Cinematography World May 2021 (CW003)

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THE ART AND CRAFT BEHIND THE CAMERA

ISSUE 003 MAY 2021

INSIDE THIS ISSUE NICOLAS KARAKATSANIS•CHRISTOPHER BLAUVELT•ROBERTO SCHAEFER AIC ASC•JAMES LAXTON ASC•TIM SIDELL•JOMO FRAY JING-PIN YU•NICK COOKE•PAWEL POGORZELSKI•CHRISTOPHER AOUN BVK•PETER ROBERTSON ACO•POLLY MORGAN BSC ASC

ISSUE 003•CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Thank you to the cinematographers who choose Film A Metamorfose dos Pássaros (The Metamorphosis of Birds) Paulo Menezes. Alice Et Le Maire Sébastien Buchmann AFC. A Quiet Place 2 Polly Morgan ASC, BSC. A White, White Day Maria Von Hausswolff. Ad Astra Hoyte Van Hoytema ASC, NSC, FSF. Apollo 11 Buzz Aldrin, Bob Bird, Jerry Bray, Michael Collins, Adam Holender ASC. Artemis Fowl Haris Zambarloukos BSC, GSC. Aziz Ansari: Right Now Autumn Durald Arkapaw. Bad Education Lyle Vincent. Bad Hair Topher Osborn. Bait Mark Jenkin. Beginning Arseni Khachaturan Bergman Island Denis Lenoir AFC, ASC. Blue Bayou Ante Cheng | Matthew Chuang ACS. Boi Nilo Zimmerman. Censor Annika Summerson. Chemical Hearts Albert Salas. Cordelia Tony Slater Ling BSC. Crisis Nicolas Bolduc CSC. Cubby Sinisa Kukic. Da 5 Bloods Newton Thomas Sigel ASC. Death On The Nile Haris Zambarloukos BSC, GSC. Der Atem (The Breath) Cornelius Plache. Der Boden Unter Den Füßen (The Ground Beneath My Feet) Leena Koppe. Die Kinder Der Toten Kelly Copper, Pavol Liska. Doc Martin Simon Archer BSC. Eight For Silver Sean Ellis. Été 85 (Summer of 85) Hichame Alaouie. Eternal Beauty Kit Fraser. Euphoria Marcell Rév HSC. Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) Arseni Khachaturan. Février (February) Ivan Chertov. Fire Will Come Mauro Herce.

Gasman Martin Prinoth, Max Sänger. Ghost Town Anthology François Messier-Rheault. Ghost Tropic Grimm Vandekerckhove. Give Me Liberty Wyatt Garfield. Hellhole Nicolas Karakatsanis. Holler Dustin Lane. I Am The Night Trevor Forrest, Matthew Jensen ASC, Michael Mcdonough ASC, BSC. I Know This Much Is True Jody Lee Lipes. Jurassic World: Dominion John Schwartzman, ASC. La Femme De Mon Frère (A Brother’s Love) Josée Deshaies. Lake Of Death Axel Mustad. Last And First Men Sturla Brandth Grøvlen DFF. Le Bal des Folles Nicolas Karakatsanis. Le Sel Des Larmes (The Salt Of Tears) Renato Berta. Last Night In Soho Chung-Hoon Chung. Little Women Yorick Le Saux AFC. Los Conductos (Encounters) Guillaume Mazloum. Luce Larkin Seiple. Malcolm and Marie Marcell Rév HSC. Marriage Story Robbie Ryan BSC, ISC. Martin Eden Alessandro Abate | Francesco Di Giacomo. Mare Erol Zubcevic. Mary Michael Goi ASC, ISC. Matthias And Maxime André Turpin. Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always Hélène Louvart AFC. Nordsjøen (North Sea) Pål Ulvik Rokseth FNF. Notes From The Underworld Rainer Frimmel. No Time To Die Linus Sandgren FSF, ASC. On A Magical Night Rémy Chevrin AFC. On The Rocks Philippe Le Sourd ASC, AFC. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood Robert Richardson ASC. Otac (Father) Aleksandar Ilic. Passion Simple Pascale Granel. Paradise Drifters Jasper Wolf NSC. Pokémon Detective Pikachu John Mathieson BSC. Premature Laura Valladao. Preparations To Be Together Róbert Maly. Queen And Slim Tat Radcliffe BSC. Seberg Rachel Morrison ASC. Small Axe Shabier Kirchner. So Pretty Bill Kirstein.

Sorry We Missed You Robbie Ryan BSC, ISC. Sound Of Metal Daniël Bouquet NSC. Sous le ciel d’Alice (Skies of Lebanon) Hélène Louvart AFC. Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Dan Mindel ASC, BSC, SASC. Succession Patrick Capone, Christopher Norr. Technoboss Mário Castanheira. Tenet Hoyte Van Hoytema ASC, NSC, FSF. The 40-Year-Old Version Eric Branco. The Banker Charlotte Bruus Christensen ASC. The Beach Bum Benoît Debie SBC. The Delivered Giorgos Arvanitis AFC, GSC. The Devil All The Time Lol Crawley BSC. The Eddy Julien Poupard AFC, Eric Gautier AFC. The Eternal Daughter Ed Rutherford. The Fantastic Flitcrofts Kit Fraser. The French Despatch Robert D. Yeoman ASC. The Inheritance Ryan Petey. The Irishman Rodrigo Prieto AMC, ASC. The King Of Staten Island Robert Elswit ASC. The Lighthouse Jarin Blaschke. The Lodge Thimios Bakatakis. The Nest Mátyás Erdély HSC. The Northman Jarin Blaschke. The Painted Bird Vladimír Smutný.

The Souvenir: Part II David Raedeker. The Starling Lawrence Sher ASC. The Story Of My Wife Marcell Rév HSC. The Tango Of The Widower Diego Bonacina. The Truth Eric Gautier AFC. The Two Sights Joshua Bonnetta. The World To Come André Chemetoff. The United States vs Billie Holiday Andrew Dunn BSC. Tove Linda Wassberg.

Two Against Nature Sean Price Williams. Uncut Gems Darius Khondji AFC, ASC. Untitled Lakers Project Todd Banhazl. Wendy Sturla Brandth Grøvlen DFF. West Side Story Janusz Kaminski. Westworld John Conroy ISC, Peter Flinckenberg. Whelm Edward Herrera. White Lie Christopher Lew. Wonder Woman 1984 Matthew Jensen ASC. Zanka Contact Benjamin Rufi. Zola Ari Wegner ACS.

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Rascals Publishing & Media Ltd! Red Lion Yard, Odd Down, Bath United Kingdom BA2 2PP Tel: +44 (0) 1428 746 375 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.

LOVE ACTUALLY Bullying, harassment and victimisation are never welcome, whatever your line of work. They are amongst the headline acts in the growing pandemic of mental health decline around the world, which has become a subject of acute concern in the film and TV production business.

Ron Prince photo by Joe Short www.joeshort.com

Celebrating Cinematography

The figures and statistics gained from research into the rise of mental health issues in our industry are eyeopening, to say the least, as revealed in our special feature, and in Richard Crudo ASC’s commentary on the matter, both in this edition.

It is interesting to note that many organisations are taking the subject of health and well-being seriously around the world, and there are a range of online, telephone and private support services on offer to those who are feeling vulnerable and those who are concerned about their co-workers and friends.

So if you feel you need help, or observe someone else who might be suffering, act now. Please read our article. Help is there, ready to be used, in times of need. If there’s one takeaway, or hope, to be had, it’s that we can and ought to be more tolerant and thoughtful towards one another, for all our sakes. Kindness can be contagious too. What do you think?

Take care, happy shooting, and we will see you again soon.

‘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.

Darek Kuźma is a film and TV journalist, translator/interpreter, and a regular collaborator/programmer of the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival.

He is an ardent cinephile who has a lifelong romance with the visual language of cinema.

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.

Ron Prince Editor in Chief ronny@cinematography.world

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.

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.

Official Media Partner

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.

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Cinematography World is part of Rascals Publishing & Media Ltd! The publishers emphasise that opinions expressed within Cinematography World Magazine are not representative of Rascals Publishing & Media Ltd!, but are the responsibility of individual contributors.

Cover: Emma Stone as Cruella de Vil in Disney’s Cruella. © 2021 Disney Enterprises Inc.

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CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 3

Beautiful look.

Full control.

ISSUE 003•CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

INSIDE ISSUE 003 MAY 2021

ZEISS Supreme Prime Radiance Lenses

6 8 20 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 46 48 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76

ADRIAN WOOTON OBE•VIEW FROM THE TOP

34 FIRST COW

PRODUCTION & POST NEWS WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE STUDENT UNION•LONDON SCREEN ACADEMY PETER ROBERTSON ACO GBCT ASSOCIATE BSC•SMOOTH OPERATORS JOMO FRAY•ONE TO WATCH CHRIS BLAUVELT•FIRST COW JING-PIN YU & SABA MAZIOUM•BETTER DAYS

38 ROMEO & JULIET

TIM SIDELL•ROMEO & JULIET TAKE SCENE SLATE•AERIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY RICHARD CRUDO ASC•LETTER FROM AMERICA NICOLAS KARAKATSANIS•CRUELLA ROBERTO SCHAEFER AIC ASC•CREATION STORIES CHRISTOPHER AOUN•THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN THE INDUSTRY LENS•PERG

48 CRUELLA

HIGHLIGHT•ETC FILM & BROADCAST LIGHTING NICK COOKE•LIMBO POLLY MORGAN ASC BSC•A QUIET PLACE PART II PAWEL POGORZELSKI PSC•NOBODY SPECIAL REPORT•MENTAL HEALTH THE LIGHT STUFF•BARRY CONROY

64 A QUIET PLACE PART II

JAMES LAXTON ASC•THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD COLOUR & POST SHOOTING GALLERY•CAMERIMAGES

ZEISS Supreme Prime Radiance lenses enable cinematographers to create beautiful, consistent and controlled flares in the image while maintaining contrast and avoiding transmission loss. Yet, they offer all the attributes of a modern cinema lens: largeformat coverage, high speed of T1.5, robustness and smooth and reliable focus.

From the inventors of antireflective lens coatings. Made in Germany. zeiss.com/cine/radiance

66 NOBODY CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 5

VIEW FROM THE TOP•ADRIAN WOOTON OBE

ScreenSkills: supporting growth and recovery UK-wide

VENTURE CAPITAL

It is such an important time to be a part of the UK screen industry, an industry creating world-class content whilst consumption and demand grows exponentially.

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020 was, of course, a year like no other. Prior to the pandemic, the UK screen industries were enjoying record growth. Then March 2020 saw a complete shutdown in global production activity and an interruption in workflows for VFX and post production.

However, our industry in the UK rallied. Film London, the British Film Commission, BFI together with industry and Government were swift-offthe-mark to develop Covid-secure production guidance, as part of BFI’s Screen Sector Covid-19 Task Force recovery initiatives.

Speaking personally, I was terribly proud and pleased to be closely involved with this huge exercise that saw everyone come together in a united, collaborative and inclusive way. This allowed much of the paused production to restart, and new projects to begin filming. In fact, inward investment spend in 2020 from major international productions still reached £2.34 billion, highlighting the on-going strength and creativity in the UK. The Production Restart Indemnity scheme was launched last year, and we’ve been working to support ScreenSkills, the Production Guild Of Great Britain and others in delivering Covid-19 Health & Safety training. UK Post and VFX facilities bounced back with incredible ability and a show of even more technological innovation in developing pioneering remote solutions that allowed many productions to continue unabated.

Challenges remain of course, particularly for cinemas that had to cease screenings during each lockdown. As someone who came from the cinema exhibition and film festivals sector, I retain close ties with colleagues and friends working in them, and they remain very close to my heart.

That’s why I’m passionate about supporting our cinemas. Through the BFI’s Film Audience Network, plus the Mayor Of London’s Culture At Risk Business Support Fund, we were able to get funding to cinemas at risk of closure.

London’s independent venues, cinemas and festivals contribute so massively to the capital’s cultural and economic life. We’re pleased to be able to support a diverse range of London’s exhibitors to open their doors again and maintain connections with the local communities they serve.

Together with partners we must ensure that they are still here when these difficult times are over.

But there have also been opportunities.

We’ve seen independent films reach a wider audience, innovations in technology with films

6 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

This investment is a real vote of confidence in our industry’s ability to return to the growth we saw prior to the pandemic adopting techniques used in the games industry, and a renewed interest in heritage film.

Studio developments continue throughout the UK, most recently in East London where Barking & Dagenham Council signed an agreement with global media real estate leader Hackman Capital Partners to build London’s largest film and TV production centre in Dagenham. Myself and my team have worked with public and private partners for more than five years on this amazing project, so it gives me a great sense of satisfaction to see it come to fruition. Eastbrook Studios London will be the capital’s largest studio campus - with 12 sound stages, acres of backlot, offices and ancillary space, totalling over half a million square feet.

This investment is a real vote of confidence in our industry’s ability to return to the growth we saw prior to the pandemic. Bold decisions like this will further bolster London and the UK’s world-class studio offer, supporting economic growth and creating new jobs.

The widest access to employment in the industry, not least given the new golden era we are experiencing, is something I care very much about. At Film London, our Equal Access Network continues to help people get in, stay in and return to the film and TV industry, ensuring London’s screen industries reflect the city itself.

It’s so encouraging to see first-hand the industry’s enthusiasm and high demand for a diverse and inclusive workforce, and to provide the link between untapped, underrepresented talent and the companies or productions looking to recruit.

Across Film London we’re putting diversity and environmental and social sustainability at the heart of everything we do, from reducing carbon emissions at Unit Bases to zero via our Grid Project, to preserving and promoting heritage film through London’s Screen Archives, to celebrating and supporting cutting-edge moving image artists.

We’re finding new ways of discovering and telling a diverse range of stories through events like Film London’s UPstream, where we connect IP holders in a range of areas, including podcasts, books and graphic novels, with production companies, sales agents and publishers for development and adaptation to TV and film. And we’re excited to reveal Film London’s 2021 Lodestars in the coming weeks – our annual list honouring the bright futures of innovative creators and practitioners who represent and inspire our work as the capital’s screen industries agency, sustaining and developing London as a global content production hub.

Despite the challenging circumstances we find ourselves in, I am confident our screen industries can be a beacon of light for recovery and growth. With the potential to generate thousands of new jobs and literally billions of pounds of revenue for the UK, I believe the future for our sector is very bright indeed.

Adrian Wootton OBE Chief executive of Film London and 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 & POST NEWS

2021 AWARDS SEASON ROUND-UP

Top: ScreenSkills CEO, Seetha Kuma Middle: Lucy Tallon, head of mental health and wellbeing at The Film & TV Charity

Erik Messerschmidt ASC won the Best Cinematography Oscar, plus corresponding ASC and BSC feature and theatrical awards, for his B&W rendering of David Fincher’s 1930’s-set biopic Mank, produced by Netflix, about Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz.

UK SCREEN INDUSTRIES UNITE AGAINST BULLYING, HARASSMENT AND RACISM

During his acceptan ce speech, Messerschmidt, who previously worked with Fincher on the Netflix series Mindhunter, thanked the director “for creating an environment where we could do our best work,” as well as the entire cast and crew, and also his wife Naiara, whom, he said, “tolerates this crazy business and helped me get through this movie.” He also added that Citizen Kane, shot by legendary cinematographer Gregg Toland ASC, was “one of the movies that made me want to make movies.”

Joshua James Richards won BAFTA’s Best Cinematography prize for his work on Nomadland, directed by Chloé Zhao. Richards, who hails from, from Penzance in Cornwall, UK, applauded his fellow nominees as “inspiring and incredible artists,” and paid a touching tribute to his family during his acceptance speech.

“I grew up in Penzance, and moved to America 11 years ago with the dream of being a storyteller, and I’ve realised something in that time. I want to say to my family back home in England - although I don’t get to see you all as much as I’d like to, you are my home. I love you all, I’ve carried you with me, and things will get better - they always do.”

At this year’s Fujinon FujiFilm Australian Cinematographers Society National Awards, Denson Baker ACS NZCS won the prestigious Australian Cinematographer Of The Year Millli Award, presented by ACS National President Ron Johanson OAM ACS. Baker also won a Gold Tripod for his work on The Luminaries Ep2 - The Place You Return.

The Society Of Camera Operators honoured Geoffrey Haley SOC with the title of Camera Operator Of The Year In Film for his work on Cherry, whilst Jim McConkey SOC took home the Camera Operator Of The Year In Television trophy for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Top: Erik Messerschmidt ASC Left: Joshua James Richards Photos: AFP/Getty/BAFTA

8 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

The BFI and BAFTA have announced the next stage of ground-breaking work to tackle bullying, harassment and racism in the workplace, with a new employer Action List for the film and television industry, whilst The Film & TV Charity has also launched new services providing immediate support for workers.

The announcements come as Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance on harassment at work is expected to become a statutory code of practice in the coming months, and after filming restrictions and remote working during the pandemic have created additional pressures.

The Action List is part of a wider industry mobilisation and calls for employers to commit to following the latest advice to meet their legal and ethical responsibilities and signpost workers to available support. It includes a set of resources designed to assist employers to meet those responsibilities and is endorsed by producers such as Faye Ward and Hannah Farrell of Fable Pictures, responsible for the recently BAFTA-nominated Rocks, Wild Rose and forthcoming TV series Anne Boleyn.

Research commissioned by The Film & TV Charity, published in February 2020, which collected data on more than 9,000 workers, revealed that bullying remains highly prevalent. Across all sub-sectors, 84% had experienced or witnessed bullying or harassment, with even higher figures in some sub-sectors.

Those who had experienced bullying were twice as likely to want to leave the industry and highly likely to have had mental health problems. The charity’s new Bullying Pathway Service has been developed in direct response to this need.

The new Action List guidance outlines the law around bullying, harassment and racism, and also includes sexism, ableism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination. Further recommendations include taking ScreenSkills’s online training module on bullying and harassment, and ensuring all employees and freelancers are aware of the Bullying Pathway Service, the new suite of bullying support services offered by The Film & TV Charity.

Lucy Tallon, head of mental health and wellbeing at The Film & TV Charity, said, “Our research identified bullying as one of the leading causes of poor mental health in our industry. The personal testimonies we heard and continued to hear are shocking. We must do better as an industry.

The Bullying Pathway Service is there to help those experiencing or witnessing bullying navigate their options. Individuals can come to us for self-help resources, professional advice and access to a safe digital space to record experiences in private. These services are part of our strategy to make sure everyone working in film and TV has better support and better mental health.”

Seetha Kumar, CEO, ScreenSkills, added, “It is so positive that the industry has come together to create a better, fairer working environment by addressing unacceptable behaviours that have no place in it. ScreenSkills provides a range of training, e-learning and resources to help tackle bullying, harassment and racism, so that companies, productions as well as individual freelancers, can play their part in creating safe and welcoming workplaces for everyone.”

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PRODUCTION & POST NEWS

STREAMLAND MEDIA FINALISES ACQUISITION OF TECHNICOLOR POST Streamland Media has completed the acquisition of Technicolor Post and integrated its services into Streamland’s picture, VFX, sound and marketing divisions. The acquisition brings new artists, technical experts and strategic locations to Streamland, solidifying the company’s commitment to support a global network of award-winning talent in service to post production.

“We have one clear vision: to build our global network providing best-in-class services with passionate individuals who are dedicated to creative excellence,” said Streamland CEO Bill Romeo. “We are excited to provide our clients with this expanded pool of top-tier talent, innovative technology and additional sites in Toronto and Atlanta.”

Streamland’s executive leadership team incudes Sherri Potter, Robert Rosenthal and Jake Torem. Potter will oversee the company’s worldwide picture and VFX services, which include Picture Shop, The Farm and Ghost VFX brands. Potter, who previously served as president of Technicolor Post and Technicolor VFX, was the first female president of a global post-production business. Under her leadership, the company collaborated on numerous Oscar and Emmy Award-winning productions. Rosenthal will continue to lead all sound services for Streamland Media, under the Formosa Group banner. Torem will oversee Streamland’s marketing services.

JEFFREY A. REYES JOINS LEE FILTERS AS US GENERAL MANAGER

PROREPAIRS cvp.com/prorepairs

Professional Repairs, Simplified.

Panavision company, LEE Filters, the wellknown manufacturer of lighting gels and photographic filters, has lured Jeffrey A. Reyes to lead the company’s operations in the US as general manager. Reyes will be based at LEE Filters’ US office in Burbank, California.

Reyes joins the firm from equipment and expendables retailer Filmtools, where he served as sales manager for direct production and Latin America. He has also held key sales roles with ARRI, ZGC, Band Pro and Samy’s Camera, and is an associate member of the ASC.

MBSE AND NETFLIX ANNOUNCE ‘BRING TO LIGHT’ TRAINEE SCHEME Created as a partnership between MBSE and Netflix, Bring To Light is a newly-created trainee programme designed to offer a direct route to the film and television industry.

Bring To Light has been tailored specifically to offer enthusiastic people, from a diverse range of backgrounds, the industry-specific knowledge and experience to help launch their career as a film and television electrician, or in one of many specialisations within this field.

Netflix’s Alison Small commented, “Bring To Light provides the opportunity to enter the world of film and television, armed with essential skills and invaluable, real-world experience. We’ve been delighted with the response to the programme so far. It really is wonderful to see the initial intake of trainees settling into their roles with MBSE.” During their first year, trainees work throughout MBSE’s specialist departments, learning the terminology and techniques required to build a solid understanding of the different types of equipment, along with their correct, safe operation. As trainees progress through the programme they will have the chance to apply this knowledge, working as part of an electrical department on a Netflix production at Shepperton Studios.

Toby Dare, MBSE operations director added, “We’re proud to be providing these young people with access to proper, safe, industry-based training. The skills they will learn here will undoubtedly be of value as they progress their careers. This first intake of trainees is a fantastic group who clearly have a desire to learn.”

Along with the hands-on and on-set experience, Bring To Light gives trainees the opportunity to make contacts and build relationships, which will be so important throughout their careers.

“Once our trainees have worked through the MBSE departments and worked with actual crews on Netflix productions, they should have the confidence to walk onto any film or TV set and assist on productions of all size and genre,” said Small. “It’s great to be seeing them all benefitting from Bring To Light and the opportunity it provides.”

10 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

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

Behind the mask: Front (L-R)MBSE HR Manager Gemma Upton, Alison Small, Toby Dare Second row: Bring to Light trainees Rebecca, Kyi, Michael and Alfie

PRODUCTION & POST NEWS

GETTING THE LOOK AT MOVIETECH Camera, lens and grip specialist, Movietech, has reported a steady flow of testing at both its Pinewood Studios and Great Point - Seren Stiwdios, Cardiff bases. Crews from all areas of the industry have been making use of the company’s facilities, which remain carefully managed at all times, to ensure safety for visitors.

The Movietech team has experienced particular interest from crews keen to audition some of the more unusual candidates from the company’s considerable lens inventory. Meticulously curated over the past 30 years, Movietech has amassed one of the industry’s most expansive lens collections from the likes of Zeiss, Fujinon and Cooke, with classic and modern glass available.

Movietech’s John Buckley said, “Being able to offer such a broad range of lens options means cinematographers can get exactly the look they want, or perhaps find something completely new, or something old!”

Having recently expanded its presence at Movietech Cymru, the company is in the process making further investment across its product range. Recent additions include a newly-acquired set of uncoated Master Primes, jointly developed by ARRI and Zeiss, which are drawing attention for their enhanced optical performance, distinctive flaring abilities and retro feel.

“The diverse nature of our industry, and the variety of productions we support, mean cinematographers are constantly seeking out new looks or aiming for a particular artistic feel,” commented Buckley. “We’ve added some exciting new lenses over the past year. However the quirky and classic will always hold their own and we are well-placed to have exactly the right solution.”

MOLINARE APPOINTS DARREN RAE TO LEAD PRODUCTION SERVICES

London post house Molinare has appointed Darren Rae as head creative of production services.

Rae is a respected dailies colourist with over 25 years of experience gained from working at companies such as Todd AO, Pinewood Digital and Harbor, and counts productions such as Spectre, Pokémon Detective Pikachu, Rogue One - A Star Wars Story and Doctor Strange amongst his many major feature and episodic drama credits.

In this newly-created role, Rae will build on his reputation to develop the company’s production services division, focussing on new areas of business that feed into Molinare’s existing post production services.

12 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

CVP’S NEWMAN HOUSE REOPENS

With UK Covid protocols relaxing, CVP has announced the reopening of its showroom at Newman House, London. The Fitzrovia townhouse, which originally opened in November 2018, temporarily closed its doors during recent lockdowns, However, CVP has used that time to refit and reimagine the premises with the most popular and up-to-date acquisition and production equipment and is now welcoming visitors back on a by- appointment basis.

Within the five-story building are the latest technology solutions from leading global manufacturers, including ARRI, Red, Sony, Canon, Zeiss, Panasonic, Blackmagic Design, and many more, presenting an opportunity for visitors to identify and test technical solutions to meet their creative vision. Visits are tailored to meet individual customer needs, whether by budget or by application, ensuring that visitors get the maximum benefit from their time at the showroom.

As well as the latest kit, dedicated zones at Newman House include a high-end Cine room; a streaming studio offering streaming solutions for live production; a new Monitor room fitted out with a range of 5” to 31” monitors; a Motion room dedicated to gimbals and accessories; a selection of the leading Canon Pro and Consumer cameras; the latest Sony Pro and Consumer cameras, coupled with third-party manufacturer accessories; a Post Production/ Workflow suite offering a Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve editing space; plus a selection of the latest cameras, lenses, and camera accessories from the world’s leading manufacturers.

Visitor sessions at Newman House are limited in number and strictly bookable-only, in order to both remain Covid-safe and to provide an environment for in-depth conversations with its team of experts.

Also reopening at the same time is the CVP | ARRI Creative Space situated nearby on Charlotte Street.

“Our Newman House facility provides visitors with an engaging, personalised experience in an environment designed to connect creative vision and technology,” commented Jon Fry, managing director, CVP. “From B-cameras you can sling in your kitbag, all the way up to large format cameras and everything else in between, Newman House offers a safe, comfortable space to get hands-on with all the latest kit in the company of our experts. We are really looking forward to opening our doors and welcoming back our customers and partners.”

CRUELLA

PRODUCTION & POST NEWS SECOND REEF BECOMES EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTOR OF BLACKWING7 LENSES Second Reef GmbH is now the exclusive distributor of the well-received Tribe7 Blackwing7 lenses in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Based in Germany, the company has been working with Tribe7 on the roll-out of the lenses since very early in the project, and the new agreement will help to streamline delivery times and continue service support. The timing coincides with the release of the newest focal length of 20.7mm

Purpose-designed for large format motion picture imaging, Blackwing7 lenses represent an entirely new range of tuned optics for contemporary filmmakers to use within their creative storytelling.

Lens tuning allows parameters such as sharpness, contrast, roll-off, spherical aberration, field curvature, edge halation and flare to be modified to provide sets of ‘curated’ optics to suit the personality and intent of the owner.

The lens range comprises a core set of seven focal lengths (27, 37, 47, 57, 77, 107 and 137mm) plus the newly added 20.7mm - with three tuning options per focal length, configurable at point of manufacture.

FILMGRAB CINEMATIC VISUAL REFERENCE SERVICE

If you want an example of how an obsession evolves into an industry service, look no further than cinematographer/camera operator Donnacha Coffey and the website he has been building for the last 12 years called FilmGrab (film-grab.com), writes Michael Goldman.

FilmGrab is an online still photo library/ database featuring reference imagery from over 2,660 separate motion pictures - ranging from shorts and indie films to the latest studio fare, approximately 170,000 separate images, all of them hand-picked and uploaded by Coffey himself, with more on the way.

He says he started the site as a personal blog to share reference imagery, but since then, it has become an important resource for filmmakers, educators, students, art and cinema aficionados, and more.

“After I started the site as a hobby, every time I went back to look, the numbers were growing and people were requesting images from various films,” Coffey says.

“I started at the time with frame grabs from DVDs, and now it’s Blu-rays or streamed films. I usually will have watched the movie recently, and then I go through it faster, using a shortcut set-up on my computer to skip ahead or back, a frame at a time. It can come down to a single frame to get the right facial expression, an eyeline, anything that might turn an OK shot into a great still shot. Then, I’ll edit my selections to get to a number I like, usually between 60 and 65 still frames from each film. It’s quite labour intensive, but my motto for doing it is that if one person does it right one time, then it is done, and no one will have to do it again. So, I’m putting my time into hopefully save time for other people.”

Coffey charges nothing for the stills, refuses to sell anything, and goes out of his way not to profit in any way from the site. That is necessary to avoid copyright or licensing fee issues with intellectual property owners. The site is strictly a

service for educational, journalistic, and reference use, and since he doesn’t profit from the images, there are no rights’ fees entanglements. Instead, he earns his living from his own film work and offering consultancy services to those searching for reference imagery for their own film, teaching or artistic projects. Beyond that, the site asks for donations from those who are so inclined.

“These are not my photos, so there would be no point in trying to profit off them,” he says. “It’s a service. A lot of colleges and film courses use them, for example. Everything is searchable by film, director, cinematographer, production designer, costume designer, year, decade, genre, and so on.”

