Cinematography World March Edition (CW008)

THE ART AND CRAFT BEHIND THE CAMERA

ISSUE 008 MARCH 2022

INSIDE THIS ISSUE LINUS SANDGREN FSF ASC•JIGME TENZING•CRYSTEL FOURNIER AFC•BENJAMIN LOEB•OLE BRATT BIRKELAND BSC•GREIG FRASER ACS ASC JENDRA JARNAGIN•PIOTR SOBOCIŃSKI JR. PSC•HARIS ZAMBARLOUKOS BSC GSC•ANDREW DUNN BSC•SEBASTIAN BLENKOV•TODD BANHAZL

ISSUE 008•CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD #SHOOTFILM

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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 KENISHA SMITH kenisha@cinematography.world Web Manager IAIN HAZLEWOOD iain@cinematography.world Art Direction & Creative Kinda Stuff JAM CREATIVE STUDIOS adam@jamcreativestudios.com tim@jamcreativestudios.com

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. “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.

DP Jendra Jarnagin

SEEING IS BELIEVING Huge cheers went up when Ari Wegner ACS was announced as the winner of the prestigious Theatrical Feature Award for her cinematography on Jane Campion’s The Power Of The Dog, during the 2022 BSC Awards get-together in the ballroom of The Grosvenor House Hotel.

And, during her acceptance speech, there was even more rapturous applause when she graciously acknowledged being the first woman to have won this award, never mind being the first women to be nominated in the category since the society’s foundation in 1949, saying “I hope it won’t be that many years before we have another one.”

It was a bittersweet moment. For whilst Ari’s success with the film is a triumph in itself, and the personal exposure surrounding her win, plus BAFTA, ASC and Oscar nominations, all signal positive change, glass barriers, entrenched attitudes and other circumstances, still mean the percentage of women working at the camera remains shockingly low, and the rate of change is glacial.

At Cinematography World, we’re all for a diverse and inclusive workplace. One hopes that trailblazing success like this, plus Ellen Kuras ASC’s 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from the ASC, and ground-broken by others, such as Rachel Morrison ASC, Academy Award and ASC-nominated in 2018 for Dee Rees’ Mudbound, to name just a few, will mean the adage, “If you can see it, you can be it”, will break more barriers and inspire even more people from right across underrepresented groups.

As for getting together generally, in the UK at least, the BSC Expo was the last event before we all got locked-down, and is the first to bring us back together again. We look forward to joining you, and our many friends and supporters at the show.

Stay safe. Keep reading Cinematography World!

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

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.

Margot Cavret is a camera assistant who, since graduating from ENS LouisLumière film school in Paris in 2020, also writes articles and conducts interviews for the AFC (French Cinematographers’ Society).

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

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

Ron Prince Editor in Chief ronny@cinematography.world

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Cover Image: Astronaut Benedict Drask, played by actor Ron Perlman, headsoff into space to try to divert the killer comet, in Netflix’s Don’t Look Up, directed by Adam McKay, shot by DP Linus Sandgren FSF ASC. Image courtesy of Netflix.

Cinematography World is created using responsibly sourced paper. All inks used during the printing process are vegetable based and virtually free from volatile organic compounds. Waste, paper, ink and consumables are recycled. Where this is not possible waste is sent to specialist centres for safe disposal.

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CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 3

DP Jendra Jarnagin as Rosie

A classic is back

It is encouraging to see more and more women getting opportunities, doing excellent work, and being rewarded for their efforts

Meet the final puzzle piece.

ISSUE 008•CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

INSIDE

ISSUE 008 MARCH 2022

he Tr y t at m 15 m xpo, E BSC 319 d st an

ZEISS Supreme Prime Lenses

6 8 16 18 26 28 30 32 34 42 48 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74

VIEW FROM THE TOP•KAZIK SUWALA

26 LUNANA

PRODUCTION NEWS LETTER FROM AUSTRALIA•ERIKA ADDIS ACS WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE JIGME TENZING•LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM CRYSTEL FOURNIER AFC•GREAT FREEDOM BENJAMIN LOEB•AFTER YANG OLE BRATT BIRKELAND BSC•ALI & AVA

42 DON’T LOOK UP

PREVIEW•BSC EXPO 2022 LINUS SANDGREN FSF ASC •DON’T LOOK UP GREIG FRASER ACS ASC•THE BATMAN PIOTR SOBOCIŃSKI JR. PSC•OPERATION HYACINTH JENDRA JARNAGIN•ASKING FOR IT STUDENT UNION• NATIONAL FILM SCHOOL OF DENMARK ONE TO WATCH•JAIME ACKROYD

48 THE BATMAN

SMOOTH OPERATOR•MITCH DUBIN SOC ACO ON TOUR•CVP HARIS ZAMBARLOUKOS BSC GSC•DEATH ON THE NILE ANDREW DUNN BSC•DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA SEBASTIAN BLENKOV•OPERATION MINCEMEAT TODD BANHAZL•WINNING TIME

66 DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA

GAFFER’S CAFÉ •JENNIFER SCARLATA SHOOTING GALLERY•SEE IT… BE IT!

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VIEW FROM THE TOP•KAZIK SUWALA

A KIND OF MAGIC

EnergaCAMERIMAGE is living-proof that dreams do come true

Get ready. The EnergaCAMERIMAGE International Film Festival, the largest event devoted to the art and craft of cinematography, will celebrate its 30th anniversary this year.

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ihe beginnings of this festival date back to the time when Poland was still trying to find its place on the political map of Europe. In the wake of nearly 50 years of grim, socialist regime reality, the early 1990s found the country faced with extremely challenging and painful political reforms. It was a time when culture and art were simply off-the-radar, left with no real support, mere bystanders to the on-going economic transformations. In the middle of these difficult times, which negatively affected the Polish filmmaking industry too, the Camerimage festival was born in Toruń, a city with a population of over 200,000, located away from the most important historical events of that time.

Years later, it has turned out to be the most important film event in Poland and one of the world’s best recognised film festivals dedicated to motion picture photography. It is the only Polish event that attracts top professionals of contemporary cinema. It is a symbol of success and an annual sample of the grand cinematic world, igniting imagination and attracting thousands of cinephiles and film industry representatives each year. The EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival is living proof that dreams do come true and that reality can find many ways to surprise us.

The success of the festival is the direct result of the hard work by its creator and director, Marek Żydowicz, who, 30 years ago, put his entire professional career at stake, betting on an ambitious idea for a dedicated celebration of the then underestimated art of cinematography.

This fresh concept was supported by directors including Volker Schlöndorff and David Lynch, and cinematographers such as Vittorio Storaro AIC ASC, Sven Nykvist FSF, Conrad Hall ASC, Haskell Wexler ASC, Vilmos Zsigmond HSC ASC and László Kovács ASC. The first editions of the festival were attended by Peter Weir, Mike Leigh, John Schlesinger, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Andrzej Żuławski and many other talented filmmakers.

With his energetic charisma and contagious enthusiasm, Marek managed to attract young people who, just like him, also believed in Camerimage. Some of them quickly became his partners and long-standing members of the festival team. Others, like me, started on their Camerimage adventure when they were still in high school, growing-up with the event and gradually connecting with the film industry. Cinema became so much more than just a passion, it became a way of life.

Thirty years is a long time, illuminated with 6 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

You can’t make great films without investing in the people

thousands of extraordinary stories, hundreds of anecdotes and dozens of breakthrough moments, not only in the life of the festival itself, but also its organisers. This year’s anniversary will surely provide a great opportunity to reminisce about the most important, but often most difficult times, that shaped the character of the event and allowed the people who created it to prove themselves.

Over the years, a tiny film event organised in local university auditorium has grown into a full-fledged international celebration of cinema featuring, over the seven days of its run, more than 200 films showcased to over 4,500 thousand visitors, who can also attend filmmaking workshops or check out the latest technological developments, while the centre-stage is frequented by top talents of contemporary cinema. Although last year’s edition was fraught with organisational challenges, due to pandemic restrictions, the special guests included acclaimed directors including Sir Kenneth Branagh, Denis Villeneuve and Cary Joji Fukunaga.

Above all else, the Camerimage Festival is a meeting place for cinematographers, who return each year not only to meet and catch-up with their fellow filmmakers, but also because it is here that they truly are the centre of attention. The festival is made possible by the people who organise it and the people who take part in it – without them, it would be left with no purpose. Over these 30 years, they have been with the festival, becoming trusted friends, and their support has been invaluable, particularly in exceedingly difficult moments brought about by the global epidemic.

Following the 2020 edition of the festival, which, for reasons beyond our control, had to be held as an online-only event, 2021 saw the return of the regular, in-person format that allowed attendees to feel the magic of Camerimage again.

It will be no different during the next edition, which the festival team is already working hard on, and which will undoubtedly be an unforgettable experience with a distilled energy from the previous 29 celebrations. The organisers would like to invite everyone to join them for this jubilee edition in Toruń, the very city where the idea was born 30 years ago.

Toruń is itself a magical place, with a beautiful old town and unique vibe, where yet another great dream has a chance of coming true. Over the next four years, the seat of the European Film Center Camerimage, a national cultural institution that I am heading, will be established in Toruń. It will not only become the base for all festival operations,

Akhilesh Patel | Camera

Carmen Poulton | Costume

Harfun Li | Edit

Film Forward is a programme for experienced Black, Asian and minority ethnic crew looking to step up into a more senior role – all chosen through a competitive process.

Chad Orororo | Sound

but also a cultural venue accommodating various events connected with the audiovisual arts throughout the year.

The European Film Center Camerimage complex will include a grand festival centre, three cinemas, an art gallery, a museum, educational facilities and a film studio. The construction design will be created by the Austrian architectural firm Baumschlager Eberle Lustenau, which specialises in sustainable construction. The festival centre will welcome its first guests in 2025. Until then, we have several editions of the EnergaCAMERIMAGE festival ahead of us, including the most profound one to date – the 30th, which will begin on November 12, 2022. For a whole week, Toruń will once again become the focus for celebrations of the unique art and craft of cinematographers.

Kazik Suwala Director Of Festival Office EnergaCAMERIMAGE Film Festival

We’ve sought them out because busy productions tell us they want to extend their networks but don’t always have the time.

So meet the crew – and hire them

Mari Yamamura | DoP

Abid Kahn | Edit

Aamir Riaz | Lighting

Contact Naomi.Joseph@ScreenSkills.com to discuss the funding we have available to support these crew members or other Film Forward talent on your next film

Lorene Dewett | Edit

www.screenskills.com/filmforward

PRODUCTION & POST NEWS

DP GREIG FRASER ACS ASC WINS ASC & BAFTA FOR DUNE

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ustralian DP Greig Fraser ACS ASC won the headline film award at the American Society of Cinematographers’ 36th annual ASC Awards for Dune, held at the organisation’s Hollywood clubhouse on March 20th. Fraser was also rewarded for his work on Denis Villeneuve’s epic sci-fi film at the 2022 BAFTA Film Awards.

Katelin Arizmendi, the second unit DP on Dune, accepted the prize on Fraser’s behalf, as the cinematographer was unable to attend the ceremony due to testing positive for Covid. This was Fraser’s second ASC win after 2017’s Lion (dir. Garth Davis), for which he was also Oscar-nominated.

Fraser is now the presumed frontrunner for the Oscar in a field that includes Janusz Kaminski for West Side Story, instead of Zambarloukos. The ASC film winner has historically gone on to win the Oscar 16 times in the past 35 years.

DP Erik Messerschmidt, who won both awards last year for Mank, presented the ASC feature award to Fraser.

The nominees for the prestigious film award were Ari Wegner ACS for The Power Of The Dog, Bruno Delbonnel AFC ASC for The Tragedy Of Macbeth, Dan Laustsen DFF ASC for Nightmare Alley, and Haris Zambarloukos BSC GSC for Belfast.

Two-time Emmy-winner and 2009 Oscar-nominee, DP Ellen Kuras ASC, became the first woman to win the

ASC Lifetime Achievement Award. The award for a halfhour series went to Snowfall DP Tommy Maddox-Upshaw ASC. Jessica Beshir won in the documentary competition, for Faya Dayi, and Pat Scola’s work on Pig garnered the Spotlight Award, which recognises cinematography in independent, foreign or art house films.

Along with Maddox-Upshaw, the winners in the TV episodic categories included: James Laxton ASC for The Underground Railroad; Jon Joffin ASC for Titan; Michael Berlucchi and Marc Carter for Mythic Quest; and Thomas Burstyn for Snowpiercer.

This year’s ASC honourees also included: two-time Emmy-winner Peter Levy ASC for career achievement in television; union leader and DP John Lindley ASC, with the President’s Award; and Dan Sasaki, Panavision VP of optical engineering, with the inaugural Curtis Clark Technical Achievement Award.

Short Film Cinematography Award 2021: Student winner – Eng Tek Ng (London Film School) for Caravan.

BSC Club winner – Tasha Back for Enjoy

DP ARI WEGNER ACS MAKES HISTORY WITH BSC AWARD WIN A t the recent 2022 BSC Awards night in London, Ari Wegner ACS became the first female cinematographer to win the BSC award for Best Cinematography In A Theatrical Feature for her work on Jane Campion’s The Power Of The Dog, Wegner’s previous work includes the films Lady Macbeth (2016), In Fabric (2017), True History Of The Kelly Gang (2019) and Zola (2020), and the TV shows The Kettering Incident (2016) and The Girlfriend Experience (2017). She was also nominated for BAFTA, ASC and Academy awards for The Power Of The Dog. Accepting the award, Wegner congratulated her fellow nominees on their work, and their inspiration: Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC for Cyrano; Greig Fraser ACS ASC for Dune; Bruno Delbonnel AFC ASC for The Tragedy Of Macbeth; and Janusz Kaminski for West Side Story.

Wegner said, “The BSC has been around since 1949 which is amazing, and this is the first nomination in this category for a woman. So I just want to say I hope it won’t be that many years before we have another one. Art has no gender,

8 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

and I really hope that people who have never considered being a cinematographer recognise that it could be a job that is available to anyone.”

In a particularly moving moment during the BSC Awards night, camera operator Mark Milsome was posthumously awarded with Honorary Associate membership of the BSC. Milsome was killed in 2017 while filming a stunt in Ghana.

Milsome’s wife, Andra, collected the certificate and gave a touching speech calling for greater accountability, and better health and safety practices on productions, adding there should be “no more cost cutting, no more cutting corners. Every single person should be able to come home safely at the end of each working day.”

2022 BSC AWARDS WINNERS:

Best Cinematography – Theatrical Feature (sponsor MBSE): Ari Wegner ACS for The Power Of The Dog Best Cinematography – TV Drama 2021: (sponsor Pixipixel): Erik Alexander Wilson BSC for Landscapers Lifetime Achievement Award: Phil Méheux BSC ARRI John Alcott Memorial Award (sponsor ARRI): Mike Eley BSC Special Achievement Award (sponsor CVP): Screen Craft Rights Bert Easey Technical Award (sponsor Universal Production Services): Astera LED Technology ACO-BSC-GBCT Operator Award – TV Drama 2021 (sponsors Ronford Baker, Red, Panavision, MK-V, SceneClipper & OConnor): Danny Bishop ACO Associate BSC SOC for Your Honor Pt1 ACO-BSC-GBCT Operator Award – Feature 2021 (sponsors Ronford Baker, Red, Panavision, MK-V, SceneClipper & OConnor): Mitch Dubin SOC ACO and John “Buzz” Moyer SOC for West Side Story Short Film Cinematography Award 2021: Student winner – Eng Tek Ng (London Film School) for Caravan.

BSC Club winner – Tasha Back for Enjoy

PRODUCTION & POST NEWS

SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS 2022 AWARD WINNERS

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itch Dubin SOC ACO and B-camera operator John “Buzz” Moyer SOC were the recipients of the 2022 The Society Of Camera Operators’ (SOC) film award for their work on West Side Story. Manolo Rojas SOC and B-camera operator Pauline Edwards were winners in the TV category for Snowfall, S4, Ep8, Betrayal. In the film category Dubin and Moyer topped a talented group of nominees: Gilles Corbeil SOC for Nightmare Alley; Matthew Moriarty SOC for A Quiet Place Part II; David Thompson SOC and B-camera Ian Seabrook SOC for Finch; and Mike Heathcote SOC for The Many Saints of Newark. Dubin and Moyer also won the

2021 ACO-BSC-GBCT Operator Award.

In the TV category, Rojas and Edwards won from a list of nominees including: Mick Froehlich SOC with Remi Tournois SOC on Hawkeye, S1, Ep3, Echoes; Timothy Muir Spencer with B-camera Mike McEveety on For All Mankind, S2, Ep10, The Grey; Reid Russell SOC with B-camera Jan Ruona SOC on Blindspotting, S1, Ep1, The Ordeal; and Gregor Tavenner with B-camera Alan Pierce SOC on Succession, S3, Ep7, Too Much Birthday.

Awardwinning actor, producer and director Danny DeVito was honoured with the Governors Award.

Motion Impossible’s Agito Remote Dolly Systems and Cinema Devices’ Ergorig System won SOC Technical Achievement Awards.

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ERIKA ADDIS ACS

C

BEAUCARNE WINS CESAR AWARD FOR LOST ILLUSIONS

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elgian DP Christophe Beaucarne SBC won for best cinematography at the César Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars, for his work on Xavier Giannoli’s Lost Illusions (Illusions Perdues), which also scooped the

BECOMES ACS PRESIDENT

prize for best film amongst a total haul of six statuettes. Based on Honoré de Balzac’s series novel of the same name, the film follows the rise and fall of a young man in Paris who dreamed about being a writer, but became a journalist.

CVP PARTNERS WITH LEADING

inematographer Erika Addis ACS has been elected the new national president of the Australian Society Of Cinematographers.

(ACS), as Ron Johanson OAM ACS stepped down from the role he has held for 15 years. Addis is the first female national president in the society’s history.

Addis’ life as a cinematographer had its beginnings when she worked as a lighting assistant on The Fourth Wish and clapper loader on Stormboy for the South Australian Film Corporation.

Those first steps were quickly followed by three years studying cinematography under Bill Constable at the Australian Film & Television School in Sydney. She fell in love with documentary and pursued that path for much of her career, working on Serious Undertakings, My Own Flesh And Blood, Emily’s Eyes, Brazen Hussies and The Tightrope Dancer amongst others.

On becoming ACS national president, Addis said, “The time feels right, both for me in my career trajectory and for the ACS in its history. The purpose of the ACS is to nurture the knowledge and understanding of cinematography and all those who practice it.

“I very much want to build on Ron Johanson’s achievements, particularly that of putting the ACS onto the world stage by successfully joining ACS into IMAGO. I also want to grow the ACS’ online presence, grow the diversity and inclusivity of the ACS, and ensure good governance is in place.

“2022 is the tenth anniversary of the formation of the ACS Women’s Advisory Panel, and throughout those ten years Ron steadily worked to ensure the integration of the WAP into the fabric of the ACS. The society can all rightly be proud that the WAP recently evolved into the Diversity, Inclusion and Reconciliation working panel in 2021.”

MANUFACTURERS AT 2022 BSC EXPO

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VP, one of the UK and Europe’s leading production solutions providers, will partner with renowned manufacturers to

showcase the latest in production solutions and present a brand new virtual production stage during BSC Expo 2022.

Partner brands featured include: Angénieux, ARRI, Blackmagic Design, Canon, DJI, Cooke, Disguise, Leitz, Ncam, Red, Roe Visual, Sony, TrackMen, Tribe7 and Zeiss.

CVP will once again occupy the mezzanine floor area at the expo, where the attractions include: an extensive virtual production stage, featuring the latest technology specifically for virtual and extended reality production; a motion area for camera moving equipment, including grip gear, remote heads, stabilisers and wearable rigs; a monitor wall featuring 34 of the best displays the industry currently offers; and a lens bar, showing the UK’s largest display of new and used glass.

Jon Fry, managing director of CVP, said, “The BSC Expo has always been one of the highlights of the year and we are glad to see it is opening its doors again after one of the toughest periods for the film and TV industry.

“CVP’s mission is to draw on our experience, industry knowledge and leverage of partner relationships, to focus on getting the best technology solutions for our customers, and we are confident this year’s stand is a reflection of this mission.”

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Panalux Sonara offers a low weight, slim fixtures’ wraparound output via softbox, with comprehensive mounting options.

PRODUCTION & POST NEWS

ARRI LAUNCHES PRO CAMERA ACCESSORIES FOR SONY VENICE

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RRI has introduced new modular, lightweight and robust accessories for the Sony Venice and Venice 2 cameras, now available for delivery. The four new ARRI Pro Camera Accessories (PCA) parts are a base plate, top plate, and two side brackets.

Available individually or in four sets (Basic or Pro Cine Set and Basic or Pro Broadcast Set), they can be combined with each other and existing ARRI PCAs to equip Venice cameras for and wide range of shooting needs.

ARRI accessories for the Sony Venice and Venice 2 improve the ergonomics of the standard base cameras. The large shoulder adapter provides more than 100mm of travel for balancing handheld setups, whilst the top handle can slide back-and-forth to accommodate the balance-point of devices, such as an Easyrig. The base plate features a miniature dovetail receiver allowing users to rapidly change between the

Broadcast Shoulder Adapter BSA1, the Bridge Plate Adapter BPA-5, and the Stabilizer Adapter Mount SAM-4 for ARRI CSS devices.

Multiple ARRI 3/8”-16, 1/4”20, and 25mmspaced M4 mounting points enable assistants to attach accessories in a wide variety of different positions all over the camera. Side brackets now provide further mounting options, as well as protection for the camera, while being spaced farenough away from the camera body to prevent damage from accessory arms and other screws.

In other news, ARRI executive board member,

Markus Zeiler, has decided to leave the company and accept a new professional challenge on the management team of one of ARRI’s long-term customers.

Zeiler joined ARRI as general manager of its lighting business unit in 2013, where he oversaw the successful introduction of ARRI’s SkyPanel softlight. In 2019, he joined the executive board at ARRI and was most recently in charge of camera systems, lighting, rental, marketing and sales. Zeiler will hand over to Dr. Matthias Erb, chairman of the executive board at ARRI.

RED CAMERAS PLAY A BIG ROLE AT GIANT SCREEN CINEMA EXPO

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he recent Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) Film Expo opened with a number of films screening that originated on Red Digital Cinema cameras. Underlining its reputation in natural history filmmaking, Red supported the filmmakers behind 13 of the 17 films being presented in the New Films category.

These included: Ancient Caves, Antarctica, Astronaut: Ocean to Orbit, Cephalopods: Aliens Of The Deep, Into America’s Wild, Ireland, Ocean’s Odyssey, Secrets Of The Sea, Serengeti, The Secret World Of Fungi, The Arctic: Our Last Great, Wilderness, The Last Glaciers and The Search For Snow.

“We feel privileged that these talented filmmakers chose Red cameras to tell these important stories,” said Brian Henderson of Red Digital Cinema.

“We want storytellers to know they don’t have to compromise their vision, and if their story needs to be big, there is no better option for high resolution than Red.”

NANLUX LAUNCHES NEW PAVOTUBE LED LIGHT

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reators around the world are familiar with LED tube lights, and many are likely to be considering trying one out. Nanlite’s brand new, one-meter-long PavoTube T8-7X offers impressive abilities to create moody atmospheres, visuallydazzling stage and set decorations. It can also be used for light painting in night-time photography and for building custom designs and effects for particular scenarios.

PavoTube T8-7X provides a range of animated pixel effects, which go beyond normal fades and colour changes by adding motion to the mix. Built-in Bluetooth delivers control via the Nanlink mobile app, which allows users to customise and recall the effects they create.

Weighing 280g, the T8-7X offers RGBWW colour mixing of up to 36,000 colours, and colouraccuracy with an average CRI of 96 and TLCI of 97.

It also features a CCT range of 2700K to 7500K and G/M adjustment for natural blends.

Nanlite’s managing director, Nancy Zheng, said, “We are confident that this little tool with its slender form factor will have an influence on the market, just as the concept behind the light suggests.”

The PavoTube T8-7X has multiple power options. A built-in battery can supply power for on-location shooting without needing cables. A standard USB-C port allows connection to the Nanlite WC-USBC-C1 Wire Controller, which provides external battery power and additional controls.

Control and communication are included too.

The T8-7X has multiple control options, including onboard, wired and wireless control. The user-interface enables dimming, CCT and hue adjustments.

PavoTube T8-7X is also available in a 4-kit that comes with a robust carrying case.

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Color displays on the DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel and DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel give you precise control over tools in the color page. The soft keys above the displays let you isolate channels, choose presets, or perform other feature selections specific to the palette type. The soft knobs under the displays can be used to make parameter adjustments. All changes made in the displays are visible on the color page.

Professional Trackballs The trackballs let you adjust the colors in an image based on lift, gamma and gain tonal ranges. Unlike a mouse and keyboard, you can manipulate multiple trackballs simultaneously to create unique effects. The smooth gliding rings around the trackballs let you set master levels and establish dynamic contrast.

Keys above each trackball reset the color adjustment, level adjustment or both.

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Primary Adjustment Controls

Whether you’re just getting started or are a professional colorist, DaVinci Resolve color control panels let you work faster and be more creative. Designed in collaboration with the world’s leading colorists, all panels feature a logical layout that puts the most important controls under your natural hand positions, which allows you to work quickly.

DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel .............................. £625 DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel ..............................£1,539 DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel ........... £23,105

Learn More!

