several passes of a motion-controlled telescoping crane arm, above and over the set, to separately and safely capture the actors, the exploding squibs and atmospheric effects.

“Although we conceived our colour ideas for the film at an early stage, during our recces we discovered additional colours - especially a rather bright green on the walls at the location we are going to use for the Black Panthers’ headquarters,” says Bobbitt. “Initially, we thought it would be too much, but realised the paint had been there since the 1960s and saw it had a wonderful effect on the image when we brought in the actors. So we embraced that ‘Panther Green’, as we called it, and you can see it throughout the film as a subtle, connective, recurring theme.”

As Cleveland has no film infrastructure to speak of, crew and equipment needed to be imported from across the US. Bobbitt operated A-camera himself, with Greg Williams and Rochelle Brown, working respectively as first and second ACs, and Marcis Cole on B-camera/Steadicam, each heading in from LA. Gaffer Jeremy Long and dolly grip Kelly Borisy came from Chicago, with key grip Mackie Roberts arriving from Atlanta. The DIT was Mark Wilenkin, who lives in Portugal and regularly works in LA. CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 51

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH•SEAN BOBBITT BSC

SEAN BOBBITT BSC•JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

“Apart from their obvious talents, and the appeal of Shaka’s enthusiasm, the common defining factor amongst the crew was the fact that, like me, everyone was there because they really wanted to be there,” Bobbitt notes.

Working with ARRI Rental, New York, the cinematographer selected an ARRI Alexa LF camera, plus ARRI DNA LF T1.2 – T2 lenses, for the production, shooting in 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio.

“On a film with a small or low-budget, widescreen gives you big-budget cinema credibility right off the bat,” says Bobbitt. “For DPs, the format gives you so many framing and compositional options. The way you place the foreground, plus the dead spaces in the image, are really powerful storytelling tools – centre framing can establish credibility, whilst having your subject to one side can convey a frisson of uncertainty. Additionally, we had an ensemble cast and it’s a fantastic format to put lots of people in a frame at the same time.

“The ARRI DNA lenses have a slightly softer look and contrast to other modern lenses, plus a kind of funky, vintage Anamorphic effect built into them.

This became slightly amplified as we shot with a widescreen extraction in mind, and it subconsciously helped to lend to the period feel.”

I love the final grade – it’s where your ideas about colour and composition finally come together Bobbitt rated at the Alexa LF at 800ISO for all scenarios, except the night exteriors, which he rated at 1250ISO, “where what noise there is looks like film grain,” he says.

“I really like the images the Alexa LF produces.

The sheer latitude of the sensor, together with the contrast ratio, mean the gradation of colour on skin tones is phenomenal, and we could accurately capture dark and light faces in the same frame but not have to specifically light one or the other. That dynamic range was incredibly helpful in the DI grade too, as we finessed the image that was desired.

“Shaka was always calling on me to find a strong frame. The large format sensor, in combination with the DNA lenses, means that on a mid-shot you use the depth-of-field to keep a character nicely grounded in the space around them. But when you come right in close, the background drops away and you are drawn into the face and the performance.

We made sure to hold on to those close-ups, to maintain intimacy and connection with the many different and powerful emotions in the story.”

To reflect the youth and liveliness of the characters, and to keep the narrative progressing forwards, Bobbitt frequently manoeuvred the camera using a dolly and Steadicam, but with nothing too odd in terms of placement nor overly elaborate in terms of movement. This kinetic energy also had a strong subliminal effect for beats in the story when the camera became static.

“We didn’t use a lot of Steadicam, but where we did it was for very good storytelling reasons. For example, at the church rally, when Fred has triumphantly returned from prison, he gives a speech that is pivotal to the whole film. We see his power as both an orator and a man capable of building remarkable coalitions.

We also see the undercurrents going on behind it all O’Neal’s inner conflict at being an FBI informant, and the growing horror by Fred’s pregnant wife that he is willing to die for the cause.

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On a small or lowbudget film, widescreen gives you big-budget cinema credibility right off the bat

“We had to look at how that scene opened, whilst never letting the audience get ahead of the story, or giving them any idea about what was coming next. So we devised a Steadicam shot that follows Fred up the steps from behind, to reveal the enormous scale of the church, the audience, and underline Fred’s incredible commitment his community.”

For the culmination of the film, the assault on Hampton’s apartment, Bobbitt says, “it was important to convey the FBI’s distressing misuse of power, as well as the emotion of being awoken from sleep by gun fire. We wanted to accurately track the movement of the police, beat-by-beat, through the apartment and portray the real horror of what went on. The crucial shot in that whole sequence, was a high-angled shot above Fred and the other characters, surveying the scene from room to room, showing how they indiscriminately shot through the walls - some 99 rounds in all - to kill Fred, with little to no heed to the human collateral damage.”

When it comes to LUTs, Bobbitt says, “I don’t use them. You can spend an awful lot of time creating LUTs that might only work on one location, and if you try to impose a look that is not working, they become a waste of time.

“On this particular film I had the great fortune to have a genius DIT, in the form of Mark Wilenkin, who acted as my dailies colourist. He applied looks from stills that I had shot and graded in

pre-production according to Shaka’s taste. In production, Mark’s workflow meant I could tweak the rushes at the end of every shooting day, and give the editors material with very strong visual continuity.

It was a remarkable workflow that streamlined and simplified the process considerably.”

The movie was illuminated with a large mixture of lighting instruments - from a bevvy of 18K HMIs pouring bounced light into the church rally scene, to single-tube, battery-powered LEDs on more intimate close-ups. In a production with such a wide range of flesh tones, Bobbitt used one of his favourite devices, a polarising filter, to variously enhance or finesse the look in-camera.

“It’s a remarkably powerful trick I was taught

by Billy Williams BSC over 30 years ago during a practical course he was teaching in Rockport, Maine, and a polariser rarely leaves my camera these days on interior and exteriors shots,” says Bobbitt. “By using a polariser I can affect the amount of reflection off any surface. In this production it was very effective way for bring up or cool down the amount of sheen on a face and thereby sculpt the image with different intensities of light and reflections.”

The DI grade on Judas And The Black Messiah was conducted by Tom Poole at Company 3 in New York. Bobbitt worked remotely from his home, which happens to be a boat moored along The River Thames to the west of London.

“I had contracted Covid-19, had been very ill and was not quite recovered,” says Bobbitt. “I am hugely grateful to Warner Bros., who set-up a mast with an antenna in my garden to beef-up my internet connection on the boat, and also to Company 3, who brought in a large, calibrated OLED monitor from one of their suites. All of this enabled me to view a P3-quality image and grade live and in realtime with Tom in New York.

“I love the final grade - it’s where your ideas about colour and composition finally come together.

Tom is a real partner in shaping the final outcome of the movie and fully-understood what Shaka and myself wanted. He invested a lot of time, skill and secret digital film chemistry, to pull everything together and get the period look-and-feel exactly right.”

Bobbitt concludes, “I am fascinated by the world, but constantly shocked by the levels of injustice, inequality and hypocrisy that exist. Exposing those through my cinematography is one way of bringing them to the attention of the general public.

I am proud of having played a part in making this film within an incredibly collaborative team led by Shaka King. He is a director who has a remarkable, infectious confidence and leads people to excel in their craft. His passion, commitment, perseverance and laser-focussed dedication created a powerful film with a relevance that will stand the test of time. I can’t wait to see what he does next.”

Left and centre: Daniel Kaluuya as as Chairman Fred Hampton.

Opposite: DP Sean Bobbitt BSC with Director Shaka King.

Above: Hello dolly.

Photos: Glen Wilson, courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

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CODA•PAULA HUIDOBRO AMC

PAULA HUIDOBRO AMC•CODA Opposite: Emilia Jones in CODA Below DP Paula Huidobro AMC wraps with Troy Kotsur

ALL AT SEA

By Iain Blair

Mexican-born Paula Huidobro AMC may work in a world where a woman DP is still considered a rara avis, but she’s never let that slow her down.

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fter attending London International Film School, she continued her film education in LA at the American Film Institute, where she also was a camera intern to cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki AMC ASC on Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004). Whilst at AFI she met budding director Sian Heder, with whom she’s collaborated on several projects, including Tallulah, which was a 2016 Sundance Jury Grand Prize nominee.

Their latest film together is CODA (which stands for Children Of Deaf Adults). The film was a big hit at Sundance 2021, where it scored a record $25 million acquisition deal from Apple TV+, as well as the grand jury prize, the audience award,

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the directing prize for Heder, and a special jury prize for the ensemble cast. The crowd-pleasing family drama, also written and adapted from the 2014 French film La Famille Bélier (dir. Éric Lartigau, DP Romain Winding) by Heder, tells the story of Ruby (Emilia Jones), a teenager who lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with her family who run a fishing business - parents Jackie (Marlee Matlin) and Frank (Troy Kotsur), and brother Leo (Daniel Durant). The first big twist is that her parents and brother are all deaf - Ruby, who is 17 years old, is the only hearing member of the family. The second is that Ruby isn’t much interested in fishing. Her passion is singing, and that passion is ignited with the encouragement of a high-school teacher (Eugenio Derbez) who helps

Photos: Courtesy of Sundance Institute Background image: Ivana Cajina

guide her innate talent and shape her dreams - to the point that she has to decide between helping her family and pursuing her goal.

Here, Huidobro, whose credits include an Emmy nomination for her work on HBO’s Barry, and the TV series Fargo and Grown-ish, talks about the challenges of the shoot and her approach to the cinematography and lighting.

You and Sian met at AFI and have worked steadily together ever since. Talk about your history as collaborators and how you collaborated on this project?

We go back a long way and first met when she was at the AFI’s Directing Workshop For Women and she’d just won the Student Academy Award.

That was almost 15, 16 years ago, and we did two short films together. One of these, titled Mother, did really well on the festival circuit, Then we shot Tallulah, and last year we worked together on Little America, the Apple series about immigrants.

We really enjoy working together as we think the same way about storytelling, and have a very similar sensibility and approach. We both love to really plan out our shot list, and by now we have a shorthand. We don’t have to discuss every single thing, and Sian is a very visual director, so it’s great for me as a DP. The main thing that’s changed over the years is the scope and scale of the projects. They’re getting bigger, so on this film we had a lot more challenges in terms of all the logistics and planning, especially with the boats and fishing scenes. And we didn’t have a lot of time for the shoot, so we had to be really prepared.

So how did you prepare in terms of dealing with all the fishing and the deaf community. I assume it was quite a steep learning curve?

It was. The boat stuff was very tricky - even just deciding how big a crew you could get on a working fishing boat, and then the fact that we had to be shooting a real catch. So that meant we had to be there at a certain time, as there are all these fishing restrictions, and we had monitors on-board to make sure we com-plied with all the regulations.

So there were all the logistics and planning out exactly what shots we needed and how to get them efficiently, and we talked a lot to local fishermen and marine people. And then we had to deal with our actors on the boat, and two of them were deaf. So the blocking was different and I had to learn how to communicate with them on set and to make sure I shot them with their hands in the frame, so you can see their signing.

How did you approach the look of the movie and the technical challenges?

We wanted it to look simple and natural, organic and unobtrusive, rather than trying to impose a style on the movie. We both felt the story was the main thing. So for the look it was more about getting out of the way of the story.

Technically, the fishing scenes were the big challenge and the most difficult, because of everything from the logistics to the weather, which

constantly changes. We shot on this quite small, real working boat. We also needed a 50-foot Technocrane to get some of the fishing shots, which we had on another boat with a lot of the camera gear. That was all new and exciting for me.