COLORFRONT LAUNCHES STREAMING SERVER FOR REMOTE COLOUR-ACCURATE POST PRODUCTION Colorfront, the developer of high-performance on-set dailies and transcoding systems for motion pictures and high-end TV production, has launched Colorfront Streaming Server, a live-streaming appliance that delivers colour fidelity and real-time performance for remote post production operations.

The new product ensures that everyone collaborating remotely on a project post production creatives and multiple clients - can simultaneously see the same material, with identical colour-accuracy, in grading suite or screening room image-quality, wherever they are located around the world.

Colorfront Streaming Server can live-stream colour and frame-accurate footage in reference quality 4K HDR from third-party grading, editorial and VFX applications - such as Blackmagic Resolve, FilmLight Baselight, Adobe Premiere, Avid Media Composer, Apple Final Cut and Autodesk Flame - to multiple remote clients simultaneously anywhere around the world.

The appliance works in real-time with HD, 2K, 4K and stereo3D content, in Rec709 SDR or HDR with Dolby Vision, and uses SRT (Secure Reliable Transport Protocol) to deliver low-latency live video, plus multi-channel audio, over the public internet to multiple remote clients concurrently.

On the client side, inexpensive small form-factor equipment - AJA T-Tap Pro, Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Mini, and Apple M1 Mac Mini - support Colorfront’s complementary Streaming Player software and enable colouraccurate viewing and QC on a range of professional 4K HDR reference displays, Apple XDR Pro and prosumer OLED screens.

14 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

SOFT LIGHT. PRECISE WHITE.

Coffey admits he does this work strictly as a labour of love, because he is obsessed with filmmaking. But he says the educational and referential value of the image database he has built is something central to cinematic communication.

“When I talk to cinematographers, or consult with them, we instantly talk in references,” he says.

“We might say that is a ‘Kubrick’ thing or whatever.

You build a vocabulary, a language of film, so beautiful still images as a reference point are just a better way to communicate such ideas. Seeing it is always better than words on a page.”

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PRODUCTION & POST NEWS

CHROMA-Q ON LOCATION WITH GAFFER WAYNE SHIELDS

PRODUCTION & POST NEWS Having developed and introduced LED solutions for over 15 years, Chroma-Q has built a steady following within the production industry, that continues to see the creative application of its low-energy technology by a growing number of crews.

A selection of products from the company’s range of low energy solutions were put to use recently by experienced gaffer, Wayne Shields on Brave New World and The Witcher S2.

Shields says, “I’ve worked with Chroma-Q products for a few years. As an LED source, they deliver some great results, powerful output with plenty of flexibility when you need it.”

Shields and his crew recently made use of the company’s Color Force II LED battens, with an installation designed to deliver a range of creative, incamera effects.

He explains, “We used the Color Force II to illuminate a large-scale interior and create some pretty intense fire effects, within a listed building in central London. The fixtures worked well for this type of application = quick to set-up and simple to use. The overall effect was easy to control and delivered some great looks”.

Shields also achieved a strong performance from the Brute Force during filming with cinematographer Romain Lacourbas AFC, at a remote forest location.

Drawing 15 amps @ 240V the Brute Force from Chroma-Q is a true LED full colour RGB-W light source, fully-dimmable with an extended CCT range between 2,000K and 10,000K, using Chroma-Q Studio Force II battens.

Available as 6-lamp and 4-lamp options, the Brute Force’s multi-point fixings allows units to be easily combined to form a powerful, low energy alternative to a ‘conventional’ quarter Wendy.

“The Brute Force really was both a surprise and delight to work with,” Shields continues, “we rigged it overhead for a night shoot, in some pretty dense woodland. The output was superb, drawing only minimum power, which was an added bonus in such a remote setting. The fixture has a great spread and the weather cover accessory made it particularly useful for a UK location during winter.”

CHARLES CRICHTON AND HIS CINEMATOGRAPHERS

In a directing career across more than 40 years in film and television, between 1944 and 1988, Charles Crichton worked with some of Britain’s greatest cinematographers including Freddie Francis BSC, Eric Cross BSC, Otto Heller BSC, Christopher Challis BSC, Ted Scaife BSC, Ken Higgins and Alan Hume BSC. But undoubtedly his most fertile collaboration, as revealed in the first-ever biography, written by Quentin Falk, of one of Britain’s finest filmmakers, was with Douglas Slocombe OBE BSC ASC. This included no fewer than ten films alone for Ealing Studios, notably Hue And Cry (1947), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953).

Crichton and Slocombe made their respective feature debuts in 1944 with For Those In Peril, a short, sharp, Ealing propaganda drama about the Air Sea Rescue Service in wartime. Its vivid exteriors were enlivened by Slocombe’s earlier experience as a newsreel cameraman, whilst Crichton’s background as an editor with producer Alexander Korda at Denham, then in short documentaries for the influential Cavalcanti at Ealing helped fashion an admirably taut seagoing tale.

Away from the waves, Crichton and Slocombe proved equally adept whether reproducing youthful hijinks on London bombsites, a glorious farcical Bank Of England bullion heist or with the first Ealing comedy in colour about attempts to preserve a local railway line.

After Ealing, they worked twice more including The Third Secret (1963), a psycho-drama which was to be one of the last Cinemascope films shot in B&W. Whilst Slocombe’s feature career went from strength-to -strength, earning him acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic - he died in 2016 at the age of 103 - Crichton’s feature work dried-up for more than 20 years during which time he worked in television on everything from Danger Man and The Avengers to The Adventures of Black Beauty and Space:1999.

It was on The Avengers that Crichton worked for the first time with Alan Hume, a collaboration that would ignite again most spectacularly in 1988 when Crichton made his remarkable comeback to films aged 78 with A Fish Called Wanda.

The film, which as well as supplying him with a healthy pension, also, rather neatly, earned Crichton a number of prizes including The Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema and The Peter Sellers Award for Comedy. He died in 1999 on the cusp of 90.

Charles Crichton by Quentin Falk (Manchester University Press, £80), published June 29. The code OTH867 can be used to get a 40% discount when purchasing the book on MUP’s website. It expires on the 31/12/2021. Falk is a former editor of Screen International and Fujifilm’s Exposure journal, Exposure, and the author of books on Anthony Hopkins, Albert Finney, Alfred Hitchcock and Graham Greene.

16 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

DOPCHOICE ADDS EVEN SOFTNESS TO CAMEO F-SERIES FRESNELS

To accommodate today’s preponderance of video streaming, DoPchoice now offers the patented Snapbag softbox and Snapgrid 20/30/40/50-degree grids to soften and direct the output of Cameo F-Series Fresnels.

“As video streaming becomes more and more important, so does the need for softer, more even lighting,” explains Daniel Wrase, product manager, Cameo.

“Fortunately, anyone with a Cameo F-Series Fresnel spotlight doesn’t need to buy a new spotlight. Now, without needing any tools, a spot can easily transform into a soft light using the practical, foldable Snapbag softbox.”

The Snapbag SBSAHF is made to mount exclusively to Cameo F1, F2 and F4 series fixtures.

It comes packed flat in its own pouch and snaps-up instantly to form a rectangular, one-piece accessory. Weighing 1.3kg/2.87lbs, it attaches in seconds directly to Cameo Fresnels with hook and loop straps that fit around the barn doors. Snapbags even out the illumination thanks to the internal reflective fabric, then soften it in two ways: via an internal quarter grid baffle suspended within the interior; plus a removable half grid diffusion panel which hook-and-loops to the front of the Snapbag. To direct the light, the user can choose a 20-, 30-, 40-, or 50-degree Snapgrid that rapidly affixes around the Snapbag front.

Manufactured by DoPchoice and TRP International, accessories for the Cameo F-Series are currently available through Adam Hall Group.

JOHNNY COLLEY JOINS PIXIPIXEL AS A DIRECTOR OF LIGHTING UK rental house Pixipixel has appointed Johnny Colley as director of lighting. Colley brings many years of experience to the company having previously been business director for ARRI Lighting Rental and, more recently, managing director for Sumolight Rental.

“Coming from a background working as a lighting gaffer for over two decades on feature films, dramas, commercials and music videos, I am eager to share my knowledge and experience and look forward to building relationships, growing the business and supporting crews,” said Colley.

Pixipixel has further expanded its team with the appointment of Chris Youlton, as a business development manager for cameras, and Russ Greening as a senior lighting account handler working on TV dramas feature films.

SETH EMMONS NAMED DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AT ERNST LEITZ WETZLAR

Cinema lens manufacturer Ernst Leitz Wetzlar is expanding its global marketing with the appointment of technology veteran Seth Emmons as director of communications.

Emmons will use his 15-plus years of industry marketing and creative experience, including five years previously with Ernst Leitz Wetzlar, to strengthen and grow the brand’s connection to the production community.

Based in Los Angeles, California, Emmons will work primarily with the North American market of cinematographers, directors, rental houses, and professional organisations to increase exposure to the Leitz line of cinema lens products and develop brand opportunities for the company.

Leitz managing director Rainer Hercher, said, “Whilst Seth’s impact on the company will include our messaging and outreach to the global production market, his primary focus will be continuing to expand our connections in the American film and television production community.

He will be a technical and creative resource for cinematographers and a point of contact for those looking to learn about and test our wide selection of professional cinema lenses.”

Most recently Emmons was vice president of marketing at The Tiffen Company, and has previously held marketing positions at Litepanels and Band Pro Film & Digital, as well as being one of the earliest employees at Leitz (formerly CW Sonderoptic) where he spearheaded its initial marketing efforts.

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CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 17

PRODUCTION & POST NEWS

PRODUCTION & POST NEWS Opposite Main: Mezzanine view at Panalux HQ Right: h40 hybrid generator Lower: group operations director Christian Malone Below left: technical director for EMEA Dave Amphlett Below centre: a Sonara 4:4 LED going out on a job

MOST ILLUMINATING Panalux By Ron Prince

PANALUX BY DATES & NUMBERS

If you ever get an invitation to participate in a tour around a corporate HQ my advice would be: take it, they are always well worth it. So when the opportunity arose to pay a visit to lighting supplier Panalux’s HQ in Park Royal, I embraced it with open arms (plus a face mask and slathered in anti-bacterial gel, of course).

The facility itself is nestled beside a McVitie’s biscuit-making factory (more about that later) in the outer-suburbs of northwest London. Other than a brand-affirming sign, the premises look innocuous enough from the outside. The casual passer-by would have little idea that this Panavision Group company supports globally-acclaimed TV shows such as The Crown and Peaky Blinders, or movies like Tenet and The Father.

Heading indoors, the first impression when looking out from a mezzanine floor above the cavernous warehouse below, is ‘Wow, this is a paradise for sparks and gaffers’. This panoramic, birds-eye-view reveals a maze of rows-upon-rows of industrial-strength storage and shelving systems, dedicated to containing lots-and-lots of industrialstrength lighting gear for all manner of commercials, high-end TV and feature film production.

Ballasts, bulbs, cables, gels, textiles, flags, flight cases, stands and trussing, together with fluorescent, vintage incandescent and state-of-the-art LED fixtures galore - you name it, it’s all here. Not far 18 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

from a row of Dinos, I could have sworn I saw some carbon arcs.

The Panalux group has no fewer that 320,000 line-items in stock. That’s some investment. And, by outward appearance there’s still a decent amount available on the shelves, despite the company, and the UK production industry at large, going gangbusters in 2021.

My masked tour guide, group operations director Christian Malone, and a man of some 25-years within the Panavision group, explains

that the company’s 24/7/364 services are all departmentalised, with the inventory fullycomputerised to ensure the steady, and accurate, flow-and-return of lighting packages to-and-from sets up-and-down the country.

Gear being returned, via the company’s fleet of unmistakable white-liveried trucks and vans, is checked-in, cleaned, tested, and repaired when necessary, before being recycled back into the system, ready for dispatch on the next job. At the time of my tour, in the last weekend alone, the Waxlow Road branch had dispatched some 35 vehicles, loaded with 35,000 items, weighting some 145 tonnes.

Outside, in the yard where the Mercedes Benzserviced fleet resides, is evidence of the additional, powerful investments the company is making into environmentally-friendly production in the form of the h40 hybrid generator from Panalux Power.

Capable of delivering 240V AC power up to a load of 40kW, the h40’s generator never idles and the diesel engine only engages to charge the batteries.

This is good news for the planet, and good news for productions shooing in London boroughs, such as Richmond, Barnes, Putney and Greenwich, which have already adopted ultra-low emission policies, with more of the same coming countrywide.

In the company’s boardroom, bedecked with umpteen large B&W photographic prints of cinematographers working on-set, I get to meet the company’s technical director for EMEA, Dave Amphlett in-person and similarly veiled, with managing director Mark Furssedonn and group sales director John Lawton joining via Zoom on a huge TV screen.

Dave works over at Panalux’s Perivale facility of similar size, where there is additional storage, and where R&D, specialist engineering, special-builds, repairs and additional textile manufacturing take place. An industry veteran, with some 20 years of experience in developing lighting products, he is the brains behind Panalux’s next-generation Sonara 4:4 LED variable-white LED soft light, launched at

the 2020 BSC Expo and now popular amongst gaffers. Apparently, John ‘Biggles’ Higgins used half a dozen Sonara 4:4s on the upcoming thriller All The Old Knives (DP Charlotte Bruus Christensen DFF ASC). We’ll save the technical details for another occasion and other innovations in lighting are on the way. So, watch this space.

Whilst Panalux develops lighting products in-house, and has classic fixtures such as Dino and Wendy-lights on offer, its vast and modern inventory is essentially predicated around blue-chip film-lighting manufacturers. These include ARRI, Creamsource, Kino Flo, Dedolight, Litepanels, Mole Richardson, Astera and Cineo, plus robotic/ automated systems from LRX and Martin, to name but a few, all providing choice and reliability for clients, as well as manageability by the company across its different facilities in London, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow. Panalux also has outlets in South Africa, France and Czech Republic.

Mark, a Panavision-company man since 1985, says that with so much feature and TV content being

produced, never mind commercials, that (discounting the Covid-blighted 2020 from the financial reckoning) 2021 is looking to be a better year than 2019. And 2019 was a bumper year for the UK industry in general. He also says the company is always looking towards new opportunities that can help the company to grow with the industry.

Before I know it the best part of two-and-a-half hours has elapsed, and it’s time to go home. When Covid restrictions ease-up, the company will be inviting more sparks and gaffers to come over for a look at its facilities, and they will be in for a treat.

As for the McVitie’s factory next door, it apparently has a small shop, so getting something sweet to dunk into afternoon cups a tea is an easy proposition. More difficult a proposition is ‘The Cinematography World Challenge’. If you can name all of the DPs in the photographs in Panalux’s boardroom, we’ll give you a special prize (probably large box containing lots of Jaffa Cakes, Digestives, Ginger Nuts and Hobnobs). So who’s up for the next tour?

1998 AFM/LEE LIGHTING BUSINESS STARTED AT WAXLOW ROAD 2007 PANALUX IS BORN AFTER PANAVISION ACQUIRES AFM & LEE LIGHTING 2015 PANALUX ACQUIRES ITS PERIVALE FACILITY 160 DELIVERY VANS AND TRUCKS 180 EMPLOYEES ACROSS THE PANALUX GROUP 180 LORRY-LOADS OF KIT DISPATCHED EVERY WEEK 27,000sqft PANALUX MANCHESTER, CARDIFF & GLASGOW 40,000sqft AT PANALUX PERIVALE 42,000sqft AT PANALUX HQ WAXLOW ROAD 320,000 LINE ITEMS IN STOCK

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 19

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE Opposite: Nick Dance BSC and crew on Gentleman Jack in York; L-R: Anton Mertens working on Cobra; Zoe Goodwin-Stuart ACO; and Sam McCurdy BSC

CAMERADERIE

Our regular round up of who is shooting what and where WORLDWIDE PRODUCTION AGENCY Stephen Murphy BSC ISC is shooting S3 of FX’s award-winning series Atlanta, with director Hiro Murai. Arthur Mulhern is prepping C4 prison drama Screw, from creator Rob Williams and STV Studios, with Tom Vaughn directing the opening block. Ed Moore BSC is readying for The Birth Of Daniel F. Harris with director Alex Winckler for Clerkenwell Films/C4. Anna Patarakina FSF has started three-part series The Tower with director Jim Loach for Mammoth Screen/ITV. Baz Irvine ISC is shooting the first block of Amazon’s version of the critically-acclaimed series Call My Agent with director John Morton. Kanamé Onoyama is shooting on the third block of Top Boy S3 with director William Stefan Smith for Netflix.

Tony Slater Ling BSC is lighting with director Adrian Shergold on Wolfe for Sky/AbbottVision.

Catherine Derry is lighting on the feature film CURS>R with director Toby Meakins for Stigma

Films. PJ Dillon ISC ASC continues shooting the series That Dirty Black Bag with director Brian O’Malley for Palomar/Sundance TV. Mattias Troelstrup has wrapped the second block of Hanna S3 in Prague with director Weronika Tofilska for Amazon/NBC Universal. Vanessa Whyte is shooting on Ted Lasso S2 for AppleTV+ with director Matt Lipsey. Joel Honeywell has wrapped in Manchester on Wolfe Ep3 with director Sean Spencer. Jaime Ackroyd has completed the feature Breakfast In Beirut, shooting in Bulgaria, Greece and the UK for Millennium Films and director Tina Gharavi. Ruairi O’Brien ISC continues principle photography on the final block of Amazon’s The Power, with director Neasa Hardiman. Jake Gabbay lit a Nike spot with director Ramone Andreson via LCS Studio, and an Adidas ad with Lainey Richardson through Caviar.

Thomas Hole shot for Virgin Radio with EMO Ltd director Jon Riche, a spot for McCann with director

30 YEARS OF LENSES The Movietech lens inventory has been meticulously curated over the past 30 years to encompasses both the classic and contemporary. +44 (0) 1753 650007 movietech.co.uk CAMERA I LENS I GRIP I ENGINEERING I LOGISTICS 20 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Chris Ranson and JBL and an ad for Chelsea FC with Copa 90 and director Ben Jones. Matthew J. Smith lit a TVC for McDonalds with Tony Petersen Film and director Watts. Dan Holland received a Best Cinematography nomination at the Arizona Short Film Festival the multi-award winning short I Wish For You, and has wrapped spots with director Paul Butterworth on Hovis via Brave Spark, and Holland and Barrett though VCCP. Benjamin Todd shot a promo for Skrillex with director Ben Strebel and Biscuit, and then travelled to Paris with director duo AB/CD/CD and Very for a McDonalds’ ad.

INDEPENDENT TALENT Ole Birkeland BSC is in Australia filming Pieces Of Her with Minkie Spiro. Darran Bragg is shooting The Larkins with director Andy de Emmony.

Bjorn Bratberg is filming The Long Call with Lee Haven Jones. Oliver Curtis BSC is shooting Stay

Close for Lindy Heymann. Ben Davis BSC is lighting My Policeman with Michael Grandage.

Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC is shooting Lonely Boy with Danny Boyle. Simon Dennis BSC is working on American Crime Story S3 with director Ryan Murphy in the US. Adam Etherington BSC is shooting new ITV series Hollington Drive, directed by Carolina Giammetta.

Arni Fillippusson is shooting block 2 of the new series Extinction, with director Laura Scrivano. Kit Fraser is shooting The Railway Children Return with Morgan Matthews. Catherine Goldschmidt is filming Chloe with Alice Seabright and Amanda Boyle. Stuart Howell is lensingThe Peripheral with Vincenzo Natali. Eric Kress is working on Borgen S4 for Netflix. Suzie Lavelle BSC is shooting Conversations With Friends, with director Lenny Abrahamson. David Luther is lighting new series The Swarm, with director Luke Watson. Roman Osin BSC is prepping 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. Tat Radcliffe BSC is filming Matthew Warchus’s Matilda. Christopher Ross BSC is shooting The Swimmers with Sally El Hosaini.

Ashley Rowe BSC is prepping The Noel Diary for Charles Shyer. Carl Sundberg is lensing Flowers In The Attic for showrunner Paul Sciarrotta.

Mark Waters is shooting Endeavour S8. Erik Wilson is lighting Landscapers with Will Sharpe.

Maja Zamojda BSC is framing The Great S2 starring Nicholas Hoult and Elle Fanning.

MCKINNEY MACARTNEY MANAGEMENT LTD Stuart Biddlecombe graded S4 of The Handmaid’s Tale and is shooting The Devil’s Hour for Amazon, directed by Johnny Kenton. Mick Coulter BSC continues on Outlander in Scotland.

Sergio Delgado has started on Canoe Man for ITV. Gavin Finney BSC is prepping Darkness Rising for C4/HBO, directed by Peter Kosminsky. Jean Philippe Gossart continues on S2 of Netflix’s The Witcher and is preparing to join The Lark, also for Netflix. Steve Lawes continues to film The Hot Zone: Anthrax in Canada for National Geographic.

Dale Elena McCready is filming The Rising, an eight-parter for Sky. Sam McCurdy BSC is shooting S1 of Scriptures in Canada for Warner Brothers.

Andy McDonnell continues on BBC drama, You Don’t Know Me, directed by Sarmad Masud. Mike Spragg wrapped Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist in Canada and is prepping for The Last Kingdom S5. Richard Stoddard finished S3 of Brassic and moved on to Extinction for Sky One. Robin Whenary is prepping the Doctor Who Christmas Special in Cardiff. Denis Crossan BSC and Clive Tickner BSC have been shooting commercials.

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 shooting The Rig, with director John Strickland for Wild Mercury Productions. John de Borman BSC AFC is prepping Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, directed by Hugh Laurie for Mammoth. Gavin Struthers ASC BSC is in Ireland for Epic, Disney/

ABC pilot, directed by James Griffiths. Marcel Zyskind has wrapped on the feature Dali Land, directed by Mary Harron in Liverpool. Alwin Küchler BSC is back in LA having wrapped on Falling Blocs for Marv. Donna Wade is shooting Ep7 S2 of Malory Towers, with director Gary Williams for King Bert Productions. Alan Almond BSC is reading for a variety of projects. Danny Cohen BSC is shooting Slow Horses for Apple TV. Damian Paul Daniel shot the documentary When I Was Younger, directed by Noella Mingo.

Martin Führer BSC is meeting for various projects.

David Higgs BSC is prepping The Amazing Mr Blunden, written by Mark Gatiss for Sky. Kieran McGuigan BSC is lighting Leftbank’s The Fear Index, directed by David Caffrey. Laurie Rose BSC is shooting Working Title’s Catherine Called Birdy, directed by Lena Dunham. Bet Rourich is starting on The English. John Sorapure is on Disney’s The Little Mermaid in the roles of second unit DP and second unit director. Simon Tindall is shooting Hidden S3 for Ed Taflan. Ollie Downey is shooting Eps 3, 5 and 7 of Amazon/Sister Pictures’ The Power, directed by Ugla Hauksdóttir and Lisa Gunning. Laurens De Geyter is shooting Hans Herbots’ latest feature, in Belgium. Sam Heasman is shooting three episodes of The Sandman for Warner Brothers/Netflix. David Rom is lighting S2 of Ted Lasso. Simon Stolland is meeting for several projects. Si Bell is lighting A Very British Scandal for director Anne Sewitsky and Blueprint Pictures/BBC/Amazon. Sam Chiplin is reading and meeting. Charlotte Bruus Christensen ASC has wrapped on All The Old Knives. James

We are constantly investing and updating our lens collection to bring you the the widest possible choice, including thelatest products from from the worlds leading manufacturers, industry classics, plus our own engineered options.

To find out more, or to discuss a specific equipment requirement, please contact us - we’ll be happy to help.

CAMERA I LENS I GRIP I ENGINEERING I LOGISTICS CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 21

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE Clockwise: Lorena Pagès and Korsshan Schlauer on Top Boy; Will Pugh in North Wales on Sophie’s Story; James Frater on The Witcher; Gary Shaw shooting Intergalactic; and Maceo Bishop

Clockwise: Jake Scott, pre-lighting a Greygoose ad; Pete Rowe GBCT; Martijn van Broekhuizen on-set of Cool Abdoul; and DP Stuart Dryburgh NZCS ASC with gaffer John Busch on the virtual stage at Gum Studios, NY

Adam Gillham is attached to and prepping an embargoed drama. Ryan Kernaghan is shooting drama Karen Pirie alongside director Gareth Bryn. Oli Russell has wrapped Sex Education S3. Nicola Daley ACS has graded Gentleman Jack S2. Molly Manning Walker is shooting Superhoe with director Dawn Shadforth. Håvard Helle has wrapped Martin Owen’s The Lonliest Boy In The World. Luke Bryant has graded The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight directed

by Vanessa Casill. Karl Oskarsson IKS is prepping an embargoed drama for Netflix, and Charlie Goodger has graded feature Year 10. Christophe Nuyens SBC is shooting an embargoed drama for Netflix. Susanne Salavati is shooting Back To Life S2 alongside director Ella Jones. Sverre Sørdal FNF is prepping a feature, Hamish Anderson shot pilot I Hate You for director Bex Rycroft, and Seppe Friend BSC ASC is lighting German-language feature All Quiet On The Western Front for regular collaborator Edward Berger and Rocket Science/ Amusement Park/Netflix. David Marsh lit the pilot Black Ops and is now on the Christmas Special of Call The Midwife. Anton Mertens SBC is lighting three-part drama Luxembourg for regular directors Nathalie Basteyns and Kaat Beels. Milos Moore is lighting four-part drama series Rules Of The Game for director Jennifer Sheridan and The Forge/BBC. Neus Olle AEC BSC is busy with commercials.

David Raedeker BSC is lighting The Essex Serpent for director Clio Barnard and See-Saw Films/ Apple TV+. Niels Reedtz Johansen is lighting a TV drama in Copenhagen. Kate Reid BSC is shooting new drama series The Baby for Nicole Kassell, Sister Pictures/ Sky/HBO. Joshua James Richards has been busy with awards press and publicity for

Nomadland and meeting for future projects. Ed Rutherford is lighting The Serpent Queen for Stacie Passon and Lionsgate Television/Starz. Anna Valdez Hanks is lighting Magpie Murders for Peter Cattaneo and Eleventh Hour Films/Britbox. Ben Wheeler is on The Tourist for Two Brothers Pictures/ BBC/HBO Max and director Chris Sweeney in Australia. Remi Adefarasin BSC has shot a Ten X commercial with Elle Key through Caviar. Alex Barber lit a B&Q ad with The Sacred Egg for Riff Raff films, and a TK Maxx spot with Fredrik Bond for MJZ London. Simon Chaudoir collaborated with The Sacred Egg for a BT ad in Kiev with Riff Raff, and a Dior commercial with director Axel Morin via 22 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Frenzy. Lasse Frank shot in Slovenia with Martin Werner for Hornbach. Brendan Galvin is in Atlanta on The In Between with director Arie Posin.

Stephen Keith Roach worked on a Met Police project with director Seb Edwards at Academy, and a National Lottery ad with director Gary Freedman through Independent. Tristan Oliver is shooting The Trouble With Jessica for director Matt Winn.

ECHO ARTISTS Stuart Bentley BSC is shooting BBC’s Life After Life with director John Crowley. Nadim Carlsen is still shooting director Ali Abbasi’s The Long Night.

Carlos Catalan is on Amazon’s The Power lensing Eps 4, 6 and 8 with director Shannon Murphy.

David Chizallet AFC has finished an Untitled feature with directors Luc Bricault and Ida Techer.

Rachel Clark has been grading Reggie Yates’

Hylnur Palamason’s feature Vanskabte Land. Felix Wiedemann BSC is grading on Mrs Harris Goes To Paris. Joe Anderson, Federico Cesca ASK, Edgar Dubrovskiy, Charlie Herranz, Jo Jo Lam, MacGregor, Lorena Pagès, Christopher Miles, Michael Paleodimos, Noel Schoolderman, Niels Thastum DFF, and Sean Price Williams have all been busy in commercials.

Pirates. Andrew Commis ACS has graded Armagan Ballantyne’s Nude Tuesday. Nick Cooke had done the DI on Lynsey Miller’s Anne Boleyn for Fable Pictures. New client, Ruben Woodin Dechamps, shot the short Weekend Dad with director Dorothy Allen Pickard for BBC/BFI. Bonnie Elliott ACS is prepping The Shining Girls with director Daina Reid for Apple TV. David Gallego ADFC is prepping Laura Mora’s The Kings Of The World. Lachlan Milne ACS has wrapped S4 of Stranger Things. Will Pugh is shooting Eps1-3 of Crime with director James Strong. Korsshan Schlauer has wrapped additional photography on Top Boy S4. Maria von Hausswolff is shooting

SARA PUTT ASSOCIATES Giulio Biccari is shooting Stay Close in Manchester for Red Productions. Duncan Telford is prepping The Cockfields for Yellow Door Productions. David Mackie shot in Lebanon the World Monument Fund, which provides training to Lebanese and Syrian refugees. Yinka Edward continues in Nigeria on The Black Book. The BFI feature Sweetheart, lit by Emily Almond-Barr, won the Audience Award at The Glasgow Film Festival. Andrei Austin ACO Associate BSC SOC is operating on The Bubble, directed by Judd Apatow. Danny Bishop ACO Associate BSC SOC is operating on All Quiet On The Western Front in Czech Republic for director Ed Berger and DP James Friend. Ed Clark ACO is shooting SAS Rogue Heroes for Kudos Productions with director Tom Shankland. James Frater ACO SOC wrapped on The Witcher S2, before working on Mahogany, and then starting a block of The Midwich Cuckoos for Snowed In Productions. Zoe Goodwin-Stuart ACO is working alongside Gulio Biccari on Stay Close. Ilana Garrard ACO has wrapped on Netflix’s Anatomy Of A Scandal and is prepping for The Swimmers. James Leigh ACO continues on Stephen Merchant’s series The Offenders for Big Talk/Amazon. Will Lyte ACO has been working on Top Boy. Vince McGahon ACO Associate BSC is operator/Steadicam on Embankment, starring Gary Oldman. Julian Morson ACO Associate BSC GBCT is working on The Little Mermaid, directed by Rob Marshall.