PRODUCTION & POST NEWS

DP BENEDICT NEUENFELS BVK USES ROSCO SOFTDROPS FOR I’M YOUR MAN

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’m Your Man (Ich Bin Dein Mensch), the German romantic sci-fi comedy, directed

by Maria Schrader, tells the relationship between a female scientist named Alma and a humanoid robot Tom, created specifically to make her happy. The film was shot in Berlin during Covid-19 lockdown.

Production designer Cora Pratz and DP Benedict Neuenfels BVK worked with Rosco to create a custom day/night SoftDrop that turned the

dark and deserted capital into a city bursting with light and life.

An important element of the film is Alma’s flat, where she has to live with the robot for three weeks as part of a research study. The filmmakers envisaged the scientist living in a typical Berlin house in the city centre with sweeping views of the city’s skyline.

Pratz said, “We stood on the balcony of one of Maria’s friend’s flats on our first location scout, looked at the Berlin Cathedral dome, and we instantly knew that this should be the view in the movie.”

To achieve the desired vista of the cathedral, a set was built on a soundstage at BUFA Studios, with the exterior effect created using a Rosco SoftDrop. Rosco’s digital imaging specialist, Sarah Horton, shot the photos for the SoftDrop whilst the city was in summertime lockdown.

“The apartment we scouted was

very small and on the 12th floor,” Pratz said.

“We would not have been able to shoot in any location with that kind of view. But Sarah went up to that very balcony and took the pictures for our SoftDrop and it worked out perfectly.”

Horton added, “The Berlin night panorama over the iconic Dome Cathedral looked pretty dystopian. Everyone was at home and the city was closed for business.”

The filmmakers worked with Rosco’s digital imaging team to edit Horton’s night-time image and breathe light into the dark and lifeless cityscape. Meticulous work was carried out to create a myriad of illuminated windows and brighten the sky to give the sensation of a bustling city full of life. Most importantly, the dome of the Berlin Cathedral was glowing again in all its glory.

“Working with Rosco on this wonderful SoftDrop made it possible to create a very special atmosphere in Alma’s Apartment,” commented Pratz.

OUTSTANDING OPTICAL PERFORMANCE

COLORFRONT LAUNCHES NEW REMOTE 4K HDR POST TOOLS

C

olorfront, the developer of highperformance dailies/transcoding systems for motion pictures, broadcast, OTT and commercials, has revealed new features on its Streaming Server and Streaming Player systems that enable the live, end-to-end review of reference-quality, frame/colour-accurate, HDR Dolby Vision material over the public internet.

Streaming Server can simultaneously stream up to four channels of 4K 4:4:4, 256-bit, AESencrypted video, plus up to 16-channels of 24bit AAC or PCM audio, to remote collaborators anywhere around the world over readilyavailable broadband. The company’s Streaming Player enables colour-accurate viewing and QC of HDR on professional 4K reference displays, prosumer screens and HDR-capable notebooks, tablets and smart phones.

Using footage shot by DP Claudio Miranda ASC at 8.6K on the brand-new Sony Venice 2 camera, Colorfront has been demonstrating

how 4K Dolby Vision HDR material can now be streamed and reviewed at various target luminance levels on different professional and consumer displays – including a Sony BVMHX310 professional reference monitor, Apple Pro XDR display, the latest M1 iPad Pro and MacBook Pro M1Max notebooks with Liquid Retina XDR screens, as well as iPhone 12/13 Pro with Super Retina XDR screens.

“Until now, remote collaboration on HDR projects has been a real, global challenge,” said Aron Jaszberenyi, managing director at Colorfront. “However, Colorfront’s latest innovations remove the roadblock to highend collaboration completely, by delivering spectacular, end-to-end picture quality, and allimportant colour-fidelity, on a convenient display device-of-choice – LED wall, cinema projector, broadcast monitor, notebook, tablet or smart phone.”

MOLINARE LONDON OPENS NEW DOLBY ATMOS 4K HDR THEATRE

L

ondon post-production facility Molinare has opened a Dolby Atmos 4K HDR grading suite. Called The Jack Cardiff Theatre, it is the largest room of its kind in London, offering high-end sound mixing and colour grading, underlining the company’s commitment to delivering a optimum audio and picture post-production.

The theatre, which was previously a grading suite, has undergone structural changes to cater for the acoustic requirements of the Dolby Atmos system. In addition to the audio investment, the theatre has a Christie 4K HDR laser projector, 8m

14 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

screen and a grading desk equipped with the latest Baselight.

Nigel Bennett, CEO of Molinare said, “The UK has always been one of the world’s No.1 for a studio or director to get their film made.

We have the best creative talent and technical minds to deliver the very best results, that’s why it’s such an exciting industry to work in. The re-opening of our Jack Cardiff Theatre is not only a proud achievement for the team, but is a testament to Molinare’s growth plans and a draw for the UK creative industries as a whole.”

Warner Bros, Disney, Fox, HBO, Netflix, Light Iron and Streamland Media have already adopted Colorfront’s Streaming Server and Streaming Player systems for their high-end streaming needs across different locations, countries and time zones.

LEITZ ZOOM

See you at BSC Expo 2022.

W W W.LEITZ- CINE.COM

ERIKA ADDIS ACS•LETTER FROM AUSTRALIA BSC Expo stand 133

DARE TO DREAM M

y life as a cinematographer had its beginnings when I worked as a lighting assistant on The Fourth Wish and clapper loader on Stormboy for the South Australian Film Corporation. Those films were shot by Geoff Burton ACS and produced by Matt Carroll, who both wanted to support women to get into non-traditional areas, and I was very keen to work in cinematography. I was already shooting 16mm experimental projects with friends, and camera assisting on commercials and corporate productions, both 35mm and 16mm.

Those early days were followed by three intense years studying cinematography under Bill Constable and Brian Probyn at the Australian Film & Television School in Sydney. Day-in day-out, we studied lighting, composition and choreography, the chemistry of celluloid film processing and printing, shooting multicam, filming for documentary and shooting for the edit. We spent all our waking hours making, watching, eating and breathing films.

I fell in love with documentary at that time and pursued that path for much of my career. Being a feminist lesbian, I gravitated to political and social documentaries, artists’ profiles and portraits of people and organisations, often in health and education. Highlights include Serious Undertakings, My Own Flesh and Blood, For All the World To See, Emily’s Eyes, My Life Without Steve, Father’s Footsteps, Brazen Hussies, For Love or Money, The Tightrope Dancer, The Children In The Pictures and so many more.

So how has a documentary cinematographer with a masters degree and teaching credentials come to be the president of the ACS? The ACS is a national organisation with eight branches spread across a big continent, which work independently to meet the needs and interests of their local membership. Started up in 1958 by a handful of men determined to support others and grow their craft, the 16 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

ACS is a collegiate and open society. The founding fathers sought to create a network of camaraderie through the society and consciously chose to include documentary, newsreel and commercials cinematographers as well as those shooting features.

Anyone interested in cinematography can join, and emerging practitioners are eligible to become full members after three years of professional practice whilst members of the ACS. I joined the ACS in the ‘80s, but really didn’t become involved until 2012 with the founding of the Women’s Advisory Panel (WAP). Women’s membership in the ACS was very low then. And the rate of women’s engagement as cinematographers was stark globally. For example, only 2% - 4% of USA feature films were shot by women and indeed, recent figures in Australia are only slightly better. Clearly things needed to change.

We campaigned to get women to join the ACS, and management committees, to learn about the society, network with other members and step-up and be visible. And make some noise. I was willing to make some noise and became the founding chair of the WAP, then first woman to become a state branch president, a national vice president and now national president.

So what’s next? The challenges for the ACS that I see include growing our research and educational capacity, to support our members in their continuing education in all matters technical.

The pace of development of new technologies is only accelerating and helping members keep up to date with them is a vital part of the remit of the ACS. Working to address both mental health and safety on set are key issues, as well as lobbying and working to get cinematographers acknowledged as key creatives.

The ACS membership has grown significantly this century, and the society is a player on the world

Ari Wegner ACS is the first woman to win the BSC Feature Film Cinematography Award… that’s is a huge achievement stage. Strengthening connections with other societies continues to be a priority.

The ACS WAP was the first of its kind in the world, and we are proud to now have a Diversity, Inclusion & Reconciliation Committee actively working to continue achieving change both internally and outwardly.

That, in 2022, Ari Wegner ACS is the first woman to win the BSC Feature Film Cinematography Award is a huge achievement and incredibly exciting. It would be a great accomplishment if the ACS elects a First Nations person to be the next national president.

When my predecessor Ron Johanson OAM ACS suggested ten years ago that he could be followed by a woman, I laughed at the idea, thinking it utterly improbable. So, we do well to remember, dreams do come true.

Cinematographer Erika Addis, the newly-elected president of the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS), has been long regarded as a trailblazer for women. She has worked in the camera department for over 40 years, is a former ACS Queensland president, ACS national vice president, and was previously head of cinematography at Griffith Film School in Brisbane.

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WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE Opposite: (clockwise from top) Jon Chema shot a spot using Sony Venice 2; Vince McGahon on The Crown; Sashi Kissoon and crew on Death Of England; Birgit Bebe Dierken in a mask; and Edgar Dubrovskiy takes time out!; This page: (clockwise from top) Pete Edwards shooting Toast Of Tinsletown; Michael Carstensen at the camera; camera operator Junior Agyeman on the dolly; Michael Carstensen, again; Robin Whenary showing director Annetta Laufer a frame with the Artemis Pro viewfinder app, while A-camera operator Mark McQuoid observes; and a happy moment for Tony Kay ACO.

VISIONARIES

Our regular round up of who is shooting what and where ECHO ARTISTS: Stuart Bentley BSC is prepping BBC1 drama The Gold, with director Aneil Karia. Nadim Carlsen DFF is shooting episodes of HBO/Sony’s The Last Of Us, directed by Ali Abassi. Rachel Clark lit a teaser for BBC/BFI feature, Knockers, with writer/director Lucy Cohen. Andrew Commis ACS has graded Robert Connelly’s feature Blueback. Nick Cooke is shooting BFI/ Film4’s feature Birchanger Green with director Moin Hussain. Ruben Woodin Dechamps

is filming Robert Petit’s documentary Underland.

Edgar Dubrovskiy shot Sam Hobkinson’s latest doco The Disappearance Of Patricia Hall.

Bonnie Elliott ACS has wrapped on Daina Reid’s STX feature Run Rabbit Run. David Gallego ADFC is prepping Jeremy Saulnier’s feature Rebel Ridge. Jo Jo Lam shot Here The Known World Ends (Ici S’Achève Le Monde Connu) for director Anne-Sophie Nanki. Will Pugh continues on the Netflix doc The Good Nurse, directed by Tim Travers Hawkins. Korsshan Schlauer has graded Marley Morrison’s ITV series Tell Me Everything. Niels Thastum DFF is shooting director Hafstein Gunnar Sigursson’s feature Northern Lights. Nicolas Canniccioni, Carlos Catalan, Federico Cesca, David Chizallet AFC, Charlie Herranz, MacGregor, Anders Malmberg, Christopher Miles, Lachlan

Cornwall. Will Lyte ACO has wrapped on Polite Society and been working on commercials. Vince McGahon ACO Associate BSC shot on the new series of The Crown. Julian Morson ACO Associate BSC GBCT has started on Kraven The Hunter. Aga Szeliga ACO has wrapped after nearly 10 months on House Of The Dragon. Tom Walden Associate ACO is in Romania on A Spy Among Friends with director Nick Murphy and DP Nanu Segal BSC. Rick Woollard operated on commercials for McLaren, M&S and Qatar Airways.

Milne ASC ACS NZCS, Lorena Pages, Michael Paleodimos, Bartosz Świniarski, Chloë Thomson BSC, Evelin Van Rei, Maria von Hausswolff, Felix Wiedemann BSC and Sean Price Williams have been lighting commercials.

INTRINSIC: In features… Bebe Dierken is prepping Jekyll And Hyde. Arturo Vasquez SVC shot the short Devonshire, and Gabi Norland has been lighting shorts for RADA. In Canada, Ciaran Kavanagh continues to be Charmed. Richard Donnelly shot pick-ups on The Nevers S2. Andrew Johnson has started more Casualty and Rasmus Arrildt DFF is prepping for Wolf. David Liddell lit background material for a separate production of Jekyll And Hyde at the National Theatre Of Scotland. Gabi Norland, Martin Roach, Tom Hines, Dave Miller, Malcolm McLean, Gareth Munden and Lynda Hall have all

been lensing commercials, idents and corporates.

SARA PUTT ASSOCIATES: Sashi Kissoon continues his work on Straight Shooter. David Mackie has graded Mammoth Screen’s Tom Jones, releasing soon. Yinka Edward is working on The Meg 2. Jan Jonaues is confirmed on the new series of Vera.

Pete Edwards worked on Toast Of Tinseltown.

George Amos is working in his native South Africa. Andrei Austin ACO Associate BSC SOC is in Scotland on Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys for Endor Productions/Amazon. Andrew Bainbridge ACO has been working Steadicam dailies on Riches. Jon Beacham ACO is operating on A Town Called Malice for Vertigo Films/Sky. Danny Bishop ACO Associate BSC SOC has wrapped on Tar in Germany, starring Cate Blanchett. Ed Clark ACO is working Good Omens S2 with DP Gavin Finney BSC which stars David Tennant and Michael Sheen. James Frater ACO SOC is prepping Invasion for Apple TV. Ilana Garrard ACO has been working on dailies and is confirmed to work alongside DP Stuart Bentley on The Gold. Zoe Goodwin-Stuart ACO continues on Wonka, and go on to the new series of The Witcher as B-camera operator. James Leigh ACO is start on the new series of Doc Martin in

PRINCESTONE: Of the agency’s camera/Steadicam operators…

Junior Agyeman ACO is shooting as C-camera operator on Warner Bros.’ The Meg 2: The Trench, directed by Ben Wheatley, shot by DP Haris Zambarloukos BSC GSC. Simon Baker ACO is filming on The Crown S5, directed

by Benjamin Carron. Cosmo Campbell ACO is filming the Disney+ series Extraordinary, which follows a young woman who lives in a world where everyone has a superpower except her. Michael Carstensen ACO has completed shooting Red Gun, the prequel to Game Of Thrones, at Leavesden Studios with DP Fabian Wagner. Matt Fisher ACO is prepping to shoot as A-camera on In the Land Of Saints & Sinners, starring Liam Neeson in Donegal, shot by DP Tom Stern ASC AFC for director Robert Lorenz.

Rob Hart ACO and Tony Kay ACO recently

did dailies on the Disney+ series Culprits with DP Philipp Blaubach BSC. Tony Jackson ACO was on the second unit of Amazon’s Emerald, starring Sharon Horgan, shot by DP Ollie Downey BSC with director John Hamburg, and then did dailies on Luther, starring Edris Elba, with DP James Friend BSC ASC. James Layton ACO is shooting the Apple TV+ series Wool, directed by Morten Tyldum with cinematographer is Hagen Bogdanski. Nic

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Milner ACO is filming Lionsgate Television’s miniseries The Continental, directed by Albert Hughes, starring Mel Gibson. Dan Nightingale ACO did dailies on Extraordinary with director Jon. S Baird, and is now prepping the Sid Gentle/BBC/ HBO series Rain Dogs with DP Carlos Catalan in Bristol. Peter Robertson Associate BSC ACO has completed working on Wonka, and is now prepping on Apartment 7A with DP Arnau Valls Colomer and director Natalie Reika James. Joe Russell ACO is prepping the Netflix series The Diplomat with DP Julian Court BSC. Sean Savage Associate BSC ACO SOC is filming on the Netflix sci-fi blockbuster Straight Shooter, with DPs Jonathan Freeman ASC and PJ Dillon ASC, and directors Derek Tsang, Minkie Spiro, Andrew Stanton and Jeremey Podwesa. Fabrizio Sciarra SOC Associate BSC GBC ACO is filming Wednesday, a live-

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WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE action version of The Addams Family, told from the perspective of their daughter Wednesday Addams, directed by Tim Burton.

Peter Wignall ACO is shooting on The Interpreter in Spain, for director Guy Ritchie and DP Ed Wild BSC. Tom Wilkinson ACO has wrapped on the next series of the action thriller Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan for Amazon Studios, with DP Richard Rutowski ASC. DP Diego Rodriguez is the cinematographer on Twenty Twenty TV/Disney+’s Save Our Squad, which follows David Beckham as he returns to the East London football pitches where he played as a child and mentors a struggling grassroots side.

MCKINNEY MACARTNEY MANAGEMENT: Ben Butler and Alessandra Scherillo have been shooting commercials. Sergio Delgado recently started on The Pact S2 for BBC. Gavin Finney BSC has wrapped on Good Omens S2. Jean Philippe Gossart AFC is prepping Treason for Netflix. Steve Lawes continues to work on Beacon 23 for AMC in Toronto. David Luther is shooting on Wool for Apple TV. Dale Elena McCready NZCS is prepping for The Witcher S3 for Netflix. Sam McCurdy BSC is filming Shogun in Vancouver for FX. Andy McDonnell recently finished Ackley Bridge S5 for C4. Mike Spragg BSC is shooting Pitch Perfect: Bumper In Berlin for Peacock. Richard Stoddard recently wrapped on Brassic S4 for Sky. INDEPENDENT TALENT: Chas Bain is shooting A Town Called Malice, directed by Jamie Donoghue. Balazs Bolygo HSC BSC is shooting new TV series, Treason, directed by Louise Hooper. Jordan Buck lit for directors Nathan Gallagher, Jonas Hegi and Phoebe Arnstein. Chris Clarke shot commercials with directors Rosie Gaunt Mathieson, Joe Giacomet, Tom King and Adan Wells. Ben Davis BSC is shooting JC Chandor’s Kraven The Hunter.

Kit Fraser is prepping for The Radleys with Euros Lynn. Sam Goldie has graded the TV production Newark Newark with director Amanda Blue and lit commercials with Vaughan Arnell at Merman and Yann Secouet at Minted Content. Eric Kress is shooting a new TV series called The Turkish Detective. Having shot the short film/pilot last year, Bani Mendy has just wrapped on the TV show of Pru, comedy about teenagers navigating the pitfalls of adolescence in a Pupil Referral Unit, directed by Teddy Nygh. John Mathieson BSC is lighting Warner Bros.’ Batgirl. Andreas Neo is prepping on Motive, a feature directed by Anu Menon, developed with the BFI. Mark Patten BSC is shooting Mechanical with Morten Tylden.

Stephan Pehrsson BSC is filming Wednesday Addams. James Rhodes has continued to collaborate with director Paul Dugdale. Martin Ruhe ASC is prepping George Clooney’s The Boys In The Boat. Alan Stewart BSC is getting ready for Our Man From Jersey with Julian Farino.

David Ungaro AFC is shooting Black Flies with Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire. Erik Wilson BSC is prepping Michael Gracey’s Better Man. Maja Zamojda BSC is shooting a new series of The Wheel Of Time.

UNITED AGENTS: Remi Adefarasin BSC is lighting Secret Invasion for Marvel Studios. John Lee BSC is lensing Amazon’s Anansi Boys with director Jermain Julien.

Mark Nutkins has graded The Split S3 with director Dee Koppang O’Leary for Sister Pictures.

Gavin Struthers ASC BSC is prepping Apple TV’s Invasion S2. Haris Zambarloukos BSC GSC is shooting Meg 2: The Trench with director Ben Wheatley. Danny Cohen BSC has wrapped 20 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

on Shane Meadow’s The Gallows Pole, for Element Pictures/BBC. Damian Paul Daniel is filming a collection of shorts for the Royal Academy Of Dramatic Art. David Higgs BSC is filming Shadow And Bone for Netflix in Hungary. Matt Lewis is lighting Philip Barantini’s feature, Accused.

Laurie Rose BSC is knitting things together on Wool for Apple TV. Bet Rourich AEC is focussing on shortform. John Sorapure is working on Warner Bros’ Wonka as second unit director/DP. Simon Tindall has done the DI on Big Talk/C4’s I Hate You, directed by Damon Beesley. Laurens De Geyter SBC is prepping Professor T S2. Sam Heasman had graded Kudos’ And Then You Run. David Rom is prepping for Ted Lasso S3 and Simon Stolland is shooting Adam Deacon’s feature Sumotherhood. Si Bell is lighting The Blue, directed by Hans Herbot for New Pictures and Paramount+. Sam Chiplin is shooting The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart with director Glendyn Ivin. Charlotte Bruus Christensen ASC is shooting Retreat for FX with Britt Marling and Zal Batmanglij. Anton Mertens SBC is under offer for a Netflix Film in Belgium. Milos Moore recently started on You S4 for Netflix. Neus Ollé AEC BSC is shooting spots. David Raedeker BSC is lighting Best Interests for BBC1 with director Michael Keillor. Niels Reedtz Johansen is busy shooting commercials. Kate Reid BSC is working on Great Expectations with director Samira Radsi for BBC1/FX Networks. Ed Rutherford will light director Lewis Arnold’s The Long Shadow for ITV. Anna Valdez Hanks is shooting the second block of Culprits for director Claire Oakley and Disney+. Ben Wheeler has wrapped block 3 of Lockwood & Co for director Catherine Morshead. Barry Ackroyd BSC shot a Generali ad in Lisbon with director Ben Quinn at Rattlingstick.

Alex Barber lit with The Bobbsey Twins on a John Lewis spot in London, and an Autodesk TVC in Slovenia. Philipp Blaubach is shooting Culprits for Jay Blakeson. Simon Chaudoir lit a YSL commercial in Madrid with Axel Morin through Frenzy, Paris. Lasse Frank was in Barcelona with director Adam Hashemi on a Heineken ad via Bacon in Cophenhagen. Stephen Keith Roach shot a Marks & Spencer spot with directors Dom & Nic for Outsider in London. Tim Maurice-Jones BSC lit a Sky spot with Traktor in London through Stink. Matias Penachino was in Barcelona with director Reynard Gresset for a Ferrero TVC via Movie Magic, Italy. Jake Polonsky BSC shot a commercial in LA for director Casey Storm through Arts & Sciences. Ed Rutherford worked with director Miles Aldridge on a Glenmorangie commercial through Loveboat, Paris. Chris Sabogal shot a spot for Macmillian in London with director Charlotte Regan via Knucklehead.

Joost Van Gelder shot a Qatar ad for Adam Berg via Smuggler, London. Daniel Vilar is working on Heart Of Stone as 2nd unit DP in UK and Europe.

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE Opposite: (from top and below) Pete Rowe GBCT; This page: (clockwise) Ashlea Downes on His Dark Materials; and Thomas Hole shooting a famous movie star at Wrexham Football Club.

BERLIN ASSOCIATES: Edward Ames prepping Waterloo Road for Wall To Wall/BBC. Sarah Bartles Smith is shooting BBC’s Ladhood S3 with director Ruth Pickett. Al Beech is framing on Midsomer Murders S23. Robbie Bryant shot the short Sandwich Man, directed by Jessica Henwick. Harvey Glen is shooting Reluctant Traveller, a TwoFour Production, with director James Cullen. Alvaro Gutierrez shot on Extraordinary with director Nadira Amrani.

Annemarie Lean-Vercoe is shooting Breeders S3 for Avalon Television. Trevelyan Oliver has completed on Monumental Pictures’ Ghosts S4.

Andrew Rodger is filming the survival thriller No Way Up, directed by Claudio Fah. Pete Rowe recently completed shooting, and is now grading, Stuck, Hat Trick/BBC’s 5 x 15-min series, starring Dylan Moran. Simon Rowling is shooting One Ranger for Picture Perfect. Tom Pridham is prepping The Horne Section for Avalon Television.

James Swift has graded his block of McDonald & Dodds S3. Simon Walton is shooting the docudrama Blood, Sex, Royalty in Lithuania for Nutopia, with showrunner Karen Kelly. Matt Wicks shot on Avoidance with Ranga Bee Productions and director/Writer Ben Green, and is now prepping The Larkins S2 with director Andy De Emmony.

RA AGENCY: Ashlea Downes ACO Associate has been operating B-camera/Steadicam on His Dark Materials S3 with DPs David Johnson BSC and Gary Shaw. She also shot a Walkers’ Christmas as using he new Steadicam rig, lit by DP Oliver Schofield, and clocked-up some dailies on Gangs Of London S2 with 2nd unit DP David Bird, The Power with DP Ruairi O’Brien, and House Of Dragons, the Game of Thrones prequel, shooting C-camera for DP Catherine Goldschimdt on the blood unit. Svetlana Miko ACO shot 2nd unit B-camera on Ant Man And The Wasp: Quantumania. She also operating the ARRI Trinity rig Gangs Of London S2 with DP Laurent Bares, Everything I Know About Love with DPs Arni Filippusson and Phil Wood, and on Good Omens S2 with DP Gavin Finney BSC. Sally Low was 2nd unit DP/B-camerea on DP Kit Fraser’s The Phantom Of The Open and 2nd unit DP/C-camera on dailies with DP Matt Gray’s BSC ‘Showtrial’. She also operated dailies on B-camera for DP Nanu Segal’s BSC drama A Spy Among Friends, and now operating dailies with DP Polly Morgan BSC ASC in South Africa on The Woman King.

WIZZO & CO: Congratulations to Franklin Dow who was nominated at the British Arrows for his work on a commercial for Bolt directed by Thomas James.