We actually only spent three days at sea - one to prepare it all, and then a couple of days for the shoot itself, which wasn’t that long considering all the shots we had to get. We only went out the

You have to be careful who you hire, as there’s definitely still people who’re not comfortable working with women minimum distance, but it still took an hour-and-ahalf to get there, and we had to set out at night so we’d arrive by dawn for the fish. Then there was the whole music part and the coming-of-age bit of the story, the quarry, and all the story points we had to get across. There was a lot going on.

How long was the prep and shoot?

Prep was just three weeks - not that long. And we shot in summer for three weeks, all on location in Gloucester. I loved it - being able to capture the beauty of the place and the ocean, as well as the local community, real people who’ve lived there for many generations. Sian had been going there since she was a kid, so she knew it very well,

including the local quarry we shot at.

But it’s not easy working on a small boat at sea, and there’s not much room for all the gear and lighting we needed. I didn’t get seasick, but some of the crew did, and there are all the safety issues involved. But really, there weren’t any downsides to shooting there. You can’t fake it, and as a DP that was a huge benefit for the movie, I feel.

How did you make your camera and lens choices?

I decided I wanted to shoot on the Sony Venice 6K with the LPL mount, and AR-RI Signature LF Primes, 18, 25, 35, 47, 58, 75 and 125mm. We also had a cou-ple of Angénieux EZ zooms, although we barely used them as we shot nearly everything with the Signatures.

The Venice 6K was quite a big deal for a small film like this. It was my choice, because I love the camera’s resolution for shooting stuff like the ocean and wide vistas and landscapes. I also love the large format for shooting portraits and the great depth-of-field, and I love how sensitive it is as you can shoot at very low light levels at 2500 ASA. I shot Little America with the Sony Venice, and it was a great experience. Unfortunately, although we shot 6K on CODA, we finished in 2K. As for lighting choic-es, we used some lights but we wanted it to look very natural and real and gritty not artificially beautiful. So I kept it very simple.

What’s your favourite scene?

The quarry scene where Ruby and Miles first kiss.

I loved the process of finding the location, and thinking about the experience of first love. It was special from a creative and story standpoint, but there were also logistical challenges about getting the actors to jump from high up, having stunt doubles, working the schedule to best help with the position of the sun and also with the logistics

of getting the gear from one place to the other.

The location was also incredibly beautiful, so Sian and I really made an effort to try to capture the experience of being young, in love and in a magical place.

Did you apply any LUTs? I had a DIT on the set, Leonard Mazzone. So we we began working the image on-set and then did more work on it in the DI, which we did at Light Iron in To-ronto. I went there for a week to go over all my notes with the colourist, Marc Lussier, and we did a couple of passes. But Sian wasn’t there and we had to try and work remotely with her in LA, and that was a little tricky. Then she came to Toronto for the second time around. The look we all went for was a very naturalistic one, and while the overall palette of the ocean is pretty neutral with lots of greys and blues - there’s also a lot of bright colours with all the fishing gear, so you have these splashes of reds and oranges. We spent most of the time making sure all the colours looked real and natural - not exaggerated or height-ened for effect.

How do you look back on the whole experience on working on CODA? I’ve done projects that are perhaps more style driven, where you can put your stamp on the story, but on this project I felt my job was to just tell the story and be honest with it and not heavy-handed.

There’s been so much talk about diversity, but women DPs and directors are still not that common in the business. Are things improving?

Yes, but slowly. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and there’s more awareness, but it’s still a struggle sometimes. You have to be careful who you hire, as there’s definitely still people who’re not comfortable working with women.

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MINARI•LACHLAN MILNE ACS NZCS

LACHLAN MILNE ACS NZCS•MINARI Main: Steven Yeun, Alan S. Kim (also below centre), Yuh-Jung Youn, Yeri Han, Noel Cho Photo by Josh Ethan Johnson.

Below: View from the top, DP Lachlan Milne ACS NZCS Photo: Melissa Lukenbaugh.

MINARI DIRECTOR LEE ISAAC CHUNG

Pictures Courtesy of A24

Koreeda, DP Ryûto Kondô) and Burning (2018, dir. Chang-dong Lee, DP Kyung-pyo Hong), which Steven Yeun was also in. They had a great tone and pacing, and a lot of overlapping dialogue, and also restrained coverage - they sit back and let the action play out, which I really like.

How long was the prep and shoot?

I got a month’s hard prep on the ground in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where we shot, and we had a very modest budget, so it was just a 25-and-a-half day shoot.

LIVING THE DREAM

Talk about the benefits and challenges of shooting on location, and especially shooting in the family’s trailer.

It was an equal share of both challenges and advantages. Around 90-percent of the film takes place in the one rural location, with the barn and trailer exteriors/interiors and all the field work.

And, as these were all so close to each other, whenever schedules changed because of weather or actor availability and so on, it was very easy to pick up another scene and keep going.

Obviously the big challenge was the trailer.

I’d assumed that we’d be in a studio with a set build where we could pull walls and so on, but the budget didn’t allow for it, and we had to deal with

By Iain Blair

A

ustralian cinematographer, Lachlan Milne ACS NZCS, is internationally recognised for his eclectic and awardwinning work in films, television, shorts and commercials. He shot Taika Waititi’s dramedy, Hunt For The Wilderpeople (2016), which premiered at Sundance in 2016, and has twice collaborated with director Abe Forsythe, on the black comedy Down Under (2016), followed by the zombie romcom Little Monsters (2019), starring Lupita Nyong’o. In 2018 Milne shot four episodes of the Netflix smash Stranger Things, then shot Love And Monsters (2020) for Paramount, and Next Goal Wins, the upcoming sports comedy directed by Waititi.

Right now, the busy DP is getting well-deserved attention for his evocative work on Minari, the fourth feature from American-Korean writer/director Lee Isaac Chung. Produced through A24 and Brad Pitt’s production house Plan B, Minari, has steadily been building Oscar buzz for its strong ensemble work and understated but potent visuals surrounding human harmony with the natural world.

Inspired by Chung’s own childhood in the 1980s growing up on a farm in the Ozarks, Minari is a period-set, semi-autobiographical, tender and sweeping story about a Korean-American family that moves from California to a 50-acre Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. It stars Alan Kim as David, Chung’s alter ego child, Steven Yeun as his father Jacob, Han Ye-ri as his mother Monica, and Noel Kate Cho as his sister Anne. However, living out of a prefabricated trailer propped-up on breeze blocks, that dream is challenged by the arrival of their loving, but mischievous and foulmouthed, grandmother Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung).

Here, Milne, who was in Atlanta on the fourth season of Stranger Things, talks about the challenges of the shoot and his approaches to the cinematography and lighting.

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We had such a fantastic ensemble cast, we wanted to get as many of them in that frame as possible

This is your first collaboration with Isaac Chung. How did you get involved?

I was finishing-up on Love And Monsters and my agent called and said, ‘Whatever you do, skip the wrap party tonight and read this script, Minari.

We’ve set up a call with the director tomorrow morning!’ So I did, and absolutely loved it. Isaac and I instantly hit it off and had a very similar approach on how to shoot it. Three weeks later I was on the project.

How did you approach the look of the movie and the technical challenges?

Isaac told me you both talked about going for a classic, simple wide-angled approach.

Exactly, and the key word about how we wanted it to feel was ‘honest.’ We wanted it to feel observational, in the sense that the camera isn’t necessarily influencing anything. We wanted it to be motivated when we moved the camera or went in for a close-up, and for it to clearly feel like a single camera shoot. We wanted that focus on just one frame at a time.

But as we had such a fantastic ensemble cast, we also wanted to get as many of them in that frame as possible, as much as the scene and location would allow. That’d help make it more conversational, more like a real live event, with people wandering in and out of frame and stepping over each other’s lines - and that was OK as we weren’t going to editorially cut from a close-up back to a wide shot. The whole idea was, keep it simple with as minimal coverage as possible.

What visual references did you and Isaac discuss and use?

We’re both big Terrence Malick and Andrei Tarkovsky fans. We love how they use the camera as a key storytelling device, not just relying on exposition and dialogue to set the scene. We also discussed films like Shoplifters (2018, dir. Hirokazu

a lot of logistics. It was hard to sometimes cram up to 15 people into it, with no air-conditioning and a limited range for camera motion and angles.

But, the beauty of this situation was that the inside and outside of the trailer were the same, in the sense that we could determine our shot list without worrying about part of it being shot on stage and part on location. We could treat it all the same.

Were there any surprises shooting on location?

Yeah. Before I got there I had this image in my head of tumbleweeds and barren dustbowls, like a classic western. But it’s actually very lush and green. That was a shock!

How did you make your camera and lens choices?

I shot with the ARRI Alexa Mini, as I’m familiar and comfortable with it, and I know just how far

to push it. As Minari was period film, I wanted older lenses, and used Panavision PVintage Prime lenses, mainly because I wanted the range of focal lengths in that set. There’s quite a few between 20 and 40mm, and I had a feeling that was where most of the film was going to sit, especially shooting spherical 2:39:1.

I knew we’d be on the slightly wide side of things, given all the interior work. I feel like I shot 80-percent of the film on the 29mm T1.2, which is such a wonderful focal length.

I’d shot before with PVintage lenses, and I was very happy with the aberrations you get.

Also, they’re very fast, ranging between T1.0 and T1.9. I knew we had a lot of night shooting and our lighting budget might not allow for a deeper stop, so I needed that fast lens flexibility.

How about your lighting choices?

We used a lot of natural light. For the daylight scenes inside the trailer I used a lot of negative to try and shape what was in there, with some windows blacked-out if not in shot, and every now and then I’d push a sky panel or HMI through a window. The biggest HMI was a 6K Par. Most of the time it was M18s or M40s.

For night interiors I used a lot of practicals, and relied on them as much as possible as you have to be very flexible when shooting with kids, so they can move around freely, and also because of the spherical 2:3:9 frame - it’s twice as wide as it is high, so you’ll always see the sides of the location, which makes it very difficult to light from the floor. I didn’t want to light from the roof as it feels more like a studio. It was all about making it as believable as possible.

Did you work with a colourist on any LUTs? I did. I did my own Look-Up Tables to monitor on-set in DaVinci Resolve beforehand. I had an interior day, interior night and an exterior day LUT. I was keen on the night interior of the trailer feeling warmer and the day exterior a bit bleached out and oppressive.

I worked with colourist David Cole over at Fotokem, who I’ve done a few films with now.

I sent him the LUTs and he sent back a version that was a bit more conducive from a workflow point-of-view.

We shot 3.2K Pro Res. We didn’t have the luxury of shooting ARRIRAW, so to a degree you’re ‘baking’ stuff into the negative that you might otherwise not be doing if you were shooting RAW. As for the DI, I was in Hawaii on another movie, so I had to do it remotely. But, Dave is so good about tone and storytelling – not just the technical side - that it went very smoothly. The whole movie was like that – such a hugely satisfying, creative experience. Good people doing it for the right reasons.

Do you have a favourite scene?

I have several. The scene of Monica and Jacob having a heart-to-heart after they come out of the grocer. The performances are amazing, and I always operate and it was like capturing lightning in a bottle, a joy to film. And the simple scene where Jacob’s smoking a cigarette in a field after sunset. It was just a spontaneous thing - not in the script or planned, but emotionally it captured him at rock bottom.

How tough was the shoot?

We decided where we would film in Tulsa about two-and-a-half months before production. Plan B and A24 read the script for the first time in February 2019, and we began filming about five months later.

This short development period is out of the ordinary. Our rushed schedule was the most difficult aspect for us. We had no margin for error. On a few occasions, we had less than ten minutes to grab the last scenes on our call sheet. These were scenes, not shots. I felt we were relying a great deal on instinct to get the work done quickly.