Alastair Rae ACO Associate BSC is in Scotland on The Last King. Aga Szeliga Assoc ACO is the

operator on Red Gun. Tom Walden Associate ACO wrapped on Sex Education, and welcomed a baby girl. Rick Woollard has been busy on commercials for L’Oreal, McDonalds, Nespresso, Persil, Dior and River Island, as well as dailies on CURS>R. WIZZO & CO Aaron Reid has wrapped Stephen directed by Alrick Riley, and Gary Shaw is prepping the opening block of His Dark Materials S3. Diana Olifirova is shooting Heartstopper with director Euros Lynn, and Patrick Meller has wrapped short film Don’t Forget, directed by Mika Watkins.

Van Grieken SBC is shooting a drama in Liverpool.

Steven Ferguson shot pilot Silky Hotel, directed

by Tommy Gillard. Jan Richter-Friis DFF graded Cobra S2 remotely, and is in the USA prepping a drama. Nick Dance BSC is shooting Gentleman Jack S2 with director Ed Hall. Fede Alfonzo shot for Jamie Rafn and Will Bex for The Bobbsey Twins.

Joe Douglas worked with director Amy BeckerBurnett, and Franklin Dow with Charlotte Regan.

Theo Garland shot with Jim Owen, and Arran Green with Marley Morrison. Ben Magahy shot with Randy Krallman, Antonio Paladino shot with Claas Ortmann and David Procter with Stella Scott. Congratulations to Molly Manning Walker

who won a British Arrow (Silver) for her work on NHS: We Are Nurses directed by Billy Boyd Cape, and to Tim Sidell who picked up a British Arrow (Bronze) for his work on Everyman: Music Makes You Feel film directed by Sophie Jones.

BERLIN ASSOCIATES Will Baldy is shooting an Untitled project for Netflix/DC. Sarah Bartles Smith is shooting Queens Of Mystery S2 for Sly Fox Productions, with director Ian Emes.

Len Gowing shot the second block on The Bay S3 for ITV in Manchester, with director Nicole Volavka.

Alvaro Gutierrez is shooting We Hunt Together

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WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE

L-R: Robbie Ryan BSC ISC on Lord Jones; and Ahmet Husseyin shooting Money talks

S2 for UKTV/BBC with director Jonathan Teplitsky.

Anniemarie Lean-Vercoe is shooting a block of Endeavour, with director Ian Aryeh. Nick Martin is filming Big Talk Productions’ The Offenders for BBC1, with director Stephen Merchant.

Toby Moore is shooting the sequel to Fisherman’s Friends for Fred Films. Trevelyan Oliver is lighting Tiger Aspect Productions’ Hitmen for Sky1, with director David Scant. Tom Pridham is working on commercials, a TV drama and greenscreen shoots. Benjamin Pritchard is shooting Teacher for Clapperboard/C5, with director Dominic Leclerc.

Andrew Rodger lit a promo for Connor Maynard,

24 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

L-R: Chris Dodds on-set at Langley Park; and Arnaud Carney shooting for Garnier with Sony Venice

and graded the feature Confession. Pete Rowe is filming Dodger for NBC Universal, with director Rhys Thomas. James Swift shot a block of All Creatures Great And Small S2 for Playground Entertainment/ C5, with director Sasha Ransome. Matt Wicks is preparing The Witchfinder for Baby Cow/BBC2.

Phil Wood shot block two of Doctor Who S13, and is now on Ragdoll for Sid Gentle Films/Alibi.

MYMANAGEMENT Pieter Vermeer has joined the roster. The Amsterdam-based DP studied photography at the prestigious St. Joost School Of Art & Design in the

Netherlands, and then found himself becoming a sought-after DP for commercials, music videos and features. Chris Dodds lit commercials for Tesco, with director Caroline Irby via BBH, and a Remington campaign with director Simon Sorted.

Dominic Bartels shot the short film Cold in Hereford, a dark fairytale for grown-ups about love and loss, madness and redemption, filmed in a dormant theatre, combining contemporary camera techniques with practical stage effects, written and directed by Claire Coaché and Lisle Turner.

Craig Dean Devine is prepping Ladhood S2, directed by Jonathan Schey. Filip Marek went to

Bucharest to shoot with director Thor for Sargenor through Saga Films, and then teamed-up with Marek Partys for a Slido shoot. Sam Meyer lensed for Pokerstars in Paris with director Tom Brown, and for McVities through Unit 9, plus a Daniel Briskin music video with Pulse. Sy Turnbull joined forces with Annex Films for a Vista Print commercial, directed

by Seb Pettreti. Tuomo Virtanen and director Vesa Manninen are working together on various projects in Helsinki. Nicolaj Bruel DFF worked with BRW Filmland and director Gabrielle Mainetti on a Mulino Bianco shoot in Rome, before heading back to Copenhagen for a Unibet spot directed

by Simon Ladefaged. Adric Watson shot a Krunk music video with director Greg Hackett at Spindle, a Vodafone ad in Liverpool with producer Michelle Stapleton at Madam, and a Paloma Faith music video through Prettybird with director Yousef.

Ahmet Husseyin joined-up with Passion Pictures for a Compare The Meerkat campaign, directed

by Dave Scanlon, and Black Dog/RSA for a Sons Of Raphael shoot directed by Loral Raphael. Pete Konczal was in LA and New York for an Infiniti shoot with director Steve Fuller, and did a BMW spot with Jonny Mass directing. Robbie Ryan BSC ISC collaborated with Academy Films for an Aviva TVC in Scotland with director Seb Edwards, a Lord Jones spot directed by The Sacred Egg at Riff Raff, and a Nick Cave shoot through Uncommon Creative Studio with director Andrew Dominik. Jallo Faber FSF lit a Mercedes campaign with director Valentine Petite through Anorak, and a Frontier

spot directed by RBG6. Arnaud Carney worked with Skillsprod TV and director Marcelo Melo for a Berluti shoot in Barcelona, before heading to Marseille with Downtown Paris for a Garnier spot.

Gaul Porat was in Dubai with director Nico Kreis for a Nismo spot, and then worked with Déjà Vu for Amazon Prime directed by Shahir Zag. Zauberberg Production enlisted the talents of Ekkehart Pollack to lens a Smart shoot in Barcelona with director Daniel Warwick. He then teamed up with director Jake Scott for a Toyota spot in Athens through RSA. Paul O’Callaghan shot for Weekend Films on a Ford S Max ad directed by Loren Colson, and has

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WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE L-R: a shot from Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break, directed by Nick Gillespie, lensed by DP Billy J Jackson; Tom Wilkinson on Jack Ryan 2; and DP Dominic Bartels on-set of short film Cold

Clockwise from top: David Procter on Pokerstars (pic by Harvey Ascott); Diana Olifirova shooting a commercial for AirBnB in Shoreditch; Dan Nightingale ACO; Tony Kay ACO shooting The Larkins

been doing recces for mini-series Imposters, directed

by Gareth Johnson, for Raw TV/Netflix. Todd Martin teamed-up with director Julian Marshall for a Verizon shoot, and then Biscuit for a Sky Sports shoot directed by Dan Difelice. Ben Coughlan continued his collaboration with Vevo and director Jim Wilmot for their DSCVR artists to watch programme. Tomas Tomasson shot in Iceland with True North on One Strange Rock, plus a Mentos ad on Langjökull for director Saman Kesh. Lee Thomas shot for director Chris Thomas on a Keep Wales Tidy campaign, which highlights the incredible importance of keeping beaches tidy and free from plastics. Darran Tiernan was in LA lensing a Pepsi

Morning Show, an inside look at the lives of the TV people who help America wake up in the morning, directed by Mimi Leder, starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Billy Crudup. Stuart Dryburgh ASC shot a commercial for MCM, on the virtual stage at GUM Studios in Brooklyn New York, for Swell and director Tarik Malak.

PRINCESTONE Of the agency’s camera/Steadicam operators Dan Nightingale ACO is shooting The Almond And The Seahorse, directed by Celyn Jones, with co-director and DP is Tom Stern AFC ASC, starring Rebel Wilson and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

by DP is Dion Beebe ACS ASC. Sean Savage Associate BSC ACO SOC, who is also ACO president, is filming Amazon Studios’ action-packed series Citadel, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, with Newton Thomas Sigel ASC the DP. Tony Kay ACO is shooting The Larkins, a new adaptation of the classic novel The Darling Buds Of May, directed

by Andy De Emmony for ITV/Genial/Objective Fiction Fabrizio Sciarra SOC Associate BSC GBCT ACO is shooting Dungeons And Dragons in Belfast, with directors John Francis Daley and Jonathon Goldstein, and DP Barry Peterson, produced by Allspark Pictures/Paramount Pictures.

James Layton ACO is on Hulu’s The Great S2,

to start on Disenchanted in Dublin for Disney Films, with director is Adam Shankman and DP Simon Duggan ASC, with Amy Adams, James Marsden and Patrick Dempsey starring. Peter Wignall ACO did dailies on various productions, including second unit on The Bubble for DP Hamish Doyne Ditmas and director Jimmy O’Dee, splinter unit on

Garza shot Stella Artois and Verizon campaigns directed by AG Rojas. Jakob Ihre FSF is shooting Johan Renck’s new feature Spaceman. Arnaud Potier AFC shot an NDA commercial, directed by Harmony Korine. Olan Collardy has wrapped on an untitled feature from Raine Allen-Miller. Martijn Van Broekhuizen NSC is prepping S2 of Gangs

Alexandra Brodski and Emily Everdee serving as director and producer. Evelin Van Rei lit Thick Bleach for multimedia artist Zoe Buckman, about intergenerational experiences of womanhood and violence in the home. Anna MacDonald is prepping Why Me?, a short written/directed by director Abdou Cisse, focussing on a young

Doctor Strange 2, with director is Lome Raimi and DP Katie Swain. Tom Wilkinson ACO is spending the summer in Budapest on the next series of action thriller Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan for Amazon Studios, with DP Richard Rutowski ASC, starring John Krasinski. Diego Rodriguez is the DP on Juventus: All Or Nothing a documentary shooting in Turin, Italy about the legendary football club. The production company is Fulwell 73.

Of London. Ula Pontikos BSC continues to shoot Russian Doll S2, directed by Natasha Lyonne.

Steve Annis is shooting Inside, directed by Vasilis Katsoupis. Magnus Joenck is filming Rebel Ridge directed by Jeremy Saulnier. Mauro Chiarello lensed a Samsung TVC directed by Isaiah Seret.

Adolpho Veloso shot an NDA spot directed by Nicolai Fuglsig. Manuel Alberto Claro continues on Kingdom Exodus, directed by Lars von Trier.

Adam Scarth is shooting Pretty Red Dress, directed

by Dionne Edwards. Jody Lee Lipes is shooting The Good Nurse directed by Tobias Lindholm.

woman’s struggle with sickle cell anaemia, plus the BFI-funded short Buffer Zone, a musical drama about two gay soldiers across enemy lines, directed by Savvas Stavrou. Kia Fern Little has been shooting second unit on the new series of Top Boy. Courtney Bennett is shooting second unit on the currently untitled feature debut of Raine Allen Miller. Jim Jolliffe has wrapped the pilot for an NDA comedy series with Red Bee Media. In commercials, Jaime FeliuTorres shot for the NHS with Merman, and Eoin McLoughlin for home brand spots with director Locky at BBH. James Blann lit pieces with new collaborators Canada. James Watson has been up North working with Chief TV. Richard Mott lit video game ads with Smuggler. Arthur Loveday lit charity commercials for Stella McCartney and fashion pieces with River Island.

Luke Scott filmed ads with Sweet Shop. Ian Murray has been lensing more projects with Irresistible. Martin Hill shot beautiful food ads for Another Film Company, and heartrending NHS pieces on the effects of the pandemic, produced

by HLA. Spike Morris shot sports TVCs with Spindle and Tim Green has been shooting fragrance ads for Dior with Frenzy.

LUX ARTISTS Tom Townend is prepping Joe Cornish’s Netflix series, Lockwood & Co. Justin Brown is shooting Willow, directed by Jonathan Entwistle. Lukasz Zal PSC is getting ready for Jonathan Glazer’s untitled feature. Daniel Landin BSC lensed an Ebay ad directed by Tom Kuntz. Michael McDonough BSC ASC is prepping for Lou, directed by Anna Foerster.

Rob Hardy BSC has wrapped on Men, the new feature from Alex Garland. Giuseppe Favale shot a Jack Daniels spot directed by Ian Pons Jewell.

Nanu Segal BSC is shooting Emily, directed

by Frances O’Connor. James Laxton ASC is preparing for The Lion King follow-up, directed

by Barry Jenkins. Jessica Lee Gagne continues on Ben Stiller’s new series Severance. Guillermo

VISION ARTISTS Benedict Spence continues on medical dramedy This is Going To Hurt, via Sister Pictures, directed

by Lucy Forbes. Jonas Mortensen has wrapped on This Way Up S2, and won the Gold ‘Best Cinematography’ award at the Kinsale Shark Awards for the short religious comedy The Birth Of Valerie Venus, directed by Sarah Clift. JeanNoel Mustonen FSC is shooting a new comedy series with director Pete Riski. Nick Morris is lighting BBC musical drama series Superhoe, directed by Stroma Cairns. Dan Atherton shot the short Beyonce Almighty, with NFTS alumni

ONE COMPANY – CAMERA & LIGHTING spot with director Russ Lamoureux. Jo Willems continues in Toronto with friend and director Francis Lawrence on the adaptation of Windsor McCay’s Little Nemo In Slumberland, starring Jason Momoa, Kyle Chandler, Chris O’Dowd and Marlow Barkley.

Daisy Zhou collaborated with director Charlotte Rutherford for Urban Decay in New York, followed by a Prada spot in LA directed by Martine Syms.

David Lanzenberg has been on S2 of The 26 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Rob Hart ACO is filming BBC1 thriller, The Girl Before, with director is Lisa Brühlmann and the DP is Eben Bolter BSC, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and David Oyelowo. Joe Russell ACO is on Red Gun, the prequel to Game Of Thrones, shooting at Leavesden Studios with DP Fabian Wagner BSC. Peter Robertson Associate BSC ACO is filming Disney’s The Little Mermaid, a remake of the 1989 animated movie, directed is Rob Marshall, shot

with director Colin Bucksey and cinematographer John Brawley. Simon Baker ACO is shooting on second feature film of Downton Abbey with director is Simon Curtis and DP Andrew Dunn BSC. Cosmo Campbell ACO is shooting B-camera/Steadicam on Amazon Studios’ series The Power, directed by Reed Morano, with second unit DP Carlos Catalan.

Matt Fisher ACO has finished shooting the next series of See for Apple TV in Toronto, and is about

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CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 27

STUDENT UNION•LONDON SCREEN ACADEMY

LONDON SCREEN ACADEMY•STUDENT UNION

FILM FACTORY

Main: Sight and sound, students filming at London Screen Academy Below top: The LSA building, Highbury Grove, London N5 Lower: Gaffer, Mark Clayton lighting workshop

By Natasha Block Hicks

O

n Monday 2nd September 2019 over 300 teenagers lined Highbury Grove in Islington, as the first cohort of students to enrol at London Screen Academy (LSA), a brand new sixth form college dedicated to the screen industries. LSA offers a unique and exciting opportunity for keen 16-19 year olds to learn the technical practices and professional behaviours which can lead to a career in the screen arts, in plain sight of their potential future employers, the academy’s many major industry backers and supporters.

“The idea for London Screen Academy started many years ago,” says film producer Eric Fellner CBE, one of LSA’s six founding partners whose collective output has formed a mainstay of British film and television production for the past 30 years. The founding partners are: Fellner and Tim Bevan CBE, co-chairs of Working Title Films, which has produced over 100 films that have grossed $7.5 billion; 007 James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli OBE and Michael G. Wilson OBE; Harry Potter producer David Heyman; and Lisa Bryer, co-founder of Cowboy Films and the producer of The Last King Of Scotland.

“We were motivated by a desperate need to support more diversity and inclusion within the industry,” disclose Broccoli and Wilson. “The creative industries are the fastest growing sector of the UK economy and we wanted to encourage young people to pursue the many opportunities that are available.”

Bryer adds, “We, the founders, felt the way to achieve this was by creating and running a sixth form Academy where students are taught the skills needed to enjoy a fulfilling career within film and Television.”

LSA’s vice principal is Sam Summerson, previously the founding vice principal of the Global Academy in Hayes, London, and a teacher with 14 years of experience, who was bought in as a consultant two years before LSA opened its doors.

“I realised what a great set of founders we were working with and the potential for the vision here,” says Summerson. He joined Charlie Kennard MBE, the founding principle of LSA, a former ambassador of the educational charity, Teach First, who also founded LSA’s partner school, East London Arts and Music (ELAM) with his brother Will Kennard of English electronic music duo Chase & Status.

The London Screen Academy is run by a mix of teaching and industry professionals. Fiona McGuire, a former head of production at Pathé and Revolution Films with 26 years of experience, joined the college in May 2020 to lead the LSA’s industry partnerships team. “I was aware of the school when it was being set up because there was a lot of industry buzz about it,” she recounts.

As a government-funded sixth-form academy, attendance at LSA is free for pupils. All students benefit from subsidised school meals and the loan of an iPad for the duration of their studies, plus certain students receive a free Zone 1-6 travel card, all part of measures intended to lower the financial barriers for those with limited means.

State backing only covers basic costs, so the academy must raise an additional £1.5m per annum to provide the industry-standard kit and facilities, pastoral services and vocational opportunities that are core to the learning experience.

28 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Applicants are expected to demonstrate dedication, diligence and a passion for the screen arts. Achieving a minimum of five GCSEs between grades four to nine is the benchmark for enrolment.

However, some leniency is shown to those who can otherwise demonstrate that they have the necessary aptitude and commitment to be successful at LSA. As this is the only sixth form academy dedicated to the screen arts in the UK it is essential that awareness of LSA’s offering is far-reaching.

“We go out and visit schools in boroughs which have demographics we want to target,” says Summerson, “not just schools, but community groups and other spaces where students or young people meet, such as youth centres and clubs.”

Positive steps are also being taken with the industry gender bias. “What thrills me is seeing how many young women we have here studying technical,” says McGuire.

“It’s so much fun bringing something to life in images,” agrees Iman Ahmed, a Year 13 technical student and aspiring DP, “even if you mess up, you’re still learning.”

In the first year, roughly half of the students’ timetable is dedicated to a foundation in the screen arts, learning across a range of disciplines including screenwriting, production, directing and the art of storytelling. A quarter of the timetable is reserved for a specialism, which could be craft, including art direction and costume, post-production, which offers VFX and animation, and technical which covers camera, lighting and sound.

In their second year the emphasis swaps to the specialism. The remaining hours each week are reserved for studying an AdQual (Additional Qualification), for example A-level English or Maths, and throughout the two years all students have regular exposure to a wider culture of arts and recreation, known as the LSAx Enrichment Programme. Screenings are held weekly, and various pastoral services and mental health programmes ensure that students’ well-being is supported in these formative years.

None of this would be possible without state-ofthe-art facilities and equipment. Central to the school is a 2,700sq/ft sound stage, the A-stage, which also converts into a 260-seat surround sound cinema.

Students have access to four smaller studios as well, which include a Vicon motion capture studio and a

LSA has the potential of making career aspirations come true 4K multi-camera live TV studio, running on a Sony HDC-3500 Studio Camera System, along with greenscreen and autocue.

Students shoot with Sony FX9 cameras, plus Sony NX200s camcorders and Sony A7SII DSLRs mounted with Sony, full-frame, cine zoom lenses or primes ranging from 28 to 50mm. The well-stocked storeroom boasts Sachtler tripods, and for stabilisation there is a choice between Easyrig camera support systems, Tilta rigs and DJI Ronin S gimbals. Industrystandard lighting such as ARRI Skypanel S30-C, ARRI L5-Cs, Dedolight kits and SWIT LED panels are available to inspire LSA’s budding DPs and gaffers.

Such facilities, as well as being teaching tools, create opportunities for students to have hands-on industry experience. For example, an independent production company renting the A-stage for a day for an outside shoot, welcomed two LSA students to support their camera and lighting teams respectively.

More recently the LSA shot its own promotional commercial and had students in supporting roles in every department.

“With 300 Year 13 students to get through a meaningful work experience programme annually,”

continues McGuire, “putting students on shoots that are happening in the building is a real advantage.

My team are here purely to imbibe the school in everything which is industry. We’re training young people to work in this business, and it’s really important that their understanding of the industry is up-to-date and based on practical experience.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has inevitably interfered with the placement scheme for the school’s 2020/21 academic years, but the industry partnership team has remained busy. “We organised a Careers Week event this March and had 46 industry speakers, including a panel from Panalux and Panavision, doing back-to-back Zoom calls with 150 students on each call,” explains McGuire.

The academy organises multiple masterclasses during term time, of which students must attend at least one per week. For example gaffer Mark Clayton, who has headed the lighting team on films such as Last Night In Soho (2021, DP Chung-hoon Chung) and The Mercy (2017, DP Eric Gautier AFC), visited LSA for an afternoon’s workshop showing students how to light a set for a student project.

Students have been treated to a masterclass by DP Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC, and can count James Friend BSC ASC, Zac Nicholson BSC and camera operator Ilana Garrard ACO Assoc BSC among a long list of mentors. Additionally, companies such as Sony have put on training courses at LSA to familiarise students with the school’s newest cameras.

“The whole industry seems to be motivating behind the success of LSA,” marvels Fellner, “it’s been incredible. Right across the board people are giving their time and even offering the potential of employment.”

Students graduate from LSA with a Level 3 Extended Diploma awarded by the University Of The Arts London, the equivalent of three A-levels, plus their AdQual. The programme is designed to give them the necessary tools to progress directly to a career in the screen industries if they wish, or on to further education or an apprenticeship.

This September VMI, ARRI Rental and Panavision will start offering a Camera Prep Technician apprenticeship scheme in collaboration with LSA, a pathway into the industry aimed at all graduating students, from LSA and elsewhere.

A degree is not essential for a lot of roles within the industry. Some of our students will go to university, but what they study at LSA will give them options. This summer sees the inaugural intake of students concluding their studies at the Academy.

“We’re looking at a potential third year for the course,” says Fellner, “and really focusing on apprenticeships and trying to ensure that we can find placements and work for all of these students.”

With studies showing that 83% of young people have struggled with their mental health during Covid pandemic, LSA’s offers a range of well-being and mental health programmes to students, including oneto-one counselling and talking therapy programmes.

McGuire concludes, “We’ve got herds of young people wanting to join the industry and we have skill shortages. LSA has the potential of making the career aspirations of these young people come true.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 29

SMOOTH OPERATORS • PETER ROBERTSON ACO GBCT ASSOCIATE BSC

DANCING WITH CAMERAS

PETER ROBERTSON ACO GBCT ASSOCIATE BSC•SMOOTH OPERATORS Opposite: Look both ways, Peter with DP Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC on Anna Karenina Right: Speeding... fine, on Edge Of Tomorrow Middle: Right direction on Anna Karenina, with Joe Wright (in background).

Bottom: filming Children Of The Wind

By Natasha Block Hicks

It is a credit to Robertson that DPs and directors often call him back for subsequent productions.

As well as Hall, Robertson has been engaged five times by DP Dion Beebe ACS ASC, who initially interviewed him for Edge Of Tomorrow (2014) and with whom he is currently working on Disney’s live action remake of The Little Mermaid at Pinewood Studios.

It is with renowned DP Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC, however, that Robertson has had his most fruitful collaboration: seven productions to date.

One of these, Atonement (2007, dir. Joe Wright) bought Robertson’s operating skill to the attention of a wider lay audience, for a five-and-a-half-minute Steadicam single-take tracking shot set on WW2 era Dunkirk Beach, which also won him a Society Of Camera Operators (SOC) Award for Best Historical Shot.

For anyone unfamiliar with this feat of ingenuity, the scene can be watched in its entirety on the ACO’s website: https://www.theaco.net/ atonement-peter-robertson/ .

It is fitting that a Steadicam shot scored Robertson a nod from his peers. In the late ‘70s, after graduating from the Slade School of Fine Art in London, he was shooting documentaries, but was keen to move into narrative film making.

Then Steadicam’s inventor Garrett Brown caught Robertson’s attention with the ground-breaking tracking shots in The Shining (1980), and he saw a way in.

“I did a Steadicam workshop at the National Film & Television School (NFTS) offered by the National Short Course Training Programme,” reveals Robertson. “It was taken by Ted Churchill who was a legendary American exponent of the Steadicam.

After that I was in-demand, as there were so few people doing it in the UK.” The springboard for his career, Steadicam has remained Robertson’s stalwart companion throughout.

A

s Peter Robertson ACO GBCT Associate BSC completes his first quarter as the new president of the Association Of Camera Operators (ACO), he reflects on the collaborations that have shaped his work, the choreography of camera operating, and ensuring longevity in what is a physically strenuous career.

Tucked away at the bottom of Robertson’s extensive IMDb filmography, beneath the throng of acclaimed productions such as The Nevers (2021, DPs Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC/Ben Smithard BSC), Mary Poppins Returns (2018, DP Dion Beebe ACS ASC) and Bohemian Rhapsody (2018, DP Newton Thomas Sigel ASC) there is a curious anomaly: a modest producer and cinematographer credit for a feature documentary, Children Of The Wind (2013).

“I came across this story a few years ago on Bonaire, a very remote island in the Dutch Caribbean,” explains Robertson, “about three impoverished boys who used windsurf boards discarded by wealthy American tourists to go out and fish among the huge waves. They got spotted 30 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

by some professional American windsurfers and ended-up becoming world champions.”

This temporary revisiting of Robertson’s documentary roots (he made art documentaries for notable figures such as Derek Jarman and the BFI early in his career) has a context. “I was out there windsurfing,” he reveals, “I’m a really keen windsurfer and foil surfer. It’s great for flexibility, balance and proprioception (body’s ability to perceive its own position in space).

“Operating is very physically demanding,” Robertson continues, “you end up in the strangest and the most awkward positions. I’ve spent hours poking a camera through the back seat of a car, or crouching in a bath. Even now on a big budget production I might get dangled out of the window on a wire.”

He describes the first week of shooting on Hot Fuzz (2007, DP Jess Hall BSC ASC), where, shouldering the camera and accessories, he was required to track actor Simon Pegg in a chase sequence.

“As we were setting-up Simon said, ‘I’ve done three months training with the Metropolitan Police

for all of this’ and I replied, ‘Oh, they gave me two days prep last week’,” Robertson laughs. “So to be an operator, you have to train and make sure you’ve got a good physio and a good chiropractor!”

Hot Fuzz was the first of three films that Robertson operated for Hall, before the British DP moved to Los Angeles, the other two being Brideshead Revisited (2008) and Creation (2009), which followed in quick succession.

“Creation was a fascinating film, beautifully-lit by Jess,” says Robertson. Real-life man and wife team Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly were cast as Mr and Mrs Darwin, their closest collaboration as actors. “I was honoured to witness two professionals working so intimately together,” continues Robertson, “one of the great privileges as an operator is to watch a performance come to life.”

Robertson’s respect for a beautifully-oiled, collaborative machine is perhaps an unconscious reflection on his own working style. “As an operator, I often say that you’re really a co-operator,” he states, “you’re working between the grip team, camera team, DP and director. It’s a role of diplomacy”.

“When electronic gimbals first came out a lot of people said, ‘well, that’s the end of Steadicam’,” recalls Robertson, “and there are certain things that the gimbals are more suited for, like awkward, very low shots along the floor. But there is still an electronic interface between your hand and the camera. The Steadicam is the closest thing you can get to handheld for the operator’s hand eye coordination, it’s just a lot steadier, ideal when you’re working with actors in free movements.”

Robertson’s peers recognised him again in 2013, with an Operator’s Award for his work on Anna Karenina (2012), another Wright/McGarvey, director/DP collaboration based on the Leo Tolstoy novel. Wright had imagined a fantastical shape-shifting theatre, deftly realised by production Designer Sarah Greenwood, as the location for the oft-filmed classic, with lighting, backgrounds, characters and camera choreographed and constantly on the move.

One of the great privileges as an operator is to watch a performance come to life “The nice thing from an operator’s point-of-view with Anna Karenina was that it used lots of different techniques and methods,” divulges Robertson.

“Shots that were started on a crane ended-up on a Steadicam or on a dolly and track. The trick was to make that into a coherent whole so that the camera moved seamlessly without drawing attention to itself.”

Robertson reflects on a particular scene where the camera waltzes through a crowded ballroom following Anna Karenina (Keira Knightly) and Count Vronski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). As the illicit lovers’ infatuation builds and Vronski lifts Karenina high, the ballroom seems to magically empty.