Franklin is also shooting an embargoed drama with director Orlando von Einsiedel. Nicola Daley ACS opened the latest season of The Handmaid’s Tale, directed by Elisabeth Moss. Luke Bryant is shooting the feature-length The Last Kingdom alongside director Ed Bazalgette. Patrick Meller is prepping I Hate Suzie S2 with director Dawn Shadforth. Steven Ferguson has completed the DI grade on the opening episodes of Breeders S3, directed by Chris Addison. Jan RichterFriis DFF has wrapped Fear The Walking Dead S6. Seppe Van Grieken SBC has graded his episodes of drama The Midwich Cuckoos. Ryan Kernaghan has finished on Wrecked, directed

by Chris Baugh, and graded the drama Karen Pirie.

Karl Oskarsson IKS has done the DI on Netflix’s Man Vs. Bee. Susanne Salavati is shooting the final block of Flatshare, directed by Chloë Wicks.

Gary Shaw has graded his episodes of His Dark Materials S3. Tim Sidell has done the DI on the short The Bower, directed by Marco Alessi. Sverre Sørdal FNF has wrapped on Malou Reymann’s feature Defekt. Chas Appeti is grading Amazon Original Jungle. Hamish Anderson is shooting the documentary Brighton 25 Years alongside director Ross Clarke. Nick Dance BSC is grading The Suspect. Theo Garland has graded Bloods S2, directed by Ben Gregor. Håvard Helle has

done the DI on the feature The Loneliest Boy. Ben Magahy shot main unit days on Riches for director Sebastian Thiele, and is shooting an embargoed documentary with Mary McCartney. Aaron Reid is shooting episodes of A Town Called Malice, directed by Joasia Goldyn, and recently completed the grade on a drama directed by Paul Andrew Williams. Dan Stafford-Clark is shooting episodes of Extraordinary, directed by Jennifer Sheridan. Matthias Pilz has finished his episodes of Netflix’s Red Rose, directed by Henry Blake.

Charlie Goodger is prepping episodes of Silent Witness directed by Max Myers. Adam Gillham is grading The Man Who Fell To Earth. Oli Russell has wrapped Riches and is prepping an embargoed drama for Disney+. Fede Alfonzo shot with Simon Ratigan, Will Bex with Chris Balmond, Carmen Pellon Brussosa with Morgan Harary and Peter James with Jonny & Will. Joe Douglas lit with Dominic O’Riordan, Arran Green with Labi and Antonio Paladino with Adam Gunser. David Procter has been working with Man Vs. Machine, Molly Manning Walker shot with Frank Lebon and Murren Tullet framed for Fern Beresford.

WORLDWIDE PRODUCTION ASSOCIATES: Tony Slater Ling BSC completed principal photography on BBC’s Am I Being Unreasonable? with director Jonny Campbell, and has started on Disney+ series The Full Monty with director Andrew Chaplin, shooting in Manchester and Sheffield. Björn Charpentier SBC shot on the

final block of Sky drama Gangs Of London S2 with director Corin Hardy. Stephen Murphy BSC ISC continues principal photography on BBC’s Blue Lights with director Gilles Bannier. Katie Swain continues 2nd unit photography on Warner Bros’ Batgirl, shooting in Glasgow. Arthur Mulhern is in prep for BBC’s Better with director Jonathan Brough via Sister Pictures. Ed Moore BSC is in early pre-production on Hijack for Apple TV+ with director Jim Field Smith. Baz Irvine BSC ISC is getting ready to shot the second block of Invasion S2 for Apple TV+ with director Brad Anderson.

Ruairi O’Brien ISC is shooting the feature film Jericho Ridge with director Will Gilbey for Dog Eat Dog. Joel Devlin is in pre-production Project IV for Netflix with director Marco Kreuzpaintner. Joel Honeywell shot a Loewe campaign with director Stephan Isaac in Belgium and a promo with Just Fred director Wendy Morman for Lous And The Kakuza. Joel has now started principle photography on the feature-doc, Haiti Carnival Of The Ancestors, shooting Haiti with directors Leah Gordon and Eddie Hutton Mills for BBC/BFI Doc Society. Stefan Yap lit a Nike spot with Groundwork director Claire Arnold, and a promo for Kelvyn Colt with director Chris Chuky, via Creative Label. Patrick Golan shot promos for Chase & Status, with Pulse and director Hector Dockrill, and Lucky Daye and Lil Durv, with RubberBand director Jason Sandock.

Thomas Revington shot with director Hugh Rochford and Knucklehead on a campaign for ECB. Matthew Emvin Taylor lit the short In

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CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH21.02.22 202213:14 21

WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE

Plane Sight, written and directed by Ben Gutteridge with co-direction Dave Beazley. Beatriz Sastre shot a Google spot with director Lauren Midwinter at Jellyfish. Kanamé Onoyama shot a commercial in Lithuania with director Keith Scholfield via Caviar. Amelia Hazlerigg lensed a spot for Superdry with director Bedroom, and an Adidas UEFA campaign with Somesuch director Dan Emmerson. Benjamin Todd shot a Rolex commercial with director Juran Booji via RSA, and a spot for Proximus with Hamlet director Jake Dypka.

Thomas Hole lit an Asics spot with Groundwork director Vivak Vadalia, and then shot with director Tom Cockram on Wrexham Football Club for OB Management. Pieter Snyman recently shot for Nandos in Slovenia with Pulse director Jocelyn Anquetil, and then went on to Kyiv, Ukraine, with director Josh Cohen and OB Management to light a spot for Likewise.

MYMANAGEMENT: The agency welcomes Sophie Guhr, winner of the Los Angeles Film Awards for Best Cinematography for her work on Revolution Of Love, awarded Best Cinematography Of The Year from Top Shorts Awards, and a nominee for Best Cinematography at the Lonely Wolf International Film Festival. Robbie Ryan BSC ISC took time-out visiting family in Ireland, and snowboarding in Liechtenstein, before flying to Berlin to shoot a short for director Marianna Simnett, followed by an Alexander McQueen fashion show with Sophie Muller in Glasgow.

Camp Films’ director Samuel Douek collaborated with Deon van Zyl on a music video for Ta’Shan, as did Caviar directors Kinoprada Sam Ryder.

Max Witting shot for Levi’s in Barcelona, and campiagns for Amazon Sport and Wyse & Avon. Carlos Veron lensed an LG ad in LA with director Juan Poclava, and is prepping and upcoming feature aiming to shoot in Greece and Bulgaria, with City Of Lies director Brad Furman.

Tómas Tómasson continues in the TV series The Octet in Cairo, directed by Ahmed Medhat.

Todd Banhazl lensed Ohio Health with director Gio Messner in LA. Chris Dodds lensed a T20 cricket TVC with Unit 9 sirector James Kibbey, and filmed with animal photographer Tim Flach on a Wadi Safar campaign. Dominic Bartels shot for Dove with Great Guns director Sam Faulkner and Furniture Village with Black Lab Films in Worcester. Todd Martin lit a Gensis car ad with director Matvey Fiks via Czar. Craig Dean Devine joined director Simon Neal and the team at Roughcut TV to lens the new comedy series Sneakerhead. Filip Marek lensed for One Plus in Argentina and Me Litta in Hamburg with director Jara Moravec through Bistro Films. Issac Bauman lensed Two Lane Beer with director John Merizalde. Pete Konczal has been in Vancouver filming Trane with Moxie Pictures director Travis Hanour. Sam Meyer headed to Ghana for a fashion dilm directed by Ebeneza Blanche via Smuggler, and shot a music video for the artist Joseph with Luis Hindman. Sy Turnbull has been in Mississippi on recces for Desperation Road with director Nadine Croker. Nicolaj Bruel DFF was in Barcelona and Sicily with Mercurio director Martin Werner to shoot for San Pellegrino via The Family. Jo Willems lit a beer commercial with Snoop Dogg in Dallas and Puerto Rico. Adric Watson lensed for River Island with Ozzie Pullin, and collaborated with Prettybird director Jess Kohl on a documentary about stock car racing. Jallo Faber FSF joined director Benjamin Parent in Marseille on a Le Bon Coin ad, before shooting on 22 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

a BMW TVC with Anders Jedensfor at Smile. Gaul Porat filmed with Jackson Tisi in LA on Six Stars, went to Hawaii with Jimmy Goldbloom to shoot a Netflix doco. Ekkehart Pollack has been shooting ads in Serbia with Sting director John Whitehouse. Paul O’Callaghan lit Honda and Audible campaigns with Sassy Films, and a Brompton Bikes ad with Teddy Powell through Studio Weekend. Tobia Sempi AIC spent time in LA shooting ads for Facebook. Lee Thomas filmed in Gran Canaria with director Andrew Telling for On Running, and shooting with his brother, director Chris Thomas, on a short documentary film called Rise. Daisy Zhou lensed for Tonal with Radical Media director Mollie Mills. David Lanzenberg has wrapped on Wednesday, directed by Tim Burton. Ian Forbes lensed second unit on Sweet Sue for writer/director Leo Leigh’s debut feature debut through Hanway Films/ Somesuch. Allison Anderson worked on an ACLU shoot with director Samantha Scaffidi, she filmed with Sanctuary director Ellie Ginter on White Claw. Jon Chema shot with Prettybird director Ashley Armitage on Bumble Been in Mexico City. Pieter Vermeer has wrapped in New Mexico with director John Stalberg Jr. on Bad Hombres. Petra Korner AAC is shooting on

(From top) DP Lee Thomas and Chris Thomas director

filming Rise; Tomas Tomasson in Egypt on TV series Eight, shooting with ARRI Mini LF; Nicolaj Bruel enjoying himself in Mexico; DP Todd Banhazl (r) and gaffer Josh Hensley; and camera operator Jallo Faber (r) with director Owen Trevor on a job in Poland.

Netflix/21 Lapse’s Shadow And Bone S2 for in Budapest, using Alexa LF with the brand-new ALFA lenses. Darran Tiernan ISC is filming HBO’s Perry Mason S2. Stuart Dryburgh NZCS ASC lensed additional photography on Netflix’s vampire thriller, Day Shift, starring Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco and Snoop Dog, JJ Perry’s directorial debut.

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LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM•JIGME TENZING

JIGME TENZING•LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM Images courtesy of director Pawo Choyning Dorji and DP Jigme Tenzing.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE

By Ron Prince

E

njoy a big, deep, beautiful breath of fresh air from Bhutan. Opening with a backshot of a woman addressing the sun-kissed mountains with song, Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom will transport you to a world apart.

Pawo Choyning Dorji’s directorial debut, shot by his cousin DP Jigme Tenzing, follows Ugyen (Sherab Dorji), a twenty-something who is posted to the village of Lunana to teach in the world’s most isolated school.

It is a punishment for continual tardiness and disinterest during the penultimate term of his mandatory five-year government service.

Getting to this far-flung outpost, some 12,000ft above sea-level in the Himalayas, involves a taxing seven-day hike from Ugyen’s home in the bustling Bhutanese capital city of Thimphu. And, when the power in his mobile phone and iPod begin to dwindle, so do his spirits, as Ugyen feels even further away from his dream of seeking fame and fortune as a professional musician in Australia.

However, Ugyen’s despondency, at having to teach in a old wooden hut with no supplies, as well as freezing living quarters, is gradually dispelled into dutiful delight, when he encounters eager pupils, such as 9-year-old Pem Zam (herself), and is entranced by the village’s most accomplished singer Saldon (Kelden Lhamo Gurung). Experiencing the unqualified respect and hospitality of the villagers too, and with a nationally-revered yak in his classroom, Ugyen discovers new meanings about community and connection high-up in the glorious landscape.

After winning audience awards at numerous festivals worldwide, Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom, lined-up as Bhutan’s official entry on the coveted 2022 Oscar shortlist for Best International Feature. Whilst Dorji is an accomplished photographer, and was the producer of Hema Hema: Sing Me A Song While I Wait (2016), shot

by Tenzing, this was his first outing at the directorial helm.

Tenzing’s cinematographic work on the film has been lauded for its spectacular and simple depiction of people and panoramas, as part of a cinematic experience described as ‘irresistibly entertaining and charming’.

“We made film with precious few luxuries and had no huge expectations. So we are very happy that it has achieved such recognition around the world, especially

26 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

the Academy nomination,” says Tenzing, a Bhutanese national who lived abroad during his formative years and studied filmmaking at New York Film Academy, before settling in his native Bhutan a decade ago.

“Pawo and I grew-up together as kids. I have known him for as long as I can remember, and was honoured when he asked me to shoot this film for him,” notes Tenzing. “He was frank with me about his lack of directing experience, but he had an open mind and trusted me and my crew to help guide him through the filmmaking process.

“Pawo’s idea for the film was inspired by the documentary School Among The Glaciers (2003, dir.

Dorji Wangchuk), but we did not want it to have any effect on the visuals for our film. I don’t like to watch other films as references, as I might indirectly mimic something from them. I like to be as honest as I can be to with the script and what the director wants on-screen.

So I assembled a lookbook of landscape and portraits images from the internet and social media, and put them to Pawo to see how far he wanted to go with cinematic lighting and camera placement.

“Pawo’s response was to keep the camerawork sincere, simple and honest in its nature. Other than that he gave me freedom in the overall look of the film.

He accepted the idea that traditional close-ups could also include people facing away from the camera, observing them from behind as they commune with the landscape and surroundings, such as Saldon does in our opening shot.”

Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom was photographed over 45 non-consecutive days, between August and October 2018, at locations in Thimphu and noted points on the trail to Lunana, with the mainstay of production taking place in the village itself. Other than dismantling a wall in the actual school, to accommodate the pupils and the yak, all the remote locations were authentic and remained intact. The vast majority of the cast were drawn largely from Lunana itself, most of whom had never seen

a camera before, let alone acted in a feature film.

During prep in February 2018, Tenzing and Dorji undertook tech scouts to Lunana, arriving by helicopter.

The DP recalls being immediately enchanted on making his first acquaintance with the villagers, including Pem Zam, and remarks, “The highlanders are tall, goodlooking people with strong and beautiful faces. It is easy to fall in love with them.”

However, the DP admits that the logistics – of shooting at the world’s most remote school, high in the Himalayas, without mains electricity nor mobile network connections – were daunting. He also remarks, “I live 6,500ft above sea level in Thimpu, but Lunana is nearly double the elevation, and you can initially feel dizzy from altitude sickness.”

Tenzing’s camera and lighting crew comprised of many regulars. “We have good relationships and friendships, and are like a family. They are resourceful and know how things work,” he says.

The DP and director toyed with the idea of shooting Ugyen’s trek to Lunana by foot and mule, but the practicalities of transporting the filming equipment and a 30-strong crew over sometimes treacherous terrain, was too risky, and it was better to err on the side of caution and safety.

Wanting to do justice to the breath-taking vistas, whilst also having the ability to focus on faces and groups of people, Tenzing framed in widescreen 2.35:1 CinemaScope aspect ratio, using his own Canon C300 MK2 camera and Rokinon spherical lenses.

“It’s an affordable and perfectly portable package for shooting in Bhutan, and gives nice, filmic images – although we joked that IMAX would have been good to show the landscapes,” he says. “I have used Canon cinema-series cameras for a while and feel very comfortable in knowing how to push the sensor before the image starts to degrade. I shot at 2K in 12-bit 444 XF-AVC, the highest internal codec in the camera, and used a basic built-in LUT to embrace the verdant mountain pastures and the wide blue skies. It was a perfectly good canvas for this story.”

As for his choice of glass, Tenzing declares, “I wanted to keep a crispness and cleanness across the width of the image, and the Rokinons have no distortion.

At T1.5, the lenses are fast too, which was very helpful when we shot in available light at the end of the day, as well as the dark interiors and night scenes. I employed six Rokinon prime lenses during the shoot, ranging between 14mm to 85mm, and used those between 24mm and 35mm for the portraiture.”

Tenzing operated throughout the shoot, in tune with a preordained plan as regards the camera movement. “We felt that subtle, steady handheld at the beginning of the film was a good way to depict Ugyen’s frustration at being posted to Lunana. When he decides to stay and teach the kids to the best of his ability, we

switched to more static and controlled framing on the tripod or dolly for the rest of the film.”

The lighting package was necessarily kept minimal and easy to transport, comprising of just two LiteGear LiteMat 4s, two Kino Flo 4ft 4Banks, and two off-brand LED panels that my gaffer found on Ebay, along with 8x8ft and 12x12ft custom-built overheads, variously covered in fabrics that would help to reflect, shape or cut the light.

“We harnessed the available/natural light on our exterior scenes as much as possible, and used negative fill to support the portraiture. Depending on the sun and the weather, we often had to protect the light for continuity,” Tenzing explains. “I tried to stay with one-source lighting on the darker interiors and night scenes, using real light from fires or lanterns, but I supplemented it with something subtle from a LiteMat or a 4Bank on occasion.”

Power for the camera and lights consisted of two Honda suitcase generators, an inverter battery, and a large solar panel.

“As there are no cars or other forms of motorised transport in Lunana, moving the equipment to some of our mountain locations

often involved quite long hikes up some very big hills,” Tenzing recalls. “It was a good workout, because the power sources are pretty heavy and hard to lug around. Thankfully, we had the willing help of some of the villagers and their mules on those occasions.

“I did not have the luxury of a DIT, nor data wrangler during production. For peace-ofmind, at the end of each shooting day I made two back-ups of the rushes, as did my 2nd AC, making four in total. I reviewed the footage as much as I could everyday, and did some editorial assemblies of Pawo. But sometimes the days and the effort were so taxing that I just crashed and slept after I had done the back-ups.”

Tenzing completed the DI grade in early 2019 at Taipei Postproduction in Taiwan, with colourist Rick Sung. “As I had tried to capture as much as possible in-camera, the colour grading was really about balancing shots, adjusting colour temperatures and tints. It was simple really, and we had it completed in under two weeks.”

All-in-all, Tenzing says, “It was a very happy shoot, and I had a great time working with Pawo and my crew. It was an enormous privilege to go to Lunana and to enjoy the spirit, support and kindness from the people there. It was an uplifting experience I will never forget.”

We made the film with precious few luxuries and had no huge expectations

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CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 27

GREAT FREEDOM•CRYSTEL FOURNIER AFC

CRYSTEL FOURNIER AFC•GREAT FREEDOM

DOING TIME

By Margot Cavret

remove them and replace them quickly. So the cells were a sort of pseudo-studio, without the advantages of studio shooting, but at least we weren’t confined to a few square meters of space.

Similarly, for the solitary confinement cells, we had one wall that could be moved, and the rear wall, which was completely recreated. This meant that we had as

We tried out several series of lenses, and we endedup choosing the Leitz Summilux-C, mainly for their large focal plane, which allowed us to have a good range of focal lengths in tight spaces, with each lens close to the next – 35mm, 40mm, 50mm, 65mm, etc..

Sebastian wanted to see what it would look like on vintage lenses. He also wanted to try wide-aperture

much room behind us as we needed, especially for filming around the doorways, which was important during interactions with the guards.

There was a big discussion about whether we could carry the camera on our shoulders. One of Sebastian’s references was Jacques Audiard’s Un Prophète (2009, DP Stéphane Fontaine AFC), a film that was shot almost entirely from the shoulder. But, after we’d talked it over, we decided that it wouldn’t fit with our film. This film, which we shot in 1.85:1 aspect ratio using ARRI Alexa Mini, was much more poised and has a lot more closeups at certain points.

We sought-out shots that would create a feeling of closeness with the characters, although that has its limits – namely, the enormous amount of make-up work it requires.

Because the film spans nearly twenty years, we had to age the actors or make them look younger depending on the era. So, there was a limit to how much we were able to shoot the skins, so as not to reveal how much had been done in terms of make-up.

lenses, to play on the shallow depth-of-field. Therefore, we tried the Lomo series, but they have terrible deformations on the vertical, so we eliminated them immediately.

We also tried the Zeiss GO Super Speed lenses, which Sebastian liked a lot because they had the vintage quality he was after, and which he found lacking in the Leitz Summilux’s. But in the end, the choice came down to our ability to have a complete series of Summilux lenses, which wasn’t the case for the GO lenses.

The film was interrupted for almost three months because of lockdown. That gave Sebastian time to watch his dailies and to begin editing. By the end of lockdown, he wanted a lot more camera movements, particularly Steadicam shots, for the entire 1950s period, which we’d just begun filming prior to the interruption. That was a good thing because it created a different dynamic and characteristic for that period.

There’s a scene in the 1950s, of Hans filming his boyfriend, which was shot on Super8 film. We did it in Super8 because that was a camera that was used by

amateurs at the time. During editing, Sebastian chose to keep the perforations on screen, that underscores the amateur film aspect and immediately evokes the era.”

Interview by Margot Cavret with translation by A. Baron-Raiffe for the AFC.

Film images courtesy of MUBI. BTS photos copyright Karsten Frank and Thomas Reider.

A

fter her graduation from La Fémis in 1998, French DP Crystel Fournier AFC distinguished herself as a cinematographer-of-note through her work on three of director Céline Sciamma’s films – Naissance Des Pieuvres (Water Lillies) (2007), Tomboy (2011) and Bande De Filles (Girlhood) (2014).

In the last few years, she has worked on many international and co-productions, including the intense prison drama Great Freedom (Große Freiheit), the third feature by German director Sebastian Meise. Set during different time periods in post-war Germany, the story follows Hans, who is repeatedly imprisoned under Paragraph 175, which criminalises homosexuality. Over the decades, he develops an unlikely bond with his cellmate Viktor.

We sought-out shots that would create a feeling of closeness

The film won the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, and earned Fournier the cinematography award at the 2021 European Film Awards, along with critical praise around the world for its depiction of character, vulnerability and love. Here are Fournier’s personal considerations about her work the film.

“On December 23rd 2019, I had just wrapped on a shoot, and I received an email with the screenplay attached, offering me the opportunity to work on Great Freedom. We had a Skype meeting and I travelled to Berlin on January 1st 2020 to do an initial scout with Sebastian, as the film was to begin shooting in early February, and everything was rushed at the start.

This was an Austro-German production, which began shooting in Vienna for all of the locations outside of the prison, before we moved to Germany for the rest – Magdeburg for the main prison building and Berlin for the basements.

There are three time periods in the film: the first at the end of WWII; the second in 1957; the third, in 1969. We wanted to predefine an artistic direction for the set design and the lighting for each of these three periods, in order to differentiate them. As soon as I saw the prison, I knew I wanted to integrate the lighting into the frame, at least for the wide shots where you can see the whole central hall of the jail.

The idea was to rely on the types of lights that would have existed in each of the three time periods. We chose Tungsten bulbs for 1945; at the time, those huge bulbs were sodium, but we took them and retrofitted them in Tungsten. Then, we chose fluorescent tubes for 1957 and 1969. The difference between these two periods was mainly in terms of colour: yellow/green for the former, and something much colder for the latter. We chose 5,000K tubes that we fitted with minus green and 1/8 CTS for the 1950s part. A few stayed like that in the 1960s and then we replaced the rest with 6,500K tubes for the colder feeling.

No matter the period, the light always hit the actors from directly above. It’s the type of raw light that highlights

a cone to channel the light. This effect was very strong during filming, and, in this case, we pushed it even further during colour grade, to make it even more dense, and used masks to bring out only the faces.

Overall, during the colour grade, we tended to accentuate what we’d already done, especially for the night-time shots. It was nice to have a director who wasn’t afraid to venture into the darkness.

The film wasn’t filtered at all, and there was no diffusion either. The idea was to keep a raw aspect to the lighting. The only thing I could use to soften or to blur the image was using other lights, or reflection, to keep the shadows on the faces but bring out the eyes. I was just managing the contrast, keeping the idea of the top light.

In the solitary confinement cell, the only light the prisoners had was when the guard opened the trap in the door, to give food or to see what was going on inside.

We adopted the principle that it would be a very strong light that would blind the prisoner, so the light was on a dimmer, which would enable us to recreate the moment of dazzling light followed by a more normal exposure. This was a very quick burst of light, so as not to flood the cell.

The rest of the time, they were in total darkness.

During the shoot, we kept a dim backlight that created silhouettes and enabled a presence to be felt on screen.

These were often scenes that were supposed to enable a transition from one period to the next during editing. In the end, however, we realised it worked better to transition into total darkness, as that made it stronger. So we erased the border of light that appeared around the edges of the bodies during editing, and ended-up with long periods of total darkness where everything happens in the soundtrack and which enabled us to end up in a different time period.

The location of the main prison was about to be transformed into residential apartments, so we were allowed to break down walls between cells and have a greater number of camera angles other than always having to shoot from the angle of a door or a window.

The walls were put onto rails, which allowed us to

28 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

It was nice to have a director who wasn’t afraid to venture into the darkness the faces and darkens the walls, even in smaller spaces.

It makes the actors shine in certain locations, when they move, and keeps the backgrounds shadowy and dense.

We set-up Astera Titans in Kino Flo housings, which allowed us to rapidly change the colourimetry, going from day to night or from one period to another. They were always attached to a bar.

For the daytime windows, there was a large glass wall on one end of the prison, where we installed a cherry picker and two 18kWs. On the roof of the prison, we installed spotlights that shone through the huge skylights to recreate a daylight effect.

At night, we changed them to mercury, which matched the few night-time outdoor shots around the prison. The mercury lighting didn’t reach the inside of the cells too much, that way we avoided having too much of a mix of red and green, but the night lighting could be seen when they went to their windows.

At night, in the cells, there was also a night light that allowed the guard to see a prisoner when they looked through the peephole. It wasn’t meant to look realistic, Sebastian’s idea was it to look like there was an infant in a mother’s womb. So we had a red/orange glow that let faces and fragments of the body be seen, but without really making it clear where they were coming from.