Director Isaac Chung Photo: Melissa Lukenbaugh. Courtesy of A24

Please tell us about working with Lachlan Milne ASC? I can’t say enough about Lachlan – we couldn’t have pulled this off without him. In our preparations, we talked about going for a wide-angled, presentational approach.

We didn’t always stick to this strictly, because we didn’t want the film to feel too formal.

We also tried to play it loose and respond to performances and dynamics that we discovered during each scene.

Yong Ok Lee, our production designer, did an incredible, detailed job with our locations, so it allowed us a lot of freedom in the camera set-ups we chose. Lachlan and the lighting team led by gaffer Steve Mathis were wizards with the look, and we aimed for a subtle, natural light aesthetic both indoors and outdoors.

Outside, we relied very little on artificial lights, so it was important to schedule each scene correctly, and to not shy away from the heat of day for certain scenes.

We worked quickly, and I relied a lot on Lachlan’s visual eye and instincts with complete trust. When I think about production, I have a lot of gratitude for the way he and Yong Ok pulled off many miracles.

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CHERRY•NEWTON THOMAS SIGEL ASC

NEWTON THOMAS SIGEL ASC•CHERRY Right: Ciara Bravo as Emily.

Below: Desert storm, Tom Holland as Cherry.

W

WAR AND PIECES

By Ron Prince

What’s your dream job? If it involves the ability to cut loose creatively, with the buy-in from a collaborative director, and the chance to harness technology and techniques both old and new, then welcome to the world of DP Newton Thomas Sigel ASC and his imaginative cinematographic input on Cherry, streaming now on Apple TV+.

Photos courtesy of Apple

orking closely with not one, but two, of Hollywood’s most successful directors, namely brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, Sigel was encouraged to create an engagingly bold visual travelogue through a story encapsulating romance, war, chemical addiction, crime and deliverance.

Cherry follows the wild journey of a disenfranchised young man from Cleveland, Ohio, who meets the love of his life, only to risk losing her through a series of bad decisions and life-changing circumstances. Starring Tom Holland in the title role, along with Ciara Bravo as his beloved, Emily, the movie was inspired by the best-selling novel of the same name by US Army Veteran Nico Walker, who served as an Army medic in Iraq, and went on more than 250 combat missions. In both the book and the film, Cherry, whose only anchor is his loving connection with Emily, drifts from dropping out of college into military training and active service in Iraq, before returning home and battling with the demons of undiagnosed PTSD and drug-taking, whilst being surrounded by a menagerie of misfits.

Cherry turns to bank robbing to fund his addiction, shattering his relationship with Emily along the way, before end-ing-up with a lengthy stretch in prison.

“When Joe and Anthony first told me about the film - but before they gave me the script - I read Nico Walkers’s book,” says Sigel, whose credits include director Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects (1995) and Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), Nicolas Wind-ing Refn’s Drive (2011) and Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods (2020). Prior to shooting Cherry, Sigel had collaborated with the Russo’s as producers on Extraction (2020), di-rected by Sam Hargrave.

For their part, the Russo bothers are perhaps best-known for directing four films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Avengers: Endgame (2019, DP Trent Opaloch), which netted $2.8 billion worldwide, and is the highest-grossing film of all time.

“I found the book very powerful, with a unique literary voice. It was all first person, with an almost musical rhythm in its language,” continues Sigel.

“When I read the script - co-written by Joe and Anthony’s sister, Angela Russo-Otstot and Jessica Goldberg - I felt it found a new way, through irony and absurdism, of engaging in the conversation about a very real and troubling subject affecting so many veterans, along with their families and friends.

Anthony and Joe were actively looking for a kind of bravura in technique, and were very open to taking risks and doing innovative things

“One of the first things we talked about - and this was built into the screenplay - was the notion of the story being told episodically, with a different visual language for each chapter. During pre-production, we discussed these different sections at length, and tried to define the shooting principles, so that each had its own differen-tiated thematic look, yet formed part of a coherent whole. It was almost like we were talking about several different films in one, and it was pretty amazing for me. Anthony and Joe were actively looking for a kind of bravura in technique, and were very open to taking risks and doing innovative things.”

Production on Cherry took place over the course of 60 shooting days, between October 2019 and February 2020, entirely at locations around Cleveland Heights, Ohio, followed by a two-week stint in Morocco, where the city of Ouarzazate and the town of Erfound, along with their desert environs, doubled for Iraq. For the shoot, Sigel selected Sony’s large format Venice camera system, capturing everything at 6K. Cameras and lenses were supplied by Keslow Camera in LA. “The Venice is a good, small, robust and userfriendly camera, with the advantage of having internal ND filters. I love being able to balance exposure on exteriors without having to watch an assistant run to a filter case,” Sigel notes. “Whilst the Venice has a 6K sensor, I am less interested in resolution specs than I am in how the size of sensor impacts focal length choices and field-of-view. I enjoy the shallower depth-of-field inherent to large format sensors. I the characteristics of a lens to have a bigger impact on the final image than the choice of camera.”

Sigel says the whole cinematographic recipe - including colour, lenses, lighting, framing, depthof-field, aspect ratio - was all up for discussion in the creative rea-soning of the storytelling before decisions were made.

Main: Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel ASC

58 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 59

CHERRY•NEWTON THOMAS SIGEL ASC

NEWTON THOMAS SIGEL ASC•CHERRY Bottom left: Directors Joe Russo and Anthony Russo Below: Emily and Chery share a moment.

Left: Explosve stuff.

Todd AO Anamorphics have a soft and romantic feel, the out-of-focus bokeh, when combined with the Sony Venice large format sensor, is insane

60 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

“Almost all of the film was shot in widescreen 2.39:1, using a variety of Anamorphic and spherical lenses, plus different lighting scenarios, across the different chapters - except for the part where Cherry undertakes his basic military training,” he says. “We shot that part in 1.66:1 with just a 14mm Sigma lens, with lighting you could call lifeless and institutionalised.

“We used this change in aspect ratio, the lens distortion and framing, which necessitated the subject being very close to the camera, as a kind of statement about the consequences of Cherry’s decision to join the army. His options were suddenly closed-in and he found himself in a

Petzval portrait lens, developed by GermanHungarian mathematics professor Joseph Petzval in 1840s Vienna, to underscore their deepening mutual attraction.

“Technically, the Todd AO Anamorphics are very poor lenses, but they have a soft and romantic feel. The skin tones are beautiful, and the out-of-focus bokeh, when combined with the Sony Venice large format sensor, is insane. The Petzval - which Joe called ‘The Pretzel’ - has an aperture blade, which means the background does not resolve like a modern lens and there’s a chromatic swirl effect to the image. We used this to particular dream-like effect when Cherry and Emily meet in

colour palette. Now the characters were on the edge of frame, with lots of headroom, with nothing balanced or comfortable. It was a visual metaphor, taking what seemed like their potential for happiness, love and a fairy tale existence, and really subverting it.”

To follow Cherry though his journey in Iraq, and his experiences of war and violence, Sigel says an initial consideration was to shoot these scenes along the lines of Son Of Saul (2015, dir. László Nemes.

DP Mátyás Erdély HSC), which featured th e unconventional approach of framing around the main actor’s face, with horrific events depicted fleetingly in the background or on the periphery of the frame.

To shoot the movie’s desert battle sequence, Sigel even had fun with a drone. “We put a lot of thought into how we introduced Cherry’s first moment in combat, and designed a long travelling shot, using a DJI Inspire and its on-board 4K camera, to fly across the battlefield. This involved takeovers, hand-offs and close-ups per-formed invisibly by my amazing camera operators, Geoffrey Haley and Greg Baldi, who were part of the scene and dressed in uniform.”

For the movie’s denouement, when Cherry endures an 11-year stretch in prison and finds salvation, Sigel switched to Hawk Classic-X 2x Anamorphics to purposefully give the image a

“This scene was bit of a foretelling of what was to come for Cherry and Emily - romantically and narcotics-wise,” says Sigel. “The Super Baltars are soft, romantic lenses. We lit the scene with invisible infrared light to take that footage to another level.

By shooting on a 3D rig, we recorded the same image twice. This meant that later on in the DI performed by Steve Scott at Company3 in LA - we could dial-in the percentage of either colour or infrared that would best support each beat of the scene.”

In another remarkable moment, set inside the confines of a VW Golf, the camera circles round to reveal each of Cherry’s Cleveland posse by turn,

box. Considering a broken heart drove him to the army, Cherry’s situation struck him as absurd and farcical. The visual result combines both a kind of weird claustrophobic intimacy and wideness at the same time.”

For the movie’s early episode, when Cherry and Emily first meet, Sigel says the intention was to develop a feeling of magical realism to support the fairly tale fantasy of falling in love. To this end he selected Todd AO Anamorphic lenses - originally built in the 1950s to compete with emerging wide screen formats - complemented by a fuller, more golden lighting, to develop the romantic mood. He also deployed a vintage

the courtyard at college and rest of their world seems to melt away.”

Sigel also used the Todd AO Anamorphics for the movie chapters in which Cherry has returned from military duties and his traumas with PTSD and ensuing dope life emerge.

“As the hope of normal existence begins to fade away, and Cherry comes to feel horribly out of place, you see the image getting increasingly off-kilter,” says Sigel. “Whereas we depicted him and Emily earlier using classically-balanced compositions, we introduced an increasing degradation in the stability of the frame, together with a change to a colder, more cyan-oriented,

“However, when we started shooting the movie, we realised that the beginning and the end of the story were so intimate, that Iraq was the one place where we really needed to open-up the visual storytelling, and give it a bigger, broader scope.

And in doing so, we kind of went from Son Of Saul to David Lean,” he remarks.

Most of the Iraq-set scenes were shot using the Sony Venice in combination with Leica M series stills lenses. “The Leica Ms are very small and classicallybeautiful, used by photo-journalists since the dawn of time,” says Sigel, “they were perfect for the change of mood and tone in capturing the very vibrant, orangeyyellow, gold and green colours of the desert.”

cleaner and sharper rendition. This sequence was neatly shot with carefully timed left and right lateral camera moves on the dolly between different prison scenes to give the impression of time passing.

Within the different looks of the different chapters of the story, Sigel was also given rein to experiment in other ways. For a scene in which Cherry bumps into Emily, whilst tripping on ecstasy, Sigel encouraged his directors to shoot using a 3D rig fitted with Red cameras and Super Baltar lenses – one camera recording normal colour, the other purposely-configured to record infrared information.

as they variously goad one another about love and war. The technical set-up involved sho oting the Sony Venice in Rialto mode, with the camera block and an ultra-wide lens attached to DoggieCam System’s revolving rig, which was suspended through a hole in the car’s roof.

Sigel concludes, “I really hope Cherry finds an audience. The problems of PTSD and surrounding issues of opioid addiction, social dysfunction and human connection, are profound and on-going.

The Russo’s put their hearts into this film, so too did the cast with their incredible performances, and it was invigorating for me to be so creatively involved in the process.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 61

ST MAUD•BEN FORDESMAN

BEN FORDESMAN•ST MAUD

Is it a horror? A psychological thriller? A study of loneliness, devotion and delusion?

Or even some sort of satire about salvation? Perhaps that is something only you, the viewer, can decide, when it comes to considering St Maud, the debut feature from director Rose Glass. But, whatever your personal reckoning, there’s no doubt it is quite simply a spooky and disturbing experience.