“This was done as an in-camera effect,” reveals Robertson, adding that, in contrast to the scene’s gravitas, it was quite comical to shoot. “Whilst I was bringing the camera down to floor level,” he laughs, “out of the corner of my eye, I could see all of these professional dancers in full skirts and starchy uniforms literally falling over each other to get out of the way in time.”

The supporting cast had been extensively drilled by the choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui however, so the shot worked. “It’s always amazing to be at

the centre of that when a director chooses to do something very brave,” says Robertson respectfully.

Wright reunited with McGarvey, Greenwood, Cherkaoui and Robertson at the end of 2020 in Sicily to shoot Cyrano, a musical remake of the classic tale Cyrano de Bergerac.

“Sicily is stunningly beautiful,” marvels Robertson, “and so is the film, from the costume, to the locations, to the camera moves and lighting. I was proud to operate on it.”

Music seems to be a theme for Robertson’s work, from out-and-out musicals such as Cyrano and Mary Poppins Returns, through to rock biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody and Nowhere Boy (2009, DP Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC) to films where the soundtrack is an integral connecting thread, such as Anna Karenina and Atonement.

“I’ve always felt that music really does help as an operator,” comments Robertson. “You can envision the pace that the characters are moving, especially if the music’s woven into the dialogue.

Someone like Joe Wright often has tracks already composed and he will give you the music to work with when you’re operating. That way you can immediately slip in.

“The Little Mermaid is along those lines,” he continues, “we’re working very carefully with precomposed music. The director Rob Marshall works to a beat in his head and is very precise about timing, framing and how the camera moves. It’s really enjoyable.”

As of March 2021, Robertson must balance his operating with spearheading the ACO, the organisation that he helped conceive in 2009.

“Before the ACO there wasn’t a chance for camera operators to share experiences or present a public face,” emphasises Robertson, “now we have a say in the future of our film industry.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 31

ONE TO WATCH•JOMO FRAY

JOMO FRAY•ONE TO WATCH Opposite: On track - DP Jomo Fray Below: Filming Emergency Lower: Young Jomo gets behind the lens All pictures kindly provided by Jomo Fray

When did you discover you wanted to be a cinematographer?

I have a picture of me at age seven telling my parents I wanted to be a filmmaker. I remember the moment, thinking that I had figured out some cosmic exploit.

Through filmmaking, I could live a million lives. I could work on a film about a person whose life was fundamentally different than my own and inhabit their world. Even as a child something about that felt magical. Even now, what I love about filmmaking is that to visualise the story of another, the storytellers must first empathise and understand the characters – they must open their hearts to them and their world.

Where did you train?

Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, for my undergraduate education, and NYU Tisch School Of The Arts for my masters.

FROM THE HEART 32 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

How did you get your first break?

I was fortunate enough to shoot a film called Get Out Fast for director Haley Anderson. She wanted to express the almost explosive energy of youth.

Haley’s vision for the film was so deeply specific, and the story and the approach were so resonant with me as a person/artist.

Coming into the project I had experienced a real test of faith around my approach to creating images and wanted to throw off all the established rules of photography I had focused on for so many years, and just create something that felt like a more reactionary expression. Being loose with my approach, being free.

That form of working really threw me into a place of doubt about my work, and had me constantly questioning if that approach was the right one. It was also the first time I had shot an entire project on celluloid. I wanted to use a mostly naturalistic approach, and really pushed the limits of my exposures. Also, as we weren’t able to get dailies back, I was doing it blind, all of which caused me a lot of stress. I walked away from the project feeling like I had gone too far with the approach and hadn’t done the story and the director’s vision justice, even though it has a lot of Haley and me in it – a lot of our heart.

I look back and feel so proud of the work we did in that way. It would go on to win us the Kodak Vision Award which really opened a lot of doors for me and emboldened me to be open to more nontraditional approaches and really focus deeply on the story, the vision and to trust myself.

What quote/mantra do you live by?

I often think about the Eve Arnold quote, “If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument.”

Empathy and vulnerability are two of our greatest tools within cinematography. I always try and lead with my heart when I shoot. I try to always be compassionate and fully-present to the emotional life of the character.

Ideally I want to be equally vulnerable and equally there with an actor/character as we are shooting a scene. My goal is to translate those vulnerabilities and emotional presence into the camera.

How do you keep yourself match-fit?

I try to create space for my physical/mental health and try and prioritise the relationships in my life when I’m not on-set. You need life to inspire art!

Cinematography is a deeply human art form and necessitates the practitioner to push themselves to be as emotionally open as possible – in my case – as a man, a partner, a son, a friend and a brother. My cinematography is an expression of my journey to be the most open me as possible.

What are your current top albums?

That may be an impossible question for me. The albums that have been in heavy rotation lately are: Vespertine by Bjork; Conversations With Myself

by Bill Evans; Aromanticism by Moses Sumney; Heaven To A Tortured Mind by Yves Tumor; and Neighborhoods by Ernest Hood.

What advice would you give the ‘young you’ just starting out?

“Taste precedes technique.” It’s easy to be hard on yourself starting out because the images you are making pale in comparison to the images that you most admire. That’s natural.

Technique can be cultivated, but taste is a resource that requires far more personal reflection.

This is not to devalue the importance of technique, but to say that early-on it’s natural for your taste to far outpace your ability to replicate similar images.

As an artist, trust and cultivate your taste and let that be your guiding light.

Tell us your greatest extravagance?

A lump of caviar can make even the hardest days on-set melt away. I always keep some stashed away just in case.

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

Vulnerable. Human. Handmade.

Where do you get your visual inspirations?

I find myself inspired from so many things! A novel, a poem, a song, a photography book, or a ray of light that I notice in the sky when I’m seeing my mother after a long time apart. I treat all of these things as totally equal in their ability to inspire a look for a film or a scene.

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

Best: I love those rare moments when everyone is in the pocket – flowing and perfectly in harmony – and you collectively are able to create a moment that feels like it transcends the work of any given individual there. Those moments are what have me completely and totally enraptured by filmmaking. They provide an opportunity at times to be part of something so much larger than myself. To create something with a set of other artists that, when it hits just right, can take on a whole new life all its own!

Worst: The worst moments on-set are when the scene eludes you and the director. You might have a plan, but something just isn’t quite working. In those moments when you step back as a team you can almost always find an interesting opportunity, but the stress of that place is very real.

What is your most treasured cinematographic possession?

I always carry a leather scarf that used to belong to my father whenever I’m on-set.

What was the biggest challenge on your latest production?

Sometimes it’s hard to be bold, hard to take risks!

I am on a feature length film right now, which has a very distinct look and feel, and a very particular visual language born out of that approach. There are moments I find myself worried if the look will work, but also find that those often stand to be some of the most exciting places to be for me on a project.

I feel like success usually sits a few paces away from utter disaster!

Trust and cultivate your taste… let that be your guiding light

What advice do you have for others starting out as cinematographers?

Shoot from the heart. A large turning point in my style and approach happened during my time in film school.

A piece of work I had done had received a particularly hard critique from a mentor for its focus on technique. I think the critique cut so deep at the time because it felt as if it was not only a commentary on my filmmaking, but a call for me to be more open as an artist.

That experience pushed me to think deeper about imagemaking. To push past merely trying to capture an event or a moment from the script, and to truly search the depth of what the director and I were trying to express and give visual life to.

There is an importance to technique and honing that, but there is a limit to what it can achieve on its own. It is important in and so far as your ability to let it go and be fully-present on-set with an open heart.

Although I have far from mastered this mode of shooting, I think it is a road worth travelling. Cultivate an open heart and technique will follow.

Who is your agent?

Ann Murphy and Amy Grgich at ICM. URL/website address? www.jomofray.com Filmography (so far): Random Acts Of Flyness (2018, second unit), The Underground Railroad (2018, second Unit), Selah And The Spades (Sundance, 2019), Port Authority (Cannes, 2019) and No Future (Tribeca, 2020) Accolades: 2016 – Kodak Vision Award 2017 – Project Involve Cinematography Fellow; ARRI Volker Bahnemann Award for Outstanding Cinematography; Roger & Chaz Ebert Foundation Fellowship at the Independent Spirit Awards 2018 – Roger Ebert Fellowship at the Sundance Institute; Special Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival; 25 New Faces Of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 33

FIRST COW•CHRIS BLAUVELT

CHRIS BLAUVELT•FIRST COW Main: Milk float - John Magaro and Co. Below: John Magaro and Cow Right: Director Kelly Reichardt Photos: Allyson Riggs Courtesy of A24

MILK FLOAT

By Iain Blair

saloon, using some smaller Fresnels for pools of light.

There was no way we could afford to light and shoot the cow in a big field or have these guys running around in the forest at night in these huge landscapes.

It was a new challenge for me, one that I spent most of my time trying to crack, and we didn’t have the breakthrough until a couple of days before shooting.

That was super-scary but, as a cinematographer, it’s one of my proudest accomplishments, as I’d told Kelly and everyone, ‘There’s no way we can shoot day-for-night and cut it against night-for-night. Those scenes have to be separated. But by week one we were already shooting day-for-night into night-fornight, and it was working so well.

I worked very closely with Sean Goller, my DIT, right from the start of prep and testing. We set up a theatre in the house we were staying at in Portland, and every day I’d get back from scouting and he’d have spent the whole day working with the test footage on the different looks in-camera with various lenses and filters. And we’d also work on our recipe in DaVinci Resolve with the LUTs, and make custom LUTs for each scenario, a total of six.

A

fter cutting his teeth as an assistant and camera operator on films for David Fincher, Noah Baumbach, Spike Jonze and Tom Ford, Christopher Blauvelt shot his first feature as a cinematographer, the multiaward-winning Meek’s Cutoff, for indie auteur Kelly Reichardt, back in 2010. Since then, he’s been Reichardt’s go-to DP and they’ve collaborated on all her subsequent films - Night Moves (2013), Certain Women (2016) and First Cow - which have cemented her reputation as one of the most distinctive voices in movies today, thanks to her hands-on approach (she’s also edited her last six films), and ultra-realistic, unsentimental, gritty and minimalist style.

And that austere material - mostly co-written with novelist Jonathan Raymond - is, appropriately enough for the outlier auteur, mainly about proverbial outsiders and enigmatic figures, wanderers adrift in the American west, often alone in their endless and mysterious journeys across timeless landscapes, all beautifully rendered by Blauvelt’s spare yet rich cinematography.

In her latest film, First Cow, Reichardt once again travels back in time to the Pacific Northwest, and evokes an authentically hardscrabble, early 19th century way of life. A taciturn loner and skilled cook, ‘Cookie’ (John Magaro), has travelled west and joined a group of fur trappers in Oregon Territory, although he only finds a true connection with a Chinese immigrant, ‘King-Lu’ (Orion Lee), also seeking his fortune.

Soon Cookie and Lu collaborate on a successful baking business, making blueberry clafoutis, although its longevity is reliant upon the clandestine participation of a prized milking cow, the only one in the area, owned by a wealthy landowner nearby.

From this simple premise, Reichardt again shows her distinct talent for depicting the peculiar rhythms of daily living and ability to capture the immense, unsettling quietude of rural America in the early 1800s.

34 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Here, Blauvelt, whose credits also include The Bling Ring (2013) for Sofia Coppola and Emma (2020) for Autumn de Wilde, talks about his long collaboration with Reichardt, and his approach to the cinematography and lighting on First Cow. Kelly has told me that she spends a lot of time with you in prep, going over all her ideas that she’s collected in a book she always assembles. Tell us about that process and how you start finding the right look for the film.

The luxury of doing so many projects with Kelly is that I hear from her at conception, and on First Cow that was 18 months before we actually shot the movie.

We went on a hike and she broke down the entire script for me, with all the details of how it should look and feel. Then she sends me photos and tons

The result looks very filmic, a lot of people have asked me what film stock I used on First Cow! of reference material, like films to watch, and she compiles these amazing books full of everything from sculpture and paintings to films grabs, so I’m really steeped in all her ideas. That really is a luxury, as you don’t often get that when you start a new film with a director.

Kelly also told me that you both make a very detailed shot list together - which she then ignores during the shoot!

(Laughing) That’s true! It’s really an exercise to make sure we’re both in sync. We painstakingly go through every scene, every line, and discuss how we’re going to shoot it. ‘Is that a dolly move?’ ‘What’s that frame like?’ ‘What lenses are we using?’ It’s incredibly detailed, but then on the day she doesn’t really need it. I carry it with me, but often it’s for my crew - such as, ‘Today, we need 200-feet of dolly track’. Stuff like that. And sometimes it might remind us of a shot we’d discussed in detail, but we also leave things open to see what the actors might do, and what the sun and shadows are telling us. So it becomes second nature.

It’s built into our DNA by then.

How long did you spend scouting, and how important was that?

A long time, and it was crucial as First Cow was all shot on location. I was in prep for five weeks, but we didn’t stop scouting until a week before we started

shooting. The characters are always on the move in this film, and it was very important to Kelly that the geography, and the plants and trees, all changed appropriately as well. You could probably get away with shooting it in one forest, but we would never let that happen. Cookie and Lu’s journey and all the details around that had to be real.

You shot Meek’s Cutoff on 35mm, then worked on Certain Women in 16mm, and you shot this digitally. Was that because of the budget, and do you miss film?

The budget was definitely a factor. The first film we did digitally was Night Moves, and that was a big challenge as we both love shooting with film so much, and we miss it. But after that Kelly was far more open to digital, and it also gave her advantages - like more time shooting actors without having to reload. And to me, the result looks very filmic. In fact, a lot of people have asked me what film stock I used on First Cow! What cameras and lenses did you use, and why?

I shot with the ARRI Alexa Mini at 2.8K ARRIRAW, with series two Cooke Panchros and Tiffen Glimmer Glass #2 or #3, depending on the backlight, contrast in the shot, and so on. Early on, I tested various cameras, including the Red and the Sony Venice, but we narrowed-in on the Alexa Mini for this. I really like the sensor. For camera movement we had a dolly with track, a Ronin 2 gimble rig, plus a jib arm for one shot.

You used day-for-night. Tell us about that challenge and working with your DIT. That was the big challenge of the whole shoot, and another thing that was informed by our budget restrictions. We didn’t have a big lighting package - mostly lots of Fresnels (650w, 1K, 2K, 5K, and 10K’s), LEDs (ARRI SkyPanels and S360’s) for overhead interior hutches, our ghost hutch and the

DIRECTOR KELLY REICHARDT TALKS ABOUT SHOOTING FIRST COW How did you collaborate with Chris Blauvelt on the look you wanted?

This was the most pre-production time we’ve ever had together, and Chris was able to do a lot of scouting and testing. It was also the first time we were able to build the interiors around how we wanted to shoot them.

How did you set about lighting all the interiors?

It was all dictated by the period - so all you have to motivate the lighting by is sunlight, fire, candles and moonlight. And those limitations guided all aesthetic considerations. ‘Does it look real?’ ‘Does it look like a shaft of moonlight, or sunlight?’

What was the most difficult scene to shoot and why?

It was Lu’s cliff jump, because it was such a huge expanse, and also a stunt - or our version of a stunt, as we never use slo-mo or anything to glorify a moment like that. We had one shot of the two guys running into frame, then panned around as we briefly lost Lu from the image, before the stunt double ran into frame. It’s a very old-school ‘cowboy flop’ stunt, and we used day-for-night in that shot.

How did you get that hazy look in the scene where Cookie’s recovering from his head injury after his fall?

That’s another old-school trick! Kelly wanted a kind of dreamy look, which was a bit out of our wheelhouse. Cookie was in this ‘ghost cottage’ with the image from his POV, so we don’t even know if the people taking care of him are real or just imaginary. I used Vaseline on a filter in front of the lens - it was our version of a VFX shot!

Tell us about doing the DI at Harbor Picture Company with colourist Joe Gawler.

It was my first time working with Joe, and he was incredible. During testing Sean and I would send our look to Joe, and he’d create the actual software with the LUTs that would go into the camera. That’s such a great workflow, because when you go to post and your final DI, it’s all the same language, as Joe did it to begin with. I never want to do another digital movie without that now.

Did the film turn out the way you hoped?

Yes. Maybe even better. I’m very proud of it.

Part of the inspirations for the look were the American Old West paintings of Frederic Remington (1861-1909), with their muddy greens and blues. The whole team, the production designer, costume designer and Chris - all worked towards that. We watched films like Satyajit Ray’s The Apu Trilogy (1955-59, DP Subrata Mitra), about a peasant family, which was shot very low to the ground. I also did my usual book, which acts as a visual guide that goes through the whole film, scene-by-scene.

Then I sat down with Chris and we looked at my book, went through the script, and worked out how we wanted to shoot it, and started the shot list. There’s a lot of foraging and digging and stuff close to the ground in First Cow, especially at the beginning. We had a lot of pans and tilts, and we shot in 4:3, a square format that we also used in Meek’s Cutoff, which really suited the story and the overall look - both the exteriors with the tall trees, and the interiors which I wanted to feel simple and intimate.

How tough was the shoot?

It was 30 days as usual, and it was great.

We shot it all on location in Oregon in the fall, so it was cold and rainy, but you could dress for that. It was the first time we’d ever shot five-day weeks, which was fantastic. We had time to think a bit and visit locations at the weekend.

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 35

BETTER DAYS•JING-PIN YU

JING-PIN YU•BETTER DAYS

SCHOOL’S OUT

Opposite page: close up DP Jing-Pin Yu with Director Derek Tsang Centre and right: Dongyu Zhou as Chen Nian in Better Days Photos courtesy of Goodfellas Pictures/ Fat Kids Production

By Ron Prince

D

irected by Hong Kong-based Derek Tsang, the suspenseful Chinese feature Better Days, follows a high school girl, Chen Nian, struggling with severe bullying and the pressure of college entrance exams.

Her life becomes intertwined with Xiao Bei, a mysterious teenage outcast and petty criminal, and a tender love story begins as he seeks to protect her from psychological and physical abuse.

Due to the immense popularity of its leads, Zhou Dongyu and Jackson Yee, the hard-hitting melodrama became a pop culture sensation in China, as well as a box office hit, grossing over US $230million. The film was Hong Kong’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021, with Taiwanese cinematographer Fisher Jing-Pin Yu praised for the simple, unassuming and realistic nature of her photography. Fisher includes DP Hoyte van Hoytema FSF NSC ASC amongst her cinematographic inspirations, and counts Ming Ming (2006, dir. Susie Au) and Candy Rain (2008, dir. Chen Hung Yi) amongst her many credits.

Better Days was shot on location over the course of two months, from July to September 2018, in the sprawling municipality of Chongqing in southwestern China, where the Yangtze and Jialing rivers converge, and where many air raid shelters and artillery batteries remain from Sino-Japanese conflicts.

Please tell us a little about yourself?

I live in Taipei, Taiwan. I didn’t study or train cinematography through any institution or academy, but I loved cinema as a student. I began my career with stills photography, and was intrigued by the dark room - it is where you can make something with nothing, from a sheet of white paper, and create images that float in front of your eyes.

How did you get involved with Derek?

We first met for his film Soulmate (2016). I always follow gut feelings or intuition, and at our initial meeting I brought along a visual reference that the first reading of the script brought to my mind - a book called Journeys by Japanese photographer Yoshihiko Ueda. Derek trusted me and my aesthetic choices for that film, and we have since worked together on other features and several commercials.

36 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Derek and I have a mutual understanding and trust on aesthetics. When it comes to the technical part, he is entirely hands-off and gives me complete freedom. He will say how many shots are in a scene, and then entrusts to me entirely about the choice of lens, framing and lighting.

What was your first reaction to the script for Better Days?

I was very excited about how it looked at humanity and its undulations, the education system in China, bullying a school, teenage conflicts and how the authority of the police is torn between reason and law. I felt the script contained many layers about modern society in China that we witness, but which are not spoken about, especially through the medium of cinema.

If the camera is a paintbrush, I want to be the one holding it, with soul What were your initial conversations with Derek about the look of this film?

From the beginning - from understanding the script, observing the rehearsals and identifying the pulse of the film - we both agreed it would be shot handheld. Derek showed me Andrea Arnold’s film, American Honey (2016, DP Robbie Ryan BSC ISC), and wanted Better Days to be shot in that sort of documentary style, with a light, agile, fluid and realistic manner to depict the intimacy between the characters.

A lighting reference I shared with Derek was the work of the Dutch artist Viviane Sassen. We also referred to many films from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Each region its own cinematographic style, and we wanted to find a visual style of its very own for Better Days. We constantly questioned ourselves and did all sorts of tests, trying to achieve different depths to the image and a cinematographic language dedicated to Asian skin and its contours.

Please give details about your selection cameras and lenses?

As this was to be handheld, we shot with ARRI Alexa Minis, framing in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Prior to filming we did camera tests with Cooke S5, Zeiss Super Speed Prime (MK2) and Vantage One Lens T1 Prime spherical lenses, to see how they could support the handheld rhythm of shooting our young characters. I went with the Vantage One lenses as I felt I could use the shallow depth-of-field you get by shooting wide-open at T1, to reveal the uncertainties and perplexities our characters’ faces, as if there is no future nor past. I used a LensBaby for one scene in which our lead actress is badly bullied and has her hair cut off.

Of course, our focus puller had difficulties following the action, because not only were we

shooting handheld, but we also didn’t mark or do blocking with our actors either, because I didn’t want to restrict their movement.

The cameras were generally rated at 800ISO, and sometimes up to 2500 ISO depending on the lighting of the scene, such as a dark interiors or night sequences. I used Tiffen Black Pro-Mist filters throughout production, as my intention was to reduce highlights, lower the overall contrast and add a softer feel to the image. The cameras, lenses and lighting equipment were supplied by U-Gear in Shanghai.

Did you operate the camera?

Yes, I always do. If the camera is a paintbrush, I want to be the one holding it, with soul.

What was your thinking behind the film’s colour palette?

I didn’t get OCD or fixated with the colour palette, and didn’t document it exactly. Even if I had recorded the colour palettes before filming, they would have constantly changed due to the lighting of the city and the characters’ emotions. Generally, I would know in advance there was an overall colour we wanted for particular sequences. For example, for night scenes my instincts told me that red was good, because it’s dangerous and it suited the mood better.

Initially, we devised our own LUT with a colourist, but didn’t use it on-set because it was not well-tested due to the timeframe. Also, it was not stable from one lighting situation to the next.

Instead I used LUTs from ARRI’s Look Library, which has a massive variety of colours. At that time, we were the first to use LUTs on-set whilst shooting because it was widely not practiced in China, Taiwan or Hong Kong.

For the school scenes we didn’t want the palette to be ‘bubble gum’ and look like TV shows, such as Asian Idol, which mostly use white, over-exposed, clean colours. So I chose a blue/greenish LUT to add more realism. In those scenes we also adhered subtle yellow gels to the windows to really break away from that commonly-recognised bubble gum look. We did the final grade with David Rivero Martin at Feelfine in Beijing.

Were there any challenges for you with the locations?

Although Chongqing is a very big, metropolitan city, we tried to achieve the feeling that the story is set in a much smaller place, to help portray the intimacy of the story and make the audience aware that this subject matter could happen anywhere in China.

Chongqing has no straight roads, it’s like a maze, with many flyovers that look like neural connections, and this helped with the complexity of the story. Plus the city is built on mountains. You can stand on the fifth floor of one building, and look across to the 15th floor of next building, which visually is quite surreal.

How much was shot in natural light?

About 80% with lighting, and 20% natural lighting.

Even in natural light, we would still use some lighting support, especially for long scenes for the lighting to be more stable. We used HMIs for daylight, plus HMIs with an additional flood light, which I especially

like because it’s softer, with less sharp edges, and can reflect the character’s inner world better. We used ARRI Sky Panels for most of the indoor scenes.

Please tell us about your crew?

We typically worked seven-day-weeks, followed by a rest day, before recommencing production. The camera operators on the second unit were Tseng Wei Yu and Saba Mazloum, with Yang De Jun the first AC. My gaffer was Wang Wen Bing. Overall they were very reliable and, since most of the film was handheld, they were my second pairs of eyes making sure I didn’t fall or get obstructed.

What was the biggest challenge on this production?

The scene where the main actress endures dramatic bullying, as the others cut her hair, hit her and shoot it all on their mobiles. There were two points-of-view that were inte rcut - one side the bullies, the other the victim. I had to feel both sides of their emotions. We didn’t rehearse for this scene, and we only had one opportunity because Zhou had her haircut for real.

I was the camera operator and did the focus on my own to capture that scene.

Did you learn anything new about yourself, and skills on this production?

We spent a lot of time discussing the script with three screenwriters, our director and producer. We even shared our own personal experiences about bullying others and being bullied. I don t normally, attend all of the script discussions prior to shoot, because I think it s important to keep a distance and remain objective. So, taking part on all the script discussions so tightly with the creators of this film was an interesting one for me.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Don’t fear failure. Be aware, be attentive and observe. Really look around - all you need is curiosity.

What are you thoughts about the opportunities for women to become cinematographers?

It’s getting better, more and more woman are now in the technical departments in the film industry, but I have never thought of myself being limited because of my gender.

Thanks to Karena Lam for translation assistance.

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 37

ROMEO & JULIET•TIM SIDELL

TIM SIDELL•ROMEO & JULIET Opposite: Behind the mask - DP Tim Sidell Lower: Filming by candle litght Below: Getting close to the on stage action Lower: Moon shot - Josh O’Connor as Romeo Photos: Rob Youngson/SKY

The lighting would evolve into something more crafted, more dramatic and more expressive

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE

By Natasha Block Hicks

In Spring 2020, the UK’s National Theatre had Jessie Buckley and Josh O’Connor lined up to play the eponymous lovers for a summer season of Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet when Covid-19 forced the organisation to rethink the production along more filmic lines.

R

ather than pursuing it and recording a regular live stage performance,” recounts DP Tim Sidell, who was approached to take on the project, “they decided to experiment, using the NT’s Lyttelton proscenium theatre as a filming location, within which a fictional theatre company find and establish the play.

“The National Theatre frequently broadcasts ‘live’ performances of its productions via satellite, to cinemas and arts centres around the world. However, as an introductory note to me the producer David Sabel said, ‘this is absolutely not NT Live’.”

Sidell was intrigued. His career to date has included an eclectic mix of shorts, commercials, video installations, independent feature films such as gritty Britflick Two For Joy (2018), and television dramas including the recent I Hate Suzie (2020), co-created by and starring Billie Piper.

“I’ve always been keen to operate in a hybrid area,” Sidell continues, “where there is something about the form of the piece that can be found. That really drew me to this production of Romeo And Juliet.”

There was more. “The idea was to keep the same actors, have Simon Godwin the renowned theatre director stay on, and to use the NT’s equipment and staff wherever possible, only bringing in minimal film crew for the shoot,” reveals Sidell. “It was a very inventive and bold decision for Rufus Norris, the director of the National Theatre. Many of their staff were furloughed and I was truly humbled by the readiness of the technicians that remained in helping us achieve what we wanted to do.”

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Using slightly wider lenses, getting closer, doing clean singles so the audience gains maximum access to the characters The new team set about refining their concept.

“Simon together with Emily Burns, the writer who adapted the Shakespeare play, came up with a system of ‘levels’,” explains Sidell. “Level Zero would be: we are observing rehearsal. Of course, we’re not, because it’s a fictional film from start-to-finish, but the idea is that it’s a bit more documentary-like when it’s Level Zero.

“Then there’s Level One, where they start to establish their characters and develop the piece. A good illustration of this is an early sequence where they are play fighting with sticks and then suddenly one of them has a knife and someone gets cut. That’s an elevation from Level Zero to Level One. Finally, Level Two is as ‘fully-realised’ as we could muster: there’s more set, it’s lit, costumes are complete.

Initially the idea was that the levels would go up and down but in practice it was more of an ongoing escalation.”

Such a film has few peers in its genre. “For me, a key reference was John Cassavetes’ Opening

Night (1977, DP Al Ruban),” says Sidell, “which is a fictionalised film in a theatre space. It has this reactive quality that Cassavetes always pushed for and which worked perfectly for the Level Zero end of what we were doing.

“David and Simon cited Louis Malle’s Vanya On 42nd Street (1994, DP Declan Quinn ISC) with Julianne Moore,” continues Sidell. “It is all about a theatre company making a Chekhov play. It starts a bit like a documentary, then elevates into a more fully-realised production that is being filmed and a film in itself, so the context was almost identical. The direct reference to the stage and concert apparatus in Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense (1994, DP Jordan Cronenweth ASC) also provided a useful discussion point,” he adds.

Godwin, vastly experienced with directing for theatre, was directing for the screen for the first time. Sidell drew on his former experience teaching undergraduate cinematography to take Godwin through some of the key filmmaking concepts in support of their preparation process.

“I’d go through film grammar, shot type, scene structure, camera movement and get Simon to look through lenses on the viewfinder,” he explains. “I was keen to pin everything on the idea of subjectivity and to establish that discussion with him. Ahead of principle photography we shot a couple of scenes as a trial and I found that Simon would instinctively watch the actors during a take. But as soon as I sat him in front of the monitor to shift his focus to what the camera sees he did everything through the monitor.

He is very attuned and became an exceptional feature director on his first outing.”

Sidell also pushed to do fully-lit costume and make-up tests with a complete camera package, to get the theatre crew familiar with the process. “I wanted to demonstrate my visual interpretation of the ‘levels’ so that Simon and I could have a detailed dialogue about it,” he says, “but also so that those from a theatre background, especially the HODs, could see their work on-camera. Plus I was keen for everyone to witness the pressure that comes with shooting a scene to a schedule.”