The rest of the image was plunged into darkness, and in that light, it was rare to be able to see the walls.

Practically speaking, it was simply a 650W bulb with

Crew & Suppliers: 1st ACs: Christoph Grasser and Pierre Assenat 2nd AC: Hanna Todt Data wrangler: Jim Holderied Video assist: Pepe Cikan Steadicam operator: Joshua Berkowtitz Gaffer: Mathias Beier Electricians: Dominik Danner (Vienna), Martin Handrow, David Roschke, Falk Oettel Key grip: Jérôme Lauer Grip: Matthieu Rousseaux 2nd unit DP: Christine A.Meyer Colourist: Valentin Gstötten.

Camera equipment: ARRI Vienna Lighting and grip: ARRI Munich Film laboratory: Listo, Vienna

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AFTER YANG•BENJAMIN LOEB

BENJAMIN LOEB•AFTER YANG

SPACED OUT

Images courtesy of A24.

By Oliver Webb

S

et in the near-distant future, A24’s latest release, After Yang, directed by the South Koreanborn American filmmaker, Kogonada, follows a family after the loss of Yan, their AI helper, due to a malfunction. Jake (portrayed by Colin Farrell) desperately searches for a way to repair Yang, whilst trying to reconnect with his wife (Jodie Turner-Smith) and daughter (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja).revious efforts, yet distinct in its own way.

Beautifully shot in colourful hues by DP Benjamin Loeb, After Yang is an alternative take on a near-future existence in which life has become intertwined with nature. It is also is a meditative and transient experience which looks at the world through the eyes of artificial intelligence.

“My agent sent me the script for After Yang and said ‘You should definitely read this’,” says Loeb. “I remember reading the script and having an idea of what it could be. But, it wasn’t until I saw Kogonada’s Columbus (2017, DP Elisha Christian) when it triggered that this filmmaker is different – someone who makes brave choices. I reached out to my agent and asked him to arrange a meeting.

“Kogonada was very honest with me and said there were a few other people in the mix – some of whom had deeply inspired him in the past. I thought I potentially was at a bit of a disadvantage here, but our conversation was such a beautiful thing. It became an in-depth conversation about how we see the world, the absences, the emptiness and the spaces that inspire and trigger us, and our own personal perspectives within this. A few days later I was hired for the project.”

When it came to initial conversations about the look of After Yang, Loeb explains that Kogonada already had a strong idea about what he wanted to achieve visually and conceptually.

“This is a world where human beings have already gone through some massive event, such as a climate catastrophe, which has changed perception about our own existence within it, where people actually put thought into practice about sustainability and a greener planet and all of these things,” says the DP. “It was important for Kogonada to not have technology be a part of the film in any formal way. He wanted things to be organic, and did not want any plastic in the film.”

In terms of creative references, Loeb and Kogonada looked at the works of Japanese filmmaker and screenwriter Yasujirō Ozu (1903 – 1963) whose work is known for precise compositions, contemplative pacing, low camera angles, and elliptical storytelling to evoke a sense of melancholy and poetry in everyday existence.

“With Kogonada being such a scholar of Ozu, he 30 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

was someone we talked a lot about,” notes Loeb. “Ozu’s Late Spring (1949, DP Yūharu Atsuta) and Early Summer (1951, Yūharu Atsuta) were two that were pulled out for scrutiny. We also watched Toni Takitani (2004, dir. Jun Ichikawa, DP Taishi Hirokawa) and All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001, dir. Shunji Iwai, DP Noboru Shinoda).

“We didn’t look at anything specific future-wise.

We wanted to make this a mundane science fiction movie. I don’t think we ever used the adjective ‘science fiction’ either. Kogonada and I always talked about the filmmaking process as being like a bowl of ramen, so we would always go and eat ramen during prep.

We started equating each bowl of ramen, and the way each ingredient adds so much, to the work that we were creating. All of a sudden there was an equitable curation of each bowl that we became fascinated by, and we started talking about the language of the film in a similar way.”

Loeb and Kogonada wanted to create a film that was rich with colour, as Loeb details, “When I see greenery, leaves on trees, I have a different response to my surroundings in my real life in comparison to fall or winter. With After Yang being a largely interior film, and photographed over the summer, it became very important to find a way to bring nature and greenery into our locations.

“We shot the film in New York, but not really wanting the film to be a New York-specific film, so locations were probably the hardest part to land. It was one of those things where we needed to embrace our interiors, and to somehow make our interiors feel like you are not missing your exterior shots.

Working with colourist Joe Gawler, at Harbor, Loeb developed a LUT for the camera that allowed him to work more specifically towards a final representation of the film with the on-set lighting.

“The LUT had a gamma reduction that made everything darker, which in-turn made it really apparent how we needed to paint the frame with light – for colour separation and contrast – because we wanted the dark things to remain dark and wanted the textures of shadow areas to be there,” Loeb reveals.

“Working with my gaffer Andrew Hubbard and

Kogonada and I talked about filmmaking as being like a bowl of ramen and the way each ingredient adds so much

key grip Ethan June, it became really apparent where we needed to put our strokes of light, to make sure the image retained the textures Kogonada and I had discussed during prep. We really wanted to retain this idea of colour separation. In our lighting scheme we would do all of our direct light with Tungsten units and all of the bounce light using HMIs, so that all of the direct pops would be warm and all of the subtle, softlight would be slightly colder. We tried to keep that as a throughline as we worked, as if it were part of the ramen-style recipe.”

Loeb selected the ARRI Alexa Mini to shoot the film.

“I’m not a huge fan of the large format movement. When I shoot digital, I always shoot with the Alexa Mini,” he explains. “There’s something about the lack of depthof-field that doesn’t do me very well. I prefer the 35mm sensor and the way the Alexa Mini handles low light at higher ASAs. “In terms of lensing, we started talking about each layer of the timeline in the movie as potentially having a separate type of language. I went into Panavision very early-on in the process and started looking at all the lenses they had and started eliminating things that didn’t feel right.

“We ended-up with some detuned Panavision Primos for the main portion of the film, for the present time and the human memories, and a Pathé 50mm prime for the screen calls, where the characters talk to each other looking into the lens, which was an homage to Ozu. We essentially went 4:3 for those moments and built a special light that me and my gaffer referred to as the ‘screen call light’.

Explaining more about this special lighting contraption, Loeb says, “We built a 4x4 light box out of Astera tubes, Foamcore and Depron, and wrapped it around the camera so that the lens would sit in the middle of it. It worked as our main key and eyelight that represented the light coming from a screen, and at the same time we could pull and tune the colours into whichever direction we wanted as they were programmable. Keeping the camera inside of this light let us choose how much light leak we wanted to retain as it created this little haze as though the camera was inside of this technology.”

After Yang was shot over the summer of 2019 over a period of six weeks, on what was a single camera shoot,

We wanted to make a mundane science fiction movie with Loeb at the helm.

“For Yang’s memories, short moments from everyday life, that Jake watches at home, we ended-up shooting on the Alexa Mini with a Super 16 crop on the sensor using a Cannon 8-64mm lens,” says Loeb. “It was the most technological language in the film. How does a non-entity human record imagery? I really liked the idea of actually downscaling and going back to something really fundamental. It had a deeper depth-of-field that sort of looks like you haven’t really tried very hard. It looks like an observation more than anything, and almost looks like 16mm film in terms of how simple, yet complex, it is.

“Kogonada had talked about Yang’s memory bank, or this interface, that Jake goes into as something very specific that he’d visualised in his head. Kogonada remembered this motion graphics artist, Raoul Marx, who had a similar taste to what was envisioned. Raoul and his company took all of our imagery and built this interface and this world that obviously Jake can move around and be in.”

Loeb says that one of his favourite things in cinema is when a film is able to take the audience on a particular ride for a period of time, but then twist and turn the narrative into an unexpected place.

“Kogonada always had this idea of rolling the film titles and credits over a dance portion in the opening scene,” says Loeb. “We talked about filming all these families in their own spaces, but we knew that wouldn’t be possible in our schedule. So, Kogonada sent me the intro to this old Chinese kung-fu movie, The Kid With The Golden Arm (1979, Cheh Chang, DP Hui-Chi Tsao), where there are all these bold red colours and characters who fight each other with credits rolling over them. We fell

in love with this idea, and wanted the opening titles to be an homage to that.”

Loeb concludes, “There is something that was told to me very recently. It’s something that has been quite profound in my own exploration, my own approach to cinema and my personal life – and that is to not be so focussed on searching for the answers, but be happy just asking the questions. Which sounds like something a character in After Yang would say.”

V I S I T U S AT

BSC expo Lens Bar Visit us Booth 001

Learn more cvp.com/bsc

Back, and bigger than ever, CVP’s popular Lens Bar features the UK’s largest display of new and used lenses. Evaluate and compare how many of the leading lenses perform, and assess how combinations of lenses and filters will perform together.

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 31

ALI & AVA•OLE BRATT BIRKELAND BSC

OLE BRATT BIRKELAND BSC•ALI & AVA

BEING ALIVE

Images from Ali & Ava copyright Altitude.

BTS pic of Ashoke Ghosh (boom op), DP Ole Bratt Birkeland BSC and Michelle (Mona Goodwin) copyright Avali Film Ltd.

just to fill-in a little bit, and there really was no need for anything more.

“Lighting the interiors was quite conventional, I guess. I had one 24K, a couple of HMIs and a few smaller lamps. I believe I barely had any SkyPanels, or any other new LED lights, it was a fairly simple and old-fashioned package.”

One of the things Birkeland and Barnard were mindful of was the quality of light.

“In one scene Ali and Ava listen to music on headphones,” explains Birkeland. “Even warm light sources can feel a bit harsh, so we toned it down to make it look and feel more inviting and life-affirming for that sequence.

“In another scene the two of them are confronted

by Ava’s son. It was a warm day, and we went for a strong sunlit feel. The contrast made the encounter all the more confrontational, even a bit dangerous.

This whole shoot was about playing with colour and the quality of light to make it obvious that when Ali and Ava are together, they exist in like a bubble, but when other people join-in, the illusion disappears and rationality kicks in.”

Birkeland underlines that shooting on-location in Bradford gave him options other places would not have.

“We shot in the autumn, and one of the things that naturally comes at that time of year in Northern England, is a wide range of natural colour temperatures in the ambient light which pervade from the exterior towards the interior, and we decided to embrace that

By Darek Kuźma

C

inematographer Ole Bratt Birkeland BSC happily re-teamed with director Clio Barnard to tell a gentle and hopeful love story set in oft-stigmatised West Yorkshire.

Birkeland collaborated with Barnard over a decade ago on The Arbor (2010), the acclaimed docu-drama about late Bradford playwright, Andrea Dunbar, that effectively put Barnard on the map.

However, despite a mutual willingness to foster their creative relationship, they could not synchronise their schedules.

“It was nice to be back with Clio, especially since her film Ali & Ava was based on the people she met and became friends with during The Arbor, and her subsequent films,” says Birkeland. “The idea with Ali & Ava was to tell a story that felt real about Bradford and

people living there. Films have a tendency to depict Northern England as grim, miserable, but we wanted to turn this on its head and make West Yorkshire feel beautiful, energetic and alive.”

The story is simple, yet has profound social and cultural overtones. Ali is a British Asian, and a former DJ with an affinity for rock music, who supports his 32 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

freewheeling life by collecting rent from the tenants of his conservative family. Ava is a classroom assistant with a college degree and Irish heritage, and a newbie grandmother who loves listening to jazz. Apart from living in post-industrial Bradford, they do not have much in common, but they stumble across one another and realise they might just be the kindred spirits they were looking for after the soul-shattering collapses of their previous relationships.

And so it goes, the same old story, a fight for love and glory, but without making Ali & Ava mawkish or betraying its social-realistic roots. Rather it is a romance that feels honest.

“We shot everything on-location in Bradford,” reflects Birkeland. “We obviously couldn’t always get what we wanted, but we tried as much as possible to stay true to how the real places feel.

We never really referenced other films, just looked at locations and discussed how to make them more inviting.”

Ali & Ava was shot over the course of 30 days from the end of September until early November 2020. “It was quite a wet autumn,” recalls the DP, “and we mostly shot early mornings and late afternoons to have the sun break up the pervasive gloom – you know, to letin the idea of hope.”

Knowing the script’s tone and the majority of practical challenges awaiting in Bradford, Birkeland decided to trust the tried-and-true combination of ARRI Alexa Mini and Master Anamorphics to immerse the audiences in Ali and Ava’s story.

“We knew we would have new actors and streetcast extras with us, so early-on we decided to shoot the film entirely handheld, which would give room for improvisation and keep things alive to whatever might

on. But we were a small and nimble unit, and it quickly became less of a chore and more of team-building exercise.”

Staying flexible bore certain fruits, including a spectacular shot of Ali wearing his headphones,

The weather was not kind to us… which made some days physically demanding totally immersed in music, dancing on the roof of a car surrounded by blueish mist.

“We had scouted this gorgeous valley in Bradford previously, and wanted to shoot it with sunset in the background. But when we went to shoot there, it was all mist,” Birkeland recalls. “We were heartbroken, but still shot it with available light and… later… we actually fell in love with it! That scene has a different feel to what we originally intended, but who cares if it looks incredible?

We only enhanced it a little bit in post to vary the colour temperature of the Tiffen 81EF to be slightly cooler, and to make the practicals in the background glow a little bit warmer.”

The DI grade was done at Molinare in London, by senior colourist Jateen Patel, who also provided

Birkeland with a supreme LUT for the shoot.

“During the grade we stayed true to Clio’s original intention of the film being honest and life-affirming, whilst also making Bradford energetic and alive. Jat’s LUT had the feel of a processed film stock, with softer blacks and slightly gentler colours in the image, which worked great for our style,” explains the DP. “So a lot of the work in the final grade was basically about fine-tuning the material. Sometimes it was a little too blue, or a bit too warm. The most tricky part was doing it remotely because of Covid protocols.

We calibrated the monitors and sent notes back and forth, but it was quite a challenge.”

Ali & Ava is one of those films in which the visual side does not demand attention in itself, rather it moulds the viewers’ mood and stimulates their imagination to find their own way into a simple-yet-layered story.

Needless to say, Birkeland is proud of the work he achieved and hopes many will be able see it on a large screen.

“This isn’t your next cinematic spectacle, or a film that makes your head spin with visual extravaganza,” he says, “but I believe that watching it in a cinema, with other people, and the space to appreciate the genuine love story and the real-yet-romanticised world we created on-screen, is the best way to go. If there’s one thing I’d love Ali & Ava to be, it’s a communal viewing experience.”

change on a day,” explains Birkeland. “Anamorphic seemed the way to go as we wanted to slightly romanticise a place that isn’t often romanticised. We shot wide open to capture the poetic ordinariness of

We decided to shoot entirely handheld… to give room for improvisation and keep things alive the city, and to highlight its strong character.”

This approach helped to blend the quietly developing romance between the two leads, who slowly warm-up to each other, and reveal traumas that made them who they are. Ali lives with his ex-partner, yet cannot bring himself to confess the break-up to his family. Ava’s husband was a brute and her wellintentioned, but impetuous, son seems to be following in his father’s footsteps.

“We used various tools to indicate their evolving attitude towards each other, and life in general,” says Birkeland. “For example, we tried give the colour palette a bit of an arc. Early-on, they’re in a place of transition, so the image starts cooler, less inviting and gradually evolves into something more hopeful, with warmer light and colour tones.”

With hope being as important as honesty, the cinematographer had to light Ali & Ava in a way that maintained the delicate balance between the film’s overall realism and its numerous romantic streaks.

“I didn’t use a lot of illumination for the exteriors, rather tried to find the right time of day to use the available light, even if it meant shooting at dawn,” says Birkeland. “I had small Tungsten lamps with me,

early-on,” reflects the DP. “It gave a new contrast to the city’s architecture, which is mostly grey and may feel unwelcoming. But to add a bit of extra life to things, and further enhance the look at different times of day, we sometimes used in-camera filters. For example, we shot exteriors with a Tiffen 81EF Warming filter, and for interiors used a Tiffen CC30Y Yellow filter or Tiffen Antique Suede Solid Color filter.”

Anyone who has ever visited West Yorkshire in the autumn months knows perfectly that its weather can be, well, quite whimsical. And, even though Ali & Ava was written with this in mind, the filmmakers had to remind themselves about embracing the meteorological challenges.

“Yeah, the weather was not kind to us,” says Birkeland. “Northern England at that time of year it not known for its consistency. We had rain and sun and wind, and other factors, which made some days physically demanding. We had to be on our toes all of the time, remain flexible and face the challenges headCINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 33

BSC EXPO 2022•PREVIEW

PREVIEW•BSC EXPO 2022

CINE SHOWTIME… I

t’s been a while since people in film and TV production have been able to get together at a show. The BSC Expo 2022, taking place at Battersea Evolution, April 8-9th, provides just the ticket to join with friends and colleagues once more. Here are some of the highlights…

AC ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGIES

Celebrating a heritage of 50 years as a provider of cutting-edge technology products and solutions, AC Entertainment Technologies’ stand will feature some of the latest and most innovative film and TV lighting solutions, including Chroma-Q’s LED studio range, Prolights’ popular EclPanel softlight, a range of Luminex networking, LumenRadio wireless DMX, Manfrotto and Avenger lighting support, plus Tourflex cabling. www.ac-et.com

chipset, the Nova strikes a balance between intense output and precision colour quality, capable of producing 2,298+ lux at three meters (6500K) with a CCT range of 2,000K-10,000K. The included control box offers industry-standard LumenRadio CRMX, enabling an interface with any CRMX wireless control system. Aputure also is sharing its booth with sister brands Amaran and Deity Microphones catering for the needs of news filmmakers and sound engineers. www.aputure.com

CIRRO LITE EUROPE

Celebrating 25 years of sales and rental collaboration on features, commercials, SFX and broadcast with a range of Academy Awardwinning brands such as Kino Flo, Dedolight, Matthews Studio Equipment, Lightning Strikes, Soft Suns and Fiilex. www.cirrolite.com

extends Cooke’s modern vintage series, enabling filmmakers to capture the classic Speed Panchro look, plus the ‘Cooke Look’ in their full frame productions. The six focal lengths have been specially redesigned to fill full frame image circles. www.cookeoptics.com

www.arri.com

CINEO LIGHTING

CREAMSOURCE

Renowned as an innovator in lighting technology, Cineo Lighting is showing its highperforming Reflex, Quantum II and LB800 products, which all feature the brand-new StageLynx ecosystem.

APUTURE

As an up-and-coming LED lighting manufacturer, with a growing fan-base worldwide, Aputure Europe will show its latest developments – such as the recently-released Light Storm 1200d Pro and Nova P600c flagship models.

The Light Storm – or LS – 1200d Pro features a 1200W COB and is both the brightest light in the Aputure portfolio, as well as the highest-output Bowens Mount light fixture on the market. To optimise output, the LS comes with three Bowens Mount Hyper Reflectors included – narrow, medium and wide – of which the narrow can achieve an output of 83,100 lux at a distance of three meters.

The LS 1200d is designed for lighting technicians, using LumenRadio CRMX, Art-net and sACN via an etherCON connector, as well as 5-Pin DMX512 ports, to integrate into any professional DMX interface. It’s IP54 certified too.

The Nova P600c is a 600W RGBWW LED softlight, that builds on the foundation of the Nova P300c, with twice the output and four times as many light engines. By utilising a RGBWW 34 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

On LCA’s stand, Creamsouce’s all-new Vortex4 is a 1’x1’ 325W high-powered LED for film production, featuring a narrow native beam angle of 20° and CCT range from 2200K to 15000K, delivering the versatility that Creamsource fixtures are known for. The Vortex4 can be used as a hardpunch light to bounce or push through diffusion, or as a creamy softlight.

CVP (Mezzanine)

CVP return to the mezzanine at the show, bringing the latest production solutions coupled with expertise and first-class service from their renowned technical consultants. The space will be an elegant showcase, presenting fully-rigged cinestyle cameras from leading manufacturers, NDI workflows, the latest in motion control, and a sideby-side display of more than 30 monitors ranging from 5” – 31”, enabling visitors to explore the most suitable solutions for their needs.

ARRI

ARRI is showcasing its latest camera and lighting products, and included in this line-up is the ARRI Orbiter with its expanded accessory range.

The luminaire is now even more versatile with the introduction of the Orbiter Docking Ring, the new Orbiter Bag-o-Light, Orbiter Glass Cover and Orbiter Dome Mini. The Docking Ring enables the Orbiter to accept various industry-standard, third-party optics, thereby enlarging the fixture’s applications.

Along with the Alexa LF and Alexa Mini LF cameras, ARRI Signature Zoom lenses are featured too. These deliver outstanding optical and mechanical performance amongst other cine zooms on the market. The four Signature Zooms on display, with an extender for the longest of them, cover a focal length range of 16mm to 510mm – the largest in the industry.

Check out ARRI’s new Hi-5 hand unit, which provides reliable wireless camera and lens control in demanding situations. And, ARRI’s line of Pro Camera Accessories (PCA) have introduced new modular, lightweight, and extremely robust tools for the Sony Venice and Venice 2. Four new ARRI PCA components – a base plate, top plate and two side brackets – offer further rigging opportunities and mounting options.

COOKE OPTICS The StageLynx C2OS control interface is a cross-platform network designed to exceed the demands of the film and television lighting industry in the age of digital control. Not only does this system provide consistency across all fixture types, it also delivers an identical and seamless userexperience.

Key features include: intuitive and full colour touch screen control; network data control; a vast customisable library of effects, presets and tools; the ability to find and remotely set-up universe and address assignments on every networked fixture; and remote, simultaneous software updates for all fixtures on the network.

The Stagelynx app allows users to take the same, user-friendly C2OS controls at their fingertips. www.cineolighting.com

Cooke Optics is showcasing three additions to its range of Full Frame lenses: the all-new S8/i series, two new Varotal/i FF zoom lenses, and the Panchro/i Classic FFs. All new lenses feature /i Technology sensors as standard.

The Cooke S8/i is range of 16 spherical lenses for full frame shooting, delivering in two stages during 2022. Utilising a modular approach, the Cooke S8/i family offers an outstanding aesthetic in a fast, smart and light package.

Two new Varotal/i T2.9 zoom lenses cover all full frame sensors and are matched in resolution, colour and fall-off to the Cooke S7/i prime lens range. These are designed for all shooting applications, including handheld and Steadicam, providing a comfortable balance ratio with the latest digital cinema cameras.

The Panchro/i Classic FF range further

Powered by CreamOS, Vortex4 features an artist-first approach to UI/UX. As an extension of the proprietary Vortex lighting platform, it offers seamless integration with the Vortex8 and enables easily-expanded lighting configurations to bring artistic visions to life.

Built with durability and elegance, the Vortex4 features top-class engineering that combines diverse production methods using precisionmachined extrusions, high-strength die casting, leading-edge technopolymer components and aerospace-grade sealing technologies.

The result is an IP65-rated, water-resistant fixture that can take on inclement weather, messy effects machines, and extreme dust, whilst integrated internal power supplies simplify rigging and cabling. www.creamsource.com

The Lens Bar is back too, bigger than ever, featuring the UK’s largest display of new and used lenses from brands such as Zeiss, Cooke, ARRI, Angénieux, Leitz, Canon, Sigma, Fujinon, Tribe7, DZO and more.

New for 2022 is an exclusive presentation of the Virtual Production technology in partnership with Disguise, Ncam, TrackMen, ARRI, Roe Visual and GhostFrame, to showcase the latest visualisation for film and broadcast applications. www.cvp.com

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 35

BSC EXPO 2022•PREVIEW DEDOLIGHT

Over at Cirrolite Europe’s stand, Dedolight LightStream offers ‘the world of reflected light’ for creative minds.

The system offers five reflector surfaces, in five different sizes, equating to equating to a host of new spread angles. Infinity lighting, the illusion of light coming from extreme distance, is provided by the ‘virtual’ light source. It can be used in the smallest spaces, by a multitude of reflectors, set at identical angles, sharing the same beam.

The large Dedolight PB70 has close to perfect light distribution with high-output and extremely far reach. Light from the PB70 has a special character, as it does not originate from the light fixture – it comes from a virtual light source way behind the light, and can be directed into a single or multiple reflectors and onto a subject.

Triple Array. Thanks to Astera’s airline-style trackand-pin attachment system, users can rig the complete system or just the Triple Tube Array, without the Snapbag.

DoPchoice will premiere a new mounting solution in the form of the Rabbit Rounder Universal.

It’s a versatile answer to mounting a variety of DoPchoice Snapbags, Octas and Lanterns to the growing range of fixtures with Bowens, Fiilex, NL (Nananlux) and other mounts. With Rabbit Rounder, softbox set-up is a case of ‘click, snap and go’ in just a few seconds! DoPchoice also promises some sneak peeks at light controllers for Creamsource Votex 4, Prolight Mini and an all-new softbox and grid. www.dopchoice.com

LCA offers a huge range of lighting and accessories, and visitors can meet representatives from its offices in the UK, France and Germany.

From Creamsource, LCA is showing the new Vortex4, plus the new LCA Vortex bracket allowing you to rig four Vortex8s together.