FAITH STEALER

By Ron Prince

Photos: Courtesy of Netflix

Main and below: Morfydd Clark flies as Maud Right DP Ben Fordesman with Director Rose Glass

Photos courtesy of A24/STUDIOCANAL

Gilbert Taylor BSC) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968, DP William A. Fraker ASC) - as well as wider study treatments of anxiety, paranoia and loneliness, such as Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976, DP Michael Chapman ASC). The Austrian horror Angst (1983, DP Zbigniew Rybczyński), directed by Gerald Kargl, helped inspire some high camera positions looking down at the action, which Fordesman says was “our god angle.” A personal favourite reference of Fordesman’s was Todd Haynes’ Carol (2015, DP Ed Lachman ASC) for its texture, intimacy and timelessness.

Production on St Maud took place over the course of four weeks, during November and December 2018, followed by an additional week of pick-ups in January 2019. The film’s exteriors and beach scenes were captured in the North Yorkshire seaside resort of Scarborough, whilst the exteriors and interiors of Amanda’s home were shot in a large Victorian residen-tial house in the North London suburb of Highgate.

I wanted them to do as much of lighting as possible without other artificial lamps polluting these scenes

T

he story follows Maud, a young, reclusive, live-in nurse, who becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her patient, Amanda, a retired dancer, and atheist, who is ravaged by cancer and is now in palliative care. Maud’s fervent religious faith quickly inspires an obsessive conviction that she must save her ward’s soul from eternal damnation, whatever the cost - including increasingly disturbing acts of self-harm.

Unlike many films in 2020, St Maud enjoyed a release at the cinema. Along with five-star reviews around the world, including applause for its leads - Morfydd Clark as Maud, and Jennifer Ehle as Amanda – the film also picked up a clutch of awards, including one for best cinematography at the 2021 British Independent Film Awards for

62 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

DP Ben Fordesman. Remarkably, St Maud was also Fordeman’s longform narrative debut, and his work as a fledgling filmmaker has gone largely unchronicled. Until now.

“We set out to make a film hoping some people would go to the cinema to watch it,” says Fordesman, ”I am delighted it was screened, and to have won an award for my part in the process.

But, I genuinely think it was one for the whole team, especially the timeless pro-duction design by Paulina Rzeszowska and director Rose Glass. Without good sets and a vision, we would have been lost.”

Fordesman says the screenplay for St Maud and his initial connection with director Rose Glass came via his agent at Lux Artists, in London.

“I loved the dark and intimate nature of Rose’s script, it was very visual on the page,” recalls

Fordesman, who entered the business on the ground floor, working as an electrician and then gaffer on music videos and shorts, before moving behind the camera as an operator and then cinematographer.

Prior to shooting St Maud his only longform credit as DP was four episodes of Channel 4 series, The End Of The F***ing World, also streaming on Netflix.

“Rose and I had three meetings, discovering each other’s shared artistic sensibilities, before we decided to work together,” Fordesman recalls. “I did quite a lot of research and brought in a lot of images. Rose’s references and ideas turned out to be very similar to mine. So we worked out quite quickly that our tastes were comparable in many ways.”

Visual references for St Maud included a host of atmospheric, slow-burn, psychological thrillers - including Roman Polanski’s Repulsion (1965, DP

“The house itself was huge, with plenty of very large rooms with high ceilings,” Fordesman notes.

“In fact, it was so large that we had our production office on the top floor, and there were also separate rooms for make-up, costume, lighting and camera gear. Essentially, we were all together as if we were working in a studio. I could cycle to work every day, although it was up a rather steep hill. In terms, of lighting, the house was a DP’s dream, in that it had large windows facing north and south and we could easily plan our shooting schedule around the natural daylight.”

Working with Panavision, London, to formulate his camera package, Fordesman went with the ARRI Alexa Mini, shooting in ProRes 4444 XQ, and a small set of Canon K35 lenses, re-housed by P+S

Technik. He framed the production in widescreen 2.39:1 aspect ratio.

“I feel widescreen is a much better way of achieving compositions between two characters when there is an intimate connection between them - as there was between Maud and Amanda,” he says. “By shooting widescreen, you remove the vertical space, and it necessarily brings you closer-in on faces - not because you are physically closer, but because part of the screen is simply not there. It also gives you a wide range of framing possibilities - at the centre or with oblique angles - which can all make powerful statements.

“I considered large format sensor cameras for St Maud, but they can sometimes enhance the digital look and sharpness of the image, which was really not to our liking,” he says. “I still lean towards the S35mm sensor, and the fall-off you get with vintage lenses felt much more appropriate for what Rose and I wanted.”

Discussing his lens choice, Fordesman says, “I have a long relationship with the K35s. I love how they counter the precise pixel sharpness of contemporary cameras, and the way they react to light - such as how they lose contrast and wrap the light around a character when you have a bright window behind your subject. I used a small complement of focal lengths, mainly the 18, 24, 35, 50 and 85mm. This film was very much about faces, and when you focus wide-open on the side of a face, you get a lovely filmic-looking portrait with gorgeous skin tones.”

For the interior shoots, Fordesman rated the camera at 1280ISO, sometimes nudging up to 1600ISO, when a little extra exposure was required.

“There is noise in the image at 1280ISO, that you can notice even more at 1600ISO, but it is an acceptable, nicely filmic sort of artefact that was never a problem.”

Fordesman prefers to work in Rec.709, and adjust the image on-set with the DIT - in this case Tom Rogers from Mission - as production rolls along.

The crew, who the DP says were “true allies” also included Ed Tucker and Alison Streatfield, as first and second ACs respec-tively, with Alison Martin as camera trainee. Ben Manwaring was the gaffer, with Raz Khamehseifi working as best boy, and Lee Naylor-Vane the key grip.

Fordesman says framing and camera movements were predicated on a being classically cinematic.

“It was all about maintaining a certain mood, quite often with tight framing, to burrow into and stay

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 63

ST MAUD•BEN FORDESMAN

JOEL HONEYWELL•HUE-LIST Flag and net, DP Ben Fordesman lighting St Maud.

Photo courtesy of A24/STUDIOCANAL

inside Maud’s head, and to cancel out anything that could be conceived as being objective. We felt that dialogue scenes needed to be pretty static, with only the gentlest of pushes or tracks in on the characters. There was some handheld when necessary, but overall, things generally were very considered and composed.”

When it comes to lighting, Fordesman admits to having, “a dogmatic approach. I have to feel that the lighting in a scene is always motivated, and that the result should not feel like it is lit. That said, I did need to create dark contrast and mood to support the storytelling. We were very lucky that our Highgate location had north-facing widows, which meant that on cloudy days we had enough consistent light. We could easily introduce HMI bounce from outside if it ever got dark, or push

direct light in via a 12K Par on sunny scenes.

“A lot of the richness in the image came down to the production design done by Paulina. We had lots of big discussions about the types of practicals we could use, as they featured a lot in our night scenes and I wanted them to do as much of lighting as possible on the actors, without other artificial lamps polluting these scenes. This meant that for some sequences I was able to rely just on the practicals. On the odd occasion we had to augment a practical-lit scene using Lowel Rifa lights, Fresnels, and Dedo Octodomes. I sometimes used Source 4s to create an abstract shadow on a wall.

“Without great sets cinematography is nothing, and Paulina’s production design really supported the way the scenes looked in terms of lighting. For example, the dark unreflective interiors she designed

really enhanced the impact of the natural, divine, church-like light coming through the windows, and her work really give us a work with in the colour grade.”

The final DI was done at Goldcrest, London, with colourist Rob Pizzey. “He took on board the filmic look we were after, and brought his own magic to the grade,” says Fordesman. “It was an amazing experience to work with someone who can help to fashion and enhance your vision – which Rob had fully under his control in just a couple of days. Plus, he’s such a nice person to work with too.”

Fordesman concludes that, despite the subject matter, St Maud was a happy shoot. “I think the proximity of working together in the house, meant the cast and crew became into a close-knit family. I was also amazed at how our leads, Morfydd and Jennifer, had the capacity to be generous with their wit and humour between takes, before picking up again on the seriousness of their performances.

“This was my first feature, and I have been overwhelmed by the positive reactions from peers and critics. We set out with the modest expectation of making a film we would want to watch. The fact that it was actually released in cinemas, and went much further than our expectations, was a dream.”

By the way, if you want to know how Maud levitates in one of the film’s stand-out scenes, it wasn’t with an expensive wire rig, but an hydraulic lift, that can be rented cost-effectively from your local toolhire company, later painted-out in post. Sometimes the simplest options are best.

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HUE-LIST

By Kate Rolfe and Andrew ‘Elvis’ McGovern

DP Joel Honeywell discusses the diversity of filmmaking in the UK, and tells us about his platform, The Hue-List, launched in 2020, which aims to open up opportunities for ethnic minority film crew, in the UK/EU and the US.

A

s Joel Honeywell starts the first week of prep for a new Sky TV Drama in Manchester, UK, he reflects on the fact that the production around him is doing relatively well in terms of representation, which he attributes to encouraging diversity initiatives and an industry that is now trying to ensure cast and crew truly reflect society.

“It’s good to see people are achieving more diverse crews now,” he says, “but it’s terrifying that it took the murder of a black man last year to make people realise this was something to pay attention to.”

This show is important to Honeywell. Having worked primarily in commercials and music videos, it is his first major TV series after years of being second choice for top jobs.

“There have been so many instances where I’ve been interviewed for a project and never won it, even with great people vouching for me,” he explains. “Recently I interviewed for a TV drama, and the director had to fight the producer to get me an interview on the grounds that they didn’t want someone lacking the experience. The argument didn’t really make sense, because the previous seasons had DPs who launched their longform narrative careers from the show. To my knowledge, I am the only black DP that’s been interviewed for it.”

Every step of Honeywell’s career, from trainee to DP, has been a battle, especially compared with direct peers he graduated with from film school.

“There have been so many times when I’ve thought about giving up, but friends and family have said to stick with it and that I’ll break through someday,” he remarks.

Honeywell launched The Hue-List as a platform to create opportunities for black, Asian and ethnic minority filmmakers.

As he explains, “There are really skilled people who’ve been in the industry for 15-plus years who are still not in high-end TV drama or films, and that’s

It’s about the bigger picture of bettering anyone’s situation in a world where they feel marginalised a mystery. They’ve got the talents and training and they’re moving in the right spaces, but they’re just not given those opportunities they are hungry for.

“This is what Hue-List is for: a database for productions to find those crew and help them get ahead in an industry and society that are not set up for them to succeed – I want people to know there are options available to them.”

The intention of The Hue-List isn’t to overtake anyone in the industry, but instead to bring about balance. In time Honeyewll hopes it will evolve out of being needed, but right now it is essential to have platforms like this available.

The Hue-List now has individuals listed under seven headings: camera, grip & lighting; sound; art, costume, HMU & props; production, locations, management; post-production; and emerging crew/trainees. After discussions with colleagues in the US, Honeywell is now opening The Hue-List to American regions as well as the UK and Europe. Ari Brown, an agent at Artistry, who used to work for Keslow Camera Rental Inc, is looking after the US side of its operations.

In time, The Hue-List will develop to offer training, to further people’s skills and experience so there is parity. Honeywell also recognises that it fills an important role in inspiring the next generation.

“Often young people don’t have the inspiration to start a career in film, as they don’t have the contacts and they don’t see people like them

Aspiring cinematographer, Tate, gets a first look behind the camera

on-screen, winning awards, or as part of industry memberships. The only reason I was able to break in was because I actively searched from a young age.

My world expanded hugely when I found out at film school about the full range of technical roles on-set.

If young people realise there is a lot more they can do, they will follow this opportunity and find the right role for their strengths.”