For ease and immediacy, with a shoot lasting only 17 days, Sidell operated the camera himself.

“At Level One, I’m shooting more handheld, with slightly longer lenses, over shoulders and through faces,” he says. “This gives a sense that we are reacting to something that’s happening. Up the levels this evolves to a more composed, and what I call ‘grippy’, approach. The camera may be static, or mounted on a dolly track or crane. We’re using slightly wider lenses, getting closer, doing clean singles so that the audience gains maximum access to the characters.”

Sidell employed the Sony Venice camera, provided by Movietech, for the shoot. “Being fullframe, the Venice has more play in terms of depthof-field,” he says, “but is also incredible at capturing colour and skin tones. There’s an emotional quality to the way skin is rendered. When I was grading with my regular colourist Duncan Russell at Technicolor Soho on Baselight, the detail we found in the imagery was just astounding. There are particular moments with Josh and Jessie where you really feel how they’re feeling through the colour and texture of their skin.

“Lens-wise, I used mostly Canon K35s,” continues Sidell. “They are very small, light and fast, but also have a subtle vintage quality, which is kinder to faces and skin in a simple and elegant way. One thing I was keen to accent, however, was the Capulet residence. I shot all those scenes with either dolly track or a manually-operated Technocrane, using Cooke S7s to give it a certain austerity and snap.”

With lighting, Sidell needed to figure out how to take a theatre stage with its hard spots and make it behave like a film studio with soft and controllable light. “I brought in my regular gaffer Sam Alberg to support me,” he says, “the way he embraced the scenario, won over the National Theatre stage and lighting crew, and integrated the whole package, was exceptional.

“For Level Zero, we wanted to create the idea that there was a sort of a fairly non-descriptive fluorescent light source above,” continues Sidell, “an unloved form of light, but not too aggressive. The lighting would then evolve for later sequences into something more crafted, more dramatic and more expressive. It needed to be quickly controllable because of the tight schedule.”

Sidell and Alberg came up with a huge technical plan of soft boxes, formed of the in-house fixtures alongside other sources, keeping outsourced film lighting to a minimum.

“I thought, ‘there’s no way we’re going to achieve all this’,” remarks Sidell, “but we showed it to the lighting technicians, and they just said, ‘no problem!’. In particular Huw Llewellyn, Michael Harpur, Jody Robinson and Danny O’Neill were all instrumental, enormously helpful and very fast. The lighting programmer Laura Choules was also brilliant from the outset. Little did I know, but she was making notes on everything Sam and I were experimenting with, and had programmed the desk so she could recreate it at the touch of a button. We were able to do quite substantial lighting transitions very quickly and easily, something I’ve not been able to do in the past on that sort of scale. I was actually able to achieve more with their resources and their expertise than I would have been able to for a like-budget project that was pure film industry.”

The differing professional culture of theatre has left a lasting impression on Sidell.

“The way a theatre company can discuss things is mind-boggling in the best possible way,” he laughs, “and although there were instances where I felt conclusions needed to be reached, the fairness and the openness is incredible. With Romeo And Juliet, there was this enormous sense of shared ownership, which felt wonderful. That’s something that’s come from theatre.”

Romeo And Juliet is now screening on Sky Arts.

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TAKE SCENE SLATE•AERIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY

AERIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY•TAKE SCENE SLATE Opposite: In flight movie - XM2 Pursuit Below: Drone alone

CIRCLES IN THE AIR

By John Keedwell GBCT UAV Pilot

In 1889 William Friese-Greene filed his patent for what is widely regarded as being the first demonstrable moving image camera, although it was never a commercial success.

In 1890 Thomas Alva Edison released the Kinetoscope and Kinetograph, a successful practical film apparatus, along with the 35mm film format invented by his Scottish employee William Kennedy Dickson. Cinema was born.

Some 13 years later, in December 1903, the Wright brothers flew their first powered and sustained flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, after many failed attempts by other inventors, including Edison. Manned flight was born.

These individual and magnificent inventions have shaped our modern world. We can travel the globe in jet aircraft, watch in-flight movies and think nothing of their origins. But when these are combined, in the form of aerial cinematography, we can see the world in incredible ways.

It was, of course, many decades before the elements of flight and cameras were fully combined in any cinematographic form, as cameras were extremely large and the early aircraft were extremely fragile with limited capacity for extra weight. Many other inventions were needed to make it viable, with many tricky technological issues to be overcome, before the combination of flight and cameras became what it is today.

Of course, flying a camera and operating to frame a shot of another moving object are not easy, whether you are operating on the ground or from another aircraft. It needs a great perception of 3D space and speed, plus a lot of experience and skill.

Old school Before the gyro-stabilised camera rig was invented it was common on a documentary or movie to make a helicopter shot by the operator sitting on the floor secured with a sturdy safety strap, the helicopter door open and suspending the camera from a cord.

It can still be a method of getting a shot when a rig isn’t available or viable, such as working above a ship from a helicopter.

But the technology has advanced massively in the last 20 years, with the ingenuity of the inventors giving a greater freedom to create moving aerial sequences that were never before possible. One of the greatest challenges with aerial work is the inherent movement of the craft being suspended by a column of air pushing downwards to counter its weight and the effect of gravity. There is always going to be turbulence, and other atmospheric effects will affect the camera platform in unpredictable ways, so this movement will be transmitted to the camera unless it is isolated in some way. Enter the gimbal.

Gimbals Gimbals were first described by Greek inventor Philo of Byzantium in 280BC, so they are not a new concept. But powered gyro-stabilised gimbals are. And they are an essential part of aerial cinematography. Gimbals have been used on ships for many years to keep the compass level, along with tables and even the clock (or chronometer), as their mechanisms are sensitive to a ship’s constant movements.

Yet these were ‘passive’, gravity balanced systems, which simply keep the platform horizontal.

The random movements caused by changes of airflow on an airborne craft need to be ‘ironed out’ and stabilised automatically, leaving the camera operator to operate the camera from a stable platform.

Gimbals create a platform that is stable in all directions and need to have 6-axis stabilisation, pan/tilt/yaw each in both directions. The most popular for helicopters is the Shotover range to suit different markets, and they are popular because

40 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

they have a fully-modular system allowing operators to easily utilise multiple camera and lens combinations.

The Helicopter Girls Formed by Emma Boswell and Katya Nelhams-Wright in 2011, The Helicopter Girls is a specialist provider of drone aerial film services. Operating internationally, the company uses cutting-edge UAV and stabilisation technologies to craft close aerials for film and television.

“Our team really care about the work we do,” says Boswell. “We operate the safest, most reliable aircraft and stabilisation systems on the market and are proud to announce a brand new advanced level of super-heavy lift payload capability with our latest aircraft.

“Our crew is built on experience, with expert pilots and aerial camera operators who have thousands of hours experience behind them. We combined with John Marzano at Marzano Films in 2018 to include the additional capability to shoot from helicopters.”

Safety is a high priority, and the firm is a congested-area specialist, trusted by London Film Offices, Film London, CAA, NATS, local councils and 1st Option Safety, and carrying £10m in public liability.

“Behind-the-scenes we plan shoots meticulously, working with productions to make sure every aspect goes smoothly, from testing bespoke camera payloads in advance to attaining international permissions and working with location safety,” adds Boswell.

Credits: 1917, Downton Abbey, Bridgerton, 355, Death On The Nile, Maleficent 2, Hobbs & Shaw, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, The Apprentice and Ross Kemp Inside Barlinnie. www.thehelicoptergirls.com

Drones When it comes to drones, a different set of factors needs to be considered. The propellers are controlled by tiny electric motors powered by highcapacity batteries, with the operator/pilot on the ground looking at the image via a downlink. Many technologies need to work seamlessly together or the drone becomes unstable. A good GPS system, excellent gyro-stabilised gimbals, light airframe, good communications to and from the drone, a battery system that gives good flight time and warns of low power, and the potential to carry heavier cameras and lens combinations are all vital.

Limitations Drone and helicopters can in some ways overlap and do a similar job, yet each has its own set of limits. For example, a helicopter cannot fly from a street scene and in through the window of a building.

The take-off position is always logged by the drone, and it will fly back and automatically land if the radio signal is lost. However, when launched from a moving boat, the take-off position is not really ideal for an auto-landing! This means flying-in and landing manually, often with a ‘hand catch’ by an

assistant, can become necessary. Having a pilot with manual flying experience is one of the top tips from Emma Boswell of UK-based drone specialist The Helicopter Girls.

Whilst they are certainly versatile, drones cannot carry a camera to high altitudes above ground – 120m/400ft is the normal flight ceiling. Nor can they travel out of sight of the operator around the back of a building or mountain, as radio control will be lost. For drones, the flying restrictions often mean skyscraper shots are not normally possible.

These days drones are capable of 80kg payloads or more, but that then brings them into another category of flying weight, and some more restrictions by the authorities. It is all about picking the tool for the job.

Experience Directors buy experience in their technicians, and that can’t be faked when it comes to aerial DPs and operators. ”I fly with systems I have personally built, so if we have an issue I can land the helicopter, fiddle around and know what is the likely issue and, more often than not, fix it literally in the field,” says UK aerial cinematographer John Marzano.

And The Helicopter Girls concur. “You need to know the camera rig/or helicopter inside out, and ideally you have built it yourself,” says Boswell. “My business partner, Katya builds our drones and we know every wire and connection on each machine.

If it goes wrong, we can most likely fix it on the set.”

Getting started Helicopters are expensive to buy and maintain, so for any one with aerial filming ambitions, it not just a case of buying one for £2m and strapping a £600K Shotover camera rig to it.

“The helicopter side is very difficult,” says Jeremy Braben of Helicopter Film Services.

“Understandably, the hardest part is hands-on training of new people, yet we need to do that, and have greater diversity coming up through the ranks.

There are very few female operators in the business – we have one new trainee for example – but that needs to improve. We need more people show a passion, whoever they are, as there are very few who want to commit to a specialism.

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TAKE SCENE SLATE•AERIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY

AERIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY•TAKE SCENE SLATE Opposite: John Marzano at work Opposite, lower: Alexa Manta rig This page: Ingenuity on Mars Photo: NASA

Helicopter Film Services Jeremy Braben Associate BSC GBCT has been a cameraman and DP for over 34 years.

He started in news and current affairs, before moving into documentary, music videos and drama, and then specialising almost exclusively in aerial cinematography since 1990.

Braben founded Helicopter Film Services in 1993, which now operates from an 8,000sq/ ft hangar HQ near London for productions shooting worldwide. In the USA the company works with partners, Wolfe Air Aviation, based in California.

“Offering both drone and helicopter filming services gives us the unique ability to give the customer an unbiased view on which is the best equipment for the job,” says Braben.

“We have some of the best drone equipment available – from a small Mavic for recce’s, through to DJI Inspire Pros up to 20kg, 42kg and even 80kg Ultra Heavy-lift drones capable of carrying the ARRI Alexa 65 or even film cameras on motion pictures.

“We are now one of only two companies in the world who own and operate the NSI Vectorvision periscope and nose camera for the Lear Jet. We operate a specially-modified Lear 35A capable of speeds of 400mph, which is famous for its role in shooting commercials with the legendary Concorde for British Airways.”

Key equipment includes the Cerberus 3-camera, Typhon 6-camera and 360 Aerial arrays, and LIDAR integrated large format VFX system for the Shotover K1.

Credits: The Crown, Black Widow, Wonder Woman 1984, The Midnight Sky, Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw, Downton Abbey, Avengers: Endgame and Darkest Hour. www.helicopterfilm.tv 42 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

“But don’t expect to be an aerial DP straight away. Come in as an assistant, learn the kit inside out, and then, when we work on jobs, the trainee can take on some of the easier shots. That way they build up solid experience.”

XM2 Pursuit has a large R&D department and trains people from the ground up. The company’s Aaron Corera, originally a university engineering graduate, loved the idea of the business, and knocked on the door to offer his services. He started sweeping the floor, and then learnt huge amounts by watching the technicians prep the gear and go off to shoot. There is no substitute for practical knowledge and experience.

Buying a commercially-produced drone is another route in to the business of aerial cinematography, and whilst it is less expensive than a helicopter, there is still considerable cost for the heavy-lift drones needed today, and owning one

Marzano Films Marzano Films is a UK-based aerial filming company offering its services to productions worldwide. The company was started in 2014 by John Marzano Associate BSC GBCT, a highly-respected aerial and drone filming director. In 2018, the company teamed-up with The Helicopter Girls and started a collaboration that has shown extraordinary success on some of Hollywood’s biggest movie productions including Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw and Disney’s Artemis Fowl.

Marzano and his team take great pride in providing a complete package of firstclass aerial and drone equipment and highly-experienced and dedicated crew for productions, UK and worldwide. Some of the company’s aerial camera capabilities include the Cineflex Elite, the award-winning Mini Eclipse and Shotover camera systems.

“Our safety record is exemplary, and we have never had a client who has been anything less than delighted with not only the comprehensive and hassle-free service, but also the great imagery we have captured,” he says. “Thanks to our partnership with The Helicopter Girls, we also have a range of superb drones which can be underslung or overslung to capture the action from below or above.”

With well over 100 Oscar and BAFTA Award-winning films and many television dramas, documentaries and commercials credits, the depth of knowledge and experience the team can provide is hard to rival.

Credits: No Time To Die, 1917, Black Panther, Captain America: The First Avenger, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw, Spectre and The Martian. www.marzanofilms.com

required the skills of the pilot to bring the suspended rig to a stop without it swinging around.

What makes a great shot?

Often the ‘Eye Of God’ shot can give an overall perspective, and it can also offer a more threatening or somewhat voyeuristic point-of-view, particularly if the subject is in a car and apparently unaware of anything above them. The ‘Plan View’ shot from directly above is also a shot used in cities with the camera apparently skimming skyscrapers or trees.

Ironically, it is often when the shot doesn’t look like a helicopter or drone, but is part of telling the story as a seamless blend into the rest of the picture that makes for the right visual. And sometimes it is not about flying over a subject, but more about an object moving through the frame from a high angle that creates a great sequence.

Getting the shot Of course, as with all camera movement, sometimes new technology needs to be developed to do certain shots from the air. Stephen Oh CEO of XM2 Pursuit, says, “We have a special Research & Development department where we constantly look at new ways to do new things. We don’t wait for the problem to appear, we look at certain possibilities a director may want and devise a rig to get the shot.”

Luc Poullain of Aering Media was required to shoot a low shot for background plates whilst filming over a river for The Legend Of Tarzan (dir. David Yates, DP Henry Braham BSC) in 2015. However, the downdraught of the helicopter would mean spray getting on to the camera lens, and disturbance of the water. So, he devised a 40m-long cable and added a ‘Rocket’ on the end containing a stabilised mount with multiple Red cameras inside. This way the downwash was eliminated from the shot, although it

Favourite shots in a movie?

The 1985 film Out Of Africa (dir. Sydney Pollack, DP David Watkin BSC) is widely seen as having one of cinema’s most beautiful and emotionally evocative aerial sequences, as Robert Redford and Meryl Streep soar over Kenya’s rift valley landscape in a biplane, accompanied by a beautiful John Barry score.

Marzano says he is particularly proud of his work on the armada approach sequence and ensuing battle in Black Hawk Down (2001, dir.

Ridley Scott, DP Sławomir Idziak), which was shot in Mogadishu.

does not mean you will be automatically flooded with work. You will need to train, get to know the gear inside out, and obtain your pilot’s licence for the class and weight of drone you use.

What qualities make for great aerial cinematography?

It is important to involve the pilot and operator in discussions about the shots during pre-production meetings, technical recce’s, and even script readthroughs. They are integral to the process in achieving what the director wants, and great shots need proper planning.

Understanding what the camera and lens can and can’t achieve is essential, as is safety.

Good pilots know how to push the envelope to a point where it is still safe to get the shot. “Great aerial work is a combination of skill and bravado, tempered by experience,” says Marzano.

Ideally full-service providers are best, where they have the knowledge to advise a production as to whether a drone or helicopter is needed, and who can also sort out unforeseen location issues that production might not necessarily have thought about.

HELICOPTERS DRONES AERIAL ARRAYS JETS Helicopter Film Services World Leading Aerial Filming Business

www.helicopterfilmservices.com

info@helicopterfilm.tv

T: +44 (0)1895 833 365

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TAKE SCENE SLATE•AERIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY Below: Helicopter Film Service’s Jeremy Braben Associate BSC GBCT Lower: Aering Media multi-camera array

For Jeremy Braben, it is The Last Sign (2004, dir.

Douglas Law, DP Jean-Claude Larrieu). “We had a big wide shot, flying in Canada through forests and electricity pylons, then into a town and up to a man’s face who had crashed his car into a tree – all in one shot,” he says. “It needed a great pilot to bring the helicopter to a gentle stop to bury the zoom I needed to get such a close-up.”

Luc Pullain says, “I really like sequences in Pixar’s Cars. Even though I know it isn’t real, they have some great shots I would love to do! Apart from that, the work by Marc Wolff on Spectre (2015, dir. Sam Mendes, DP Hoyte Van Hoytema FSF NSC ASC) is really outstanding.”

For me personally, Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018, dir. Christopher McQuarrie, DP Rob Hardy BSC) has one of the most real and terrifying helicopter chase scenes. And who can’t wait to see what lies in store with Top Gun: Maverick (dir. Joseph Kosinski, DP Claudio Miranda ASC) releasing later in 2021?

XM2 Pursuit XM2 Pursuit’s in-house R&D teams create bespoke solutions to fit the needs of the most exacting filmmakers. Its custom aircraft and payload mounting solutions are designed, manufactured, tested and integrated by skilled teams of engineers, developers and pilots.

“We provide solutions for the VFX work that has become integral to Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters,” says the company’s CEO Stephen Oh. “Our LIDAR systems are capable of ground and aerial scanning, whilst our photogrammetry technology can create highly-accurate and complete 3D models of any large set, environment or location, with detailed location, measurement and volumetric data, ranging from sandy beaches, to towering cliffs, to historic buildings. We also have proven experience in the Virtual Reality space.”

Working with Pursuit Aviation and Shotover, the firm is the first aerial production company to introduce a fighter jet platform, called The Jetcam, that offers 6-axis, gyro-stabilised imagery for high-speed aerial cinematography. Based around the Shotover F1, and after vigorous testing and modification, the resulting F1 Rush allows the operator to capture stabilised images at high speeds and high G-forces.

Additionally, its Whiskey Wheels provides new options for DPs and camera operators who would traditionally stay on the ground.

Whiskey Wheels allows these operators to transition their skill set to the skies using wheels, rather than a joystick, to operate a K1 Shotover. The company has services offices in Seoul and operates out of LA, Atlanta, London, Melbourne and Australia’s Gold Coast.

Credits: Dunkirk, Gemini Man, Thor feature films, plus Lethal Weapon, Westworld and Ray Donovan TV series www.xm2pursuit.com 44 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Where next?

FPV or “First Person View” means wearing headmounted displays that show a live stream camera feed from the drone. The idea originates from FPV drone racing, a niche sport that began between 2011 and 2013. It means a total immersive flying sequence, and can be more responsive. It is now legal to fly with certain parameters, and opens-up new possibilities for action drone shots we have never seen before.

Outer Space NASA has worked for many years on the concept of flying an unmanned drone to explore other planets, and the first-ever flight of a small solar-powered drone, called Ingenuity, over the surface of Mars took place on April 19th 2021.

The technology to make this possible was largely due to advances in commercial drones and the requirements of drone pilots on Earth – including highly efficient electric motors, lightweight carbon fibre rotor blades and increased battery power.

Aering Media Aering Media is a European specialist in the coordination and achievement of helicopter aerial shots for digital cinema and broadcast, shooting celluloid film as well as full HD to 8K, plus 3D stereo and live TV. The company, which has offices in France, Belgium and London, is led by Luc Poullain, who says the business strives to maintain itself at the forefront of technology and capabilities.

“Our team combines passion and attentive professionalism to put our know-how and technical expertise at the service of our clients,” he says. “We adapt to specific needs and find the best tailor-made solutions. Our competence spans the field of cinema as well as live TV and broadcast through the use of aerial and gyrostabilised technologies that are innovative and perfectly adapted for the work. We are able to mobilise human resources and equipment in a very short time frame across France, Europe and all over the world.”

Aering is an authorised service provider for the Shotover brand, and has the largest selection and availability of Shotover systems anywhere in Europe. These include the Shotover K1, Shotover F1, Shotover M1, plus Dual Lens and Multi Camera Array systems. The company also develop systems for particular work, such as The Rocket system for filming above water.

Credits: King Kong vs Godzilla, Dunkirk, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Star Wars: Episode XI – The Rise Of Skywalker, Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw and Transformers: The Last Knight www.aeringmedia.com Ingenuity even carries a small swatch of fabric from one of the wings of Flyer 1, the aircraft that made that historic flight by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, just over 117 years ago.

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RICHARD CRUDO ASC•LETTER FROM AMERICA

IT’S OFFICAL!

BE MORE MINDFUL

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD IS PROUD TO BE AN OFFICIAL MEDIA PARTNER OF IMAGO

W

ork in the motion picture industry for any amount of time and you’ll be sure to witness some element of unbalanced or – in its extreme guise – lunatic behaviour amongst your colleagues. Though the many modes of acting-out displayed by some above-the-liners are taken in their stride by veterans, they’ve come to embody a cliché so strong that even the public has adopted it as their own.

One recent night during pre-dinner drinks, a new acquaintance was barely into their wine when they let me have it, unsalted. “The movie business,” they said, “that’s a magnet for crazies, isn’t it?” This person works in sales, by the way, which makes the remark all the more pointed.

I doubt if they would apply the same brush to those of us who toil outside the spotlight – the rankand-file, the true backbone of the pursuit. No one is surprised when a star’s life goes off the rails in some fashion. The narrative always seems to fit a template: a slow climb to success followed by the slide to ruin.

One would assume signs of psychological distress would pre-date these cases, but we never get that from the media. The only thing they’re concerned with is a steady supply of tawdry tales. Perhaps we should be thankful they ignore the rest of us, but how long can that last?

A growing awareness of the ways in which the crewperson’s experience can be mentally damaging proves that we’re as susceptible as the names at the top of the call sheet. Consider what we’re subject to simply as a condition of making a living – excessively long hours spent away from family (a destroyer of home life); physical exhaustion (add irregular scheduling to those hours); relentless pressure to execute what we do quickly and flawlessly; absence of control; insufficient pay; rejection; bullying; racism, sexism, ageism and many other -isms.

Then there’s the ever-present, low-grade uncertainty endemic to freelance life. Even while employed, part of us is fretting about what comes next. A thousand others are standing by to take our place and – loathe as we are to pass on a job, even with good reason – a price is paid somewhere in our psyche. It’s like drowning in an ocean of adrenaline and cortisol, a constant, hormonal state of fight-or-flight. And that’s not good for anyone.

Combined with the effects of Covid-19 and lockdown hysteria, reports of depression, alienation, fear, detachment, substance abuse, loneliness and anxiety are rising in our ranks. This is not surprising, but the fact that most of us have accepted these torments as part of the deal for so long should be.

Would anyone in any other occupation put up with such nonsense? A grocery manager? An insurance salesman? A heart surgeon? Why then, are we any different?

In 2020, the UK-based Film & TV Charity conducted a mental health study of 9,000 workers in the film and television industry. Titled, The Looking 46 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Everyone is engaged in some form of private battle Glass, it was authored by Melanie Wilkes, Heather Carey and Rebecca Florisson. What follows is a small sampling of the facts they uncovered: • 87% experienced a mental health problem vs.65% nationally • 62% reported negative affects due to working hours • 50% considered suicide vs. 20% nationally • They were twice as likely to experience anxiety than the national average • They were three times more likely to have selfharmed than the national average You’d expect such statistics if we carried a weapon for a living, but we don’t. We’re in the entertainment business. Yet the illusions of glamour have given way to a harsh reality: inside everyone is a glass that can hold a certain amount of liquid. For some, that glass can be filled to no effect. For others, it doesn’t take much to overflow.

So many of us erroneously pin our identity to what we do for a living. The equation “employed = happy, unemployed = unhappy” was a sufficient barometer of our emotional state for a long time, but it’s not that simple anymore. We’re living in a world turned upside down and our lives are ever more complicated. Giving due respect to war fighters and first responders, it’s a wonder anyone makes it through a career like ours without needing a significant timeout at some point.

The bright spot in the gloom is that mental health issues are now being brought to the forefront.

Though relief can be delayed by a reluctance to seek help, the UK is ahead of the US in making assistance available to those who need it. More engagement by the powers-that-be will be necessary, but until that shows up, the responsibility to help begins with each of us.

We should remember that everyone is engaged in some form of private battle. Everyone is challenged by some type of pain. If compassion and understanding retain any relevance in today’s culture, now would be a good time to offer both more freely among ourselves.

You never know – the simplest of gestures might lighten the load for the person standing next to you on-set. It might also save their life.

Richard Crudo ASC Richard Crudo ASC is a cinematographer/director with over 40 years of experience in feature films and episodic television. He is also a six-term Past President of the ASC and a Past Cinematographers Branch Governor of AMPAS.

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CRUELLA•NICOLAS KARAKATSANIS

NICOLAS KARAKATSANIS•CRUELLA Behind the mask: Emma Stone as Cruella in Disney’s live-action Cruella

THE DEVIL IN THE DETAIL

By Ron Prince

Photos: Laurie Sparham © 2021 Disney Enterprises Inc. All Rights Reserved

Academy Award-winner Emma Stone (La La Land) stars in Disney’s Cruella, the live-action feature film about the rebellious early days of one of cinema’s most notorious, and notoriously fashionable, villains - the legendary Cruella de Vil.

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CRUELLA•NICOLAS KARAKATSANIS

NICOLAS KARAKATSANIS•CRUELLA Main and lower: contrasting looks, Emma Stone as Cruella Below: DP Nicolas Karakatsanis

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ruella, which is set in 1970s London amid the punk rock revolution, follows a young grifter named Estella, a clever, creative and ambitious young woman who is determined to make a name for herself in haute couture. Although she is gifted with talent, life always seems intent on making sure her dreams never come true. Having wound-up a penniless orphan in London at twelve, to get by she befriends Horace and Jasper, a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they build a life for themselves on the London streets.

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One day, Estella’s flair for fashion catches the eye of Baroness von Hellman, a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute, played by two-time Oscar-winner Emma Thompson (Howards End, Sense & Sensibility).

But when an up-and-coming rockstar commissions Estella to design him a signature piece, her relationship with the Baroness takes a new turn, setting in motion a course of events and revelations that causes Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable and revenge-bent Cruella.

Cruella was directed by Craig Gillespie, whose credits include Disney’s Million Dollar

Arm (2014) and The Finest Hours (2017), plus the highly-acclaimed independent film I, Tonya (2017). The movie was produced by Andrew Gunn, Marc Platt and Kristin Burr, with Stone and Glenn Close, who played Cruella in the 1996 liveaction adaptation and 2000 sequel, both serving amongst the executive producers. The script was written by Dana Fox and Oscar-nominee Tony McNamara (The Favourite). Two-time Oscar-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan (A Room With A View, Mad Max: Fury Road) created the dazzling and imaginative costumes, which take on a life of their own. The production designer was Oscar-nominee Fiona Crombie (The

I have no love for Anamorphic, with its flares and potential for a comic book look, I wasn’t looking for crappy lenses with flaws and aberrations at all

Favourite), and the score was composed by twotime Academy Award-nominated Nicholas Britell (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk).

Stepping into this rather awesome, and possibly somewhat fearsome, creative lineup, was Belgian cinematographer Nicolas Karakatsanis, whose credits include John Hillcoat’s Triple Nine (2016) plus I, Tonya for Gillespie, and who freely admits, “this was a much bigger project in scope than I had ever done before.”

Principal photography on the $115-million Cruella took place over 64 shooting days, commencing in August 2019 and wrapping towards the end of November. Filming took place at Shepperton Studios, UK, and at locations around London, including the famous Liberty store on Regent Street. Karakatsanis had three and a half months of prep for the production, a slightly longer period that he had actually anticipated due to a shoulder injury sustain by Emma Stone.

“Cruella was my second feature film with Craig, after we shot I, Tonya together,” he says.

“We tried to connect on commercials after that film, but it never worked out. I am super-grateful that Craig came back to me for Cruella. He called me and asked whether it was a story I could connect to creatively, and whether I felt I could handle a project of this size as a cinematographer.”

To which the answers were “yes” and “yes”, but not perhaps for obvious reasons, as Karakatsanis explains.

“I care very much about the concept of a story and the actor’s performances above all. I also have a lot of respect for the artistic side of my profession as a cinematographer,” he says.

“To me the script for Cruella was good - layered, complex, fun and a little bit dark - and had been beautifully reworked by Tony McNamara, who wrote The Favourite, which I absolutely loved. As Cruella was an origins story, we were not locked into particular story beats, and I could feel Emma Stone’s way and style of acting already in the story.

“However, as a cinematographer, I am not interested in being locked away in a studio for long periods of time shooting blue or greenscreens for VFX work. Although there were visual effects in the film, I felt that there was a place for me as a DP to do something creatively, to bring the story to the screen with a polished Disney look, but also to deliver a result with a real human feeling. So overall there was a good balance, and that was really important for me.”