DoPchoice has expanded its Rabbit Ear system with the new Rabbit Rounder Universal for COB fixtures allowing Bowens Mount, Fiilex and Nanlux fixtures the opportunity to harness Snapbags, including lanterns and Octadomes. DoPchoice will also present a new addition to the Rabbit Ear family for the larger LED panel lights. Finally, LiteGear will premiere the latest addition to its LED arsenal and we highly recommend you stop by for a demonstration from the LiteGear team. www.lcauk.com

LEE FILTERS

Capable of lighting an entire scene the Dedolight Lightstream Lite offers seven, paper-light reflectors, that can be transported in a handbag, all activated by a single light – starting with a 40W LED, or enhanced by the parallel beam intensifier – saving on extra fixtures, power and on time.

The Dedolight Lightstream Table Top starts with 2 x 8W Ledzilla lights, equipped with light-enhancing optics and a multitude of reflector choices, plus tools for different mounting options. Dedolight’s Lightstream Flag System (patent pending) is designed to eliminate wayward/stray light, for groups of multiple reflectors or single reflectors. www.dedolight.de

DOPCHOICE

Head over to LCA’s stand and check out DoPchoice, makers of Snapbags, Snapgrids and more, which is introducing several new lightdirecting tools. For Astera, DoPchoice has come up with a perfectly simple solution for handling the NYX Bulb. This Snapbag snaps up instantly, rolls on in seconds and attaches via hook and loop. A metallic interior brightens and evens-out illumination.

For Titan and Helios tubes, new Triple Tube Snapbags hold three Astera tubes in an elegantly 36 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

BSC Expo stand 133

SNAPBAGS & SNAPGRIDS for Vortex8 & 4

KODAK MOTION PICTURE FILM & KODAK FILM LAB LONDON

Kodak Motion Picture film has proven to be cost effective for a wide variety of productions and budgets – because film drives efficiency, reduces your shooting ratios and helps your cast and crew focus.

If you are looking to work with film on your next project, or are interested in learning more – from the budgeting, selection and purchasing of filmstock, to the processing, post-production and preservation of your movie – the Kodak team are ready to help.

LEE Filters, a leading manufacturer of highquality lighting gels and photographic filters and part of Panavision’s end-to-end offerings for imagemakers, will showcase its renowned library of gels and diffusion.

Cinematographers, gaffers and lighting designers worldwide rely on the consistent, repeatable performance of LEE Filters’ comprehensive solutions for lighting diffusion, technical correction and colour effects. With more

RABBIT ROUNDER

®

by DoPchoice

®

Kodak Film Lab based on the lot at Pinewood Studios offers comprehensive negative processing services for Super 8mm, 16mm, 35mm and 65mm productions. The team there have extensive experience working on major feature films, commercials, music videos and archive projects, so you can be assured of the very best service and support for your project. www.kodak.com

than 400 different colour offerings, LEE Filters can help you find the exact solution you need to bring your creative vision to life.

The company will also show its LEE Elements circular filter range for still photographers and videographers. Available in standard sizes of 67mm, 72mm, 77mm and 82mm, the LEE Elements range comprises the Little Stopper (offering six

THE ALL ROUND SOLUTION FOR YOUR COB LIGHTING FIXTURES RABBIT ROUNDER for the latest COB fixtures

LCA – LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION

stops of light reduction), Big Stopper (ten stops of light reduction), CPL (circular polariser) and two densities of VND (variable ND, providing 2-5 or 6-9 stops of light reduction). Each LEE Elements filter incorporates high-quality multilayer coated optics, for optical performance. The innovative design features a rugged black anodised aluminium frame for quick and easy attachment and operation without the need for a filter holder. www.leefilters.com

Supplying the film and broadcast industry with the latest innovations in lighting and accessories since 1999

LCA - Lights, Camera, Action Offices in UK | France | Germany www.LCAlights.com

BSC EXPO 2022•PREVIEW LEITZ

The team at Leitz is excited to be back at the BSC Expo, and is bringing something special. Pop

PREVIEW•BSC EXPO 2022 that reaches a remarkable 25ft/7.62m.

Also new is the Veeboxx, portable softbox and claw, which together transform Astera 40” Titan tubes into a diffused lighting source that’s safe and easy to handle. Also for lighting, Matthews’ BM1 Bulb Mount is a quick, versatile and inexpensive answer for mounting E26/E27 battery-powered bulbs to grip equipment and hardware.

For ultra-low pan and tilt camera shots, MSE’s rugged Cam Tank helps get dutch angles when

NANLUX

Check out the Evoke 1200 from Nanlux, a groundbreaking 1.2kW LED spotlight that blends crisp, bright LED illumination with multiple configuration options, and is designed to meet the exacting requirements of cinematographers, live events, stills and broadcast.

Whether using the fixture as a powerful Fresnel, controllable spotlight, or natural-feeling softsource, this new, IP54-rated spotlight, dazzles in its performance.

Its powerful output is comparable to a 1.8KW Par OR 2.5KW HMI Fresnel, and is flicker-free, dimmable 0-100% in ultra-precise intervals of just 0.1% . It comes with a selection of customisable pre-set effects, and supports both wired and wireless control via the NanLinK app, DMX/RDM, Bluetooth and Lumenradio TimoTwO. An intuitive user-interface, with a clear 2.8” display, aids fast set-up. www.nanlux.com

Agito Skytrax is a mounting kit for Agito Trax that mounts the track to the underside of the truss for lifting into the air. The Agito runs enclosed through the “hoops”, and various payloads can be fixed underneath the Agito Trax. Agito Column has been developed for heavier camera payloads and can support up to 50kg in combination with Agito Trax or Agito Skytrax.

And finally, the Agito 2-axis heads are based on the Egripment 205 and 306 Remote Heads.

The first is a lightweight head providing smooth

by their stand to demo the newly-announced Leitz Elsie prime lenses as well as the Leitz Zooms, Leitz Primes, and other premium cine lenses. The Leitz Elsie lenses are a brand new design, made just for cinematography, with character to spare and a high performance. Leitz is also showing, Henri, the director’s viewfinder, which combines the Leica SL2 camera system with various lens mounts and ergonomic support. www.leitz-cine.com

camera motion for payloads up to 10kg. The second is a larger and more powerful head that provides accurate and smooth camera motion for payloads up to 32kg. www.motion-impossible.com

Showing at Cirrolite Europe’s stand, MSE, the original grip manufacturer from Hollywood, is renowned for setting standards and creating innovative, rugged grip gear for location and studio work. From full size to Pocket C-Stands to set hardware, sliders, dollies and light modifiers, the Matthews name is a mainstay on productions worldwide.

For the first time in Europe, MSE premieres the Air Climber, ready to take lighting and camera support to new heights. Air Climber is an off-theshelf, modular pneumatic grip and lighting stand

Incorporating the same innovative LED light engine found in the Panalux Sonara 4:4, the Panalux Sonara 3:2 delivers soft, wraparound, colour-accurate white light with a CCT range of 1600°K-20,000°K and a built-in library of select LEE Filters gel emulations. All Panalux Sonara fixtures offer 0-100% dimming, flickerfree performance tested to 10,000fps, a suite of connectivity options including native LumenRadio CRMX, and a range of control modes that can be easily navigated via detachable controller and intuitive user interface.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR OUR ENTIRE RANGE OF HIGH END CAMERA SUPPORT EQUIPMENT.

MOVIETECH

Gobo Plates, original, XL, Baby Pin, and Media Mount smart rigging solutions too. www.msegrip.com

Panalux, part of Panavision’s end-to-end service offerings for imagemakers, will spotlight the company’s latest proprietary lighting and power innovations, including the new Panalux Sonara 3:2 variable-white LED soft light.

Members of the Movietech team will be on hand throughout the show period to meet, greet and answer your questions, along with friends and colleagues from all corners of the industry. www.movietech.co.uk

mounted to a fluid head, on a tripod or jib. For versatile grip work Matthews’ Infinity Arm offers one of the strongest articulating cine arms on the market. This multi-use tool works as an arm for rigging, monitors, camera and lighting support, including new the Mafer Cheese Plate accessory and Vesa monitor mount Tips. Check out Matthews

MATTHEWS STUDIO EQUIPMENT

PANALUX

Camera, lens and grip specialists, Movietech, is celebrating its 31st year of trading by revealing a continued commitment to investment at this year’s BSC Expo, with a particular focus on new and old lenses and full frame camera options.

This includes the new Sony Venice2 along with the latest new, vintage and classic large format lenses, such as the S35 optics for the hotlyanticipated new ARRI camera. You can also check out Signature Prime, Canon FD, new Atlas Orion lenses with LF extender, uncoated master and vintage Cooke Speed Panchro glass, plus useful gadgets and other problem-solving solutions.

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M E E T U S AT

g r i p f a c t o r y. c o m

IN LONDON FROM 7 — 9 APRIL 2022.

MOTION IMPOSSIBLE

Motion Impossible believe in making camera movement effortless, and in putting the power of robotics into the hands of creatives. Magtrax is an extension to the existing Sports drive-ends enabling users to follow a magnetic strip laid on a surface, underneath a carpet or embedded within a set. The magnetic strip is either an adhesive strip or square cross-section that can be laid in various creative ways beyond what can be done with a regular track. Operators lay the path, and the Agito will autonomously follow whilst controlling the camera head and/or tower elevation.

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/gripfactorymunich

@gfm_gripfactorymunich

/gripfactorymunich

© L U C A S F I L M LT D .

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 39

BSC EXPO 2022•PREVIEW

EclPanel Series

assembled Maxi Mix lights has a 28mm spigot, which enables full 360º rotation. The Triple Yoke includes Link2 accessories and two short AC cables for daisy-chaining power. Featuring True Rosco Color, the Maxi Mix is the largest and brightest member of the Mix family, producing up to 7550 lux (@1M @5500K), with multiple control options. www.rosco.com

The EclPanel TWC range of softlights feature cutting-edge technology, with a powerful output at low noise levels, high CRI and TLCI, and an on-board power supply.

SONY The company’s latest power innovations include the Panalux Power i-Series range of portable lithium-ion battery arrays. The i2 and i4 240V portable power units provide eco-conscious allelectric power for a variety of on- and near-set applications. The compact form factor makes them unobtrusive in studio or location environments.

All-terrain wheels and an IP55 rating make them suitable for remote outdoor locations. The Panalux Power i-Series joins the Panalux Power h40 hybrid generator in the company’s expanding line of proprietary and eco-conscious power solutions. www.panalux.biz

engineered by the company’s renowned camera technical director, Renos Louka, Get a hands-on demo of the new Cinetape Backs, HI-5 Lanyard Attachments, Rotating Magliner Moy Plates, a Rialto Backpack MKII and Rotating Camera Mounts.

With state-of-the-art camera facilities in Hoxton, and a 25,000sq/ft lighting warehouse in Tottenham, the company is committed to offering the latest and most innovative kit, along with a stellar service from its experienced and friendly team. www.pixipixel.com

Get your hands on Sony’s extensive range of filmmaking technology, from image and audio capture to on-set and post-production monitoring, including the latest addition to its line-up, the Sony

RED DIGITAL CINEMA PANAVISION

Panavision, the world-class provider of endto-end solutions that power the creative vision of filmmakers, will highlight products and services from across its divisions, including camera and optics, Grip and Remote Systems, Panalux, LEE Filters, and Direct Digital. Within the Panavision Group booth, multiple cameras will be set up to showcase a selection of the company’s renowned proprietary lenses for both Super 35 and large-format image acquisition, offering insights into the optical attributes that distinguish one lens series from another and what filmmakers look for when selecting the optics that will best suit their creative intent.

Visitors will also be able to learn about the latest lighting and power solutions from Panalux, including the Panalux Sonara 3:2 variable-white LED soft light and the Panalux Power i2 and i4 portable lithium-ion battery arrays, the latter of which provide eco-conscious all-electric power for a variety of on- and near-set applications.

Additionally, LEE Filters will showcase its industryleading assortment of lighting diffusion, technicalcorrection filters and colour gels, as well as the LEE Elements range of circular filters for still photography and videography. www.panavision.com

Red is bringing its latest technology for hands-

on demonstrations, including its new flagship DSMC3 camera, the V-Raptor, which features an all-new multi-format sensor with the ability to make in-camera format selection from 6K S35 to 8K large format.

Also making its debut at the Expo is the in-demand Komodo 6K camera system. With a form factor of just 101.6mm, Komodo features a breakthrough global shutter sensor (27.03mm x 14.26mm) that maintains Red’s standard of image quality and dynamic range.

Exhibit attendees will have the opportunity to dive into the power of RedCode at an innovative workflow station at the booth. www.red.com

ROSCO

PIXIPIXEL

London-based rental house, Pixipixel, supplies camera and lighting equipment to film, TV and commercials productions, and has some of the latest additions to its rental inventory on show – including cameras, lenses and popular lighting equipment including Creamsource Vortex, Nanlux Dyno and Nanlux Evoke.

Pixipixel will unveil its newly0launched Mechanix range of camera accessories.,

40 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Rosco’s DMG Dash Pocket LED kit with CRMX launched in February 2021 to rave reviews.

Lighting technicians have complimented the durability, colour quality, output and versatility of the handheld LED fixture, which features CRMX and W-DMX control with RDM via LumenRadio, enabling filmmakers to use a DMX console to control their DMG Dash fixtures along with the rest of their lighting rig.

Also on show is the DMG Maxi Mix LED, whose powerful output can be amplified by the new Triple Yoke. The latest accessory for three

Venice 2, shown for the first time at a trade show in the UK since its launch. Rob Hardy BSC’s film, Venezia, shot on Venice 2 last year, will also be shown.

Venice 2 builds on the original Venice with new features including a compact design, internal recording and the option for two different sensors: the newly developed full-frame 8.6K sensor or the original 6K Venice sensor. Venice 2 also inherits popular features from the original Venice, including colour science, Dual Base ISO and 8-stops of built-in ND filters. Enjoy an on-set workflow demonstration the Venice 2 with Pomfort Livegrade.

Sony is also exhibiting its full CinemaLine range, designed for every filmmaker whatever their budget or application. Experience the Venice and ‘Rialto’ extension system, the PXW-FX9 v3.0 in Anamorphic mode, the popular FX6, the compact FX3, plus a selection of Alpha lenses.

Other key elements of the production workflow will be on hand with the state-of-the-art BVM-X310 post-production monitor, the 4K HDR PVM-X series of on-set monitors, and Sony location sound recording solutions. www.sonycine.com

EclPanel TWC (2x1)

EclPanel TWCJr (1x1)

ZEISS

Zeiss will focus on the widest and final focal length in its Supreme Prime lens series. The Zeiss Supreme Prime 15mm T1.8, will make its debut and can be tested along with the entire portfolio of cinematography lenses, from Supreme Primes and Supreme Prime Radiance glass to Cinema Zooms, CP.3s and the Lightweight Zoom. Grab a coffee, talk to company experts about everything Zeiss – and cinematography, of course – and try out these formidable lenses. www.zeiss.com

RGB + Warm White

CCT 2,200K – 15,000K

Calibrated CT with +/- green

LED frequency up to 36KHz

See them on STAND 141

Wireless DMX

Pixel control for effects

DON’T LOOK UP•LINUS SANDGREN FSF ASC

THE COMET IS COMING

LINUS SANDGREN FSF ASC•DON’T LOOK UP

W

hile the apocalyptic black comedy, Don’t Look Up, may not have been to every critic’s taste, that didn’t prevent enormous numbers of people from watching it. The celluloid-originated, 138-minute, feature was the most-streamed English-language film on Netflix during Christmas 2021, with a record-breaking viewership of 111-million hours in just one week.

Images: BTS photos by Niko Tavernise.

All images © 2021 Netflix, Inc.

By Ron Prince

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DON’T LOOK UP•LINUS SANDGREN FSF ASC

LINUS SANDGREN FSF ASC•DON’T LOOK UP

hard to visualise a script, but it was plain to see that this would come good just from the words on the page. Along with the script, I like to shoot on film and I know Adam does too. So that was another level of connection between the two of us.”

I thought the script for Don’t Look Up was absolutely hilarious

A

nd while Don’t Look Up raises questions about humans having their heads stuck in the sand, its cinematographer, Linus Sandgren FSF ASC, likewise queries why other filmmakers remain unenlightened about, or opposed to, the benefits of shooting on celluloid film..

“I thought the critics might have enjoyed Don’t Look Up more than they did, but am glad that so many people enjoyed it. For me it was a stroke of genius by

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Adam – a comedy, that is also deadly serious,” says Sandgren, the Oscar-winning cinematographer of La La Land (2016), and the visual author of Battle Of The Sexes (2017), First Man (2018) and 007 No Time To Die (2021), all of which were also shot on Kodak celluloid film.

Don’t Look Up tells the story of two astronomers, Dr. Randall Mindy and Kate Dibiasky, attempting to warn humanity about an approaching comet that will

completely destroy human civilization in six month’s time. The cataclysmic, extinction-level impact is a metaphor for climate change, and the film is a satire about governmental, political, celebrity, media and general indifference towards the climate crisis.

Written, produced and directed by Adam McKay, the film stars an ensemble cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as astrophysicists, along with Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler

Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi, Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep.

“I had never met Adam before, although I know he is a tour-de-force and makes great films – like The Big Short (2015, DP Barry Ackroyd BSC) and Vice (2018, DP Greig Fraser ACS ASC),” says Sandgren.

“I thought the script for Don’t Look Up was absolutely hilarious, but was equally horrified by realising it was not far from reality. Sometimes it is

Sandgren explains that the cinematographic approach to Don’t Look Up was fundamentally different to making films such as La La Land, directed by Damien Chazelle, and 007 No Time To Die, helmed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.

“Damien and Cary had things planned and controlled, and we shot very much for how they wanted to edit,” Sandgren explains. “However, being a comedy, filming Don’t Look Up was more about covering scenes with multiple cameras so that we caught inflections, expressions and other things that the actors might improvise, and the comic timing was found later in the edit by Adam’s editor Hank Corwin.

“We purposefully did not want make Don’t Look Up look like a comedy, or an Armageddon-style movie with jokes. We thought of it more as a suspenseful political thriller, like Alan J Pakula’s The Parallax View (1974) or All The President’s Men (1976), both shot by Gordon Willis ASC, or Sydney Pollack’s Three Days Of The Condor (1975), shot by Owen Roizman ASC. So the main approach was to depict the viewpoint of the protagonists in a naturalistic way, within an Anamorphic 35mm frame.

“That said, significant parts of the story are about the modern, contemporary and superficial world, where people record themselves on smart phones and TV shows look super-sharp and vivid. So we decided to mix the movie’s 35mm foundation with all of these other formats, to make clear distinctions between the softer, darker, human side of life and the artificiality of the media and the internet.”

“Netflix were completely on-board with us shooting Anamorphic 35mm, their only stipulation being a 4K HDR deliverable,” he adds.

Shot during a peak period of the Covid-19 pandemic, principal photography on Don’t Look Up commenced in mid-November 2020, at various locations in Boston, Massachusetts, before wrapping in mid-February 2021. Locations across the city stood-in as doubles of New York. Sets, including the observatory, White House corridors, Oval Office, motel rooms and apartments, were built on stages at Red Sky Studios.

“It was quite hard on the cast and crew working in a bubble with strict Covid protocols. In order to be safe, and with no vaccine yet available, no-one could visit the set. I spent whole of the Christmas hiatus in Boston alone, and was not able to be with the family. I wasn’t even allowed out to buy food – it was all homedelivery,” recalls Sandgren.

“But Adam was the captain of the ship, and his warmth, humour and encouraging kindness created a positive energy on-set, and made the whole experience a lot of fun.”

When it came to selecting lenses, Sandgren went with Atlas Orion Anamorphics, their first outing on a feature film, shooting 4-perf 35mm on dual ARRICAM LTs, for the mainstay of the shoot.

“The Atlas Orion Anamorphics are made in Burbank by a young, enthusiastic and rather brilliant development team,” he says. “I had used these lenses on a commercial and loved them – the sharpness at edge of frame when fully-open at T2; their crisp clean bluestreak flares, and how you can control those artefacts more easily that traditional Anamorphics. They also have great close focus across the different lengths in the set, and they aren’t so super-bendy on verticals in the image either.”

To emphasise moments when the characters experience excruciating stress, Sandgren chose to have the camera extremely up-close-and-personal with the actors. He shot these moments handheld in 3-perf Super35 using an Aaton Penelope 35mm camera paired with a Kowa T2.3 40mm Cine Prominar Macro lens, that was always ready on the camera cart.

“I love shooting with the Aaton Penelope,” he enthuses. “It’s so great to handle and with Kowa macro lens I could film intimate moments in extreme close-up, just a few inches from an eye or a sweaty face, all with a complementary look to the Orion Anamorphics.”

CamTech in Los Angeles supplied the camera package for the film.

Smartphone footage was captured using Red Hydrogen One, the Android smartphone originally

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 45

DON’T LOOK UP•LINUS SANDGREN FSF ASC

released in 2018 by Red Digital Cinema, but since retired from the market. The TV studio sequences were shot using Sony 4K TV studio cameras, with the set deliberately over-lit to create a bright, colour-saturated and artificial contrast to the filmed material.

All of the filmed footage was processed at FotoKem in Los Angeles, prior to a special workflow that Sandgren has adopted of late, where the same colourist oversees the dailies and conducts the subsequent DI grade – in this case Matt Wallach at EFILM. “It’s a huge gain to have the same person supervising colour at all stages – and it makes the DI quicker, because so much less time and effort are required. Matt supervised the film dailies for me on Joy (2015), La La Land, Battle Of The Sexes and First Man, but then also did both the dailies and the DI grade on 007 No Time To Die. “We focus on getting the colour right on a daily basis. It means that 95% of the look of the film is set in the dailies, and then the final grade normally requires just minor adjustments.

By the time we start the DI, Matt knows the material inside-out, and what is required to adjust the contrast, highlights and details in the black range akin to a film print. He also knows how to rein-in the HDR so that it won’t burn anybody’s eyeballs.”

Sandgren shot Don’t Look Up on KODAK VISION3 5219 500T for night and low-light situations, KODAK VISION3 5207 250D for day interiors and overcast/ dark day exteriors, and KODAK VISION3 50ASA on bright, sunny exterior days.

“I like shooting on film, and I like to work with directors who want to shoot on film too,” Sandgren declares. “For me it’s about getting to the look as efficiently as possible. The reason to shoot digital 46 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

would be if you want any of the footage to look like digital – like we did in parts of Don’t Look Up, with the TV footage, or in The Hundred Foot Journey (dir. Lasse Hallström) where the protagonist in the film goes to Paris, and the emotions in the story go colder. But most of the time I prefer to use celluloid, and I think there are many good reasons for doing that.

“Aesthetically, film gives you lots of choices: different filmstocks, daylight and Tungsten, at different speeds; different formats – Super8, 16mm, 35mm, 65mm and IMAX, as well as 2-perf, 3-perf, 4-perf and VistaVision 8-perf; you can greatly over or under-expose on film; do push and pull processing at the lab; all to create different looks in-camera.

“Add to that the texture of film grain, the exquisite rendition of colour, contrast and highlights, plus the little surprises when you see your rushes. The cameras themselves can also produce effects not possible with digital cameras, such as flashing, speed changes with and without shutter speed changes, double exposures, reverse photography, etc..

“All that amounts an enormous range of creative options and flexibility when you want to tell a story and portray emotions. Because of the workflow, you get to your look sooner, which means fewer things to fix and less time spent in the DI. Sandgren also says that, mechanical film cameras are not disposable items, and there’s no in-built obsolescence. “They still work perfectly after 30 or 40 years of service, while digital cameras are replaced by new models every 2-3 years. The film camera’s power consumption is minimal compared to digital alternatives.

And, the recycling of silver and other chemicals at the lab is incredibly efficient these days. I think it is much

LINUS SANDGREN FSF ASC•DON’T LOOK UP

more environmentally-friendly than computer nodes spinning on workstations or at a data centres.

“Film is also economical. Because you are wellorganised in production, it is cost-effective to shoot on film. OK, you have to purchase and process the filmstock, but the management and storage of original digital/RAW files down-the-line, as well as the increased cost for digital processing equipment and crew on-set can be comparatively expensive.

“If you prefer the look of digital, you should shoot digital, but if you want the look of film, just shoot on film in first place. Film is magical.”

Sandgren operated on A-camera during

the end of the film, where we photographed portraits of the cast at 120fps, as if time were about to stand still.

Those shots give the audience time to reflect on what has happened in the film, and, at the same time, to study our characters, almost as if watching someone asleep.

The moment of stillness becomes emotionally-powerful.”

When asked what advice he has for up-andcoming DPs, Sandgren points to the connection that needs to be made between the image and emotion.

“It is your job to create a visual language that connects your cinematography to the emotional journey in the script,” he says. “It is an artform, and you learn from reading, watching, observing, talking, thinking and understanding your intent before you practice it. It’s is all about shaping the lighting and

considering how natural, supernatural, stylised or heightened it needs to be in relation to the story and your director’s vision.

“You have to be open to what the script asks for, rather than having a pre-ordained preference, or formula, for glass, aspect ratio and camera,

It’s a huge gain to have the same person supervising colour at all stages

Celluloid film gives you an enormous range of creative options and flexibility production, supported by his longtime collaborator Jorge Sánchez working as 1st AC/focus puller, with Frank Montesanto leading the grip team.

“I love operating and, unlike 007 No Time To Die, felt I had the bandwidth to shoot A-camera on this film,“ he says. “We went handheld when the emotion called for something more visually unsettling or nervous, but mainly used a Scorpio 45’ crane, with a Matrix 4-axis gimbal, or a Chapman Peewee, for dolly moves, such as a suspenseful push-in or to track along with a character.”