Honeywell also says the industry also needs to change the environment it creates and its approach to inclusivity.

“I’m often the only person who is not of a Caucasian origin on a film set,” he says. “I’ve had to change my accent to fit in, to the point where people can’t believe me and my brother grew up in the same place! This happens everywhere in society, certain places where I have to conduct myself in a certain way to not appear threatening in a majority white environment. You can’t be yourself. What’s interesting is that when I’ve been on shoots with lots of black crew it feels like we can be ourselves more, and there’s a sense of solidarity and support.”

When asked how do we make this change, and who is responsible, he replies, “I think it’s everyone’s responsibility. Everyone has got to do their part and do their best. It’s hard to measure and you can’t penalise someone by saying they’re not doing enough, because you don’t know what the level of their best is to be ‘enough’. But we’ve all got to encourage people to keep going. Collective change is needed and we’ll start to slowly improve over time.”

Honeywell sees improvement in diversity having a hugely positive effect on film as an artform.

“It’s a blessing to be in this industry, and the current pool of people make great work, but it would be good to hear from new storytellers as well. I think we should have talented people with fresh eyes and new ideas being interviewed for jobs too. Storytelling does not belong to one group of people, so let’s advance the art to tell new stories that matter.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 65

I’M NO LONGER HERE•DAMIÁN GARCÍA

DAMIÁN GARCÍA•I’M NO LONGER HERE

LORD OF THE DANCE

Left: Kolombia styl,Juan Daniel Garcia Treviño as Ulises Sampiero Opposite centre: DP Damián García Photos courtesy and copyright Alejandro López Pineda.

We promised never to film anything we didn’t like, and to film only what we could print and hang on our wall without being ashamed of it

By Carmen V. Albert

In the mountains of Monterrey, Mexico, a small street gang named “Los Terkos” spend their days listening to slowed-down cumbia music and attending dance parties, showing off their colourful outfits, eccentric hairstyles and bantering about gang alliances. These different bands of disaffected youths refer to themselves as Kolombianos, combining their Cholo culture with Colombian music.

U

lises Samperio, the 17-year-old leader of Los Terkos, tries to protect his friends from the nefarious elements of a quickly-evolving drug/political war, but after a misunderstanding with a local cartel, he is forced to leave and is smuggled Jackson Heights, Queens, an ethnically diverse immigrant community in New York City. Ulises tries to assimilate himself there, but, learning his gang plus the whole Kolombia culture is under threat, he questions his place and identity in the US and longs to return home.

When Mexico City-born writer/director Fernando Frías de la Parra invited fellow countryman DP Damián García to shoot I’m No Longer Here, it is unlikely either of them expected – after receiving 10 Ariel Awards, including Best Film and Best Cinematography – that Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón would meet on Netflix’s YouTube channel to rave about the film’s “truthful” exploration of identity and loneliness.

And, this project’s journey is not over yet.

Performed by non-professional actors, and praised for a rich sense of place that is always visually compelling, I’m No Longer Here is shortlisted for the 2021 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

“Without the pandemic, it would have been much harder for this film to find its place,” says cinematographer Damián García. “Plus, it addresses issues such as exile and violence in Mexico from a largely unexplored angle: through dance and the sense of belonging, or not, to a place.”

From this point-of-view, I’m No Longer Here is also a window to a little-known reality, that of the counter-cultural movement of the Cholombians.

“Mexico is full of unique elements like this urban tribe, which speaks of the cultural syncretism and the great Mexican contradiction: in the most violent areas, these kids show-up dressed like tulips and dancing 66 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

to this music. That’s what attracted me to this film - to tell the story of these survivors who pursue beauty in a very harsh environment,” García confesses.

To introduce his production team to this particular world, the director undertook extensive research, starting with a music playlist.

“Our first approach to the film was to listen to their music, because slowed-down cumbia puts you in a particular state of mind,” says García. “From there we started to work. We did a lot of travelling and saw many things. Our visual references were still photos, because we wanted to be faithful to this reality and, at the same time, we didn’t want to forget about stylisation. There are many films

in Mexico about gangs or narcos that are either documentary-like or not realistic at all. We wanted to try to stay in touch with reality, but with an aesthetic vision. We tried to make the camera a character throughout the film, but trying to alter the reality of the place as little as possible.

“Furthermore,” García continues, “we tried to keep our eyes open and to let things surprise us. We wanted the New York part to keep that visual impact that Jackson Heights has when you first arrive and you don’t know it.”

The film features vast in-depth compositions, many of them in fixed shots and others through flowing camera movements that follow the characters as they show us the streets and ramshackle houses of Monterrey. Planning the film required a great deal of precision during preproduction. No improvisation was involved, not even when it came to the performances of the nonprofessional actors.

“Thanks to Fernando and our acting coach Bernardo Velasco, who lived with the kids for more than six months, there was an immense amount of training for the actors,” explains García. “After that process, these guys knew that we were doing something very serious and they were very thorough.

That helped the filmmaking a lot and I think it shows. Fernando and I are thrilled with the success of the film and the fact that these guys are getting recognised and rewarded for their work.”

García visually separated the two locations where the story takes place through the use of lenses.

He combined the ARRI Alexa Mini with Cooke Anamorphics in Monterrey, whilst in New York he decided on the Panavision T series.

“One of the rules we set for ourselves was not to create a feeling of discomfort visually,” says García.

“We would never have shot this film with shattered lenses and out-of-focus corners and optical aberrations.

“On the contrary, we tried to have the camera record a clean frame where you can notice all the details. The Panavision T series lenses are fantastic, very elegant and with very good contrast, and I think did very well for the New York section, where I was looking for a very strong visual clarity.”

García says the cinematographic approach to I’m No Longer Here was based on an “oath” between himself and Frías, which shaped the film’s visual language.

“We promised never to film anything we didn’t like, and to film only what we could print and hang on our wall without being ashamed of it,” he admits.

“It was a fun rule that we could indulge in because we were accountable to no one but ourselves.

Plus, our performers are a particularly aesthetically obsessed bunch. So we thought it would be fair to try to take care of it too.“ The meticulous collaboration between cinematography, art and wardrobe focussed on finding a consistency in the chromatic richness that seen in each frame.

“Mexico is a very colourful country, which is not necessarily a good thing when it comes to filming,” says García. “Although it may not seem like it, there is a lot of chromatic control in this film. The art direction and wardrobe really restricted it, because otherwise it would have been all over the place. We fought against a lot of colours, and worked hard to control things on almost all of the interior locations and all of the costume designs.”

The success of I’m No Longer Here has led to all kinds of theories about the symbolism of its cinematography, especially in the use of colour.

García acknowledges that no specific symbolism was pursued beforehand, although he confirms that in some moments colour underlines the storytelling.

For example, in Monterrey, Ulises and his uncle argue in the kitchen of his uncle’s house, which is suffused with orangey red.

“In that sequence there was something of the vertigo that comes from the terror that this boy feels, having ruined his life and his family’s life without having done anything,” García explains. “We thought it would be good for that kitchen to have that colour, with an almost monochromatic look. It was like the visual equivalent of the sound of a loud ringing in your ears.”

In another example, during a night exterior, in New York, two neon lights, one red and the other green, slice Ulises in two. “It happens at a perfect moment in the film, because the character is almost at his lowest point, and is torn between the two places.”

In terms of lighting, Monterrey required more intervention, especially during dancing scenes and on the streets where the gangs roam.

“At night, we didn’t want to have over-stylised lighting,” says García. “We relied on practical lights, and went with the idea of enhancing the existing light that was available in the spaces when we needed to.”

Overall, the cinematographer likes to use little artificial light and work with what he has available, and applied this thinking to the in-camera LUT development. As he explains, “I like to work with digital as if it were film: to find a density, a contrast and a colour that I prefer and use LUTs as if they were negatives. For Monterrey, we developed a colour and contrast similar to Kodak film, and from that base we worked the entire film.”

Barring a small number of exceptions, García shot I’m No Longer Here primarily with two focal lengths of lenses: 50mm and 40mm Anamorphic.

“Fernando and I like to use the same lens and to move physically closer if we want to be closer, instead of using a tighter lens. I feel that it brings you further into the film and makes the camera less noticeable.”

However, in pursuit of capturing the natural light quality he found in Monterrey, the cinematographer swapped out the Cooke Anamorphic glass for spherical Zeiss Superspeed 1.3 lenses.

“There’s a panoramic view of the whole of Monterrey that starts with a crane showing the city, then it goes down and reveals everyone dancing, before it goes up and into the mountains. We thought it would be better to shoot that spherically

and have the city shining in the background, than to have gone closed in because of the Anamorphic lenses and not be able to take advantage of show the richness of the city at night. I think it was worth the one stop difference.”

Camera movements, often following the characters in long takes as they roam through narrow, graffiti-daubed backstreets and clamber around abandoned construction sites, were carried out with a variety of Steadicams, cranes and dollies, overcoming some obstacles in challenging environments in Monterrey.

“For example, in the sequence where they shoot at a billboard and Ulises is playing dead, we wanted to dolly-in towards him, but the locations was a downhill street,” notes García. “So the grip crew had to build a big level platform so we could

shoot the take with a crane-in move instead.”

However, when we reach the dance scenes, the camera movement disappears, and time stands still. The director’s goal was to show Cholombians dancing and enjoying the ephemeral moments they are living, and how, through this musical genre, they expand those moments in time so that they never end – all because they probably know that what lies ahead of them will not be good.

“There’s something ceremonial about it, so we decided to portray the dancing in a respectful and discreet way,” concludes García. “The camera is the last thing you should be looking at when they’re dancing. When it came to shooting these scenes, we tried to follow the flow of the music. We set it up and waited for things to happen – just watching that heartfelt dance was spectacular enough.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 67

THE LIGHT STUFF•RAFAEL SANCHEZ

RAFAEL SANCHEZ•THE LIGHT STUFF

completes the team. We have all been together for ten years and it has been a really good run. We all get along very very well and I’d be happy to sit and have a beer and spend time with any of them.

We have made a commitment to stay together because we realise how good we have it with one another, so if I get offered a job I consult with all of them. We make those decisions together.

Favourite film Sideways, directed by Alexander Payne with Phedon Papamichael was a film I liked a lot. But Walk the Line was one of the films I’m most proud of. I think we did a great job as it wasn’t a huge budget, we had a lot of locations in not a lot of days and a lot of live performances to put together without a lighting director - but at the end of it we achieved something that will stand the test of time.

With a background in engineering, Rafael Sanchez made a switch, almost by accident, which led to a hugely successful career as a gaffer, working with some of the industry’s finest film makers.

INTO THE LIGHT Gaffer: Rafael Sanchez

By David Wood

Beginnings Originally I was going to be an engineer - but by the time I was 20 I had changed my focus to film, thanks to an introduction to film class which I took to fulfil a humanities requirement. I ended up changing over to a film production major because my teacher Richard Studebaker saw something in me that made him think I might be suited to this business. He was a 35-40 year industry veteran and he introduced me to this world and changed my path.

The basics Early on I really paid attention to what they were doing, staying close to the camera and trying to pick up as much as I could. I knew very little about the working of a film camera at the time so everything was super-interesting to me. I just picked up on what we are doing and why.

I always say that our most important tool as filmmakers are our ears. All the time you’ll learn just by listening because you are surrounded by people who have so much experience.

Opportunities I met Phedon Papamichael because I had been best boy for Mauro Fiore when he was a key grip on a job - and he wasn’t available for the next job, so he told Phedon he should hire me. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time.