That said, however, Karakatsanis confesses that it was not easy to get the job. “Yes, Craig supported me, but it was not something that was automatically given. It took a good couple of months of going back-and-forth, discussing things with the studio and the executives before I was approved. But when I was approved, the Disney team welcomed me completely and assured me of their 100% support. From the get-go to the very end of the process I did indeed get full support, faith and trust from everyone, and that was really wonderful.”

When it came to discussing the cinematic look and feel of the film, Karakatsanis confides, “I’m a bit of an oddball in the sense that I am not a huge

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CRUELLA•NICOLAS KARAKATSANIS

NICOLAS KARAKATSANIS•CRUELLA

Below: Hi, fashion Lower: Time out on set Opposite Main: Cruella looks ahead Opposite Lower: DP Nicolas Karakatsanis makes a point

cinephile. I never really read about films, actors or directors, and I really don’t look at references. I don’t really see the point in that. There’s no cookiecutter approach to filmmaking and I never want a cheat sheet. For me the biggest influence in prepping a film is discussing the script and coming up with ideas to make it work.

“I have a lot of respect for how Craig works he is a very fast thinker and super-prepared. In his mind he has the skeleton outline of how he sees a sequence. I inject my ideas and we discuss and distil those, scene-by-scene. It’s a fun way to work, and is really where the film gets made.

“So, the fundamental idea I proposed regarding the cinematography was that, as we had two leads and two different initial storylines, that we treat each of them slightly differently from a visual perspective. I would have loved to have shot the entire movie on 35mm and large format 65mm celluloid film but, unfortunately, that was not to be.

“As Cruella inhabits the uglier, more dingy, downtown parts of London, I suggested to Craig that we should go with gritty, moving handheld/ Steadicam style to match her energy, shooting with the native 35mm-size sensor on the Alexa and Alex Mini. For the Baroness it was all about fancy mansions, gigantic ballrooms, opulent vibes, and my idea was to keep the camera more rigid, stern and controlled using Steadicam, dolly and crane moves, and to shoot her sequences on large format Alexa 65. Craig was immediately OK with this. He understood the separation and you can see that working in the final movie.”

Regarding the aspect ratio, Karakatsanis says, “We could have shot 2.35:1 or wider, but we would have lost the height on some of the amazing sets, and would have been fighting against that right though production. So it made much more sense to frame in 1.85:1.”

When it came to selecting lenses, Karakatsanis says, “I have no love for Anamorphic, with its flares and potential for a comic book look, and I wasn’t looking for crappy lenses with flaws and aberrations at all. I went to ARRI Rental in London, who were super-helpful, who showed me all of the glass they have for the Alexa 65. For me, the Leitz Cine Wetzlar Thalia’s were the best. They have an optical design from 1935 that gives a dreamlike, romantic look without the need for a filter, and a bokeh that is smooth, distinct and full of character.

Offering T2.2 to T2.9, they are fast, and there’s no image deformation. Even the wide angled-lenses keep things very rectangular.

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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

as a cinematographer, I am not interested in being locked away in a studio for long periods of time shooting blue or greenscreens

“I went with the Leitz Summilux lenses for the Alexa and Alexa Minis. I have always loved their buttery look. It’s the most human-looking glass you can find, with great balance between sharp and out-of-focus and lovely colour rendition. And, they made a perfect match with the Thalia’s.”

When it comes to using LUTs, Karakatsanis quips, ‘That’s a touchy subject. I have never understood the logic of creating separate day/ night/interior/exterior LUTs and then having to light for those looks. I much prefer to achieve the look I want though the lenses, together with the onset lighting and exposure, in combination with the production design and wardrobe. And if I want to soften the image, I do that by lighting or exposure.

I have never used a diffusion filter in front of the lens.

“However, that said, during my prep with colourist Tom Poole at Company3 in New York, who did the final DI, we discussed things in depth and I did use a very gentle LUT he developed, which really served to soften and desaturate the picture just a touch, although it did not affect they way I wanted to light.”

Karakatsanis adds, “The only item I always have on the lens is a small manual variable ND filter, which works in little incremental steps up to full blackout, and allows me to change the density of the image without adjusting the iris. There can sometimes be a slight colour shift towards green, but it only takes an instant to fix that in the DI. It’s a great tool, and I don’t know why more people don’t use it.”

Karakatsanis worked with a chiefly British crew, on what was largely a single-camera shoot.

Peter Batten operated, with Job Reineke and Emma Friend working as first ACs, and Francesco Giardiello implementing Disney’s set-to-post workflow and acting as DIT. “I had a young and enthusiastic camera team, who proved brilliant and resilient throughout,” says the DP. “But perhaps the biggest thrill, and a great pleasure, was working with gaffer Chuck Finch. His resumé is insane and I knew in an instant he was the right person for the job. Nothing phases him, he’s a tough guy, and I learnt a lot from him and his crew.”

The sizeable lighting package on Cruella was supplied by MBSE. Whilst there are plenty of LED lighting options available, Karakatsanis decided early-on to bathe faces as much as possible in Tungsten light, leaving HMIs and digital sources to illuminate backgrounds and create general ambience.

“In terms of colour, Tungsten is most the most beautiful light you can throw on the face,” says Karakatsanis. “Along with providing traditional Tungsten fixtures, Chuck also had a range of smaller panels with Tungsten bulbs he had made himself, which helped me shape the light around our characters, and I am very happy with the results of that.”

Finch also proved adept in rigging solutions during the studio-based shoots. “We had to shoot some very large sets, including a house exterior, on the stages at Shepperton,” Karakatsanis explains. “However, the roof beams you would normally suspend the lighting from were a bit too low to give me a soft and flattering top light. So I asked Chuck to rig the lights above the beams and to bounce the light off reflective silver lamé with further diffusion underneath. It was a big and rather awkward job, involving lots of ARRI SkyPanels and 200sq/m of lame and diffusion to cover the set. But Chuck was cool and did it with zero stress.”

Karakatsanis completed the DI remotely from his home in Belgium, with Gillespie in Los Angels and colourist Tom Poole at Company 3 in New York.

“Originally, I wanted to shoot the digital footage to negative and then rescan the negative

so that the image took on some of the textural quality of celluloid. But the pandemic stopped that from happening. However, after working with Tom for more than a dozen years on commercials, he has my blind trust and did a great job of emulating that look using tools in his DI suite,” says Karaktsanis.

“During the DI, Craig and I had iPad Pros calibrated by Company 3, plus a live voice link via Zoom. I was dubious about this process, but it proved to be great. I could instruct Tom and see the changes he made immediately. Of course, you are not working on a big screen in a DI theatre, but the picture quality was really good, and Tom translated what I wanted perfectly. When you shoot digitally the grader becomes so much more important in the creative chain in finishing your photography.”

Karakatsanis concludes, “I believe you must retain personal and artistic integrity in everything that you do and, whether it’s a small indie film or a Hollywood blockbuster, believe it is my duty to protect the actors and the emotional connection with their performances.

“Working with Craig and having the full support of the Disney team, I managed to do that. It was my first feature in terms of big stage work, and I was incredibly impressed by the

sheer quality of the set builds, construction and costumes. Obviously we had some big shots with cranes, but it was never a struggle in any department, and I have nothing but praise for the whole production team who made the experience a great pleasure for me. So much so that I would love to do another one, especially if it had a similar vibe and was with a director like Craig!”

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CREATION STORIES•ROBERTO SCHAEFER AIC ASC

ROBERTO SCHAEFER AIC ASC•CREATION STORIES The dawn of Creation Opposite: lower Ewen Bremner as Alan McGee This page, from top: Leo Flanagan (r) as young Alan with Jack Paterson (L) With co-star Suki Waterhouse McGee in reflective mood

SCREAMADELICA

.Photos courtesy of SKY

By Michael Burns

“I had two camera bodies, but only had one set of Canon K35 spherical prime lenses.” Schaefer adds. “I had to do cross coverage at times, which I don’t usually like to do. You want close matching lenses for cross coverage, but I only had one of each set. I worked out that the 32mm on 4K is a 24mm on 6K. I set one camera to be 6K, one to be 4K and so I had double lenses for everything. When you then do your final work back down to 4K, you don’t see the difference between them. My DIT, Nick Everett, built 6K and 4K framelines that would come on whenever we might swap, and we knew effectively what we were shooting to match to the 4K master.”

There was a lot of Steadicam during the shoot, operated by Sebastian Barraclough who took on the A-camera role, and a large amount of dolly work.

“For the therapy session at the rehab clinic, we had a dolly on circular tracks – two heads on one Dolly with short zooms. Seb and I could adjust our lens sizes and shoot across each other in parallel,” says Schaefer. “We also used the same set-up at the scene in California where Suki is interviewing Ewen.

We had the dolly track circling their table at the swimming pool.”

Creation Stories, directed by Nick Moran, tells the story of iconic record-label boss Alan McGee and the influential label he founded. Creation Records ran between 1983 and 1999, releasing music from seminal British bands including The Jesus And Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Teenage Fanclub, Ride and Oasis.

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love that period, I love the music,” says Roberto Schaefer AIC ASC, cinematographer on the film. “I used to do a lot of music videos in the ‘80s in London.

Nick and I had a Skype chat and hit it off, we just we clicked.”

Moran, well-known for his acting performance in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels (1998, DP Tim Maurice-Jones), directed Creation Stories from a script written by Irvine Welsh and Dean Cavanagh, with Ewen Bremner cast as the Glaswegian McGee. Produced by Burning Wheel Productions, the film co-stars include Suki Waterhouse and Jason Flemyng, with Leo Flanagan as the teenage McGee, and Moran himself as provocative impresario Malcolm McLaren.

Schaefer, of course, is known for working with director Marc Forster on Monster’s Ball (2001), Finding Neverland (2004), The Kite Runner (2007), the James Bond 007 feature Quantum Of Solace (2008), and Machine Gun Preacher (2011) “I liked the music, I liked the story. I liked Nick and I liked the idea of shooting in London again. I hadn’t been there since Quantum Of Solace, so it was a good opportunity,” says Schaefer. “From the beginning Nick had a pretty strong idea on how he wanted it to look and feel. He sent me a ‘bible’, with every page of the entire movie mapped out.”

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Keen to lean on Schaefer’s expertise, Moran proved open to using this tome as a starting point.

“We just talked about different concepts,” Schaefer recalls. “We got together and did a lot of location scouting, talking through possibilities of how to shoot it.”

Roll With It Creation Stories started shooting in London in 2019, after several weeks of prep. Originally Schaefer proposed celluloid film, but digital’s capacity for experimenting with multiple takes swayed Moran.

“This was his third movie as a director, and I think he felt comfortable with having a little more leeway, being able to shoot more if he needed to,” says Schaefer who had no objection to digital capture, and who recommended using Sony Venice.

“The colour science in the Sony Venice camera is gorgeous,” he says. “It allowed us to shoot pretty much as much as Nick wanted to. The Sony codec is not massive like a full RAW, so didn’t become a big hassle with either transcoding times on-set or storage, so economically it made sense.”

Sony Venice and its flexible Rialto image sensor extension system came in handy shooting in very small spaces. “In the back of the Rolls Royce, we put a lens on the Rialto and put the camera on the floor right against the front seat. It facilitated a lot of camera angles that you couldn’t otherwise get,” says Schaefer. “The built-in ND wheel saved me half an hour a day: when I wanted to get less depth-offield it gave me the ability to quickly just change to a heavier ND and open up the lens. The 2500ISO base, which is beautiful, also allowed me better low-light shooting.

House Of Love Locations were all practical, and mostly very small.

A house that was used for McGee’s family living room and a kitchen scene posed problems.

“It didn’t have the right layout for Nick, nor for the scene, so the production designer, Matthew Button, really worked hard. Using one of their practical walls, he built three new walls around with a window,” says Schaefer. “We had to completely redo the kitchen and put a fake wall in there too. So it made everything even tighter.”

Then there was the house used for both a party scene and where the young McGee encounters some drug-users.

“That had a very narrow creaky staircase that barely held two people at once. We needed a dolly up there,” says Schaefer. “I got the Cobra Dolly from Chapman Leonard. You can’t sit on it,

The colour science in the Sony Venice camera is gorgeous but it’s got a column that goes up and down and you can push it. The stair wouldn’t hold the weight of anything else. Getting lighting up there was a problem too.”

As this was a period piece, there were also considerations about costume and replacing vehicles.

“Fortunately one of the producers has a cinema vehicle company, and he was able to bring in enough vehicles for each period,” says Schaefer.

“However, in the bar that they go to in Soho for the Oasis celebration party, we couldn’t use much of the window because it was all modern cars going past, so we had to choose our framing very carefully.”

Shine On Shooting took place in June of 2019. “We had a beautiful summer, which helped us with the ‘modern day’ California scenes, all shot outside in Hertfordshire.

We were trying to give those scenes a sort of overall warm golden feeling,” recalls Schaefer Conversely a cooler feeling was applied to British scenes. “Except for when McGee is high and going around Soho; that was all trippy colours,” he says. “Of course, when we shot the Glasgow scenes, and wanted grim overcast days, it was actually sunny. For the scenes when McGee was a kid, we added a little desaturation, brought it more towards brown. The scenes with him and his family were toned down, with a little bit more contrast.”

Use of lighting and exposures helped achieve this on-set, as well as two prepared LUTs that Schaefer and Moran used when monitoring.

“We had the ‘Polaroid LUT’ that was really like ‘60s Polaroid colour film,” Schaefer says. “We applied that for all of the scenes when McGee was a kid. And then we had the ‘Modern LUT’, for when we were in the present. We also tweaked that a bit during final colour in the DI. “I didn’t use anything bigger than ARRI 12K Fresnels on this,” he adds. “I also had some 6Ks and 4Ks. I had a bunch of LiteMats from LiteGear, because you can get them into some locations where it’s too small to put anything else, as well as Kino Flo and some Kino LED fixtures. We used lots of practicals, and when we shot in the nightclub we used some club lighting.”

Rock ‘n’ Roll Stars “Nick really had his head wrapped around everything, and the producers were all on our side,” Schaefer recalls. “They’re all good and they helped a lot.”

Also of note are the contributions of Barraclough and Tom Taylor, who was first AC. “I honestly could not have done that movie without those two, they just made it so seamless for me,” Schaefer says. “They knew how to move forward. Seb is a great Steadicam operator and is great with coming up with ideas for shots, ways to deal with things.

“For the scenes shot in Glasgow, I was booked on to something else and so Seb shot those pieces.

Originally they were supposed to be a couple of inserts of buildings, and then they built that into some scenes.

“Nick Everett the DIT was a brilliant help,” continues Schaefer. “He was like my right hand. With his eye on the monitor, he kept me right in my ear.”

He also salutes costume designer Nat Turner and production designer Button, and their teams.

“They were great,” he says. “The whole supporting crew, whatever level they were at, were all gung-ho. It was a very collaborative effort between all the departments.

“And it was a lot of fun,” he adds. “Although I never got to shoot music videos of any of the bands that are in Creation Stories, I did shoot U2 and many other bands that were important at the time and part of that scene, and this brought me back to all that.”

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THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN•CHRISTOPHER AOUN BVK

CHRISTOPHER AOUN BVK•THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN Main: Skin trade - Yahya Mahayni stars in The Man WHo Sold His Skin Below: DP Christopher Aoun BVK

TATTOO YOU

Photos: Christopher Aoun/ Samuel Goldwyn Films

By Ron Prince

After shooting Nadine Labaki’s acclaimed, Oscarnominated and Cannes Film Festival-winning film Capernaum (2018), Lebanese cinematographer Christopher Aoun BVK has been in high demand and freely admits that choosing his next project can be a tricky task.

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like films whose small stories tell bigger ones about the human condition, and it has not been easy for me to be satisfied with a lot of the scripts I have read since shooting Capernaum,” he says. “I am fascinated by the process of creating and deciding on how to translate a script into images which become alive. I like to work on projects that feel close to, or shed light on, people’s realities - to dive deep into those lives and to try to understand human beings using the amazing and perceptive storytelling tool that a camera can be. So I’m always asking myself which film to shoot next.”

One project that fitted the bill was Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Man Who Sold His Skin, Aoun’s third full-length feature. Inspired by Belgian contemporary artist Wim Delvoye’s living artwork ‘Tim’ (2006), the €2million internationally co-produced drama follows a Syrian man who, in order to get to Europe and be with the love his life, accepts having his back tattooed by an artist.

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The stylish and vivid film premiered in the Horizons section at the 77th Venice International Film Festival, where its lead, Yahya Mahayni, won the Best Actor Award. It was also selected as Tunisia’s submission to the 93rd Academy Awards, where it was nominated for Best International Feature Film.

Aoun himself has been widely praised for bringing a blend of lustrous textures and compositions to the screen with a confident painterliness in support of a narrative that mixes art and human rights.

The story itself follows lovers Sam and Abeer who are separated as political tensions erupt in Syria in 2011. Whilst Sam seeks refuge in Lebanon, Abeer’s family forces her to marry a rich diplomat and move with him to Brussels. In desperate pursuit of the funds, and necessary paperwork, to travel to Europe to rescue her, Sam accepts having his back elaborately tattooed - in the form of a Schengen visa, which allows travel to and across EU countries -by controversial contemporary artist Jeffrey Godefroi (Koen De Bouw). Sam’s body is turned

into a living work of art and he effectively becomes a human canvas, promptly exhibited in a museum.

But he soon realises he has sold much more than just his skin.

Ben Hania, who is based in Paris, is a multi-award winner for her documentaries, including Le Challat De Tunis (2013, DP Sofian El Fani) and Zaineb Hates The Snow (2016, DP Kaouther Ben Hania), and the feature film Beauty And The Dogs (2017, DP Johan Holmquist). Aoun, who was born in Beirut and who now lives in Berlin, studied cinematography at the Université Saint Joseph De Beyrouth and the University Of Television & Film Munich.

“Kaouther and I have similar paths, both coming from the Arabic world and both now living in Europe,” Aoun recalls. “We had never met before, but I had watched Beauty And The Dogs and we connected very quickly on The Man Who Sold His Skin.

“What I liked about her script was the perspective of melodrama in the manipulative art world to tell a story about freedom. Kaouther had already storyboarded a lot of scenes in the film, and

our initial conversations were about bringing these tableaux together to make them more homogenous, but keeping the essence of what she wanted through reflections, considered compositions and vibrant colours.”

Aoun also explains that, “Kaouther introduced me to the concept of ‘bi-colours’ - a term referring to a palette of pink, blue and lavender, inspired by the colours of bisexual pride symbolism. Bisexual pride means that no matter what the sex of your partner is, you prefer to be identified as bisexual rather than heterosexual or homosexual. We were inspired by this because in the film we want to question how human beings are always categorised - in our case by lines on a map or a simple piece of paper to put us in a limited box. We combined this idea with the colours in the Schengen visa itself in our consideration of the colour arc in the story.”

The vast majority of visual references for the film spanned the history of art, from Renaissance and Baroque to contemporary artists, together with stylish photographs of art galleries and installations that Ben Hania had shot herself. Movie touchstones included vividly-photographed features, such as Wong Kar-Wai’s In The Mood For Love (2000, DP Chris Doyle), Barry Jenkin’s Moonlight (2016, DP James Laxton) and David Leitch’s Atomic Blonde (2017, DP Jonathan Sela).

Production on The Man Who Sold His Skin took place between July and September 2019, over 35 shooting days, at locations in Marseilles, Brussels and Tunisia. After testing at Vantage in Weiden, Bavaria, Aoun elected to shoot using Hawk class-X Anamorphics combined with the Sony Venice camera. The camera was set to 4K resolution using an Anamorphic 4:3 image area on the sensor.

“I chose the Sony Venice, as it delivers a similarly pleasing image to the ARRI Alexa in terms of colour and overall image expression, but it is more practical on-set,” he says.

“I felt that features - such as the Venice’s large in-built ND range, its 500ISO base for typical cinematography applications with on-set lighting and high-base 2500ISO for dimly-lit environments, plus Rialto mode shooting - would help me to work faster, and be more flexible, especially in places like Tunisia, where conditions were not easy.

The Hawk class-X lenses are sharp and crisp, but still have a human and emotional spirit to them “Capernaum was a handheld, documentary, character-driven story, which I shot using Hawk C‑ Series Anamorphics and the ARRI Alexa. However, The Man Who Sold His Skin was not a realistic world. It needed a very different aesthetic quality to depict how our character’s mind might be his own, but his body belongs to someone else. I wanted to create visuals that put the audience in the position of a spectator, gazing at an artwork on display. With that in mind my thoughts, I tried to create a variety of different colours and textures using filtration throughout the movie, to put more layers between the spectator and the object in front of the camera.

“The Hawk class-X lenses are sharp and crisp, which I liked, but still have a human and emotional spirit to them, along with a nice bokeh. The image already had the Anamorphic effect of focussing the viewer’s eyes to the middle of the image, but I wanted to introduce extra layers of analogue texture on top of that from the moment when Sam does the deal with Jeffrey in the bar. So sometimes I had as many as seven or eight filters - such as gradients and diffusers - on top of each other to have warmer

edges at the top and bottom of the frame, whilst keeping things cooler, brighter and crisp in the middle.”

Experimenting with colour in-camera still further, Aoun also reset the Venice’s white balance according to certain colours he had flooded into a particular scene through the lighting.

“For example, when Sam is at the doctor’s place I shifted the camera’s white over to the lavender pink of the lighting. This resulted in a normal look, but with interesting green shimmers,” he explains.

Lighting-wise, Aoun mainly deployed LED fixtures - such as ARRI SkyPanels, DMG Lumière SL1 Mix and Mini Mix’s, plus Astera Titan and Helios Tubes - to inject bright bold colours on-set. This particularly helped to bring vivid visual appeal to art gallery locations, which tended to be plain white. However, for bigger interiors spaces, already lit by existing lights such as chandeliers, he avoided mixed lighting, and opted to support the look using warm Tungsten illuminaires.

The final DI grade was conducted by colourist Dirk Meier at Post Republic in Berlin, where Meier and Aoun smoothed and blurred the edge contrast in certain scenes for what Aoun calls a ‘painterly effect.’

The DP’s crew comprised of a multi-national mix from France, Sweden, Belgium and Tunisia, including: Nestor Salazar as A-camera/Steadicam operator; Wafa Mimouni as focus puller; Mohamed Habib Ben Salem as gaffer; Gabrielle Delle as the DIT; and Patrick Llopis heading the grips.

“Unlike Capernaum, where I operated throughout, I did not shoot on this production.

Although I wanted to grab the camera, I forced myself not to, controlled my emotions and trusted and encouraged the team to create the visual language Kaouther and I wanted, and we became a very good team.”

Aoun concludes, “This was a different type of artistic endeavour to Capernaum. I was very happy that I could switch between documentary and a more constructed form of cinematography. As much as I like telling stories from the Arab world, my goal is to keep moving and to explore other cultures and genres in the next stage of my career.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 57

INDUSTRY LENS•PERG

PERG•INDUSTRY LENS Opposite: Camera prep at Daufenbach Camera (Chicago).

Right: Check out at Koerner Camera (Portland, Oregon).

Below: Reception before PERG’ General Membership Meeting at NAB, Las Vegas.

Lower: Early COVID parking lot prep at Koerner Camera.

THE VENDOR’S VOICE

Photos: Wendy Davis, Daufenbach Camera.

Meg Valliant, Koerner Camera Systems

A look at the Production Equipment Rental Group - PERG

By Michael Goldman

I

n the opinion of camera industry veteran Harry Box, the primary purpose of a good trade association “is to identify areas where there is difficulty or problems that affect everyone and address them as a service to the whole industry.”

Box ought to know – he has served for over ten years as manager of the Production Equipment Rental Group (PERG) at ESTA (the Entertainment Services and Technology Association). Particularly considering challenges posed by the pandemicravaged last 12-plus months, Box suggests there are few entertainment sectors that need such support more than the equipment rental industry.

PERG evolved a little over a decade ago out of the former Professional Equipment Rental Association (PERA) – an independent trade organisation specifically for rental companies in the motion picture and television space. Eventually, PERA was absorbed into ESTA as one of several programmes that the association supervises.

“ESTA is an international trade association for all entertainment categories,” Box says. “Film and television is largely the same equipment manufacturers, a lot of the same standards, and a lot of the same interests as other entertainment sectors like event rigging, live concerts, theatre and more.

That brought stability, and at that point we became a programme within ESTA known as PERG.” Today, Box says PERG has about 90 member companies ranging from large players such as Panavision, ARRI, Keslow Camera and others to “all the premiere brands” and a wide range of smaller companies across the United States. “We include all kinds of companies, big and small, but the goal is the same – to figure out what kind of needs are universal to all of them?”

Along those lines, in terms of recent events, the organisation’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic serves as an example of addressing important needs impacting the equipment rental community.

Box explains that the wider entertainment industry produced a template for production-related Covid protocols with the 2020 White Paper published by an industry-wide task force last summer, and there have been other solid efforts in various sectors.

However, as Box puts it, “there needed to be a similar thing for vendors specifically.”

PERG therefore put together four specific working groups – one for sound stages, one for camera, one for lighting, and one for vehicles, since lots of rental companies own-and-operate vehicles. The organisation asked them to come up with vendor-oriented Covid protocols that would be compliant with CDC and OSHA guidelines.

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Our members want to talk to each other and learn from each other “We had to take that [wider] guidance and interpret it,” Box relates. “How does it apply to equipment like lighting stands, lenses, cameras – all these different, delicate pieces of equipment made of all kinds of different materials? We came up with guidelines and released them last April as a public review document, got feedback, and finalised them last summer.”

The resulting document – PERG Safe Return To Work Guidelines –“was something the industry needed, and that’s always our focus,” he adds.

Long before the pandemic hit, however, PERG was working on events, papers, protocols and industry-wide dialogue on a wide range of issues that are of particular importance to equipment vendors – including, insurance challenges, rental software, theft prevention, and much more, sometimes in partnership with other important industry entities.

In particular, Box says, in recent years PERG got together with the Association Of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) to address particular challenges that vendors run into when negotiating rental contracts with production companies and large studios.

“It’s a perennial problem that big studios, who have enough clout, will redline the contracts, not agreeing to certain things or demanding changes, which slows everything down,” he explains.

“Principals and owners of companies spend hours and hours having to re-negotiate the same basic rental contract they previously used over and over again. Eventually around 2012, we formed a joint committee with AICP to try and come up with termsand-conditions on major, consistent points that rarely change, and we offered that as a resource to the industry.”

Box says that over time, with input from the insurance industry and direct contact with major production companies, among others, basic agreement on many points was achieved. “For example, production companies didn’t understand why it takes so long to produce a list of missing and damaged equipment after a job is returned,” he adds. “So camera rental industry pioneer, the late Denny Clairmont, brought them over and had them observe technicians going over equipment from a recent job, piece-by-piece. That’s how those

companies understood why it takes more than two hours to produce a loss-and-damage report. By the end of that process, trust was there between the two sides, with give-and-take on both sides.”

As a result, the AICP-ESTA Terms & Conditions document was produced, which has essentially been making life a bit less complicated for rental companies ever since. Box says PERG has on its

agenda the hope of next bringing the usefulness of this initiative to a wider clientele – the major studios.

PERG’s relationship with ESTA has also allowed the organisation to join its parent’s fraud-and-theft prevention programme, known as Rental Guard. That is essentially a five-year-old international network/ database for rental companies, whether or not they are part of PERG, to list missing or stolen equipment serial numbers and share information about how thefts are happening, and file reports on theft issues across the rental industry.

“Rental Guard has grown every year in terms of the number of people registering for it and using it,” Box says. “There has long been an international problem regarding theft. We have done lots of outreach to rental companies, labour guilds, and others to educate them about the nature of equipment theft in the modern era. And now, people are using Rental Guard as a tool to recover their equipment. It also serves as a deterrent because, if you have a website where people can look up serial numbers of stolen equipment, then all of a sudden, you have a limit in place, people are going to start being a lot more careful, and the theft marketplace becomes less free-flowing.”

Box points to other, newer issues on the horizon that PERG is also hoping to work with major studios on. Among them are DEI (diversity, equality, inclusion) challenges in the rental industry – the fact that in the US, there are not a large number of

minority-owned rental companies. He says PERG “is working with studios right now to encourage actionable ways to address this issue going forward.”

But more broadly, at the end of the day, Box suggests that PERG’s greatest contribution may be in the area of communication and interaction across the rental industry.

“After all, our members want to talk to each other and learn from each other,” he says. Prior to the pandemic, four major yearly live events were routinely held across the US specifically for the purpose of bringing members together, and Box expects those to resume in some form once the Covid crisis abates.

“We would hold a major membership meeting, where members could discuss things like insurance, rental software, problems they have with clients and how they deal with those issues,” he explains.

“We also started doing a breakfast at NAB and at Cine Gear, and we would host a New Yorkbased collaborative party with AICP, a really fun Oktoberfest party, and we were doing a similar Cinco de Mayo based event in Los Angeles. The idea was that bringing rental houses together with each other and with clients was a huge benefit to members.”

Although the pandemic took live events off the table over the course of the last year, Box adds that a silver lining has emerged in the sense that the organisation has realised remote communication technology can help connect members more frequently, both formally and informally, going forward.

“The PERG executive committee, made up of 12 member companies that are the steering council for everything we do, used to only meet four times a year, around the trade shows,” he says. “But that was hard, because everyone had to travel, and we had to book a space and then try to get everyone together for meetings while they were trying to cover the trade show. Now, we are doing one-hour meetings on a monthly basis via Zoom, and frankly, we are getting way more done, and everyone is more regularly engaged.”