This was Sandgren’s first production with gaffer Frans Weterrings III, whose knowledge and creative ideas towards integrating fixtures into the, in collaboration with production designer, Clayton Hartley, proved invaluable.

“Apart from scenes like the TV studio, which was deliberately high-key and artificial-looking, our lighting style was naturalistic, with lots of soft sources. If we had sunshine in the image, we went Tungsten with an appropriate gel. I really like Tungsten as it picks-up more colours in skin tones.

“One of my favourite scenes is the dinner scene in

that you keep repeating. Each project starts from scratch and you will be surprised how it will look.

All great filmmakers do this. A good test to see if the cinematography is working, is if you turn-off the sound then you should still be able to understand the feelings being expressed in a scene.

Sandgren concludes: “The message of Don’t Look Up is really important to me, and was a huge attraction to working on this film with Adam. When it comes to climate change, it’s a shame that many people do not listen to the science, and have their heads in the sand.

Although I found myself laughing at what is actually a terrible message about humanity’s response to bad things, I really felt for the protagonists in this film, and wanted to show how ignorant we can be.”

• Fully accessorized kit with diffusers and eggcrate • 4-fixture Quad Kit available • Controlled via interface or myMIX® mobile app • Wireless DMX by LumenRadio with CRMX and W-DMX

Introducing DMG DASH™ Pocket LED Kit The latest member of the MIX® family. The handheld fixture features superior color rendering with the same 6-chip LED set as the MAXI, SL1 and MINI MIX.

dash.rosco.com CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 47

THE BATMAN•GREIG FRASER ACS ASC

GREIG FRASER ACS ASC•THE BATMAN

The Batman is very much a noir film… urban noir Images: Photo credit Jonathan Olley/™ & © DC Comics. Images © 2021 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

BACK IN BLACK T

hey used to call James Brown the hardest working man in showbiz. Maybe the title should now belong to Australian cinematographer Greig Fraser ACS ASC, who’s just come off back-to-back acclaimed mega-projects – and is already hard at work on the next one.

First, he shot Dune (2021, dir. Denis Villeneuve,), the sci-fi epic which earned him his second Oscar nomination (his first was for the 2016 production of Lion). Then he took on another enormous challenge in the form of, Warner Bros.’ The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson in the title role, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Colin Farrell as Penguin, and Paul Dano as The Riddler. Directed by Matt Reeves (The Planet Of The Apes franchise), The Batman is a gritty, kinetic and intense take on the iconic character, whilst also being visually spectacular.

Here, Fraser, whose diverse credits include Bright Star (2009), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Foxcatcher (2014), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Mary Magdalene (2018) and Vice (2018), talks about the challenges of making the ambitious film, and his approach to the cinematography and lighting.

This wasn’t your first collaboration with Matt Reeves, right?

Right. Matt and I go way back, to when I first came to America and I was doing commercials, which I loved. But I was also looking to do a movie, but not another period piece after Bright Star, though that was all I was getting offered. Then outof-the-blue Matt asked me to shoot his next film, a vampire movie called Let Me In (2010). I read the script and was blown away by his writing. It was a real page-turner. We had a great time making that film, and we’ve been buddies since then.

Tell us how you and Matt started finding the look for this film? What were your reference points and inspirations?

We started talking about The Batman quite a long time ago, as Matt was in discussion with Warner Bros. about it as he was posting War For The Planet Of The Apes (2017, DP Michael Seresin BSC). One day he told me he had a big meeting about making The Batman, which was fantastic news.

We actually talked quite a bit about what a Batman film should not be, in our minds, and it was so funny because we had the same vision, the same ideology, the same purity of the character. We

By Iain Blair

didn’t see Batman as a superhero in the traditional sense. As Matt and Robert would say, he doesn’t have super-powers beyond his incredible ability to focus, to be really clear about his vision and view of the world.

Matt and I both love ‘70’s cinema – early Spielberg and films shot by Gordon Willis ASC, such as Klute (1971, dir. Alan J. Pakula), which we watched several times previously for the visual language of Let Me In. We’re both very drawn to that visual language and fell back into that mode on The Batman. We didn’t alter our colour referencing and we didn’t want to make a ‘70s film, rather one that had its heart and soul in that era.

Did you look at some of the other Batman films for reference?

No, we didn’t, and here’s why; Batman is seared into our brains. You can’t un-see a Batman film once you’ve seen it, as it’s so iconic. I’ve watched Chris Nolan’s Batman films a number of times, and all the previous incarnations too, but this was a different kettle of fish. Yes, it’s the same character by definition, but this didn’t feel like it was in the same world as all the others. And to prepare for it visually, I kept thinking about just how iconic Batman is and all the

I wanted it to feel like we pretty much just used available natural light

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iconography – Batman standing like a gargoyle at the edge of a building at dusk or night looking down at the city below, and so on.

So we needed to create a series of images that were equally iconic and comic book in their simplicity, and use all the skill, resources and technology available to us to properly fill-out the world from a production and costume design standpoint. The detail on the bat-suit is incredible.

So the approach was very much, this is our film, our Batman. And we’d discussed so many ideas over the years. What if he jumped off a building in a wing-suit and flew around the city? What would that look like? That’s how that whole scene came about.

Did you and Matt talk a lot about whether to shoot digitally or on film?

We talked a lot about format and Matt and I last shot on film in 2009. He did The Planet Of The Apes movies digitally, so we talked a lot about film versus digital, and he knew all the pros and cons of each.

So with all the references we were pulling together, and all the comic book looks and the dirt and grit and feel of this movie, we decided pretty early on that we would not test film to shoot this.

Normally you shoot tests – film versus digital, ARRI

versus Red, and so on, but we’d both shot on the Alexa enough to know exactly how it looks, and Matt had shot his last films on the Alexa 65 and understood the power of the large format, and we’d both shot Anamorphic too. We did shoot a few lens tests and he loved the lenses, so that was that – we’d shoot a large format, Anamorphic digital movie.

So we shot The Batman on the Alexa LF 4K with the ARRI Alpha lenses. We developed those lenses pretty much through trial and error. ARRI had been working on building-up a large format Anamorphic range, and while we were doing lens tests they’d bring us lenses to try, and we’d test with them. They would then go off and refine them and, slowly but surely, we put together a set that really suited this film.

We weren’t that concerned about edge-toedge sharpness as we realised a lot of our framing choices were going to be centrally-framed, more classic images. Again, it was going back to the ‘70s look, and because we were going to do a film-out, what we needed was a lens that was sharper in the middle than usual.

We weren’t just finishing on digital, but we were doing a film-out to negative film and then doing a print. So as you go through the analogue process with two extra layers of emulsion, you lose a lot of

resolution, and because of all that we chose lenses that were sharper in the centre and which fell-off beautifully on the edges.

What was you approach to the lighting?

That was a major discussion. Batman’s called “The Dark Knight” for a reason. He’s always in the shadows at night, not sauntering around Gotham in the bright sunlight. And most of the script was set at night, and there are traditional ways to light darkness, but we weren’t into that.

I studied a lot of documentary photography of cities and I wanted it to feel like we pretty much just used available natural light, and we wanted to frame it so we never had to pick him out with a backlight and point a 2K Tungsten at his cowl to reveal the shape of his head. We were very meticulous and careful about all that, so if he was creating a silhouette, we’d light the wall behind him, not him.

Is it fair to say The Batman has a real, noir look?

Yes, I was calling it “urban noir”. From a lighting standpoint it’s very much a noir film, but it’s not a classic Hollywood noir with all the traditional backlight and flashes of light. I wanted to create an urban noir look and find Batman in the shadows CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 49

© 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

THE BATMAN•GREIG FRASER ACS ASC

between two streetlights in the places no one wants to go, but not make it feel forced and stylised.

And Batman’s a hard character to light, with the black leather outfit. You want to see detail, but it was a big challenge. In the end I used a lot of practical lights on camera wherever possible – fluorescents and Tungstens, depending on what was needed.

Then I alternated those with Digital Sputnik LEDs and Creamsource Vortexes, which were brand new at that time. I know the Creamsource guys well, and when they told me their Vortex lights are waterproof, I thought “Perfect,” as this was set in the rain most of the time. We got the first two of those! I also used the Hudson Spider, a great beauty light that really made Zoe pop even more in her scenes as Catwoman.

How tough was the shoot?

We shot in London on stages and then did some exteriors in Glasgow and Chicago, and it was hard because of Covid and all the interruptions that caused, which have been written about in the press.

I assume you had your usual DIT, Dan Carling, on-set?

Yes, and I’ll tell you, this was the most complicated lighting job I’ve ever done, because we were shooting at such low light levels and I was so focussed on being able to show Batman’s emotions without over-lighting it.

Dan was so helpful as every day he’d have framegrabs on my monitor of the previous scene or part thereof, so he was crucial in terms of keeping the lighting consistent.

What was entailed with integrating the VFX? The VFX supervisor was Dan Lemmon, who’d worked with Matt on The Planet Of The Apes movies.

He has great taste, so I knew we could work closely together creating the very best work and be on the same page.

We shot as much as possible in-camera, and there was actually very little bluescreen work. For instance, there’s this amazing car chase and crash where the Batmobile, which is chasing the Penguin, suddenly comes through this huge wall of flames before ramming the Penguin’s car, and that was all practical That car chase was a great combination of 1st and 2nd unit and special effects – a real grab bag of everything at our disposal.

But the film has lots of amazing VFX done by Weta and ILM and other vendors, that are really invisible.

We shot it over three months, and we also used some disposable old Alexa cameras instead of the normal crash cams, and used some re-housed special lenses.

What thoughts do you have to share about the DI grade?

So the look was film-based and we were able to do a skip bleach bypass and get exactly the look we were after. It really turned out the way I envisioned it.

I’m super-proud of the lighting, the coverage and the film. I think we exceeded our expectations, and I can already sense the pressure to do a sequel.

Cinematographer Greig Fraser ACS, ASC The colourist was David Cole at Fotokem, who he did Dune and Vice with me. We developed the look over several months of pre-production, and it was tricky as we were in London and he was in LA where we were going to post and the final DI grade. We created a LUT, and I love working with Fotokem because any LUT created for a digital sensor is created through film, with that film purity look.

Talking of sequels, when do you start Dune 2?

I’m already prepping it. It’s going to be another very busy year.

Images: Photos by Bartosz Mrozowski.

Thank you Greig for choosing ARRI Rental to support you on “The Batman” and for collaborating with us on the development of our ALFA anamorphic lenses.

Creamsource told me their Vortex lights are waterproof, I thought “Perfect,” as this was set in the rain most of the time

Explore the ALFA lens series: www.arrirental.com/alfa 50 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

OPERATION HYACINTH•PIOTR SOBOCIŃSKI JR. PSC

PIOTR SOBOCIŃSKI JR. PSC•OPERATION HYACINTH Images: Photos by Bartosz Mrozowski.

I embraced the Polish winter in all its depressing glory to add another layer of meaning

DARE TO BE DIFFERENT

By Darek Kuźma

P

iotr Sobociński Jr. PSC accepted director Piotr Domalewski’s challenge to make an ambitious period LGBT neo-noir Operation Hyacinth and saw it through despite various obstacles.

At first, Operation Hyacinth’s protagonist, Robert, can be defined as an up-and-coming cop trying to make a living in the Communist Poland of mid-1980s.

But it all changes when he and his homophobic partner are assigned to a politically-sensitive murder case of a rich homosexual. While tracking down the killer, Robert goes undercover and takes a liking to an offbeat bunch of students and young folks who would just like to love and be loved in return. Confused and terrified by how they make him feel, he develops an obsession with the case. Then he discovers the existence of a secret police operation aimed at making Warsaw’s gay community miserable at any cost.

Sobociński Jr. won the Golden Frog in the Polish Films Competition at the 2021 Camerimage Festival Of Cinematography work his work on the movie. As Operation Hyacinth was supposed to be a hybrid of neo-noirish police procedural and a cinematic study of a

I love how Sony Venice works in low-light conditions 52 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

man discovering himself amidst the duplicitousness of the world he inhabits, the filmmakers opted for a 4:3 aspect ratio, shooting handheld, to illustrate Robert’s fragile mental state.

“Our aim was to focus on Robert’s portrait, composed of emotions and feelings. We also wanted to depict his growing sense of entrapment, with the edges of the frame sort of confining him in the same way claustrophobic corridors and interrogation rooms do,” states Sobociński Jr. “Showing his world in this way made it more meaningful. No distractions, with the frame composed vertically, not horizontally, to emphasise the oppressive Communist architecture looming in the background.”

Because the project was to be shot entirely on-location, the production team scouted Warsaw interiors and exteriors with this in mind, as well as a colour palette based on the sodium orange of street lamps and the cyan-green fluorescent lighting in police rooms.

“My main visual reference were photos from the 1980s. Poland was quite dark then, with interiors badly lit, and the streets had this grim, noirish quality,” says Sobociński Jr. “We had a November–February shooting period, and I pushed for as many night scenes as possi-

ble. I used the Polish winter in all of its depressing glory to add another layer of meaning. Our day scenes are clouded, hazy, our nights saturated, alluring, dangerous.

Anything can happen.”

Then, literally one day before shooting commenced, a memo came straight from the top: they must film in widescreen 2.39:1. With every single idea about Hyacinth’s look shattered, Sobociński Jr. and his director Domalewski spent the remaining time discussing the possible adjustments.

“It was too late to replace camera or lenses, we had to stick to most of the locations, but we made it work without altering the mood of the story. The study of an identity crisis evolved into a film about Robert’s growing sense of loneliness emphasised by the emptiness on both sides of the frame. Shooting handheld gave way to a fixed camera. Et cetera. I like the result, but sometimes I wonder what movie it would have been if we’ve shot it as originally intended.”

Still, there were many on-set obstacles to overcome.

Including shooting a nuanced, story set partly within narrow passageways and small spaces with a set of spherical lenses in widescreen.

“I picked Panavision Primo Artiste T1.8 lenses for their technical brilliance and certain softness, bordering on how vintage lenses capture images,” Sobociński Jr. explains. “The idea was to stay close to actors, fill the frame from top to bottom. I tested Canon K35s, Leica Rs and others, but nothing compared to the Primo Artistes and their large-format cinematography support. I thought about Operation Hyacinth through them, they were great for this story, but I’m not sure I’d have chosen them originally if I had known about the choice of shooting at 2.39:1 aspect ratio!”

Especially since that the longest lens in his set was 27mm, which made shooting tight spaces a logistical puzzle. Such as Robert’s room where he struggles with his newfound desires.

“We had one side covered with a set decoration designed to give us enough space to shoot many angles and have characters visible from head-to-toe in full-frame mode. When we went there to shoot in 2.39:1, the stagehands had to saw a chunk of the decoration off for the camera to move back. Otherwise we would have had

legless characters in the frame. It was a nightmare from that perspective.”

Needless to say, working with such lenses and a fixed camera was also troublesome for the detective part of the story. Much of Hyacinth’s crime story unfolds in dimly lit spaces and throughout nocturnal Warsaw, and Sobociński’s camera pick was Sony Venice.

“It was only the second film I have shot using Sony Venice, but I love its sensitivity, how it works in low-light conditions. On The Wedding Day it enabled me to shoot interiors with a single candle, here I could light city

streets and industrial areas without big units,” Sobociński Jr. notes. “I used smaller sources and negative fill close to the camera, as I had to be quick. Shooting as high as 2500ISO, I was able to stage the foreground with ARRI SkyPanels, Creamsource Vortex and LiteGear LiteMats LEDs and create the background through blacking-out things, or covering LED street lamps with foil to simulate warmer sodium light.”

To keep image structure constant, Sobociński Jr. decided to shoot day scenes at 2500ISO too.

“Sony Venice is the only digital camera comparable to Alexa, but it doesn’t deal as well with over-exposure,” he says. “You have to be careful. I try to motivate my light by the real world. So I embraced our winter. It’s misty, greyish and the sun is behind an overcast sky. Together with a LUT I did with colourist Wiktor Sasim from Chimney, it gave the story a dirty feel. In the daylight Robert has to be who his parents and fiancée think he is, who he thinks he is. When the night comes, it’s sharper, saturated, vibrant with colours – then he can investigate the case and his own identity.”

Sobociński Jr. rarely lit the sets of day exteriors, most of the work was done via a negative fill created with black sheets or large butterfly frames. It was different in day interiors.

“We had less than thirty shooting days, it was tough,” he remembers. “I had SkyPanels, Fiilex Q5/Q8 Fresnels, a number of butterflies and diffusors, and a

but it saved us many times during the shoot. Its compact size enabled us to work faster and more efficiently in car scenes and during chase sequences.”

Indeed, it was essential for crafting a grand finale that sums up Operation Hyacinth’s poignant themes.

“That’s the only time the camera moves. Is was our biggest scene. I had big lighting units like 18ks standing every couple of hundred metres, including a 6x6-metre Softbox assembled from SkyPanel 360s, a couple of cranes, and Rialto’s sort backpack rig with which I could be in the very centre of the events.”

Though thematically Operation Hyacinth leaves the audiences with only a pale glimmer of hope (and the realisation that the titular operation really took place), watching Sobociński Jr.’s work is simply thrilling. A bleak yet colourful drama with genre undertones that will linger in your memory.

“I was surprised it came so well despite all the hardships. Turns out that if you work with consumate professionals and you put your hearts and souls into making the film, there’s nothing that can stop you. We planned it so well that our LUT was so close to the final grade that most of the DI was about balancing colours and cleaning images from the accidental modernity.”

With this attitude and over a decade of experience in creating ambitious films all over Europe, including Hungary and Iceland, Sobociński Jr. recently moved to London and started shooting Troubled

few Falcon LED Mats, one of my favourite lights. They’re Chinese, battery-powered, and highly-mobile. I’d say they’re five times lighter than SkyPanels and retain many of their basic features. I surrounded camera with four Falcons, and with Sony Venice’s sensitivity, it was enough.

I’m sure that if they were wireless, my colleagues would use them more often.”

Sobociński Jr. says that of Sony Venice’s assets that outweighed Alexa’s features was its Rialto extension.

“I chose the Rialto for our original handheld idea,

Blood, the fourth season of popular TV series C.B. Strike, based on J.K. Rowling’s novels (published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith) and co-produced by the author’s Brontë Film and TV. “I love new challenges, projects that make me think and act outside-of-the-box,” Sobociński Jr. concludes.

“Granted, I don’t change much as a cinematographer, my methods basically stay the same, but I always learn a lot, soak up information, attitudes and new ideas. There’s nothing better in this job.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 53

ASKING FOR IT•JENDRA JARNAGIN

JENDRA JARNAGIN•ASKING FOR IT

THE AVENGERS

Xtal Express Anamorphics are pretty wild, and not a choice to be taken lightly

By Ron Prince

C

reating bold visual stylisations to depict a story involving issues surrounding rape culture, the mistreatment of women, not to mention racism and homophobia, but all on a low-budget, with precious little prep time and a tight schedule, called for no shortage of resourcefulness and creative skills from NewYork-based DP Jendra Jarnagin.

Encompassing surreal live action, often frenetically intercut with smartphone/vlogger footage and freeze frames, Asking For It, marks the directorial debut for Eamon O’Rourke, and follows, Joey (Kiersey Clemons), the cheerful waitress in a small-town diner, who lives with her grandparents and is trying to figure-out what to do with her life.

However, things change dramatically when Joey is sexually assaulted following a date with an old friend, Mike.

Regina (Alexandra Shipp), a mysterious stranger at the diner, takes the wounded Joey under her wing and introduces her to a fearsome all-femme vigilante gang, called the Cherry Bombers, who operate from a ranch that is also a safe haven for abandoned youngsters, drag queens, lesbians, transgender men and women, and other outcasts.

Joey quickly learns that the ferocious Cherry Bombers

With regard to decoding the look for the movie, Jarnagin says, “Overall, Eamon wanted this film to be a wild ride – a badass fantasy grounded in reality – for it to be visually-interesting and boldly-stylised on the one hand, while being balanced and emotionally-motivated by Joey’s experience in a more naturalistic way. He especially wanted to express a level of surreality around Joey as she devolves into the world of the Cherry Bombers.

“I have shot a lot of comedies and productions that have involved flattering portraiture lighting,” adds Jarnagin whose credits include The Opposite Sex (2014), TRI (2016) and Entangled (2018), and the online series In Between Men (2010-2013). “So it was exciting for me to take the visual storytelling in an altogether more rough, raw and dirty direction than I have before.”

Working to a five-day-week schedule, production on Asking For It took place over 23 shooing days during October 2019, in and around the city of Guthrie and Logan County, Oklahoma, where Jarnagin enthuses, “We had great locations, all within a 15-minute drive from our unit base, and enjoyed the support from a welcoming community.”

In an enterprising move, Jarnagin reached-out through local cinematographic grapevines to assemble

rented from a local production company in Oklahoma, although the lenses she had in mind – vintage Xtal Express Anamorphics – to support the surreal and slightly abstract imagery of the main live action, were sourced separately from Scheimpflug, better known as Flüg, a speciality equipment rental house in NYC. Jarnagin ingenuously put the call-out for the Xtal Express lenses via a cinematographic Facebook page, which was pickedup on by Flüg.

“As I had such little time for prep, I went with the Alexa Mini as I know the camera well and could trust the wide dynamic range of the ARRIRAW image to capture whatever we threw at it,” she recalls. “I also knew that it would be perfect for the handheld and Steadicam work we wanted to achieve, the high-speed and slomo work to depict Joey’s emotional dislocation, and the quick-fire pace of the schedule.

“To help convey Joey’s extraordinary journey into the badass world of the Cherry Bombers, I had previously tested and wanted to use, the vintage Xtal Express Anamorphics. But they are pretty wild to work with, and not a choice to be taken lightly.”

Developed in the 1980s by the esteemed Joe Dunton BSC MBE at JDC in London, (subsequently acquired by

I am on the look-out for larger projects… a streaming series would do very nicely

first encounters the Cherry Bombers in the backroom of the ranch. We blocked and timed the camera choreography, so that a gooseneck table lamp would actively create a hard-line flare across the image to underscore the story beat.”

By way of contrast, the footage of antagonist Mark Vanderhill and members of the Men’s First Movement, which is intercut with the main live-action, was shot using a variety of prosumer, smartphone and laptop cameras. Much of that footage was captured by 2nd unit DP Rafe Scobey-Thal.

For those who have never visited, Oklahoma truly is a place, “Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain…” as the lyric goes in the theme song of Fred Zinnemann’s 1955 classic movie Oklahoma, shot by DP Robert Surtees ASC. “I had been warned about the wind, and that it would, more likely than not, have a huge effect on what we could do safely with our exterior lighting set-ups,” says Jarnagin. “I even warned DP Rodrigo Prieto AMC ASC, who was scouting in Oklahoma at the time, and told him ‘Make plans now… the wind will handicap you’.”

In the highly-likely case of inclement conditions, Jarnagin’s arsenal of lighting kit included the innovative, foldable DMG Lumière Maxi Switch LED. “Due to safety concerns, it just wasn’t feasible to have 6x6s or 8x8s bouncing light like one would normally do. So the Maxi Switch

became a good, large soft source alternative to deploy on our exteriors,” she says.

Thanks to Jarnagin’s ability to encourage vendors to loan demonstration equipment to the production, her lighting resources also included Rosco DMG Lumière Mix LED fixtures, and the final rental package also comprised Astera Titan tubes, several ARRI SkyPanel S60s, a few ARRI M18s and a smattering of small Tungsten fixtures including par cans and gels. Most of these were deployed for the colourful scene in which Joey meanders through a wedding party at the barn, and into the backroom where the Cherry Bombers are gathered.

On the wider subject of women working behind-thecamera, Jarnagin concludes, “It is encouraging to see more and more women getting opportunities, doing excellent work, and being rewarded for their efforts with nominations and awards at prestigious events.

“But despite a noticeable increase of women working behind-the-camera in the last few years, the actual figures remain quite low, and the glass ceiling in regards to larger budget productions is still very much a major factor.

“I hope that my work will inspire belief in other women who want to work in the camera department. I am now very much on the look-out for larger, more meaty projects. A streaming series would do very nicely at some point in the near future.”

All the light you need are devoted to helping women out of dangerous situations, often meting-out vengeance on abusive men, particularly those who have managed to escape legal justice. Although relatively young and wide-eyed, Joey signs-up for the fight against a formidable foe, in the form of Mark Vanderhill (Ezra Miller), the leader of the guntoting, alt-right Men’s First Movement.

“I was intrigued by Eamon’s script, but before I committed to the project, I wanted to know how he was going to handle the story and the sensitive subject matters surrounding the universality of negative experiences endured by women and the wider LGBTQ+ community,” says Jarnagin, who also reveals she wanted to pursue filmmaking from age 12, with a focus on cinematography by age 15. Studying at NYU Tisch School Of The Arts in the early 1990s, confirmed cinematography as her preferred path, and she simultaneously worked as a gaffer to support herself, while also shooting freebies as a DP to gain experience.

“Eamon was open and honest with me about keeping things real, and the fact that we were of like-mind, when it came to casting LGBTQ+ actors in appropriate roles, told me a lot about his values and vice versa,” she says.

54 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

a crew who, apart from A-camera/Steadicam operator Brad Grimmett, were all new faces to her. Grimmett wielded the camera for 95% of the movie, before illness required the substitution of KC Kennicut into that role. The first ACs were Phil Byrd and Nolan Ball from Oklahoma, with key grip Keith Cutler and his crew coming in from Atlanta. The gaffer Jacob Keen and the electric crew were also from Oklahoma.