My first gaffer job was on a film Above: Rafael Sanchez deep in called Unstrung thought during filming on Jumanji Heroes. Phedon was The Next Level This pic: Pirates of the Carribean cameraman and he Opposite: With long time friend needed a gaffer Phedon Papamichael, ASC, GSC and he knew I was leaning that way. I said ‘Nobody thinks Talented group of me as a gaffer - I’m a key grip,’ but Phedon said As I immersed myself in the industry, developing that job wasn’t available. He knew more than I did relationships with coming DPs such as Phedon that I was ready. If I had not been pushed I may Papamichael, Wally Pfister, Mauro Fiore and not have made that leap. I was 26-years-old at the Janusz Kaminski - super-talented and soon to be time with ten films under my belt. That was my first award-winning cameramen. It turned out to be a union job. Everything happened in a whirlwind perfect moment for me to enter the business with - now I’ve done 27 Movies with Phedon. He has talented people who were willing to help me learn. been the spark that lit the fire under my career.

68 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

great passion for filmmaking but an exceptional eye for lighting… so I gently convinced him to start gaffing, rather than gripping! He was reluctant at first, but soon came to love it. He quickly became one of the world’s most renowned chief lighting technicians. What makes him exceptional is that he never stops his part of the job …always highly involved, looking to improve, even after all has been lit and the cameras are rolling, he never stops thinking if the best has been achieved.

We grew up together and developed our skills learning from each other, always inspiring and pushing our boundaries, encouraging each other to take risks. Yet I still always felt safe having Raffi on my side. I consider myself very fortunate to have shared this journey with him.

Defining moment I was 32 when I did Pirates of the Caribbean with Dariusz Wolski and Gore Verbinski. It was really challenging, but when I’d finished that job I realised that if I could do that, I could do anything.

It was the kind of film where you had to bring your best every day. Gore is the kind of director who leads from the front and demands your best - but in a good way. You want to give him your best because he’s such a good leader.

In part it was challenging because of the amount of work we did on the water. We did night exteriors in the open ocean off the coast of LA, in St Vincent and in the Bahamas in later films. We shot complicated sequences 1000 feet off shore involving multiple boats, smoke and barges with lights on. It was logistically challenging to make sure all the elements were safe and in the right place at the right time. To make a lighting change was a major logistical exercise; you couldn’t just grab the stand and roll it over. It involved liaising with the marine coordinator who has to talk to his guys and organise mooring boats - it took a lot more time, more organisation but the whole process made you better.

Regular crew Hiring the right people is one of the most important parts of the process for me. I want filmmakers on my team - people who don’t just care about their craft but everyone else’s craft. Take my rigging gaffer Scott Graves - not only is he a great technician, he’s a walking film encyclopedia. He loves movies and I love that about him because it brings a different perspective to what we are doing. My lighting console programmer/desk op is Bryan Booth, who we call the Wizard because he’s always pulling rabbits out of his hat. He’s super talented and does it with grace and humour and never lets the pressure get to him or anyone around him. He’s a calming presence and an integral part of the team. Best boy Scott Sprague

Both ends of the scale After I finished the $250m Lone Ranger one Friday, I went off to scout for a $12m film Nebraska. Big budget and small budget films are very different animals - they present similar problems but you have to solve them in different ways. I think it’s important to have both kinds of films on your resume. It makes you better to be able to be able to do your job, sometimes with a lot of tools and sometimes very few.

Best ways to work I have worked with a lot of different cameramen, some of whom give you a free hand, others less so. I really thrive when there’s a very good collaboration. Phedon always wants me to light while he talks to the director about the shot. Then he comes back with a fresh eye and see it for the first time. I enjoy partnerships where the DP allows me some freedom.

Role of lighting Good lighting is like another character in the movie, but it’s a supporting character not the star.

So you help tell the story with light but not overtake it. In a pinch I might default to traditional lighting set ups, but it’s important to remember to push yourself and shake it up a bit to keep things fresh.

International Cinema Lighting Society When we had the Covid shut down last March we set up a gaffers group on Zoom to get together on Saturdays and talk about how to get back to work.

Over the year we decided it would be great to grow that group and started to invite others. Now we have a 170-strong international membership and we are in the process of formalising ourselves into something akin to members organisations

Good lighting is like another character in the movie, but it’s a supporting character not the star such as the America Society of Cinematographers or the BSC. We call ourselves the International Cinema Lighting Society. It’s a great community of like-minded gaffers, with a few rigging gaffers and desk ops - we are currently defining what the terms of membership should be. On a Saturday morning we might have 50 gaffers talking about the latest product in film lighting. We’ve had people like Tama from Creamsource giving insights into the latest lighting innovations.

It’s really useful because members can reach out to the group at any time and get responses on film lighting issues from real experts.

DP Phedon Papamichael, ASC, GSC says: I first met Rafael some 30 years ago when he was in his early 20s and I was just a few years older.

He came to interview for the key grip position on a low budget indy film shot in Venice, CA. I hired him, since he was the only one coming for the interview (Ha ha!). But good thing I did, because that was the beginning of a great collaboration and friendship stretching over 30 features. I quickly realized Rafael not only had

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DP PJ Dillon Raffi is an outstanding gaffer, a talented technician and a great problem solver who improves every idea he’s presented with. Any DP lucky enough to work with him will recognise that immediately.

But there are a couple of things that really set him apart. He is not just a great technician, he is a film-maker in the most complete sense of that term.

And a seriously talented one. He’s creative, with a wonderful eye, not just for lighting but across all aspects of the production, and his nuanced understanding of the process makes him an invaluable collaborator.

The other thing is that he is a true leader, not just of his own crew but of the whole production.

He leads by example, commanding respect in a quiet and unassuming way. Raffi is never loud, but when he speaks, people listen.

DP Gyula Pados(Jumanji: The Next Level) In my opinion Raffi is simply one of the best gaffers in the world. He’s great at both sides of the job; the artistic side and the management – figuring out how to spend resources, how to manage time and money so you can be economical and fast at the same time so we can give the set back to the director as soon as possible. Our process is first going thought the script, talking about the story and mood of the film. Nothing technical yet, just how the visuals can help the story. He is great partner to have for that because he’s got a unique sensitivity for stories and to how to build the visual language for the film. After that we start to break down how we can make it work.

The great thing with Raffi is after we crack the key technical problems I know I don’t need to be worried about lighting anymore because he will organize everything in the background, filling holes I missed, and be sure everything is ready and working in time. I’ve never felt in safer hands on set.

STUDIO LOCATION FEATURES COMMERCIALS DRAMA TELEVISION EQUIPMENT GENERATORS TRANSPORT SUPPORT INNOVATION SAFETY SUSTAINABILITY 20/01/2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 202110:23 69

DEAD PIGS•FEDERICO CESCA ASK

FEDERICO CESCA ASK•DEAD PIGS

Main: Seeing red, DP Federico Cesca ASK Right : With Director Cathy Yan

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

Photo: Jiang Yu All pics courtesy of Mubi.

What were your locations/studios/set builds?

Everything was shot on location in and around Shanghai. The main location was Candy’s house.

I remember the house was yellow and one of the things I suggested was to paint the house blue, cyan or turquoise so it would stand out from the rubble, which was mostly warm colours.

Please give some details about your selection of cameras and lenses?

We shot with ARRI Alexa Mini cameras and ARRI Master Anamorphic lenses. I’m very comfortable with that camera and love the way it renders skin tones. Since I knew we would be working under a lot of diverse and extreme lighting circumstances, it was quite an easy choice. I usually rated the camera at 800ISO, but I would go up to 1280ISO if needed in extreme situations.

Regarding the lenses, my first intention was to shoot with Hawk C-series Anamorphics. It proved quite difficult to find those in China and the one set we found was in Beijing. The ARRI Master Anamorphics are stunning lenses. They are very consistent and reliable and you really can shoot with them wide open without having to compromise the image. However, they are pretty sharp, so I used some diffusion filters to take the edge off, mostly using Tiffen Glimmerglass and Soft FX.

By Oliver Webb

Inspired by real life events, director Cathy Yan’s criticallyacclaimed debut feature, Dead Pigs, is a satirical tale of greed and desperation, which intertwines several stories during the notorious 2013 “Dead Pigs Incident”, when over 16,000 porcine carcasses were found floating downstream in the Shanghai Songjiang section of the Huangpu River.

S

hot with remarkable style by Federico Cesca ASK, Dead Pigs is a glimmering depiction of a developing urban city and the characters who inhabit it. Whilst blurring drama and comedy genres, the film also incorporates a musical element in a beautifully shot scene where the characters finally cross paths. A beautiful take on the relationship between old and new, Dead Pigs is available to stream on MUBI. Tell us a little about yourself?

I was born in Argentina and also have Italian citizenship. I studied architecture in Chile, where I lived for 18 years. Between 2010-13 I went to NYU Tisch School Of The Arts and got an MFA in Film. I went there to become a writer/director and found cinematography very interesting, so I followed that path. I lived and worked in NYC until 2018. Currently I live in Bratislava with my wife and daughter. I am a member of Local 600 in NYC and recently shot a feature in Slovakia and was invited to join the ASK, the Slovak Society Of Cinematographers.

How did you first meet Cathy Yan? I met Cathy at NYU. I shot a few shorts for some of her classmates. Reinaldo Marcus Green directed one of those films, Stone Cars. We shot in South Africa and Cathy was my 1st AC. Shortly after she told me about Dead Pigs and I loved the idea of multiple characters and storylines that slowly become connected. It was a great joy to work with her, both professionally and personally.

What were your initial conversations with Cathy about the look of Dead Pigs?

The film takes place in the wonderful and surreal place that is contemporary China. Our first talks were mostly about the tones and the worlds in which the story unfolds. It’s a very complex context, with a 70 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

lot of narrative elements which, rather than clashing with each other, come together in amazingly unexpected ways.

The contrast between the traditional and modern China was a big visual element - the countryside with its traditional family houses and the big city with its skyscrapers, the omnipresence of LED lights, in even the most humble houses, and the really unapologetic use of colour.

the main takeaway was to embrace the eclectic nature of the world

his bike. In two of those he is purposefully looking for a car to hit so he could then ask the drivers for money. The one after his confrontation with Old Wang is actually accidental. So, as opposed to the other two, here we wanted the hit to come from out of nowhere. Mason trained with a stunt man for a few weeks before shooting, so he know pretty well how to fall and make it look quite real.

The scene in question was done with him smashing the side of a car and flying over the hood to finally land on a mat in front of the car. We actually used the camera movement to move the mat out so we could do the whole action in one single take. It meant the Steadicam operator would get off the tracking vehicle, walk in front of the car and use the driver’s action to bring us to Wang Zhen.

How much did you shoot in available light?

A lot was shot with available light. The final sequence when Candy is up on her roof was shot

It’s like progress is moving so fast that there’s no right or wrong in the way people adapt to the changes. I think of it as the Wild East, a 21st century version of the goldrush. It’s capitalism finally reaching people who were long deprived of its perks. This, which is at the centre of the script, was something we had to capture on camera. And we decided to embrace the extremes, allowing the visual image to go from very naturalistic day scenarios to rather stylised and colourful night settings.

What creative references did you look at?

Punch-Drunk Love (2002, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, DP Robert Elswit ASC) was a big one for the visuals but also the playful style of camera work and lensing.

Although photography is a very different medium, I think it can be quite inspiring when it comes to capturing a mood. I found a very interesting photographer on Instagram, Marilyn Mugot (mary_ wolf), who was taking really colourful and atmospheric pictures of Shanghai. There was a wonderful photography book too, called Shanghai Living, by the photographer Hu Yang, which shows a great array of interiors and the people who inhabit them. It’s a great window into contemporary Chinese aesthetics.