PERG has also started holding remote one-hour “Coffee Break” events in which experts in some areas of interest, such as small business loans, labour law issues and mental health, for example, can give a talk to interested members via Zoom. And Box expects more such innovative remote programming to develop in the coming months.

“After all, this technology lets us get the membership together without them ever leaving their office,” he relates. “So that is something we will definitely be pursuing.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 59

HIGHLIGHT•ETC FILM & BROADCAST LIGHTING

ETC FILM & BROADCAST LIGHTING•HIGHLIGHT

BEDAZZLED

Main: Seeing red Cinematographer Danna Kinsky filming The Waltz With Modern Panic Lower: ETC Fos4 Panel and right, Fos4 Fresnel

By Michael Burns

Photos courtesey of ETC

The Lustr X8 array includes a new deep red LED, at 660nm wavelength.

“The traditional 635nm red that everybody has always used lacks what we call ‘the tungsten tail’, that last little visible bit of light before you fall off into the infrared,” says Uphoff. “It’s an incredibly important part of the spectrum. This deep red is synonymous with a natural rendering of skin tones, as well as costumes and set pieces, to make them look more natural and healthy and vibrant. Deep red expanded the gamut, giving us colours we couldn’t use before. Also adding that deep red to existing colour temperatures of white or other colours puts wavelengths back into the light that renders subjects more naturally and healthy than they do without it.

“If the wavelength is not in the source, you’re not going to see it on whatever you’re lighting. The camera can only take in the data that is available at that moment. So by having a broader spectrum, when a colourist goes in to do their work, they have all the ingredients that they need to make the picture as best they can.”

Recent TV series to harness ETC kit include Euphoria, shot by DP Marcell Rév, with gaffer Danny Durr and lighting programmer Chris Pritzlaff, The Unicorn lit by DP Craig Kief, with gaffer Justin Stroh and programmer Dylan Rush, and Big Shot with DP Alison Kelly, chief lighting technician Eric Forand and programmer Pat Duffy.

Cinematographer Danna Kinsky used fos/4s on the short film The Waltz With Modern Panic, as well as shooting music videos with the panels.

ETC started making lighting fixtures in 1992 with the introduction of the Source Four, an ellipsoidal reflector spotlight that put out 40% more light than other fixtures, but used 40% less energy to do it. Nearly 30 years later, the company is a flourishing manufacturer of both lighting and rigging technology, and employs over 1,200 people across 14 corporate offices.

H

eadquartered just outside Madison, Wisconsin, the company was originally founded in 1975 after Fred Foster and his brother Bill, together with Gary Bewick and James Bradley, developed the groundbreaking Mega Cue lighting-control console for theatres out of their parent’s garage. Fred went on to take on many roles in the burgeoning business – from original inventor/engineer to industrial designer, tech support, salesman, marketer, chief operating officer, to president, and finally, CEO. With this leadership, the company has consistently been a pioneer in the field of lighting, originally for theatre and now also for TV and film studios.

Wide product gamut The ETC product range is broad, but cinematographers will know the company from its signature fixtures – to date over three and a half million Source Four fixtures have been made and sold.

60 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

“The Source Four has been very popular in studio environments, but it’s not a traditional style of studio lighting,” says Jim Uphoff, marketing product manager for fixtures at ETC. “Normally you want big aperture softlights for shadowing purposes. But if you need a beam of light coming through a window, and you need to shutter-cut that into just the right size, so the light only goes through that area, or if you need to do a pattern projection, there’s no fixture better than the Source Four, or more recently the Source Four LED. Because they’re so bright and so controllable, you’ll see them placed on the studio floor, bouncing the light off of a card over the set and basically using that as a big reflective aperture.”

ETC got into the LED market with the acquisition of lighting innovator Selador in 2009.

“The Selador product line produced a far superior quality of colour and light to anything that we had seen before in LEDs. They used a seven colour LED mix to closely replicate traditional sources like Tungsten,” says Uphoff. “By using seven different wavelengths of LED, it led to a much

more controllable and tuneable beam of light, as well as a higher quality. That has grown over the last decade into the Desire line, Source Four LED, ColorSource, and Source 4WRD [retrofits], and then the fos/4 line, which we introduced last year.”

Studio focus Whilst ETC is well-known for theatrical lighting, it has also been a name in studios for over 40 years, says Uphoff, “whether it’s been controls, dimming products, rigging products and now obviously our LED fixtures and networking systems.”

With LED, ETC was keen to address the problem studio s had with dimming traditional sources like incandescent, which causes colour temperature changes like red shift. “That’s not the case with LEDs,” Uphoff explains. “LEDs shouldn’t shift as they dim and therefore you can do a lot more with them quickly and easily, so it’s a great fit for studios.”

Research efforts were expanded in 2016, when Foster launched ETC’s internal Advance Research Group (ARG) to uncover new technologies and boost current product capabilities. The first target was the ideal LED array for camera use.

“At the end of that process, they made recommendations for new arrays of LED which is what we now see in the fos/4, which is the Lustr X8 array and the Daylight HDR array,” says Uphoff.

DNA of the company With a 24/7/365 worldwide customer support line, service is a big focus at ETC. “A lot of our employees, including myself, come from theatrical or entertainment backgrounds,” says Uphoff, previously an audio technician on Broadway.“That understanding of how the industry works is in the DNA of ETC. We wanted to bring that heritage of customer support, and industry peopleworking for ETC, to the studio market.

“We also wanted to bring what we had learned about the quality of light, about LED colour mixing and colour control, which is key to turning this technology into usable tools,” he adds.

“Artists are very adaptive, they will take whatever tool they can get and make it work. But there are certain considerations about the workflow, of the way things work on a set or in a soundstage, that make for a better product if they’re part of the initial design process. So we wanted to make a concerted effort to make tools specifically designed for the studio market using the things we learned about live entertainment technologies, and that’s what fos/4 is supposed to represent.”

According to Uphoff, this approach has led directly to key features of ETC’s latest fixture.

“For example, people don’t always have a DMX console, so they’ll want to set a light level on the fixture, quickly make adjustments there and move on,” he says. “So we have wireless technologies and near-field communication (NFC) to be able to do contactless configuration of fixtures.

“We also have a brand new user interface, a colour screen with backlit encoders, where the colours of the encoders change corresponding to what’s on the screen. You can quickly learn how to manipulate the lights,” he continues. “But at the end of the day, it’s all about the light coming out of the front of the fixture. We wanted to wrap a package around our technologies that would be suitable for this environment.”

Not all LED fixtures are created equal. “We’ve seen LED products sold on the market today that have a similar, in some cases worse, lumens per watt than Source Four incandescent fixtures,” says Uphoff. “The assumption is if it’s LED, it’s an energyconscious green fixture. It’s not always the case.

“The quality of the design, the efficiency of the optical system, the efficiency of the array and the thermal management, the power supplies, all have an impact,” he continues. “We take a lot of time and care to pick the appropriate components to try to keep our fixtures as green as possible.”

A good example is the NFC chip in the fos/4.

“The fixture doesn’t even need to be plugged in,” says Uphoff. “The chip uses the power of the wireless signal coming off your phone to store the data on its flash memory. The next time the fixture powersup, it pulls the data off of that chip and loads the configuration. A rental shop can factory default a case of fixtures without having to take them out.

“Packaging is a big environmental issue as well,” he continues. “Obviously we have to get our product to site in one piece, but we try to use recyclable materials, such as cardboard inserts and pressed pulp packaging as opposed to foam.”

Legacy Fred Foster, a humanitarian and community builder, as well as visionary engineer in the lighting world, sadly passed away in 2019 at the age of 61. His presence is still felt.

“We still have conversations all the time about what would Fred say, how would he handle a particular situation? His thumbprint is still all over the company,” says Uphoff. “We waited to get into LED, because Fred didn’t see it upholding the quality that was necessary for art – until he saw Selador. He felt he needed to protect artistry in the markets that we cater to. That legacy continues at ETC, advancing the way those people work while holding on to the traditions that have made their industries what they are.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 61

LIMBO•NICK COOKE

NICK COOKE•LIMBO Main and left: Wild, wild life - DP Nick Cooke and crew on location.

Below: Limbo stars - Amir El-Masry, Ola Orebiyi, Kwabena Ansah and Vikash Bhai.

Photos: Saskia Coulson/Colin Tennant/Focus

NO MAN IS AN ISLAND

Displacing the action to a barren, remote outcrop, focussed the storytelling on the people

By Ron Prince

The displacement of people is an issue that is perpetually on our TV screens, particularly news reports, but have you ever really imagined what life might be like for refugees? Well, director Ben Sharrock’s highly-acclaimed and thought-provoking film, Limbo, uses a sense of the absurd to bring humour, humanity and a new perspective to their plight.

T

he £2m film centres on four young asylum seekers from different parts of the world, who are housed together on a remote Scottish island, and taking culturalawareness classes, whilst they await the processing of their refugee claims. Among them is Omar (Amir El-Masry) a young Syrian musician, caught between his wartorn motherland and an unknown future.

He is also burdened by the weight of his grandfather’s oud, which he cannot play due to a wrist injury, and lugs endlessly around the island in its protective case, as it were a coffin for his soul.

Sharrock reunited with up-coming British cinematographer Nick Cooke - who previously shot the director’s no-budget debut feature Pikadero - to craft a particular deadpan cinematic language that, amid the wild and rugged landscape, would simultaneously convey the characters’ sense of community and alienation, whilst making the audience pause for reflection.

Limbo was named as an Official Selection of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, but was not screened due to the cancellation of the physical festival in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. It had its world premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, where it gained hugely-positive reviews, before garnering several awards and nominations - including two BAFTA and four British Independent Film Awards nominations, including one for Cooke’s cinematography.

Limbo was shot over the course of five weeks during October and November 2018 in the remote islands of the Outer Hebrides - including North and South Uist, Berneray and Grimsay - which are interlinked by bridges. During prep, Cooke and Sharrock rented a car and scouted the entire archipelago, noting the locations of all bus stops, phone boxes, schools, playgrounds, houses, beaches and heather-strewn fields. This enabled 62 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

We realised the more box-like 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio suited the storytelling far better

them to subsequently plot 95% of the camera positions they wanted. When it came to the shoot, the cast and crew endured gale-force winds and extremes of cold to deliver the striking result.

Ben is an intelligent director, with a singular cinematic voice, and his vision for the film was similar in style to the way we shot Pikadero – for things to be quite static and composed,” says Cooke, an NFTS graduate, whose recent credits also include Claire Oakley’s Make Up (2020) and Emre Kayiş’ Anatolian Leopard (2021).

“Displacing the action to a barren, remote outcrop, automatically focussed the storytelling very much on the people, and their collective and individual situations. But in doing so, it also it also acted as a magnifying glass that amplified and exaggerated the broader issue of what it might be like to live as a refugee elsewhere.”

Cooke continues, “The depiction of our characters, in a state of seemingly endless purgatory, was the first thing we discussed. How best to capture the portraiture of people and the landscape? Also, Ben wanted, especially early-on in the film, to feel that everything - the characters, telephone boxes and streetlights - had been picked up and dropped into this landscape.

“We both love 2.39.1 and during our extensive recces around the islands, we took lots of photos and framed them with widescreen in mind. However, as we explored the expansive horizons and cramped interiors we were going to shoot in, we realised the more box-like 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio suited the storytelling far better. It could be used effectively to both capture the wide landscapes and to hem-in our characters and thereby underline their entrapment.”

Cooke says that visual cues for the film came from the work of stills photographers - such as Czech photographer Josef Koudelka, who took photos across Europe, and French photographer Raymond Depardon, who took some amazing images in Glasgow. For films, they considered Wim Wenders

movies, shot by legendary cinematographer Robby Müller, especially those filmed in America.

“Curiously, it was only on reflection that we realised many of our influences were from visual artists who had created detached, observational images of places that were not their native homelands,” Cooke remarks. “Which is how we felt when exploring this island - it’s very different to my more gentile homeland of Devon”.

After testing at Take 2 Films (now Procam Take 2) in London, Cooke selected the ARRI Alexa SXT, plus an Alexa Mini as a standby, fitted with ARRI Ultra Prime lenses for the shoot, together with a doorway dolly a few lengths of 8-ft track, combined with a slider and tripod.

The production was captured in ProRes 4444 XQ, open gate mode, framing for a 1.37:1 extraction, with the camera rated at 800ISO for night exteriors, and at 1600ISO for day exteriors. Cooke also used 1/8 Tiffen Black Promist for the majority of the shoot, switching to 1/4 strength of that filtration for night shoots, in order to effect the highlights and to generally soften the quality of the image.

“We really had to be super-organised in advance of production, making sure we had all the kit we would need, as working so remotely meant there would be a considerable lag in getting additional kit delivered,” says Cooke. “We also

needed to keep things lightweight as we often had to walk through fields to get to our chosen camera position. I had used a similar combination of wideangle lenses on Pikadero, but on this film we mainly used the 16/20mm for close-up’s and mid-shots, and the 28mm for our wide shots. The 32mm was our ‘long’ lens, although we rarely used this.”

Prior to production Cooke worked with colourist Jodie Davidson at Technicolor, London, who also completed the final DI grade, to develop a small

selection of LUTs, which saturated certain colours (the main ones being Omar’s blue jacket and the pink cast on his injured arm), as well as reducing the highlights away from a bright white.

“The island itself gave us natural greens and browns, the heather muted white and purple hues.

We added colours that were in the middle of that spectrum - particularly the wardrobe, such as

Omar’s - so they would pop just a little against the backgrounds,” he says.

“Our framing was very compositionally-led, almost always with shots blocked to the camera position. Ben also likes a static camera. So by not moving the camera very much - with very slow pushes-in or 90-degree rotations - combined with centre-framing of the horizon, our characters and objects, these made bold statements and helped to heighten the whimsical feeling”.

To maintain a naturalism to the look, most of the exteriors were shot in available light, with blackouts regularly used to achieve and manipulate negative fill, and reflectors to subtly shape the light around a character.

“Interiors were typically lit by practicals, supplemented by bounced/diffused light from ARRI M40 lampheads. to help us achieve the deep depth-of-field required to hold multiple characters in focus. Often we would be shooting at T8 or T11,” Cooke explains. “The lighting team also developed a working orange streetlight on wheels, that could be easily rolled into the background of a shot, with its base careful concealed with grass by the art department.”

Cooke operated during the shoot. His crew were all from Scotland, with David Hutchison working as focus puller, Steve Arthur as gaffer, Mark Dorriss the key grip, and Grant McPhee the DIT. “This was my first time collaborating with them, and they worked in what were generally challenging conditions - freezing cold and strong winds. We sometimes had six people clinging to lighting stands and rain deflectors to stop the kit from being blow away,” Cooke declares.

“I also have to thank the people of the islands who, despite us disturbing the peace, were very nice and incredibly helpful during our time there - one even lent us his boat for our waterborne sequence”.

“We could have shot Limbo on the mainland, and faked the impression of being on an island.

But, by going to the Outer Hebrides, the landscape really dictated a lot of the look of the film. The constantly changing weather made each day a challenge. The conditions could change so quickly.

In one take, we might be framing the mist rolling in, and then by take two the wind had blown-up to leave not a single cloud in the sky. In one way, the landscape was our friend, because it gave us so much variety.”

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A QUIET PLACE PART II•POLLY MORGAN BSC ASC

POLLY MORGAN BSC ASC•A QUIET PLACE PART II Opposite: Real to reel - Emily Blunt faces the camera Below left: inside the Tube Of Death Centre: director John Krasinski Below: DP Polly Morgan BSC ASC

PRETTY HORRIFIC

By Ron Prince

Although it had been a number of years since cinematographer Polly Morgan BSC ASC had shot using celluloid, she says coming back to film, for Paramount Picture’s A Quiet Place Part II, ”was a complete joy.”

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O

“

n one level, it was so refreshing to walk around the sets with my light meter, and not be stuck in a DIT tent judging the exposure on a monitor,” reveals Morgan, whose recent DP credits include FX/ Marvel Television’s Legion series and Noah Hawley’s Lucy In The Sky, but who last shot 35mm film in 2016 on FX’s American Horror Story, working on additional photography.

“On another level, the rhythm and discipline of shooting on film creates a very healthy focus for the cast and crew,” she says. “And, as for the final result, although A Quiet Place II is a horror, it looks pretty and engaging, with a nostalgic look that you would find hard to achieve digitally.”

Talks of a sequel to A Quiet Place (2018), directed by John Krasinski, and shot on 35mm by Charlotte Bruus Christensen DFF, began in April 2018 following the box office success of the original film.

On a budget of around $20 million, A Quiet Place returned an impressive $341 million at the box office.

The sequel was written and directed by Krasinski and stars Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe, reprising their roles from the first film, with Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou joining the cast. Krasinski also reprised his role for a small number of flashback sequences.

Where the original 2018 hit was a heartstopping drama about parents and what they do to protect their children, A Quiet Place II sees the Abbott family face the terrors of the outside world as they fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realise the sightless reptilian creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path.

“A key challenge was to make the sequel look and feel as visually-engaging as the original, so that if anyone were to watch them as a double bill the whole thing would feel like one fluid piece of work,” says Morgan, “But, this film was also about expanding the family’s world, and especially about moving with them through lots of dynamic and thrilling action sequences.”

After extensive testing, Morgan went with Panavision Millennium XL2 35mm cameras, using T-series Anamorphic lenses that were adjusted to match the C-series glass used on the first film, and to optimise their close-focus abilities and performance in low light.

She adds, “You hear so much technical rhetoric about digital having more latitude than film, but that’s simply not true. We worked in some very dark situations, really pushing the negative to the limit and film held them beautiful. There was more than one occasion where my highlights were over by more than six stops, but I never had to worry they just rolled-off, held all the detail, and results looked great.”

I love shooting on film, it supported the escapism and adventurous storytelling.

She selected Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 for the movie’s extensive dark situations – night scenes and stage work – comprising around 75% of screen time, and used Kodak Vision3 250D 5207 for the day exteriors plus a clutch of interiors. Film Processing was done at FotoKem in Los Angeles.

“The 500T and 250D made a very good match together for this production, and a seamless transition between the two films,” Morgan says. “The way 500T sees into the dark is quite remarkable. It has so much more latitude than people are led to believe, and digs deep into the shadows. There is plenty of range in the toe and the highlights roll-off beautifully, in the way only film can.”

For example, one of the most challenging lighting and shooting situations was the furnace set, nicknamed ‘The Tube Of Death’.

“It was like a coffin. If you sat in it, your head touched the roof,” Morgan exclaims. “With five actors inside, plus the camera, it was very hard to light, and my meter was reading just 0.7 most of the time. But the 500T captured the actors, who were lit in in foreground, beautifully, and the fall-off felt very natural, just like the human eye. It rivals any digital sensor out there.”

Morgan describes the 250D as “very pretty.

It looks naturalistic and the colour rendition on greens is particularly beautiful, unlike anything you can capture with a digital camera, where things can look artificially chroma-green. In the scene when the family emerge from the steel mill into the dappled light of a hot summer’s day, the 250D was photographically faithful to the hues in the foliage and the hot shafts of sunlight.”

Where A Quiet Place II moves on from the original film is in the how the camera follows the action. “The script was full of dynamic movement and action. John wanted to always keep the camera moving and create long ‘oners’ to play with rhythm and tension and to show how normal life can suddenly become very different and dangerous - all in the same shot.”

Energising the camera with what she describes as “a lot of complicated choreography,” Morgan deployed an array of tracking vehicles, often driving at full-tilt, with the camera mounted variously on jibs, cranes or Steadicam vests.

For an early, 20-second-action scene, featuring a flashback to the creatures’ initial attack in the town centre, a Volvo had its roof taken off in order to incorporate a sliding rig with a motion control arm and mini remote head which allowed the camera to freely pan and tilt between views through the car’s front and rear windscreens, whilst also taking-in the actor’s fear-filled performances.

“Making A Quiet Place II was challenging and adventurous, but ultimately a lot of fun,” concludes Morgan. “I love shooting on film, and think it really supported the escapism and adventurous storytelling.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 65

NOBODY•PAWEL POGORZELSKI

PAWEL POGORZELSKI•NOBODY

CAMERA CHAMELEON

Main: Set menu - Filming Nobody.

Opposite lower: DP Pawel PogorzeLski (behind camera) with crew on Nobody.

Middle: Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) Below: With Director, Ilya Naishuller.

By Darek Kuźma

Photo Credit: Allen Fraser/Universal Pictures

P

ogorzelski, known for his work on genre-defying director Ari Aster’s double horror bill of Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019), is not the first cinematographer one might think of in terms of shooting a no-holds-barred action movie about an aged assassin-turned-family-man, called Hutch Mansell, who needs to dust-off his particular set of skills to protect his loved ones. Especially given that Nobody’s director, Ilya Naishuller, has come to be recognised for an anarchic visual style that not many can emulate – such as his debut feature Hardcore Henry (2015). Yet Pogorzelski was offered the job – and ramped up the fun factor accordingly.

How better to change your pace as a cinematographer than by doing a bonkers action drama, penned and produced by the people – Derek Kolstad and David Leitch – who had introduced the world to the neo-noir world of John Wick (2014, dir. Chad Stahelski, DP Jonathan Sela)?

“For me, exploration is a big thing, and I don’t want to box myself into any particular genre or style,” offers Pogorzelski. “When reading the script for Nobody, I thought it had this cool, crazy vibe and a number of fun ideas, but seemed a bit close to what John Wick had already done. Then I met Ilya who spoke about telling an emotional story with depth and heart inspired by the visual flair of Korean action movies. A different beast altogether. I was hooked.”

Blending inventive action scenes with a touch of the personal meant providing the film’s star, Bob Odenkirk – a comedian at heart, who turned 57 after Nobody wrapped mid-October 2019 – with the space to create a fleshed-out character.

“A lot of it was about giving Bob the confidence that he looked badass when he needed to, or like an older man when the plot required it,” says Pogorzelski. “Bob trained hard for this film, and we wanted to accentuate that. During prep, we made tests to show him how he’d look with some extra light emphasising his super-thin silhouette and muscular jaw.”

Pogorzelski is a DP who invests a lot of time in testing, making his creative and artistic choices a process of constant discovery.

“What I like to do on every film is to start with a blank slate, and test all cameras and lenses that I believe match the director’s visual concept,” says the cinematographer. “We knew we wanted Anamorphic, so I shot a half-hour of footage and watched it with Ilya in theatre. It’s always surprising how tests can inform you that the best way to make the film isn’t necessarily the one you thought of in the first place. Ilya wanted to use ARRI Alexa, but after the screening he agreed that the Red Helium camera was the closest to what he had imagined in his head.”

They equipped the camera with a Hawk V-Lite Anamorphic lenses and created a special LUT for this set-up.

As Pogorzelski explains, “The search for

66 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Canadian cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski’s first foray into the action genre informs Nobody’s alluring amalgam in which visceral fun meets visual joyride.

We literally owned the streets, and it was fun, especially shooting slowmotion scenes in 96fps Nobody’s look was an interesting process. Red Helium is 8K, but we went with 6K at 1600ISO, cropping in a little bit to get more contrast and that grittiness of the digital noise that goes well with the added grain. We tested at 800, 1280 and 1600ISO in 8K, 7K and 6K, and 6K at 1600ISO was our favourite combo. There’s something in the image that, for the lack of a better word, feels more ‘dangerous’ – not as clean and safe.”

Nobody starts-off with a more bland, pastel look to cover Hutch Mansell’s ordinary life, employed in an unremarkable job as an office worker in a metal fabrication company. But as we begin to figure out who Hutch is – a former assassin employed by intelligence agencies to kill people who were considered untouchable, or too difficult to arrest – the colours become more vibrant and pronounced

whilst the third act is all about visual stimulation.

“We shot everything in Winnipeg with more than half of our 34 shooting days spent on location, including a bonkers car chase in downtown for which we had closed-off four blocks,” Pogorzelski reminisces. “We literally owned the streets, and it was fun, especially shooting slow-motion scenes in 96fps.”

Pogorzelski used a variety of light sources to maintain the film’s demanding visual flow.

“This film needed a lot of light. I did a whole day of testing with my gaffer, John Clarke, and key grip, Bill Mills, to find what would be our sources at night in the city. We had ARRIMAX’s and ARRI M-Series lights, but in the process I fell in love with those old ARRI 12K-18K Fresnels and the hard shadows they gave. On the set I mixed them with a lot of other sources, also some Condors and Maxi Brutes.”

Flexibility in lighting – again, based on extensive tests and rehearsals with Odenkirk and second unit director/stunt coordinator Greg Rementer – was the best approach to the now-famous bus scene, in which the seriously pissed-off Hutch challenges a bunch of Russian mobsters barehanded, before saving one of their lives by performing a makeshift tracheotomy using a drinking straw.

“Although it focussed on people beating the hell out of one another, I wanted this sequence to feel moody and interesting, with slightly longer takes

and more contrast. I put Astera tubes on dimmers on both sides of the bus, so I could dim them separately and have the actors a bit more bright than the background.”

All the decisions made by Pogorzelski during the shoot proved good ones when he worked with colourist Walter Volpatto during DI in the LA-based EFILM. “It took us literally a couple of days,” Pogorzelski recalls. “On the first day we played a bit with where we could go with it, but we were just happy with how it looked and decided not to mess with it. I mean, it says a lot about our efforts from prep paying-off in post when our producers came in to review the colour grade, and the only note was that one of the streetlights felt a little too yellow. I was like… ‘That’s it? We’re in good shape!’”

In fact, Pogorzelski really is in great shape, having since shot increasingly divergent and demanding projects, including Ana Lily Amirpour’s mystery thriller Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon, about a girl with unusual powers who escapes from a mental asylum and tries to make it on her own in New Orleans, which is next to be released.

“A few years ago nothing was happening with my career, and I was close to quitting,” Pogorzelski candidly admits. “But I invested time in shooting shorts with Ari Aster and I decided to wait for his feature debut, Hereditary, before making a decision about what to do next.”

Then it did happen, with Hereditary and then Midsommar both being lauded for their visual artistry, presaging a flourishing career for the young cinematographer.

“I want to be a cinematographer who’s like a chameleon, always doing something different,” he adds. “I want to be daring, and to feel uncomfortable, just as I did on Nobody when I had to push myself and think outside of my box. This is my way, and if I can shoot films like that, it’ll be really great.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 67

MENTAL HEALTH•SPECIAL REPORT

SPECIAL REPORT•MENTAL HEALTH Help at hand: (clockwise from top) Lori Rubinstein, executive director of Behind The Scenes Foundation, Lucy Tallon, head of mental health and wellbeing, at The Film & TV Charity, Sarah McCaffrey, founder of Solas Mind, Matt Longley from 6ft From The Spotlight Main image: Joshua Fuller

THE SILENT EMERGENCY

By Kate Rolfe and Toria Wilson

We look at how mental health issues are spiralling out of control within the film and TV industry, and what can be done to help.

I

n the last few years, general attitudes towards mental health at work have been improving. However, following multiple incidents in the film and TV industry, such as the tragic suicide of location manager Michael Harm in 2017, and a general lack of transparency and acceptance surrounding this issue, something very serious is clearly going on behind-the-scenes.

In 2019, the UK’s Film & TV Charity commissioned research into how mental health issues were impacting crew on and off-set, with some shocking results. Matt Longley from 6ft From The Spotlight was part of the working group.

What was apparent early-on was the depth of feeling that the survey had stimulated,” says Longley. “There were over 9,000 responses and the results were stark: the link between working practices in the industry and the state of the workers’ mental health was abundantly evident.”

The Looking Glass survey revealed that 87% of respondents had experienced a mental health problem, compared to 42% generally across the UK population. More than half of the sample (55%) had contemplated taking their own life, compared with 20% of people nationally.

This critical situation is also a global issue. The Behind The Scenes Foundation in the US teamed-up with Vibrant Emotional Health, which manages the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, for guidance on developing a Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Initiative for the industry.

Lori Rubinstein, executive director of Behind The Scenes Foundation, says, “Over the last few years, every conversation I had with people in the industry at some point came down to the issue of mental health, as people were struggling with higher levels of anxiety and depression and we were losing more and more people to suicides or overdoses.”

The situation is not only dire for the individual going through it, but there is also a knock-on impact to the wider production. The Deloitte report, titled Mental Health And Employers, estimates that mental health problems cost the UK film, TV and cinema industries about £300 million a year.

As Longley explains, “Fatigue and stress can reduce cognitive behaviour and inhibit decision-making, which is why the costs are so high in the Deloitte report.

Workers have more accidents, which can be costly, and there can be a high turnover of crew on some productions due to the stress. It is all a vicious circle.”

Sarah McCaffrey, founder of UK-based Solas Mind is also concerned, “There is a duty of care sometimes missing in this wonderful industry. It feels fruitless to keep talking about filling the skills gap if we are then losing amazing talents because we don’t promote positive mental wellbeing, protect crew from unreasonable demands and behaviour, or support them if they do struggle.”

So why is the issue so endemic in the film industry? The Looking Glass report found that there were three major areas to focus on: conditions of work; the industry’s culture; and its capability to provide support for those who need it.

McCaffery explains, “As an industry of freelancers with no clear HR processes, many crew don’t want to be seen to be struggling, fearful that it will impact future job opportunities. There is still such stigma around speaking about mental health.”