Prior to production, Jarnagin worked with colourist Taylor Mahoney, at Tunnel Post in Los Angeles, on a small selection of day/night, exterior/interior LUTs that would yield a level of film emulation to the overall look, with slightly muted colour palettes, reduced contrast and raised toes to maximise shadow detail in dark scenes and the night work.

“We started-out shooting with a number of LUTs, but I quickly found the sweet spot and ended-up using a couple of them for the majority of the shoot,” she reveals.

Jarnagin had just three weeks of prep on the film.

Having agrees early-on to a kinetic camera style involving handheld and Steadicam, meant having to sacrifice her preferred option of having a second camera for the vast majority of the shoot.

A well-accessorised ARRI Alexa Mini package was

Panavision), Xtal Express lenses have been used to on many high-profile features, including Star Wars Episode VI, Layer Cake, Neon Demon, Guardians Of The Galaxy and Ex Machina. They also remain a popular and enduring lens choice for cinematographers shooting music promos and commercials, especially when a striking and unique visual aesthetic is required.

“The Xtals can give an extreme and distorted look, especially the wider-angled glass, in they way that they render the out-of-focus area of the image and the bend at the edges of the frame,” Jarnagin explains. “We shot with a 50mm for the most part, and sparingly used the more distorted shorter focal lengths, such as the 24mm and 35mm, but also used the 85mm and 100mm for medium and longer shots.”

As a note of caution, Jarnagin says, “The Xtals also flare a great deal, often in whacky ways, and that is a characteristic which is hard, sometimes annoying, and frequently impossible, to control. So we leaned into the thinking of “If you can’t beat them, join them,” in terms of the way those lenses flare.

“You can see some pretty outrageous flares throughout the film, but the one I like best is when Joey

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CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 55

STUDENT UNION•NATIONAL FILM SCHOOL OF DENMARK

NATIONAL FILM SCHOOL OF DENMARK•STUDENT UNION

GREAT DANES

Images: photos courtesy of National Film School Of Denmark.

By Natasha Block Hicks

The last semester focusses on life as a cinematographer, how to make contacts, getting an agent and entering the industry

T

he National Film School Of Denmark/ Den Danske Filmskole (DDF), located on the island of Frederiksholm in the harbour of Copenhagen, is a small and intimate establishment enrolling only 48 students in total across eight disciplines every other year. Whilst that’s relatively small, its alumnae have made a dramatic impact on the wider filmmaking world.

DDF alumnus and head of cinematography Kim Høgh Mikkelsen, a DP known for his collaboration with Danish director Hella Joof, explains that during their four-year MA programme, students will be going on an inward journey of selfdiscovery parallel to their training in the craft of filmmaking.

“The enrolment process is very much about identifying and reflecting on one’s own visual fascination and ethics,” Høgh Mikkelsen details. “Can you say it? Can you write it? Can you show it with images?”

A degree-level qualification and industry experience are not entry requirements, however applicants are expected to have finished high school. All tuition is given in Danish, so proficiency in spoken and written Danish is imperative. Submission

of a portfolio of creative work is the first stage of the application process and, this year, nearly one hundred prospective students vied for six places on the cinematography programme, of which 16 were invited for interview. A week’s worth of visual exercises followed, in which applicants were expected to work entirely alone and as a collaborator. A final interview decided the six successful applicants.

“The three cornerstones that we’re looking for are artistic talent, mission and vision,” outlines Høgh Mikkelsen. “Is this person able to honour their own vision and also be engaged in a collaboration?”

DDF has a pedagogical cornerstone that both challenges students and side-steps innate preferences they may have.

“It’s called the six-pack model,” reveals Høgh Mikkelsen, “and it’s a rule that means students are

We are not here to produce good films… just good learning 56 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

allocated their teams and are not able to choose who they collaborate with until their diploma film. It’s provocative, but there is a strong learning curve when you work with someone with a very different outlook, instead of instantly gravitating towards those who you think you are compatible with.

“We are not here to produce good films, we only produce good learning,” he stresses.

In the spirit of self-discovery, for the first year-and-a-half of the MA programme students are relatively cloistered, familiarising themselves with their cohort and studying film language and craft.

“The course is 80% workshops and hands-on learning,” reveals Høgh Mikkelsen. “It’s very much about introducing a concept and then trying it out, although sometimes we subvert that idea and ask the students to do a task without knowing anything and then we reflect on that.

“Students don’t meet professionals from the business until the second year,” Høgh Mikkelsen continues, “They start by identifying the knowledge and skills already existing within the individuals in the

cinematography group, from a sharing platform. They become very connected, introducing collaborations across all programmes: directing in fiction, documentaries and animation, producing, editing, sound design, scriptwriting and cinematography. We secure a technical

baseline for all and from that baseline you can either specialise further in tech or you can focus on individual interests in other fields of artistic development.”

In the second year, industry professionals start to visit the cinematography programme. They are cherry-picked to give lectures or workshops, which give a live window onto the industry in that moment and could be in fields such as previsualisation, collaboration, the working life of a DP or entrepreneurship.

Some of these masterclasses are structured as interviews, carried out by students. One such recent event was a week where three DPs were invited-in for a day and a half each: alumnus Manuel Alberto Claro DFF known for his collaboration with Lars Von Trier on films such as Melancholia (2011); Charlotte Bruus Christensen DFF ASC who lit A Quiet Place (2018, dir. John Krasinski); and alumnus Rasmus Videbæk DFF, well-respected for his work on Out Stealing Horses/Ut Og Stjæle Hester (2019, dir. Hans Petter Moland).

“When the students, after the first year, have worked and researched on their own material,” stresses Høgh Mikkelsen, “they have a knowledge-base on which to ask and investigate. The industry professionals are then guests with whom to reflect shared interest points.”

The second year also introduces the first of the collaborations with the fiction, animation and documentary directors on a piece of visual work

called Colab 1.

“60% of the whole masters is collaborating on full exercises,” says Høgh Mikkelsen. “However, we really stress that it’s an exercise, not a finished piece of work.

The only films that will be publicly screened are the diploma films.”

The school has two studios dressed with permanent sets for these exercises, and a stock of cameras such as the ARRI Alexa XT, ARRI Alexa LF, Sony Venice and Sony FS9/7. The Colabs are supported with technical training workshops.

The third year’s focus is on leadership, entrepreneurship, and the cultivation of the student’s own interest in the field of filmmaking. It is where students start to specialise and is divided between a further inter-programme collaboration, Colab 2, and an individual artistic and technical research project.

“The artistic research could be a visual exploration, or it could be in sound, or conducting interviews,” details Høgh Mikkelsen. “It could be visiting bigger film productions somewhere the world.”

It is up to the student to plan their artistic research project and put together a proposal that is discussed and agreed by the school’s staff.

“This process in particular is about challenging students to manage their own matters,” says Høgh Mikkelsen.

Year 4 is focussed on the diploma films, Colab 3, and also on a small module called The Professional Looking Out which prepares the students for life after graduation.

“The school is inwardly-turned while they are here,” says Høgh Mikkelsen, “but the last semester is certainly focussed on them leaving the school: their life as a cinematographer, how to make contacts, getting an agent, entering the industry and how to secure jobs they may not know about, etc..”

Diploma films are publicly screened at DDF, in selected cinemas in Copenhagen and also on Danish national television. The school will support students who wish to submit their graduate films to international film festivals, but it is up to them to do the legwork.

“This is where the entrepreneurship starts in themselves,” says Høgh Mikkelsen.

Recent graduate director Óskar Kristinn Vignisson, for example, submitted his short film Free Men/Frie Mænd (2021) to Cannes 2021 and was nominated for the

Cinéfondation Award.

DDF has some well-known alumni. 2013 graduate and ‘one to watch’ DP Maria Von Hausswolff, won the Best Cinematography Debut Award at Cameraimage 2017 for her work on Winter Brothers/Vinterbrødre (2017, dir. Hlynur Pálmason). Dan Laustsen DFF ASC, the twice Oscar-nominated DP who has worked with phantasmagorical director Guillermo Del Toro on pictures such as The Shape Of Water (2017) and Nightmare Alley (2022), attended DDF in the late seventies. Oscar-winning British DP Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC, known for Slumdog Millionaire (2008, dir. Danny Boyle/Loveleen Tandan), passed through its doors in the late eighties. 2013 graduate and ‘one to watch’ DP Maria Von Hausswolff, won the Best Cinematography Debut Award at Camerimage 2017 for her work on Winter Brothers/Vinterbrødre (2017, dir. Hlynur Pálmason).

As ever, the issue of diversity and inclusion is at the forefront of discussions at DDF. “We are learning and developing a process of understanding to build an agile film school with space for new and old generations,” says Høgh Mikkelsen.

“Right now, we have 33% female students in the cinematography programme, but I’m always looking to get more women, more diversity.”

Pinning down female DPs to come and teach is a tricky task.

“Female DPs in Denmark are both in the minority and very successful,” relates Høgh Mikkelsen. “Some of them I’ve called many, many times but they are so busy. That balance is hard to maintain.”

DDF is a state school, supported by the Danish Ministry of Cultural Affairs and as such there are no tuition fees to pay for students from the EU, EEA and Switzerland, which goes a long way toward levelling the socio-economic divide (students outside these zones must pay €25,000 per year).

“But,” stresses Høgh Mikkelsen, “the term ‘film school’ can still seem very elite. We need to challenge that. We have given virtual sessions to some schools around Denmark and we are always thinking about where to advertise to reach people who wouldn’t necessarily read a classical film magazine.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 57

ONE TO WATCH•JAIME ACKROYD

JAIME ACKROYD•ONE TO WATCH

HELLO SUNSHINE

Filmography (so far): first feature – Breakfast In Beirut: A Beirut Love Story (in post-production); shorts – Gerry (2019), Into The Fire (2019), Becoming You (2020, Apple series) and Play It Safe (2021).

BTS photos of Jaime Ackroyd by Toby Essex.

In the entire history of filmmaking, which film would you love to have shot?

City Of God (2002, dirs. Fernando Meirelles/Kátia Lund, DP César Charlone) – the energy and life in the cinematography blows my mind every time I see it. It is a masterpiece in how to continually keep the audience on the edge of their seats, with beautiful yet loose and free cinematography, and some great camera tricks.

Be brave and don’t worry about following all the rules

Accolades: Multiple nominations and awards for Play It Safe at LSFF, SXSW, BIFA, BAFTA and London Critics Circle Films Awards, and BAFTA Longlist for Gerry.

When did you discover you wanted to be a cinematographer?

As the child of a cinematographer, I have been around cinematography and filmmaking my whole life. I have always been aware of the positive sides of the industry, and hyper-aware of the negative sides too. For many years I pushed against my love for film due to this fear.

Tell us your greatest extravagance?

Buying a Leica M10!

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

Honesty. Sensitivity. Energy

I knew I needed to find my own path and decided to study politics and international relations at Uni, instead of film. I wanted to understand the world and to try help change it for the better, but wasn’t sure how I wanted to do that.

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

Things happen in their own time. Be brave and don’t worry about following all the rules.

A year after Uni, when I was 23, I watched a documentary called Virunga (2014, dir. Orlando Von Einsiedel, DP Franklin Dow), which instantly changed my life. From that point on, I knew cinematography was going to be my way to express myself and translate what I wanted to say for the rest of my life.

What life/career lessons have your learned?

Studying politics and learning about my worldview has helped me enormously as a DP, giving me a clear understanding about who I am and what I want to say. For me, politics and film are entirely connected.

Storytelling is about changing the way people think or see the world, and film allows people to empathise

How did you get your first break?

When I first made the jump from AC to DP I would shoot absolutely anything to try to build a body of work and get my name out there. One job (and I still don’t know how they trusted me with it) was to shoot and direct a charity film in South Africa. Being a director––/DP one-manband really allowed me to control exactly how I wanted to shoot this piece and gave me great freedom to start finding my style. I was very proud of it and it subsequently helped me a get a lot of work – although it was my first and definitely last directing job.

What are you favourite films, and why?

Kes (1969, dir. Ken Loach, DP Chris Menges BSC ASC) – Ken Loach and British Social Realism at its best, beautifully shot by the legend Chris Menges BSC ASC. It totally changed my life watching it as a child.

Cool Hand Luke (1967, dir. Stuart Rosenberg, DP Conrad L Hall ASC) – one of those films that changed cinema forever, and Conrad Hall’s cinematography has been mirrored and referenced till this day.

The Hurt Locker (2008, dir. Kathryn Bigelow, DP Barry Ackroyd BSC) – 16mm brilliance, with beautiful and powerful cinematography. Kathryn and Barry have an amazing knack of transporting the audience to feel like we are right there alongside the characters.

Beasts Of The Southern Wild (2012, dir. Benh Zeitlin, DP Ben Richardson) – wildly beautiful, loose and visceral, it ties together brilliant elements of social realism with the more fantastical element of film – a magic realism masterpiece!

Who are your DP/industry role models?

My Mum… Ann Collins-Ackroyd – we forget to mention and thank the people behind-the-scenes who help support filmmakers. Being a DP is an all-encompassing job, and it really takes its toll on family life. So a huge role model for me is my Mum – an amazing, strong women, who has been the rock of the family, and allowed my 58 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

Dad, and now me, to have the right support structure to fulfil our passions.

Barry Ackroyd BSC – my biggest hero and role model, of course, not only by creating beautiful, unique work, but always being known for being the nicest man and fighting for people and social causes around him. His work is a special type of genius. His mix of personality and creativity inspire me every day.

Robbie Ryan BSC ISC – he always maintains a strong sense of realism and visceral energy in his work, while never conceding the quality and beauty of the image, across a varied body of productions. American Honey (2016, dir. Andrea Arnold), The Favourite (2018, dir.

Yorgos Lanthimos), C’mon C’mon (2021, dir. Mike Mills) – I am in love with his work.

Orlando Von Einsiedel – a documentary great of our time, and a special, special filmmaker. His film Virunga let me know I was going to be a DP for the rest of my life. Luckily I have had the chance to work with him and learnt so much as a DP and a human being.

What’s the best advice you were ever given?

“Act the part, look the part.” When I started-out, South African focus puller, Diogo Domingues, said this, and it always stuck with me. There are many times as a DP when you feel totally out of your depth or have imposter syndrome, and I always come back to this simple saying.

Where do you get your visual inspirations?

From the real world. From great documentary and street photographers, such as Mary Ellen Mark, Don McCullin and Robert Frank. From people around me. Just looking around there are thousands of movies and stories happening every day.

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

There are constant knock-backs and confidence blows as a DP, even within your own head. A great piece of advice that has always stuck with me, is to try to never get too high or too low. If you appreciate your successes without getting carried away, then you should treat your failures and rejections in the same way, and don’t let them drag you down.

What’s been your best moment on-set?

Jonathan Ajayi’s incredible performance at the end of Play It Safe was a unique experience. When the director called ‘cut’, the entire room just slowly looked around at each other in complete silence, with goosebumps, then we all started clapping. An incredible moment I will never forget.

life as a DP, but I have a plan for my days off that ground me and brings me back after the buzz of a tough shoot.

What’s the best freebie you ever blagged?

Sneaking into the BAFTA’s Afterparty in 2008 with two friends (we were 18 and looked like a babies).

and connect in such a profound way that it can instantly change your life.

What are the burning issues in cinematography, filmmaking and cinema, that need to be addressed?

We need more non-white, working-class and female cinematographers, HoDs and crew in general. The industry is still predominantly white, middle/upper class, male and American-led. We need more balance, which will only help us all, and give our audiences more interesting and fresh stories. Also, I would love to see the mid-sized feature industry pick-up again to tell real important unique British stories.

What are your aspirations for the future?

A long career shooting longform narratives and documentaries dealing with social causes.

What’s up next for you?

A potential documentary in the US on the politics of hip hop, and then hopefully another narrative feature.

Who is your agent?

WPA What is your URL/website address? www.jaimeackroyd.com

And your worst moment on-set?

My first-ever day on a feature set as a trainee. It was a night shoot in March, and I had to hold a 2x4ft flag over the camera during constant rain effects for ten hours whilst the rain bounced-up into my eyes. I couldn’t see a thing as I danced around like a melon trying to stay over the camera.

Tell us your most hilarious faux pas?

I tried to stand-up from a kneeling position wearing an Easy-rig with a heavy camera and my trousers split in half right down the crotch!

What is your most treasured cinematographic possession?

An Aaton Xtera – arguably the most beautiful camera ever made – a hand-me-down from my Dad. What’s the strangest place you’ve ever shot in?

I shot the documentary Into The Fire with Orlando von Einsiedel in Western Iraq a year after ISIS had left in 2018, following Yazidi women who were clearing landmines. We shot in 50ºC+ heat in mid-summer on live minefields, shooting long hours with a micro-crew. On the way there we crossed through ex-ISIS hotspots of Mosul and Tel Afar, and had lunch outside Saddam Hussain’s bombed palace. It was the most surreal day of my life.

How do you like to “waste” your time?

I am in the top 10% in the world in online chess. I spent an ungodly amount of my free time last year playing chess – almost four weeks!

What is the top thing on your bucket list?

To shoot for Kathryn Bigelow or Andrea Arnold.

It can be tough being a DP, how do you keep yourself match-fit?

By trying to have a healthy physical and mental routine on my days off. It is impossible to keep any structure in your CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 59

SMOOTH OPERATORS•MITCH DUBIN SOC ACO

MITCH DUBIN SOC ACO•SMOOTH OPERATORS Opposite: (from top) at the camera on West Side Story, with director Steven Spielberg; portrait of Mitch Dubin SOC ACO; in action on Saving Private Ryan; and framing The Terminal, with Tom Hanks in the background; This page: (from top) two BTS photos from the set of West Side Story (© Niko Tavernise); filming on Tall Tale, (photo by Melinda Sue Gordon); and at work on the set of Legion.

A-CAMERA COOPERATOR

Saving Private Ryan was pivotal because it established me as Steven Spielberg’s operator

By Natasha Block Hicks

F

Steven said ‘Action’, it was just insane. It was bigger and “As a camera operator I have watched some amazing louder, with more dust and debris, than anybody ever performances through my career,” Dubin says reverentially, expected. I quickly realised there was no way I was going “performances that happened once and would be gone to be able to keep up with Tom Hanks while looking except that we’ve preserved them on film.” through the lens, so I took my eye off the eyepiece and On West Side Story, Dubin was to experience ran for my life, praying that I was following the right person a career-first reaction to a particularly emotional through the confusion. Tom and I both hit the shingle at the performance. same time, and he looked up at me and went, ‘Holy shit’.

“There’s a moment where Anita and Maria sing A “It ended-up being this fabulous shot,” Dubin laughs, Boy Like That, a very aggressive song, that transitions into “and I did the whole thing without my eye to the eyepiece!” a I Have A Love, a very beautiful song about Maria’s love Though not directly acknowledged by the industry for Tony,” he relates. “When we were filming it, with the for this feat, Dubin was to be recognised in 2008 with actors singing live, all of a sudden I felt my chest tighten the SOC’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and again in up. I said to myself, “Mitch, are you going to cry?” It’s 2013 with the SOC’s Camera Operator Of The Year never happened to me before, but it was so beautiful.”

Award for his work on Lincoln (2012), another Spielberg/ One might imagine, in such a long career, that new Kamiński picture starring Daniel Day Lewis. In 2022, he experiences such as the above might be rare. also won the BSC Camera Operator Award for his wok1 09/03/2022 “I17:29:28 learned from West Side Story that there is always MotionImpossible-CinematographyWorld-HalfPageAd.pdf on Westside Story. something new to learn,” Dubin relates. “I had to take my

or a camera operator to work with the same DP and/or director on several projects is not unusual, particularly in an industry which values shorthand communication and camaraderie. However, the continuing three-way partnership that Mitch Dubin SOC ACO enjoys with director Steven Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz Kamiński, numbering 18 movies and counting, is in his own words, “pretty unique”.

Since working on Tall Tale (1995, dir. Jeremiah S. Chechik), Dubin’s first project with Kamiński, a DP in Oscar-winning form on his maiden Spielberg movie Schindler’s List (1993), Dubin and Kamiński have actually worked together on an astonishing 25 films. These include working the A-camera on Spielberg’s A.I. (2001), Munich (2005), Warhorse (2011), Bridge Of Spies (2015) and The BFG (2016), plus non-Spielberg projects, such as How To Make an American Quilt (1995, dir.

Jocelyn Moorhouse) and Jerry McGuire (1996, dir.

Cameron Crowe).

Dubin recently completed his third project, Where The Crawdads Sing (2022, dir. Olivia Newman), with DP Polly Morgan ASC BSC, following their work together on the TV series Legion (2019) and Lucy In the Sky (2019, dir. Noah Hawley). He has also shot for Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC on The Avengers (2012), Charlotte Bruus Christensen DFF ASC on The Girl On the Train (2016) and George Richmond BSC on Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017). However, it is notable that Spielberg, is the only director to feature more than once in Dubin’s credit list.

“Steven likes to have familiar faces around him,” says Dubin as he recognises the value of that kind of close partnership with other members of the camera crew.

“The relationship between the camera operator and the dolly grip is a really important one,” he says, “you need trust and a personal language between you. What I do is about camera movement and framing, and the camera movement part is totally dependent on the skills and grace of the dolly grip.”

During the recent West Side Story (2021, dir. Steven Spielberg, DP Janusz Kamiński) Dubin reports spending 75% of the shoot on a crane with a remote stabilised head, supported by one of his regular dolly grips, Brendan Lowry.

60 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

“There’s a grip on the chassis of the crane,” describes Dubin, “another on the arm and a third on the pickle, which extends the telescopic boom. The four of us coordinate via a closed intercom system. If one person’s out, you really see it. I probably pick up on anomalies more than most audience members at the cinema,” he laughs, “but it’s vital that everybody works together in symphony.”

It was as such an audience member that Dubin was first inspired to consider filmmaking as a career.

“In junior high I loved going to the movies,” he recalls.

“I remember the first time I realised that all the names listed in the end credits were people that had worked on that movie. I thought that it would be really fun to be a part of the whole process, so I started making little Super 8mm films.”

Dubin attended film school at the University Of Texas but felt the course had little to offer him. He spent his remaining university years hanging out with the influential street photographer Garry Winogrand (1928-84), who was teaching at that time in the university’s art and film departments.

“Garry was a wonderful artist,” remembers Dubin, “I learned all about framing and about what tells a good story from him.”

Despite this unique education, Dubin found himself adrift upon graduation.

“I felt like I blew it,” he admits, “I felt like I’d graduated without really knowing anything about filmmaking.”

Unsure what to do with himself, Dubin followed his girlfriend – now wife – to the San Francisco Bay Area.

There, via a many-branched grapevine of friendship, Dubin gained a PA position at Francis Ford Coppola’s new postproduction facility at Zoetrope Studios in San Francisco.

“Working at Zoetrope was a great experience because I learned more there than I ever learned in filmschool,” states Dubin. One of his tasks was to keep an inventory of the studio’s equipment and this included two cameras that Ford Coppola had purchased to shoot Apocalypse Now (1979, DP Vittorio Storaro AIC ASC).

“I didn’t have any idea what these pieces were,” admits Dubin, “but I knew where they were. When the cameras were called-up for additional photography on The Black Stallion (1979, dir. Carroll Ballard, DP Caleb Deschanel ASC) the camera assistants invited me along as a camera PA. “I’ll never forget that first day, stepping on to the set on the Oregon coastline,” Dubin marvels, “with the waves

pounding, the rocks, the sand, horses, Titan cranes, cameras… the mass of people in what seemed like chaos. But then they created these incredible on-screen moments. I fell in love with production.”

Not wanting to return to post-production, Dubin followed the camera work to LA and then on to New York where he spent five years as a camera assistant for Edward Lachman ASC on movies such as Desperately Seeking Susan (1985, dir.

Susan Seidelman). Lachman first invited Dubin to try operating on a subsequent Seidelman movie, Making Mr Right (1997).

“I said ‘yes’,” Dubin relates, “but I was absolutely terrified. I don’t think I slept for weeks before we started shooting. But as soon as I put my eye to the eyepiece on that first day, I knew that was the place for me.”

Directly following Making Mr Right, Dubin operated for Haskell Wexler ASC on a film called Matewan (1987, dir. John Sayles), but then didn’t work for a year, “which was terrifying,” he admits. Slowly, however, the work picked-up, gained momentum and then nearly two decades after Dubin had first stepped on to that beach on The Black Stallion, he found himself on another, rather moodier coastline, about to shoot one of the most seminal sequences of his career.

“Saving Private Ryan (1998 dir. Steven Spielberg, DP Janusz Kamiński) was a very pivotal film for me because it established me as Steven Spielberg’s operator,” Dubin relates. The Normandy D-Day landing sequence was a hallmark scene in the film; an unglamorous depiction of the chaos and carnage inflicted on the US forces storming Omaha Beach in 1944, with the camera in the centre of the fray.

“We rehearsed the run up the beach a couple of times and it was fine,” Dubin relates, “but as soon as

cues musically rather than visually, so I always had the music in my ear. I’ve never done it that way and it was exciting to have a bit of performance anxiety. I explain this to other operators: you have to believe that you’re the best person to do this job right now. Difficult shots get the blood pumping and the adrenaline flowing and that’s what makes it fun.”