What did these creative references inspire aesthetically for this movie?

I think the main takeaway for us was to embrace the eclectic nature of the world. The variety of colours and textures were there already at many of the locations, but we felt free to enhance those and exaggerate them. A good example of this would be the office where Landry works. The building itself already had plenty going on, like the materials and colours on the walls and furniture, but we added lots of yellow, which in our mind was taking the already kitsch style to the next level. In terms of grammar we felt we could have a camera language that was both playful and rigid, fluid but precise.

would extend the natural light coming from outside and push it a little further.

How would you describe the look of the colour palette in the film?

It was a great project to explore not only colour itself, but how the advent of modern technologies is actually changing the way we live and experience spaces that traditionally were either warm or cool.

Ironically we didn’t have SkyPanels or Astera tubes, but very basic and rather low-quality household lights and a few gels that I picked beforehand.

Some of these lights were like bi-colour, but they were also very inconsistent, almost like old fluorescents that sometimes would be greener or have a magenta shift.

Did you create any LUTs? How did you apply these during the shoot?

Cathy and I wanted something that felt thick and saturated, but not as crunchy as Rec.709. Andrew Francis, our colourist, made a LUT that I used it throughout the film, which gave us the contrast and hues we wanted for monitoring and to apply to our dailies. We did tweak the colouring a bit during production, but it was mostly bakedin, and my overall DIT was only responsible for safely downloading and handling the material over to editorial. I would say 95% of the look was achieved on-set, before the final DI grade at Sixteen19 in NYC.

Was it mainly a single camera shoot, and did you operate?

Yes, it was all single camera with the exception of the end sequence when Candy is up on the roof of her house. That was a long scene, with many layers, where all the main characters converge. The location was difficult, the ground was muddy, with debris everywhere, and we used dolly, crane and Steadicam under real and artificial rain. I operated almost everything except the Steadicam shots.

In one key scene, shortly after Wang Zhen is confronted by his father, we see him cycling at night before he is struck by a car. Could you explain how this was shot?

There were three stunt scenes in the film where Wang Zhen, played by Mason Lee, would crash

over three days, all with natural light. We even got rain sometimes, but a lot of shots we had to work around lifts with sprinklers. All the bicycle sequences were shot with available streetlights that we scouted for, since we definitely couldn’t afford to light those.

Tell us about your approach to lighting?

I like to keep lighting simple and, whenever possible, light for space and let the characters move around freely. For the daytime interior and exteriors we used mostly HMIs – I felt the LEDs we had were not so good for that. But there were scenes when I had to use some of those panels.

For instance the hospital room where Xia Xia had to be lit only from inside, since we had no way to put units outside. So we rigged above the window, from wall to wall, five or six LED panels, which

What were the biggest challenges you faced on this film?

The traffic. We were shooting in Shanghai and within a two-hour radius from our base, and a lot of time was spent on the road. The other big challenges were mostly dealing with unpredictable weather and trying to make the best out of our resources and time.

Could you tell me more about your key crew?

My crew members were all from China, with the exception of our Steadicam operator who was an expat I think from Australia. Only the 1st AC, Cornan Qi, and the best boy, an 18-year-old from Tibet called “Vito”, spoke English. So basically Cornan would be my interpreter with the key grip whilst Vito would help me communicate with Xu Zhen, the gaffer. Despite the language and cultural differences, they were all incredible and hardworking, as well as being very good at their jobs.

What’s your mantra?

Keep it simple, less is more. Always trust your collaborators. And listen to your gut.

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 71

INSPIRATIONS•TRIBE7

TRIBE7•INSPIRATIONS Main Tribe7’s Blackwing7 Below left: DP Bradford Young ASC Below: Tribe7 director Neil Fanthom

TURN ON… TUNE IN

By Ron Prince

I

“

worked in the automotive industry for ten years, involved with the changeover from legacy analogue to complex digital vehicle technology, and then, during my time at ARRI GB and ARRI Rental, the transition from film to digital filmmaking. These days with Tribe7, I’m going in the opposite direction, and it is more about reviving the past, breathing new life into old analogue ways, by harnessing modern technology.”

Fanthom, a physics graduate, knows a lot about black holes – not just the ones in outer space that won’t emit light, but also the ones with glass at either end through which light travels on its way to a piece of celluloid or a sensor. He spent the best part of ten years at ARRI, initially helping to usher-in the company’s ARRI Alexa and then Alexa 65 cameras, before his attentions turned to the company’s lens development programme for those digital capture devices.

“ARRI was predominantly a film-oriented company, and had been very successful for many decades with analogue film cameras,” Fanthom recalls. “When it came to developing lenses for the new, large format digital cameras, I found myself working with hyper-creative cinematographers who were all variously interested in lenses that were not so traditionally clean and super-sharp, but ones that had some sort of alternative, analogue characteristics to them.

“In what has generally become the relentless drive to boost camera resolutions over the last decade – 2K, 4K, 8K, 12K, even 16K – DPs have increasingly sought -out lenses that soften the pristine nature of digital images, but also, and probably more importantly, lenses with organic qualities that can help create new and different looks. In many cases, the more obscure the lens, the more the interest.”

It was during the final shooting days of Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018, dir. Ron Howard), that Fanthom says he and Bradford Young ASC, the movie’s DP and a co-founder of Tribe7, struck up what he calls, “existential conversations about life and work – our families, music, travel, tradition, colour science, lenses and high-tech. Bradford and I both felt that contemporary creatives, especially young filmmakers, deserved access to old techniques and to be able to use them to write their own stories, but in new ways – rather than just being presented with pristine images created by state-ofthe-art, mass-produced equipment.

“It took us a long while to get our heads around the possibilities of how we could address that, as well as anything that might be remotely viable as a business, but in late summer of 2018 we felt we could add something into the lens market that would be different to everyone else, to allow new creative choices.”

72 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

And so Blackwing7 technology was born – the name taken in honour of iconic pencil-maker Palamino and its legendary Blackwing 602, and the number ‘7’ hinting at the collective of founding partners in the business, the range of primes that would be made available and their unusual focal lengths.

“Although we started Tribe7 with a very modest amount of investment capital, the seven partners, who all work in the industry, all put something of their experience, hearts and souls into the business, and we made it work,” he says. “We announced our initial run of essentially experimental Blackwing7 “Binary” prime lenses in January 2019, and spent the rest of that year developing further prototypes, in collaboration with DPs and directors, before completing the first ten sets of seven focal lengths early in 2020.

“Those first experimental Binary lenses were wild. Several of the focal lengths were tuned to have strong, percussive rainbow flares and polychromatic effects and, to our amazement, we discovered they were not just being picked-up by younger cinematographers, but also by some of the industry’s leading names to considerable artistic effect.”

Early Blackwing7 production credits include their use by DPs Rina Yang on FKA Twigs’ Cellophane Live music video, Peter Mosiman and Jacob Schwarz on the short Kepler 138, and Darius Khondji AFC ASC on Thom Yorke’s Anima project for Netflix – “works of beauty, with quite varied and in some cases revolutionary looks,” Fanthom remarks.

Folding real-world feedback from different DPs into its accelerating development programme, the company launched a new range of tunable lenses, all capable of large format sensor coverage, with three variants - S-Straight, T-Transient and X-Expressive.

Each set comprises of 27, 37, 47, 57, 77, 107 and 137mm focal lengths, at T1.9 to T2 across the range, with all lenses matched for colour and tonality.

With glass purchased from an undisclosed German manufacturer, and hand-built by IB/E Optics, in Freyung, Bavaria, these new Blackwing7 lenses exhibit unique imaging properties, which arise from the introduction of controlled distortion through tuning each design and the use of reflective and non-reflective lens and barrel coatings. These all form part of a modular approach, allowing a level of variability over key parameters and shaping many creative characteristics of the lenses.

“There’s a musicality to these lenses,” says Fanthom. “Conceptually, the ability to tune each Blackwing7 lens is identical to how EQ adjustment is used in music production to control the range, or shape of tonality in specific bands across the audio frequency spectrum. The image produced by a Blackwing7 lens can be described as having a musical fidelity to it; with each focal length having an underlying level of distortion, which can be

“Traditionally, my work was always associated with throwing out the old and accelerating the new,” says Neil Fanthom, co-founder and director at Tribe7 LLC, whose tunable, vintageeffect Blackwing7 lenses are in growing demand around the world.”

The image produced by a Blackwing7 lens can be described as having a musical fidelity to it controlled to produce strong artistic resonances, including unique flaring characteristics.”

The S-tuned lenses have optical elements with multi-layer coatings to help control the resonant flare characteristics seen in the T and X variant primes. The more advanced optical coating also allows a modest increase in central image sharpness, whilst maintaining a smooth roll-off of contrast across the frame.

T-tuned primes have a profile based on single-coated optical designs from the first half of the 20th Century, such as the 1950 Wray Unilite 50mm f/2. These lenses have further exaggerated contrast roll-off to the edge of the frame and show increased edge halation. The T lenses have a unique personality and are designed to render a slightly softer, more artistic image, with a higher degree of light reactivity and more vibrant flaring characteristic.

X-tuned primes are the lowest contrast variant in the Blackwing7 range. Further exaggerated edge halation, with a minor degree of spherical aberration and focal plane curvature, increases the perception of a shallower depth-of-field. The X-tuned optics have selective edge-uncoating to reduce contrast under hard lighting conditions and provoke the unusual rainbow’ pupil flaring which Blackwing7 lenses are now known for. They are designed for filmmakers who light minimally and favour lenses

which can create smooth, almost ethereal images.

A full set of either the S, T or X-tuned, lenses costs just shy of $86,000, with individual lens pricing varying between $11,700 and $13,877, due to their individual mechanical and optical construction.

“We are not rehousing vintage glass, but using brand new optics sourced from a reputable manufacturer,” says Fanthom. “We outline the parameters of the lens specification to IB/E Optics, who they then apply the appropriate lens coatings and levels of flare counter-measures inside the barrels, and hand-assemble each lens. Lenses are then air-freighted to London, where further work is performed on them before final QC, packing and shipping on to clients world-wide.

“Our manufacturing set-up is relatively lowvolume, primarily due to the impact of the pandemic, so the turnaround from order to delivery is currently about 12 months. As we are a small company and overheads are low, the lenses are competitivelypriced and therefore quite affordable. They are increasingly accessible too through owner-operators and rental partners worldwide. We have just published and freely share a directory of ownership to help people locate and access lens sets whilst we ramp-up production.”

The company spends next to zero money on advertising and mainstream marketing to promote its products, preferring the hands-on experience of DPs, word-of-mouth and viral, plus the on-screen results themselves, to spread the message.

“The interest in Blackwing7s, amongst owner/operators and rental houses, has been overwhelming, and we have received more orders that we expected,” Fanthom reveals. “Had there been no Covid pandemic, we would have probably built the best part of 100 sets of lenses in 2020. But despite the catastrophic impact of

the virus worldwide we still managed to build and ship around 45 sets, which was a blessing for our business. We are aiming to ramp-up production in 2021 and peak at five sets per week. Of course, it’s not easy to scale-up, but we are committed to doing that. That’s the way we are wired.”

Fanthom, who is based in the UK, is supported

by Rima Garsys, director of operations, and Veronica Melkonian, director of brand strategy and marketing. “They’re both incredible,” he notes. “They understand, and have plugged together, all the latest software tools and systems we needed to efficiently remotely operate the administration, financial and product fulfillment aspects of the business as it mushroomed during the pandemic.”