And it’s not just on-set when the stress affects lives, as Rubinstein clarifies, “There are intense periods, when you’re with your ‘work family’ way more than your own family. Then, when you come off a job, suddenly you’re on your own without anything to do or that daily contact - that’s when the post-event depression can so very easily set in.”

What is vital to understand is that productions are legally obliged to look after the mental wellbeing of everyone working for them. As Longley explains, “In he UK, production companies and commissioners have a legal duty of care to their workforce’s mental health under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Managing Health & Safety Regulation 1999. These state that the risks to stress and mental health of workers must be controlled, and that preventative measures must be put in place, whilst also protecting anyone with an existing illness. Productions should have a mental health and well-being policy in place and state clearly who is responsible.”

Rubinstein adds, “Education at every level is required. Productions need to consider the impact that the schedules and atmosphere, which they create, have on people’s mental health. But it’s equally important that crew are aware and show respect and consideration for those that they’re working with.”

There is also a concerning link between inequality and mental health that senior members of the industry need to be aware of, connected by a bullying culture in the industry. The Looking Glass report found that people’s ethnic and social backgrounds were significant when understanding who experienced bullying and harassment, as well as their gender, sexuality, and visible and non-visible disabilities.

Kate Rolfe from Digital Orchard’s Foundation explains “As part of our Equality In Focus training framework we work closely with 6Ft From The Spotlight specifically to acknowledge the connection between inequality and mental health, training the industry how to address both of these issues simultaneously and immediately.”

In the US, Behind The Scenes found that, “bullying really cuts across all racial identities, all gender identities, all parts of the industry, all ages.

One form bullying takes is a kind of cowboy culture in the industry where someone says, ‘I worked 18 hours yesterday, so why can’t you work 18 hours today’ or ‘I always work when I’m sick, why can’t you?”

Suicide. Harassment. Talent quitting the industry.

The consequences are wide and devastating. So what can we collectively do about this?

In February 2020, the Film & TV Charity created the Whole Picture Programme to tackle mental health difficulties in the business. Alongside valuable discussion forums and free 24-hour Film & TV Support Line, their online resources also help empower people who are experiencing or witnessing inappropriate behaviour.

Spot is a digital tool that people can use if they aren’t ready to talk to someone but want to keep a completely confidential record, to help to identify a pattern of behaviour or manage a sensitive conversation in the future. People can also make use of our new Bullying Pathway Service,”says Lucy Tallon, head of mental health and well-being, at The Film & TV Charity.

There are periods, when you’re with your ‘work family’ way more than your own family In the US, the Behind The Scenes Foundation is sponsoring mental health first aid classes to train people to recognise the signs of mental distress or substance misuse. It has also been collaborating with organisations such as Production Equipment Rental Group (PERG) to spread the message. There are many resources on the BTS website, such as a 24/7 peer-to-peer chat app, a ‘Find An Industry Therapist’ tool and an online behavioural self-assessment.

6ft From The Spotlight is currently working with BECTU Wales and others to trial a new role onset - the ‘Wellbeing Facilitator’, who is dedicated to helping productions meet their duty of care to workers.

Film & TV Charity www.filmtvcharity.org.uk 0800 054 0000 6ft From the Spotlight www.6ftfrom.org 0800 054 0000 Solas Mind www.solasmind.com +44 (0)7946 650438 Behind The Scenes Foundation www.wp.behindthescenescharity.org 001 212-244-1421 Beyond Blue www.beyondblue.org.au Heads Up www.headsup.org.au +61 1300 22 4636

In addition, McCaffery from Solas Mind advocates for the benefits of integrating therapeutic support, “I am really hopeful that it will become standard practice for productions to partner with a professional counselling service to support crew well-being,” she says.

In Australia, the Australian Society Of Cinematographers (ACS) recognises that mental health is key to a balanced and productive career.

“As a society, the ACS are reviewing and updating resources and comprehensively looking into initiatives and collaborations with relevant organisations to help support our members,” says Justine Kerrigan chair of the Diversity, Inclusion & Reconciliation Committee of the ACS. “In Australia, there are a number of national organisations available for support. They include Beyond Blue, Heads Up and, specifically for the performing arts industry, The Arts Wellbeing Collective. This is an Arts Centre Melbourne initiative that is a collective of arts and cultural organisations working together to promote positive mental health and well-being.”

“The industry guilds are perfectly positioned to provide guidance, education and support in regard to mental health and well-being for their members,” adds Kerrigan. “Our once-a-month drop-in sessions can easily accommodate regular well-being sessions.”

There is no doubt that the industry needs ongoing evaluation and to keep questioning what is normal and acceptable. In the UK, BECTU recently surveyed the industry about working hours and their effect on productivity, safety and well-being in its Eyes Half Shut report, and is currently calling for a commission dedicated to reducing the industry’s long hours working culture. BECTU also has an anti-bullying campaign called Unseen On Screen and is part of the Coalition For Change.

Over in the US, the International Alliance Of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) is working very closely with Behind The Scenes, “The union has been incredibly supportive. I’ve given over 50 presentations in the last year and those who attend are really grateful that the IATSE clearly recognises the issue and wants to work on it on behalf of its members,” remarks Rubinstein.

The global pandemic has obviously had a devastating effect on an already troubled industry.

Lucy Tallon warns, “We must consider the mental pressure and anxiety people have experienced, and be conscious of the fact that some people may also have unresolved financial problems.

“We’re concerned about the fact that individuals from underrepresented groups in the industry have been disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 crisis as well, which could send us backwards on diversity initiatives at a moment when it’s more important than ever.”

Rubinstein remains hopeful that the pandemic has helped to accelerate a shift which otherwise would have taken ten years or more. “Everybody is talking about mental health now and so I’m hoping that this allows us to speed up this culture change.”

McCaffery reflects, “In any disaster response model there is a wiser living phase after the storm passes. I am ever hopeful this will be apparent in the film and TV industry as we emerge from the pandemic.

The Arts Wellbeing Collective www.artswellbeingcollective.com.au +61 1800 959 500 68 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 69

THE LIGHT STUFF•BARRY CONROY

BARRY CONROY•THE LIGHT STUFF Main: Barry Conroy, on Free Fire with DP Laurie Rose BSC Opposite lower: With father, gaffer Louis Conroy Below: Barry, spot check

THE BRIGHT SIDE Gaffer: Barry Conroy by David Wood

Most difficult location?

On a show a couple of years ago, a location was found which had very limited access in a tightlypacked pine forest. We had a lot of night scenes and needed a hard backlight, soft fill and overhead soft light. We managed to get a machine on a firebreak road, but couldn’t get any balloons or other machines in to do the fill or overhead. We ended-up rigging 2K Jem Ball lamps high-up in the trees with bi-colour LED fittings in them which we had 3D printed and wrapped in LED strip. We then used LV4 Pro controllers from EMP designs and Tracer batteries to power them. We ended up making 20 of them and it worked out great in the end. It was a bit of a rig though!

Cinematographer Laurie Rose BSC says: The gaffer/DP relationship is a crucial one for me.

They do rather have to be a conduit for my macroanxiety, to make sense of wild ideas, organise them and bring them to life, with a great team and still have a laugh. If they’re along for that ride with you then they’re very special and you want to hang on to them.

Barry and I are of a similar age and his calm, considered approach counters my haphazard methodology perfectly. He always has a brilliant alternative and has the courage and knowledge to offer ambitious, practical solutions when all about is mayhem - it’s literally in his DNA. Cinematographer Owen McPolin ISC says: Often DPs think they choose the gaffers they work with, but the opposite is really true. At the root of the relationship lies trust and without that, the process of lighting and prediction becomes laborious, inefficient and liable to disaster. It’s that critical really.

When you work with an accomplished gaffer, they can almost predict the requirements based upon the style they perceive in their DP. Although I try my damnedest to stump Barry, he manages to distil lighting to its simplest core and by doing so, solves the given conundrum without so much as involving me, freeing me to tell the story. I trust him implicitly and when we work together my only worry it will be the last time, as he is clearly destined for enormous things.

Favourite movie?

My favourite to work on was Free Fire (2016) with Laurie Rose BSC and director Ben Wheatley. We had a warehouse in Brighton fully-rigged with in-built lighting and hidden fixtures so we could almost shoot anywhere in the building. The cast and the crew had so much fun on the shoot together. It was filled with dust, bullet hits, fire and water, but also lots of laughs!

How did you get started?

My dad, Louis Conroy, is a gaffer and he got me an apprenticeship in 1999 with Paddy O’Toole in Cine Electric Lighting Company in Ireland. When I finished there I started working as a daily on various productions and then James McGuire started crewing me on jobs. I went on to best boy for James and thank him to this day for all the advice and guidance he gave.

Another big break was while working the floor with gaffer Terry Mulligan. He offered me the second unit gaffer position on a TV show called Camelot. It was an amazing experience and it gave me the confidence to start chasing jobs as a gaffer.

Did you always want to be a gaffer?

I don’t think so, but I always worked hard and wanted to do the best I could, whatever the job.

Once I was offered a gaffer job I grabbed it with both hands and gave it everything. I think being a gaffer finds you, rather than you going looking for it.

How did you learn the trade?

The best learning I got was from working with and watching others – my dad firstly (he still teaches me to this day), but also Terry Mulligan, James McGuire and Noel Cullen. They all taught me so much simply by watching them. Through my years as a best boy I learnt all about the organisation of equipment and labour and how important it is to simply write stuff down.

When I started gaffering, DPs like Martin Führer BSC, John Conroy ISC, Owen McPolin ISC and Laurie Rose BSC all had different ways of achieving things so I’ve learnt to be very adaptable. I’m still learning everyday on-set and I suspect I always will.

When is the gaffer/DP relationship at its best?

I really enjoy working alongside DPs and gaining their trust. It is a great thing when you get on and build almost a second sense of what they want. The camera

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test and pre-light days are always key for both parties to figure each other out and get a feeling of how we like to work.

On The Green Knight with DP Andrew Droz Palermo and director David Lowery, all three of us would talk through a scene on scouting trips and then when it came to our tech-talk, Andrew and I would both have similar ideas for lighting. All this prep work meant that the shoot went smoothly.

Tell us about your crew My best boys Paul McNulty and Tommy Keyes, as well as Graeme Haughton who is my rigging gaffer, have all been by my side for years. My floor crew changes as people go off to become best boys and gaffers themselves, which is brilliant.

Now we have Marc Cole on the genny and Mark McGowan taking care of the floor. I would also be lost without Terry Mulcahy who takes care of all things dimming and DMX. This is an integral part of film lighting now.

Your biggest challenge?

It would be the project I’ve just finished; a tenepisode TV series called Foundation for Apple TV+ which was huge. Multiple DPs, massive sets with a lot of LED practicals and big lighting set-ups. It was also shot across various countries, which added to the logistical challenges. We would be shooting in one country while setting-up in a second with another crew and planning for a third. This is where the behind-the-scenes work of a brilliant best boy and a rigging gaffer really show their worth. The crossover units and ever-changing schedules added to the workload.

Latest kit A really good piece of kit is a great wireless set-up.

We recently got our hands on the Radical Wireless Blackbird and Sparrow DMX and were really impressed with the range and stability of connection.

The Blackbird version is also weatherproof which is brilliant.

I try to follow as many companies, gaffers and sparks on social media to see what they are using and what’s new. It’s great seeing how people use new innovations. Social media is great for rigs and ideas.

I also enjoy testing new gear. What I love most are the accessories that are continually coming out - they change the way we can use certain lights. For example, how DoPChoice Snapbags and Octarig suspension systems allow us to soften LED sources.

Sometimes what’s great is being able to use new technology to recreate an old technique. Using LED fixtures as space lights is a perfect example. Also, having ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ people on the crew is great for their knowledge of other fixtures we wouldn’t normally think of.

I’m still learning everyday on set and I suspect I always will Any advice for aspiring gaffers?

Put down your phone and watch what’s going on around you. Never be late. Oh, and smile and enjoy yourself. What we do for ‘work’ is great!

As one of the industry’s premier rental resources, we are extremely proud to support crews around the world with an unrivalled collection of production solutions the embrace both the conventional and the very latest in advanced lighting technology.

Whatever your production type, wherever you are, when it comes to lighting - we’ve got the lot.

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Cinematographer Tico Poulakakis CSC says: Anyone can be clear in their vision, but completely unable to accomplish it on a larger scale without someone to help them execute it, imbue it with additional complexity and elevate it beyond what the original had to offer.

My most recent collaboration with Barry on Foundation is a shining example of that. He has the logistical prowess to run an army, but the ability to remain grounded in the intent of a scene and what it should look like, to stay calm during its execution and add to it. Barry thinks like a DP, which makes my job so much easier and more enjoyable.

STUDIO LOCATION FEATURES COMMERCIALS DRAMA TELEVISION EQUIPMENT GENERATORS TRANSPORT SUPPORT INNOVATION SAFETY SUSTAINABILITY 12/04/2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 202118:08 71

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD•JAMES LAXTON ASC

JAMES LAXTON ASC•THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD Main: Cora Randall (Thuso Mbedu).

Below: Caesar (Aaron Pierre).

Right: Out in the Fields - Director Barry Jenkins.

Photos: Atsushi Nishijima/Kyle Kaplan/Amazon

Each of your collaborations look very different visually from the others. How did you and Barry start finding the right looks for this epic period story?

We first talked a lot about the novel, and what concepts we wanted to take to a visual place, and how to present a very dark, brutal history of slavery and then place it in this almost mythological context - and the steam train is symbolic of the whole truth of the underground railroad. So it was playing with these two elements - the truthful material, and then the symbolism of this mythological telling of this truth. As for references, they were vast, from a film like Barry Lyndon (1975, dir. Stanley Kubrick, DP John Alcott BSC), which was in our ‘common memory’ rather than being a specific influence, to the work of Bill Henson, the Australian contemporary art photographer. His dramatic use of chiaroscuro lighting and flash technique, which I love, became a motif for us in many ways, and was very influential.

Cinematographer James Laxton ASC and director Barry Jenkins have been close friends and collaborators since they were roommates at college in Florida, some 20 years ago. After working on several shorts together, they first made a name for themselves with Jenkins’ assured 2008 lowbudget feature debut, the San Francisco-set romantic drama Medicine For Melancholy, which earned Laxton an Indie Spirit Award nomination.

How long did you spend scouting?

A long time. We began back in 2018, and we scouted Upstate New York, Ohio and so on, as the idea was to tell this American journey. But we soon realised that physically moving a crew around from state-to-state was a bridge too far. So ultimately it made more sense logistically and budget-wise to shoot it all in one state, Georgia.

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By Iain Blair

T

heir second film, 2016’s Moonlight, a challenging tale of identity, sexuality and love, won three Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay for Jenkins, and an Oscar nomination for Laxton and his luminous, saturated cinematography. And, if they handed out Oscars just for painterly compositions and ravishing shots of curling cigarette smoke, Laxton’s lyrical work on their third film, 2018’s If Beale Street Could Talk, would have won hands-down.

For their latest project, an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning slavery epic, The Underground Railroad, the pair branched out into high-end television. Jenkins, who served as showrunner, co-writer, and EP alongside Brad Pitt, directed - and Laxton shot - all ten episodes of the limited Amazon Prime Video series, which chronicles Cora Randall’s (newcomer Thuso Mbedu) desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum Deep South.

After escaping a Georgia plantation for the rumoured ‘Underground Railroad’, Cora discovers

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we try to make our images evoke a particular perspective or mood

of the mother that left her behind and her own struggles to realise a life she never thought was possible.

Here, Laxton talks about his long and fruitful partnership with Jenkins, the challenges of making the ambitious series, and his approach to its cinematography and lighting.

no mere metaphor, but an actual railroad full of engineers and conductors, and a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil, in addition to a series of safe houses and secret routes, used by enslaved African-Americans to escape into free states and Canada.

Over the course of her journey, Cora is pursued

by Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton), a bounty hunter who is fixated on bringing her back to the plantation she escaped from, especially since her mother Mabel is the only one he has never caught. As she travels from state-to-state, Cora contends with the legacy

You and Barry met way back in college.

How do you think your collaboration has evolved over the years?

I don’t think it’s evolved at all (he laughs). I’m happy to say that it’s exactly the same, and our approach is the same as when we started. The way we try to make our images evoke a particular perspective or mood, the way we move the camera, the big emphasis on colour - all that was present in our college films. So the important things have always been there. What’s changed on this project is the sheer scale and scope we’re dealing with, and after three very low-budget films, a healthier budget to work with too.

What was your choice of cameras and lenses for the project?

We shot digitally again, this time using ARRIRAW on the Alexa LF and Alexa Mini LF. We felt it was just the right camera package for this show and we ran two Alexa LFs all the time, except for the slow motion falling sequences in episodes 1 and 9m when we used the high-speed Phantom.

For lens we used Panavision Primo 70s and T-Series Anamorphics, and choosing them was a whole journey, with a lot of testing. Panavision really helped, and created some unique lenses for this show. Dan Sasaki and his team worked closely with us in tweaking, changing and augmenting a particular set of Primo 70s that gave us some wonderful flares and contrast ratios.

In addition to that, we shot both spherically, aspect ratio 16x9, and Anamorphically. We decided to do the latter as some of the episodes provide context for the spherical, and we shot the Anamorphic episodes with the T-Series in 2:39 aspect ratio to provide a different visual language.

I assume you started working on LUTs right away with your regular colourist Alex Bickel who also did Moonlight and Beale Street?

Yes, we built custom LUTs at the start, in prep, for each episode, and most of them were made from scratch, with different colour palettes for each one, to aid in telling the story. Seven were very unique, and the other three were versions of another LUT, so it’s pretty significant. Alex is a great creative partner for us, and it’s great to go into the DI later on knowing where you’re starting from. We had to do the DI remotely because of Covid, as he was in New York and I was here in LA. That was another first for me, and I missed being in the same room with Alex, especially as we spent 12 weeks on the final colour.

Did you have a DIT on set?

Yes, my regular guy, Ryland Jones, and he did a great job working with the LUTs and making adjustments to make things match, like going from harsh direct sun to overcast, filling those gaps and making all the imagery cut together for the offline edit. And the conditions were pretty bad for a DIT, and he’d be pushing his big cart through the swamps and mud.

You shot on location, and it’s a period piece.

How hard was that?

It was brutal with all the heat and humidity in summer, and then later the freezing cold in winter, and then very remote locations. And it was my first project that was set in pre-electricity times, so you rely on a lot of candlelight and augmenting that with LEDs. For exteriors, we had to use some big rigs. Most of the lighting was Astera tubes, Litegear LiteMats, and ARRI Sky Panels.

Lighting was a big challenge, especially when shooting big fields at night. For example, in the first episode there’s a scene where the camera moves 360-degrees in one shot, and you need to see everyone’s face, as it’s not just an impressionisticallylit scene. It’s a performance scene with multiple characters and a lot of dialogue. And beyond that, you have to provide an ambient level so you can see distant trees and large crops that are backlit 100-yards away.

That wasn’t easy, and the shoot was full of extremes. We’d be in tiny spaces trying to light them with candlelight, such as an attic, or having to create a rig that would mimic a train arriving at a station, or light 800-yards of a swamp at night. No day was easy for the lighting team.

There are many intense scenes, but the lynching of Big Anthony must have been quite traumatic to shoot?

It was the hardest of many hard scenes we had to shoot, and it really took a toll emotionally on many of us, including myself. But it was really important to not shy away from the moment. For me it was about making creative decisions that had everything to do with our characters, and to stay really present and to make sure we made the right choices in how we shot it. We didn’t want it to seem gratuitous in any way. Amazon actually provided a therapist to help people deal with it that’s how hard it was.

DIRECTOR BARRY JENKINS ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

This is obviously the most ambitious of the four projects you and James have done together.

Absolutely! It was a huge undertaking in every way - all the casting and prep, the scouting, the locations, the sheer length of the shoot and then a long post.

The Covid crisis didn’t affect us much as we got through 112 days of the 116-day shoot before we shut down, and then we came back six months later to film those last four days - and those days were spread out over three different episodes, so we couldn’t even finish the show without them.

But during that shutdown when we were editing remotely there was so much civil unrest that I wished I could have rewritten a lot to make it even more timely in addressing all the current issues. But as the edit progressed, it became clear that the material already implicitly dealt with all the issues anyway.

Please tell us about the different looks and how you and James achieved them.

That was a big challenge as the story moves across five states, but we couldn’t afford to move each time and film in different places. So we shot it all in Georgia, which had to stand in for places as different as Tennessee and Indiana.

This meant there was a lot of scouting, and a lot of trying to figure out, tonally and emotionally, how the main characters were feeling and changing with the different environments and landscapes.

James and I spent a lot of time talking about how to shoot it, what cameras to use. Among the more subtle ways we handled all the looks were the lens choices, the camera positions and movement, along with the custom LUTs James used, as well as working hard on all the colour correction in post, to really communicate how the story was evolving.

The shoot was very demanding as we had so many pages we’d have to shoot to capture an entire scene in one day - and the light was constantly changing. So even keeping the coverage consistent was a huge challenge.

And, we had a lot of sets. Production designer Mark Friedberg built the slave quarters from the ground-up, and then he also built the ‘underground’ train tunnel on tracks we found in a Savannah museum, as I didn’t want to bluescreen the train or tunnels.

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MAY 2021 73

COLOUR & POST

COLOUR & POST

AI FOR COLOURISTS

Left: Colourlab.ai founder, Dado Valentic Right: AI grading screengrabs

By Larissa Mori

“Let me tell you why I gave up my job,” begins founder of Colourlab.ai, Dado Valentic.

A

s an award-winning film colourist with decades of experience, three years ago his life was exactly what you’d expect. Every day, he graded features for directors including Len Wiseman, Guy Ritchie and Terry Jones. And he worked as a colour scientist too – a speciality he’d become known for after developing HDR and SDR colour profiles for Netflix’s first-ever HDR show, Marco Polo.

But then, he came across artificial intelligence (AI).

“I began researching AI for an interactive sculpture project I was helping artist Jeff Koons on,” Valentic remembers. “Next thing I knew, I was inside the Intel lab that was developing computer vision for Google.”

It was at this lab that Valentic saw the potential that artificial intelligence could bring to post production. “They showed me a test where they were playing an old monochrome movie, and the AI was generating real-time sound effects that reacted to what was happening on-screen,” he reveals. “I was so impressed. I thought, this is it. This is the future.”

There was only one problem. Most people implementing AI at the time were data scientists from the machine learning world.

“That meant that whenever a company wanted to develop AI for a film or post workflow, they would hire an expert who didn’t have that much interest in how moving pictures worked on a practical level. They would look at a problem and almost just throw more data at it, getting results in a very analytical way,” Valentic explains.

“I was surprised that all these developers working on potentially career-changing software weren’t more creative, or more connected to the industry. They could sign-off on results that wouldn’t be up to a creative professional’s standards. I knew this had to change.”

Birth of a start-up It was the beginning of a journey that revolutionised Valentic’s life. Today, he’s the founder of Colourlab. ai – a start-up specifically catering to developing AI for colourists, by colourists.

To understand how the company’s software works, it’s helpful to use the example of a typical film production involving an A and B-camera. Normally, the colourist would first develop a look bible of references for each shot or scene with the director and DP. They would then need to spend up to several days on their own, matching these looks across both cameras on the full project. Only after the matching process has been reviewed and signed off can they then move on to polishing the grade through power windows, keying, beauty work and other secondary adjustments.

Being able to speed-up the manual matching process is, of course, highly desired. If matching is 74 MAY 2021 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

into Colourlab.ai, then select the camera and codec used (ARRI LogC, ARRIRAW, Codex HDE, BMD, Canon and Sony are all supported).

Scenes can then be matched based on a reference clip or image, or even an editable Look Pack base grade created by Valentic himself.

The software then matches all the scenes using a perceptual model. Colourists will be able to modify the results and the perceptual model used, before round-tripping back to DI software to finalise the grade.

Concept to launch A lot has happened since Valentic first took the leap into founding Colourlab.ai. He’s now moved from London to LA, to be closer to several Colourlab. ai clients including Warner Brothers, HBO, Netflix, NBC Universal and CBS. He’s also experienced the start-up incubator programme Y Combinator and has had his research supported through funding from NVIDIA and Google.

On top of that, he’s now partnered with industry veterans Mark L. Pederson (who was a feature film producer and worked at Teradek) and Steve Bayes (who was product manager for Avid Media Composer before working at Apple for eight years).

Together, they’ve worked to port Colourlab. ai software from Linux to Mac and launched Colourlab.ai’s first beta programme which offered 500 licenses at a reduced rate. These sold out within four hours.

“That was the first time we really thought OK, this is going to work. It really helped motivate us to finish the software,” Valentic adds. “We’ve since launched Colourlab Ai version 1.2 and had our heads down, navigating the start-up world and working with key customers to improve the engine further. Next, we really hope to make our software even more accessible to everybody that is communicating through video.”

The goal, he concludes, is for the AI system to work in real-time. “Just imagine you’re on set, you

point your camera, and instantly our AI is going to recognise what’s in the shot and then adjust the look according to the content. Your rushes are going to look like they’ve been matched and graded by a Hollywood colourist – all in real-time.

“And that’s just your preview – it’s nondestructive. We’re essentially just putting a new layer of colour metadata on top of your actual pixels. You or your colourist can still modify the image again later.”

It’s an exciting future, built with technology that is already changing lives today.

“I have a client here in LA who owns his post company and does a lot of commercials,” Valentic adds. “He charges per commercial graded. He used to be able to do a maximum of two a day, and that would be a very long day. Now, he grades six a day! He loads it, adds a Colourlab.ai first pass, then goes back to do his refinements, and he’s done.

These artists are why I do what I do. This journey has been worthwhile just for them.”

www.dopchoice.com

SNAPBAG

SNAPBAG

®

Your rushes are going to look like they’ve been matched and graded by a Hollywood colourist – all in real-time. more efficient, colourists have more time to really focus on the creative refinements of the final grade.

To help, there are several grading tools on the market that match shots, but without AI they rely on parameters from waveforms or histogram data to make their adjustments. This means they can match shots within a linear sequence, but struggle to match between cameras, close-up and wide shots, night and day shots or between interior and exterior locations.

Using AI is a completely different story. AI models can be taught to analyse the composition of a reference photo or clip used. They can then

identify what’s in it and apply that same look to similar elements in other shots – even between different cameras, times or locations. Colourlab.ai’s newly launched software has multiple perceptual models that already do this.

“The idea was to build something really practical,” Valentic explains. “Having an AI model that can tell you when there’s a cat in the shot is cool, but not really what I would typically need as a colourist. When you see demos it’s awesome, but in practice it’s barely used. With Colourlab.ai, I wanted to first define a daily real-world problem like matching shots, and then work to solve that problem with technology.”

Another important goal for Valentic was that there be as much interaction as possible between artist and machine.

“All too frequently, AI is seen as a black box where you feed in a shot and you get the result, and you can’t do much to adjust it further,” he explains.

“As an artist, it was important to me to be able to modify the results. We don’t want a one-button press system. Especially as what constitutes the perfect grade on a real film set is so subjective.”

Instead, all Colourlab.ai adjustments are nondestructive and can be fine-tuned. Colourists can import footage or entire DaVinci Resolve timelines

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SHOOTING GALLERY•CAMERIMAGES

NEW DATES CONFIRMED: MUNICH • 1 - 2 JULY • 2022 1 - 2 JULI • 2022 • MÜNCHEN

We have many happy memories from our encounters at the EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival Of Cinematography (17 editions so far), and send our best wishes for health and happiness to the team, and look forward to the next time we can be together once again!

2007 Left: Kazik Suwala and baby Szymon pictured in the breakfast room of the Centrum Hotel in Łódź.

2019 Right: Ron Prince with Natasha Braier ADFC at Camerimage in the magical city of Toruń.

2011 Left: Stephen Goldblatt BSC ASC and Peter Biziou BSC pictured in the jury seats at The Opera Nova, Bydgoszcz.

2018 Right: Witold Sobociński PSC.JPG The late, great Witold Sobociński PSC and his niece at Panavision’s party in Bydgoszcz.

2019 Left: Bradford Young ASC at Panavision’s 2019 party in Toruń.

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2019 Right: Diana Olifirova with a lovely Zeiss lens at the Jordanki Cultural & Congress Centre, Toruń.

Europe's new event focusing on the technologies and craft of Cinematography Uniting the film industry across 2 days of exhibition & seminars

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Coinciding with the Munich Film Festival & delivering a world class seminar & workshop programme of events to run alongside the exhibition

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CMY

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2019 The inimitable Chris Doyle at the Jordanki Cultural & Congress Centre, Toruń.

eurocineexpo.com 2015 Left: Ron Prince and Alan Lowne with the amazing Ed Lachman ASC at Camerimage in Bydgoszcz.

The first event will take place in a very unique venue within Munich - carefully selected to provide flexible exhibition space, breakout areas and an atmosphere like no other.

Save the dates

2008 Left: Tom Stern ASC AFC, Ellen Kuras ASC and Kramer Morgenthau ASC before their seminal seminar in Łódź.

2016 Right: The late, great Michael Chapman ASC and his wife Amy at The Holiday Inn, Bydgoszcz.

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1 - 2 July 2022

For more information contact us on +44 1428 609 382 or email info@eurocineexpo.com