Fanthom adds that development of Blackwing7 lenses is not a static affair, and there is further experimentation underway. This includes embedding diamond dust in lens edge coatings, to note the effect on flare characteristics, as well as safe, modern alternatives to traditional radioactive Thorium lens coatings of old, plus investigations into the anti-reflective properties of artist Stuart Semple’s Black 3.0, the blackest, mattest commerciallyavailable acrylic paint on the planet. The use of AI, VR and AR technologies for cinematographic advantage are under scrutiny too.

The firm is also working on new wide focal lengths for the Blackwing7 lens range, and, an electronic, reprogrammable labelling system for use on-set, controlled from a smartphone. Continuing its association with Palamino, you can expect to see bespoke-designed Blackwing Pencils being made available soon, with all proceeds going to arts and community projects in Baltimore, where Tribe7 plans to establish its head office later this year. Just like the lenses, these pencils offer a painterly way to represent analogue looks in a digital world.

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COLOUR & POST

COLOUR & POST

Molinare, London: Ross Baker, senior colourist at the renowned Soho firm, wrote in with interesting thoughts about the crucial roles/relationships of the colourist in the ever-evolving world of grading.

“The relationship between colourist and DP is essential when creating the final look of a production,” says Baker. “Despite the many changes and challenges over the years that have impacted the way we work together, it’s a collaboration that guarantees an impeccable finish for each and every project.

Working closely with the DP early-on in a production can be very effective when it comes to crafting the final look. However, this is not always possible. Working across a broad spectrum of genres including documentary, comedy and drama, I have experienced first-hand the extremely varied budgets and timeframes each genre can possess. Breaking it down genre-by-genre helps to understand how our interaction changes from job-to-job.

Drama: working on drama means we are more likely to be involved very early-on - this will usually require us being in talks from the pre-production stage. Consisting of testing camera and recording formats, trying different lens and lighting choices, carrying out colour palette tests, all of these early conversations help the collaborative process in establishing how we can arrive at the aspired endgoal. The DP will usually attend the grades and work closely with us in creating the final vision.

Comedy: although comedy utilises very similar lighting and cameras, the budgets rarely allow us time to test designs before the shoot – meaning a lot of our work happens on the first day of the grade.

Luckily, many DPs I work with are highly-experienced and have a concrete understanding of what can be achieved in grade, and what must be done on-set.

Due to budgets getting tighter in the comedy sector, DPs are not always able to attend the grade sessions; we are often given a list of notes or have a phone call to talk over the style required, as well as any issues from the shoot that we may need to address. This is where a proficient understanding of the grading process, and an effective working relationship with the colourist is vital.

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Documentaries: the documentary process differs vastly from the others, as we are often having to test which camera will work best for each documentary prior to filming. Many documentaries require multiformat cameras, which can impact how they stay mobile as well as the process of actually getting the equipment into the shooting environment. As a lot of the shoot may rely on limited available lighting, an understanding of what the cameras can handle and what we can fix in the grade room is

crucial. Budgets again play a huge role; there may only be one hero camera and the rest filmed with much smaller cameras, making pulling together the different formats for a coherent finish difficult.

Generally, it’s very common now for a DP to watch an offline cut and send us comprehensive notes prior to the grade, flagging anything they envisioned us tackling, so the harmony between us is again vital in addressing these requests. Often, when you have worked with a particular DP before, you find yourself almost putting them on your shoulder – trying to think how they would.

The newest challenge we currently face is grading during lockdown, and the consequent restrictions this has brought. We can be limited with the amount of people allowed to attend a grade, therefore to tackle the issue at Molinare we have been using our in-house developed Molistream to live stream the output of the grade suite to anyone unable to attend.

This, combined with an open line of communication, means we can make the adjustments required without the lengthy review, export and notes process - it has completely transformed the way that we work.”

In other news, Tom Woodall has been appointed as Molinare’s head of picture facilities, a brandnew role bringing together all video teams and departments in a collaborative and cohesive manner, with bespoke and robust technical workflows, and overall supervision to manage projects from the earliest stage of ingest and through to final delivery.

Harbor, Chicago: beefing-up its presence in Chicago, Harbor has hired Casey Swircz as a senior producer. She joins the team after working as a freelance producer with Chicago’s Carbon and

The Mill, and will oversee all post, creative editorial, conform, colour, sound and VO operations for Harbor out of Chicago.

With over 15 years of experience, Swircz has handled large-scale projects across multiple platforms with agencies in Chicago, LA and NY, working with brands such as Capital One, Firestone, Nintendo, Porsche, Toyota and Bank of America. She also worked on the Clio-winning ‘Ben’s Glasses’ for Pearle Vision and Jeep’s ‘Recalculating’ global campaign.

Goldcrest Post, New York: colourist Marcy Robinson applied the final grade to Baby God, now streaming on HBO Max. From first-time director Hannah Olson, and executive produced

by Academy Award nominees Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, the documentary is a shocking examination of the work of a Las Vegas fertility specialist, Dr. Quincy Fortier, and the many women he guided to pregnancy through use of his own sperm, often without their knowledge or consent. The documentary follows his newly-discovered offspring as they grapple with the scope of his misdeeds and the impact that his genes may have on their own identities.

Robinson worked with Olson and cinematographer Justin Zweifach in applying the final colour grade, blending expansive original material and a huge assortment of archival media into a seamless and gripping narrative.

Visually, the film is simple and naturalistic, almost austere, an aesthetic that allows the horrifying sadness of the story to speak for itself. Zweifach, who worked with a Canon C300 camera, captured the interview segments and exterior landscapes of Nevada, Utah and Minnesota, where the principals reside, in a spare and hauntingly beautiful manner.

“The film tells one big story, and many smaller, more intimate stories,” Zweifach explains. “There are the horrendous actions of Fortier, and then you have deeply personal stories of people struggling with their identities. We wanted to find a way to capture both, so we contrasted the epic landscapes where the story takes place with details like people’s faces and hands.”

This disarmingly simple concept was refined during colour sessions, and Robinson’s task was to establish cohesion between the pristine original material and the extensive archival media gathered

by Olson. The latter included decades-old home movies, B&W photographs, grainy news footage, medical micro-photography, and other formats.

Olson says that Robinson’s background in print photography gave her a natural feel for the archival media. “Marcy thinks about colour in a very naturalistic way,” Olson observes. “She doesn’t like to use colours that can’t be produced photochemically. I loved that because so much of this film

derives from archival film and home movies. Her approach to that made sense.”

“Marcy’s approach to colour is instinctual,” adds Zweifach. “She brought something natural and beautiful to the imagery, without calling attention to the process.”

Robinson took special care in grading landscape imagery. Much of the film takes place in Las Vegas, which is revealed through panoramic shots of rows of nearly identical houses on the city’s suburban outskirts and sweeping views of the surrounding desert and mountains.

“Las Vegas is often presented on film in a garish way,” says Olson. “We wanted to depict it differently.

We thought of the landscape as a symbol for the vastness of Fortier’s seed and the space separating his children.

It needed to seem limitless and natural.”

In other news, senior colourist Alex Berman has joined the team at Goldcrest Post. Berman brings more than 20 years of experience in colour grading and credits across feature films, episodic television, documentaries and commercials. His recent work includes The Family for Netflix, College Behind Bars for WETA and Hip Hop: The Songs That Shook America for AMC. Pacific Post, Hollywood: the full-service technology provider of editorial rentals and services, has launched PacPost.live, a new remote collaboration platform. Originally built in March 2020 as an internal solution to address the demands for remote work due to pandemic lockdowns, new features have since been added to make PacPost. live a robust live streaming solution for the broader industry.

PacPost.live replicates the cutting room environment, simplifying review and approval between editors, directors, producers, compositors, visual effects teams, music, and sound engineers. It incorporates secure, low latency video conferencing and chat capabilities, giving productions the flexibility to quickly provide instant feedback through a single screen.

At a competitive price point, the application allows creatives to live stream editing, spotting, AD and review sessions from anywhere in the world with full-screen, 1080p quality playback. A chat feature eliminates the need to log in to another application, unifying communications for everyone on the production.

“PacPost.live offered us an effortless way to connect with our creative team spread across

different locations,” notes editor Terilyn A. Shropshire ACE, whose credits include The Old Guard, When They See Us, Pt.1. “It was not technically challenging for our directors and producers to figure out and begin to use with our crew. We could review footage, get feedback, and do it all in real time. It has been a facilitator for listening, commenting and collaborating with the security that studios demand.”

“As soon as we were placed under stay-athome orders, Pacific Post quickly answered our call for help, and PacPost.live has been amazing,” says Jon Dudkowski, editor on Star Trek: Discovery. “It doesn’t need a rack of gear and was easily set up on my Avid via a home internet connection. I was working remotely almost immediately, which was vital for finishing Season 3. PacPost.live alleviated my concerns about working virtually. It enables me to jump on a session with my director to review something quickly and efficiently, and has changed how I will work going forward.”

Assimilate, San Jose, CA: has launched DIT Pack, a new product bundle that includes Assimilate’s Scratch dailies software and Live Looks for live grading single and multi-cam set-ups. The DIT Pack is designed for modern production workflows that require extensive previz on-set to increase creative control, and to streamline post workflows after the shoot. It enables a streamlined workflow that combines advanced live grading with dailies transcoding and, via live-streaming, pushes everything out to remote and studio clients, whilst capturing all camera metadata along the way that will be used in VFX/post pipelines.

The workflow starts with Live Looks for live grading of content from any number of cameras in realtime and even the addition of advanced effects, such as greenscreen background replacement and texture effects. All grades and metadata are stored in a folder structure that can simply be delivered to VFX/post.

In Scratch, all camera material is loaded, and the looks and metadata are matched and merged from the Live Looks folder structure, along with sync audio. All these tasks are automated and require almost no user interaction. Scratch will output in many formats as required by VFX/post, including Off-line DNX or Apple ProRes material, High quality EXR VFX plates, and lightweight h264/h265 rushes for online review.

Scratch allows the user to either consolidate all look and metadata files into a folder per day, or copy the look and metadata next to each source media file, thereby easily linking in any other DI software.

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2021 75

Photos: HBO/Netflix/Jeep/CBC/Paramount+

CHECKS IN THE POST

Opposite (L-R): Molinaire London, Harbor’s Casey Swircz, and Goldcrest NY’s Alex Berman Left: The Family Right: Star Trek Discovery Centre: Baby God Bottom: Jeep

SHOOTING GALLERY•FABULOUS FILM DP POLLY MORGAN BSC ASC A Quiet Place Part II

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DP ANNIKA SUMMERSON Censor

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TWO OF US AURÉLIEN MARRA AFC

NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN MICHAŁ ENGLERT PSC

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ALL THESE GREAT TITLES AND LOTS, LOTS MORE FEATURED RIGHT NOW FREE AT www.cinemtography.world DP HÉLÈNE LOUVART AFC Never Rarely Sometimes Always

If you would like to read about people filming films on film, visit www.kodak.com/en/motion/blog Photo credits A Quiet Place Part II: Jonny Cournoyer. Copyright © 2019 Paramount Pictures. Censor: courtesy of Silver Salt Films. Eight For Silver: courtesy of Sean Ellis/LD Entertainment. On the set of Euphoria: courtesy of Marcell Rév HSC. The King Of Staten Island: Mary Cybulski. Copyright©2020 Universal Studios. Never Rarely Sometimes Always: courtesy of Focus Features. Malcolm & Marie: Courtesy of Netflix. Director Eliza Hittman and DP Hélène Louvart AFC: Angal Field. Courtesy of Focus Features.

76 MARCH 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

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