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CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 61

CVP•ON TOUR

ON TOUR•CVP

ENTERPRISE ZONE

By Ron Prince

I

f you’ve ever visited CVP’s central London showrooms – the townhouse in Newman Street and CVP/ARRI Creative Space in Charlotte Street – you cannot fail to have been impressed by the bristling array of filmmaking technology on display, nor the steady flow of ‘refreshments’ when there’s a special event.

To learn more about the company, today we’re visiting a somewhat more mundane light-industrial estate in the suburb of Brentford, where the company is headquartered out of three adjacent warehouse units, and where company MD Jon Fry assures, “This is where much of the magic happens!”

Customer service has always been baked into the company’s DNA

We’re super-excited about our new venture in Europe

62 MARCH 2022 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD

But, before we embark on what promises to be a genuine voyage of discovery, here’s a wee bit of salient of history. CVP began life in 1986 as Creative Video Productions, after owner/operator Phil Baxter realised he could make more money renting his camera gear than he could by shooting with it as a freelancer.

Growing the business as a value-added equipment reseller over the next 20 years, CVP was able to acquire the then much larger product dealer MitCorp in 2008, to create the UK’s biggest broadcast equipment and systems provider. It had a combined turnover of £31 million and 55 staff, selling non-linear editing and graphics systems, cameras, camcorders, VTRs plus ancillary equipment, with Baxter affirming the objective was “to create a world class equipment business with customer service at its heart.”

Although Baxter sadly passed-away in 2013, his wife Alison gamely took over business operations and successfully ran the firm until accepting an HSBCbacked management buyout in 2017, led by the senior team who had been at the company for many years – Jon Fry, Darren Simpson, Yevgeny Subbotin, Mansukh Kerai and Mark Forth.

Cut to today, CVP employs 190 people – across its various UK outlets in London, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow, plus a new enterprise in Vilvoorde, Belgium – with a whopping turnover of £104m in the last financial year, and a forecast of £140m the next time the accounts are returned.

“CVP’s recent growth, of around 35% annually, is a direct reflection of the growth in the public consumption of cinema, TV and streamed content around the world in the last few years,” says Fry. “All of that success is due to the hard work, enthusiasm and motivation of the company’s previous owners and the considerable experience and dedication of the current team today, to deliver proper value to customers. It’s always been baked into the company’s DNA.” The company takes pride in having close relationships with key manufacturers of cameras, lenses, lighting, monitors, grip/support and audio

gear – plus all manner of inter-connective widgets and spares – from names including ARRI, Sony, Red, Canon, Blackmagic Design, Leitz, Cooke, Zeiss, Tribe7, Angénieux, Astera, Aputure, O’Connor, Ronford Baker, LitePanels, DoPchoice, DJI, Teradek, Sennheiser and SmallHD, to name just a few.

And, there are bountiful supplies stacked-up across literally hundreds of industrial-strength, floor-to-ceiling shelves, to prove it. Around £15m-worth, in fact, ready to ship as soon as orders come in. It’s a labyrinth of cardboard boxes, bedecked in QR codes.

“We are one of the last bastions of what you would call a stock-holding dealer,” says Fry, “No one, anywhere around the world, holds stock of this type, to this level, and the number of goods-out ranges anywhere between 500 and 1,000 per day.”

While that’s certainly impressive to this casual visitor, Fry says it’s the team who really make the difference. “We have great people here, some of whom have been at CVP for over 20 years, which makes for vast combined experience.”

“When you call CVP the phone will be answered by a real human being. They listen to customers to understand their needs and give advice at a level that is personal to each and everyone who needs support.”

Meandering around the warehouse warrens, we stop by different workshops, where a 15-strong team of engineers are ensconced at benches, stripping down, repairing and servicing all manner of filmmaking kit – lenses that have focus-ring issues, fluid heads with sand in their joints, troublesome tripods, and cameras in need of component-level remedy.

“Technical service is not an especial revenue earner for the company, but we have always taken it seriously as a commitment to customers. They know that when the shit hits the fan, and something goes wrong, that we will look after them,” says Fry. He adds, “The UK has a tremendous heritage

in film and broadcast engineering, and we are very keen to encourage and develop a new generation of engineers as we move forwards.”

Along with brand new kit, CVP offers a wide range of used, ex-demo and open box products too, and each item goes through thorough evaluation by the pro-repairs team to determine its condition for resale.

Also onsite at Brentford is a ‘content creation team’ – of product testers and web wizards – who populate a dedicated CVP YouTube channel with in-depth camera reviews, lens evaluations, tips and tricks, on-set and behind-the-scenes insight, to an audience nearing 70,000 subscribers. It’s an amazing online resource.

So if you need advice on drop-in filter mounts, using a Red Komodo, how and why to shim a lens, you’ll find all of that there amongst hundreds of other topics.

Another online resource, developed by the inhouse whizzkids, and available on CVP’s main website, is the Lens Coverage & Camera Comparison Tool.

It was created to help filmmakers check whether a lens covers a particular sensor format, to observe the field-of-view for a lens on a given sensor format, and assess and match the focal lengths between A- and B-cameras. How useful is that?

Fry is quite candid when he expresses the difficulties for the company to support international customers caused by Brexit. Prior to the UK leaving the EU, 15% of CVP’s revenue came from Europe, and much of that disappeared overnight, leaving a significant hole in the business.

“Up to the end of December 2020, we could ship products next day to EU countries with absolutely no problem, exempt of duties and VAT where applicable,” he says. “But as from January 1st 2021, that changed with the introduction of import/export duties, addition of VAT – whether VAT registered or not –, paperwork and the worry that deliveries could sit in customs for days if not weeks. Nightmare!”

“We looked at a whole raft of different options, such as courier and consignment solutions, but realised they had more-or-less the same logistical, economic and operational issues. So we bit the bullet and set up a new company on the mainland in Belgium, locallymanaged by CVP employees.”

Internal building work has already been completed at the premises of CVP Europe in Vilvoorde, a municipality in the Flemish province of Brabant. It provides around 13,000sq/ft of space for warehousing – including a mezzanine floor that could potentially be robotised – plus 3,000 sq/ft office/ engineering space and a demonstration facility.

“CVP’s mission is to draw on our experience, industry knowledge and leverage of partner relationships, to focus on getting the best technology solutions for our customers,” concludes Fry, “and we are confident this year’s stand is a reflection of this mission and what CVP ultimately stands for.”

Before you know it, three hours have passed, and it’s been another genuinely enlightening tour around a major facilitator in the UK film and TV industry.

You’re left with the impression that CVP is a slick sales operation with a heart that lived-up to Phil Baxter’s expectations. They’re certainly very perceptive, offering countless vital products, and a cracking value proposition. That’s CVP.

When you call CVP the phone will be answered by a real human being “This new venture represents a huge opportunity to continue trading successfully in Europe, but without the penalties of tariffs, taxes and red-tape,” adds Fry. “We are hiring at the facility in sales, support and engineering, and we’re super-excited about it.”

CVP will once again occupy the mezzanine floor area at the BSC Expo, where the attractions – apart from cameras, lenses, monitors and ‘refreshments’ – include a production stage, featuring the latest technology specifically for virtual and extended reality production. Working with Disguise, Ncam, TrackMen, ARRI, GhostFrame and ROE Visual, visitors can expect to step into a real-life LED stage and see themselves become immersed into completely virtual environments on-screen.

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 63

DEATH ON THE NILE•HARIS ZAMBARLOUKOS BSC GSC

HARIS ZAMBARLOUKOS BSC GSC•DEATH ON THE NILE Images: Death On The Nile © 2020 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

All Rights Reserved.

WHODUNNIT?

Large format 65mm film offers such an immersive and intimate experience

By Ron Prince

P

eople love a murder mystery. And none more so than British DP Haris Zambarloukos BSC GSC, especially when clues become red-herrings and suspects are not quite who they seem, inside a story that has genuine human interest.

Following the success of Murder On The Orient Express (2017), which Zambarloukos shot on large format, 5-perf Kodak 65mm film for director Kenneth Branagh, the pair teamed-up once again for Death On The Nile, based on Agatha Christie’s 1937 novel of the same name. It marked their seventh cinematic collaboration, following Sleuth (2007), Thor (2011), Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) and Cinderella (2015) – all captured on 35mm film.

Adapted into a screenplay by Michael Green, the sequel sees Branagh reprise his role as Hercule Poirot, the moustachioed Belgian super-sleuth, alongside an

ensemble cast including Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders and Letitia Wright.

Death On The Nile is set against an epic Egyptian landscape of sweeping desert vistas and the majestic Giza pyramids. Poirot holidays on the Nile aboard the opulent, art deco SS Karnak cruise ship, but is drawn into the a terrifying search for a murderer after a honeymooning heiress is found dead. He must identify the killer before they strike again.

“Ken is quite a scholar when it comes to Agatha Christie, and is very knowledgeable about her private life as well as her novels,” says Zambarloukos. “Just like Murder On The Orient Express, Death On The Nile was very personal to him, and he was well aware of how personal this story – about jealousy and the loss of love – was to her.

“I’m a Greek Cypriot who grew-up with Greek myths, and I like stories that talk about tragedy and the human condition. These are timeless themes, and you don’t get many scripts like that.

“There was an immersive quality to the script, together with twists and turns regarding how your sympathies lie with the characters as the story unravels, and I could see it would be fantastic stuff to shoot. It was always going to be another large format 65mm film project as it offers such an immersive and intimate experience for the audience.”

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Before the main live-action production went into full swing, a small crew was dispatched to Egypt for three weeks, to shoot background plates along the River Nile, which would be later integrated via VFX with the main live-action footage, to depict the river and landscape from the characters’ points-of-view aboard the SS Karnak. This involved an array of 14 Red Monstro cameras, shooting 360º at 8K, arranged vertically so as to give the correct parallax effect of a scene from the three-decks. The same team also packed a drone to shoot aerials, plus underwater filming equipment to capture footage both on and under the river itself.

Principal production on the 15-week shoot began on September 30, 2019, at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England, where Murder On The Orient Express was filmed. Under the auspices of production designer Jim Clay, set-builds included a replica of the ancient Temple of Abu Simbel, as well as the 100m-long SS Karnak - including interiors – on a specially-erected sound stage.

Recycling the rails that had been used for the train carriages in Murder On The Orient Express, allowed the vessel to be rolled-out from inside the stage to an adjacent outdoor water tank to take advantage of daylight, and real sunshine, when shots featured people embarking or disembarking, or for exterior scenes that occurred on deck. The trench for the movie’s gliding, one-shot opening scene in B&W was also dug and filmed at Longcross.

Amongst Zambarloukos’ crew, Luke Redgrave and Andrei Austin operated A- and B-cameras respectively.

Steadicam and handheld shots were operated by Stamos Tritantylollos. Malcolm Hughes led the grip team, and Dan Lowe was the gaffer.

Regarding the look of the film Zambarloukos says, “Ken wanted it to embrace the heat and humidity of the desert and the dancing and music in the film too, with strong colour and a sense of Americana.

“Rather than referring to other movies per se, I looked at photojournalism from the period – The First World War In Photographs

by Richard

Holmes, and Lee Tanner’s The Jazz Image: Masters Of Jazz Photography were both good references.

Paintings such as Edward Hopper’s New York Movie (1939), of a cigarette girl standing furtively in the theatre wings, had an ethereal and sexuality quality, in the use of colour, darkness and light.”

Zambarloukos went with the same optics and cameras as used on Murder On The Orient Express, namely Panavision System 65 Sphero lenses, combined with one Panavision 65mm high-speed MOS and two sync-sound Panaflex 65mm lumps, framing once more in 2.35:1 format.

“The Spheros have a beautiful, soft quality, perfect for the portraiture in the film.” says the DP. “They’re also quite compact, which helps a fair bit as physically the cameras are beasts, weighing-in at around 60Kgs. “We filmed Murder On The Orient Express predominantly with the 65mm cameras mounted on a remote Libra head, either on a Technocrane or a dolly, and did some long Steadicam shots. But this time we wanted to further evolve the visual storytelling camera work to a greater extent, especially using Steadicam for long takes, such as in the opening B&W trench sequence and the nightclub/dance scenes. However, the sync-sound 65mm cameras don’t really work for that, as they are heavy. The high-speed camera is much lighter, but it’s noisy. So I had to find a way of sound-proofing it to make the idea practicable.”

Zambaloukos took the challenge to propmaker Stuart Heath of BGI Supplies at Longcross, who had previously created the carriage for Cinderella and who was making furniture for the current production.

Heath brought along a draper to take measurements and then tailored a bespoke blimp for the camera using the same material that is used for sound insulation inside helicopters.

“Within a week, the camera had a lovely dinner jacket, with zips and Velcro-straps, that made the

camera very close to silent, quiet-enough for usable sound, and was light enough for Stamos to move around the boat, and to really open-up our desire to use Steadicam and handheld. He has a beautiful eye and being a big lad, he has extreme physical ability too. I had him on a diet of spinach and lamb again before the shoot to keep-up his strength.”

As for filmstocks, the movie’s night and lower-light interior scenes were shot using KODAK VISION3 5219 500T, with KODAK VISION3 5213 200T for the boat deck exteriors on the sound stage, and KODAK VISION3 5203 50D for the day exteriors.

The opening trench scene was also filmed using 50D, later desaturated to B&W in post. The dailies were processed by Kodak Film Lab, on the lot at Pinewood, with Fotokem making 8K scans, down-rezzed to 4K for post production.

“Aesthetically, the emulsions all fine grain, with lovely colour rendition and they deliver a lovely intimate result in 65mm format,” says Zambarloukos.

“On a practical basis, they are seamless, in that you can use them to cover the widest variety of lighting conditions, and switch between them to optimise your shooting day without seeing the join.

“The 500T captures lovely nuances of colour, as well as details in the highlights and black areas. It also gave us a reasonable stop on the Steadicam moves.

The 200T was a good visual match to the 500T. The 50D takes the 65mm film experience to another level – it does something incredible to the clarity of the images, and sunlit exteriors in 65mm have an almost three-dimensional quality. Shooting the opening scene

in colour on 50D, meant we had greater ability to manipulate the monochromatic tonal range later in the final grade, such as using the blue in the image to enhance the greyness and drama in the sky.”

Zambarloukos says a lot of R&D effort went into creating the vast set for the SS Karnak.

“We wanted to shoot a life-size boat, and have the ability to move inside the cabins and rooms, and out onto the decks, rather than breaking sequences down into small, individual sets. It was a huge undertaking that involved all departments – especially Jim Clay and his production design team, VFX supervisor George Murphy, together with Dan and our lighting team.

“We built an enormous sound-stage structure around the boat, which itself was on tracks and could be rolled outdoors, and had a large and elaborate lighting rig around the boat too, with in-excess of 2,000 fixtures – a variety of SumoLights. ARRI

SkyPanel, softboxes and Tungsten fixtures.

“I would have loved to have shot with an LED screen system, like the one we used on Murder On The Orient Express, to create the backgrounds. But the SS Karnak set was twenty times the size, there were not enough LED screens available and it would not have been financially viable.

“So for shots looking above the horizon and towards the sky, I went with a technique I had used successfully on Mamma Mia (2008), of hanging screens right around the boat, some 15m high and 200m in circumference, and projected light onto them using around 900 ARRI SkyPanels.

“Ken was a little sceptical as to whether this would work, but our desk operator, Chris Craig programmed a two-minute presentation of what the light would look like during the dawn, day, dusk and night, and Ken was very impressed by the fantastic ambient light we could create at sunset, sunrise, midday and midnight.

For shots that included background elements, we shot against bluescreen, and the background plates from our Egyptian shoot were then composited in post.”

Zambarloukos completed the DI grade with Rob Pizzey at Goldcrest, where the deliverables included Dolby Vision and IMAX HDR DCPs, as well as a master for 70mm film prints.

“Rob did an amazing job in getting a consistent look across the different deliverables,” says Zambarloukos. “So where ever you see the film, especially the a big screen experience, I think we did justice to the immersive quality of the large format 65mm film we originated on.”

Master Distributor: A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd | +44 (0)1494 446000 | sales@ac-et.com | www.ac-et.com See us on Stand 141 | BSC Expo

CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD MARCH 2022 65

DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA•ANDREW DUNN BSC

ANDREW DUNN BSC•DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA

TIMES ARE A-CHANGIN’

By Darek Kuźma

C

inematographer Andrew Dunn BSC pulled off the neat trick of shooting director Simon Curtis’s Downton Abbey: A New Era, the next chapter in the internationallyrevered Downton Abbey saga, in a visually similar style to the previous efforts, yet distinct in its own way.

Since September 2010, when Downton Abbey’s first episode was aired on ITV, the story of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants has taken place against the backdrop of the vicissitudes of the rapidly changing United Kingdom during the 1910s and 1920s – including dealing with the ramifications of the First World War and the rise of the British working class. And it proved an international sensation with no fewer that 15 Emmys, two Golden Globes and countless nominations. The series ended in 2015, but the Downton saga continued with a 2019 film, Downton Abbey (dir. Michael Engler, DP Ben Smithard BSC) in which the Crawleys were visited in their Yorkshire country estate by King George V and Queen Mary. Its sequel, A New Era, sees the characters approaching the tumultuous 1930s, and broadens the scope with one arc of the storytelling taking place on the French Riviera.

A New Era was thus designed by the saga’s

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creator Julian Fellowes for an audience well-versed in Downton history and ready to be challenged. For this tough balancing act of covering familiar ground, but expanding the saga thematically, the show’s regular crew was joined by newcomers, director Simon Curtis and DP Andrew Dunn BSC. “I met Simon in 1993 when I shot Suddenly, Last Summer, which he produced, and I worked with Julian when filming Gosford Park (2001, dir. Robert Altman), so I didn’t hesitate when I was asked to do Downton Abbey: A New Era,” says Dunn. “I sat down and watched over fifty hours of Downton, first the film, then the series, then the film again, to understand the characters and their idiosyncratic world.”

Dunn says he felt an obligation to preserve the Downton experience visually, but he also wanted to subtly enhance it.

“I always try to absorb the audience into the place, the time, the characters. To use textures, colours, angles, choice of lenses and camera movement to involve them in the story,” reflects the cinematographer who opted for an Anamorphic look to drive home the point of the changing times. “It took me some time to warm to Sony Venice. Initially, I found it a bit too harsh and unforgiving. But during prep I realised it has come-of-age and that it would be perfect for this film

when equipped with Panavision C- series and E-series Anamorphic Primes.”

The film is stimulating right from the get-go, from its first shot using a drone flying through a church window to join a wedding ceremony, although Dunn had to diversify his toolkit somewhat to create and accomplish a variety of looks.

“As Anamorphic can’t go to certain focal lengths without breaking the immersion, I also had longer spherical lenses, 300mm and 800mm, on the camera.

Overall, there was some filtering needed, a mixture of Schneider Black Frosts, Tiffen Black Diffusion/FXs and Fogal stockings to mould the light. We also played with placing nets at the front and the back of lenses,” claims Dunn. “It was certainly a leap of faith, but I believe the audience is forgiving enough to accept such small departures.”

One of the challenges he relished was shooting a film-within-a-film: as the times are changing, the Crawleys are short of money to fix a leaky roof and agree to make Downton a location for a silent film The Gambler.

“There’s a film crew with equipment and a blond diva with ego. Pure chaos,” laughs Dunn. “We wanted to be as real as possible, so we tried lights from that period, but they weren’t bright enough. We used them

Images: Downton Abbey: A New Era – a Focus Features release.

Photos by Ben Blackall / © 2021 Focus Features, LLC

as props and placed them within the frame to indicate they were keying actors. I based my lighting scheme on Tungsten light with Fresnels on the front.”

But then The Gambler had to be turned into a talkie and the chaos at Downton multiplied. The Gambler scenes, the estate’s below-stairs rooms, Lady Violet’s and Lady Mary’s bedrooms and several other estate areas, were shot in April 2021 at Ealing Studios.

“Downton sets are like museum pieces, stored and ready to be rebuilt in a studio. It allowed us to come in a week before filming and rehearse until everyone was comfortable with the material,” explains Dunn who extended his fondness for Tungsten lights to other sets at

cubeness of matching the actors’ availability and the lighting conditions. Except for early morning and late in the evening, Highclere’s front is in the shade. So we had to figure-out which angles to do, and at what time of day, to make it more welcoming, especially for the arrival of the crew and the movie star.”

“With interiors we had to adhere to strict rules of shooting there. We just couldn’t rig any lights.

Everything was on the floor or coming through windows that we were not allowed to gel. Daylight lighting has got a lot better with LEDs, but I’d rather use Tungsten inside and gel windows outside to inform a Tungsten environment, which is less tiring for the cast,”

Ealing. “They’re more adaptable, lighter, perfect for a studio environment if you use them as if you’re lighting a location. See, the audience often doesn’t know things but they feel things, there’s no room for artifice or vanity lighting.”

“I don’t generally like it, but a soft back/halo was appropriate for this film, and my gaffer John Clarke did an amazing job. In the subterranean areas we were starting-off with soft backlight and just filled gently around the actors to give them some key lighting and eye lights,” reminisces Dunn who used Hudson Spider Redbacks and LiteMats S2 2Ls, among others. “In bigger rooms we had lightboxes. Essentially, on the Ealing stages we were always trying to get hot spots in the background to draw the viewers’ eyes to something behind. It was tricky during the upstairs scenes, as we shot with painted backings through windows instead of green screens, but we did figure that out.”

After several weeks at Ealing Studios the crew moved to Highclere Castle in Hampshire, the main Downton location since the series’ inception, and the real challenge began.

“We went with a vow to do the impossible and find angles or shots that hadn’t been done before,” says Dunn who also operated the camera. “And we did it, notably exteriors, though there was this Rubik’s

says Dunn. “I used a mixture of lights and Starlight LED Balloons, gentle, almost imperceptible fill light that can be adjusted in colour temperature to anything you want. Highclere was all about using minimal additional lighting on exteriors, if any, and constantly trying to create places where you could put the actors in backlit situations.”

The production then travelled to the south of France to shoot in Villa Rocabella, located east of Toulon, in between Saint Tropez and Marseilles. While Lady Mary stays in Downton trying to supervise the film crew, the Crawleys set out to discover why Lady Violet inherited a beautiful French mansion.

“We went there in June, but re-winding back to March we were not sure if Covid restrictions would let us leave Britain, so we came up with Plan Z to shoot the Riviera in Kent, just in case!” laughs Dunn. “We couldn’t scout France either, and we chose Villa Rocabella based on a live feed with a local scout. It was insane to go not knowing what to expect, and we could only use the equipment they had in stock at a facility in Marseille.”

“However, we were lucky the Villa looked down to the sea, so we could shoot against the Mediterranean, and had a local crew that was capable in combatting the harsh light in group scenes with a fill light without

making the fill look like lighting,” reflects Dunn who lit the interiors in a similar manner those he shot at Highclere. “We didn’t rig anything. It was a mix of HMIs, Geminis, Astra tubes, LiteGear LitePanels, Creamsource Vortex 8s, Fabric-Lite 350Ws and ARRI SkyPanels, as well as 8x8 panels of light through diffusion. The great thing about such a broad blanket of LED light is that it creates this soft-but-sourcey light that helps to balance actors’ faces in hot midday French summer light.”

A few months after the 55-day shoot wrapped, Dunn went to Company 3 in London to put the finishing touches to the film with colourist Gareth Spensley.

We went with a vow to do the impossible and find angles or shots that hadn’t been done before “I try to embed everything with emotion, or at least do it in a way that the intention is there, but Gareth took it one step further. He emphasised Downton’s colour palette of golds, creams, greens, burgundy, terra-cotta and splashes of red, and contrasted them with cooler blues of French part of the story. He did a marvellous job, just like the editor Adam Recht and others in post.

Before setting-out on this journey Simon Curtis said he felt we could really create something extraordinary, and during the grade I knew that we indeed had.”

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OPERATION MINCEMEAT•SEBASTIAN BLENKOV

SEBASTIAN BLENKOV•OPERATION MINCEMEAT

JUST THE TRICK

Images: Operation Mincemeat – photos by Giles Keyte, © See-Saw Films Limited 2021

By Oliver Webb

The night invasion scene was quite something to coordinate

B

ased on Ben Macintyre’s 2010 book of the same name, Operation Mincemeat, strikingly captured by DP Sebastian Blenkov, depicts the story of the masterminds behind the events of one of most pivotal operations during the Second World War. Expertly-devised as a tactical deception, involving the deposit of a decoy corpse on a Spanish beach, the ultimate aim was to keep the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily a secret. Operation Mincemeat proved a nearimpossible challenge, but it altered the course of rest of the war.

Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley, the British intelligence officers behind the operation, are masterfully brought to life in the film by actors Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen. Directed by John Madden, the film marks the director’s second collaboration with

Blenkov, following their work together on the political thriller Miss Sloane (2016).

Having worked extensively in Denmark and abroad, Blenkov originally trained at The National Film School Of Denmark/Den Danske Filmskole, between 1995 and 1999. He first met John Madden at the opening of The Riot Club (2014), which the DP shot for director Lone Scherfig, and recalls that, “the first AD on The Riot Club was one of John’s close collaborators and I think through word-of-mouth that was why he approached me for Miss Sloane.”

When it came to the initial conversations about the look of Operation Mincemeat, Blenkov was very much left to his own devices and entrusted with the overall aesthetic of the film. Creative control is an important aspect of the filmmaking process for Blenkov.

“We didn’t want to make the film too dark, or too serious,” says the DP. “We wanted a colour palette that

wasn’t too desaturated and for the palette to change from scene-to-scene. For example, for the Spanish sequences to be more colourful than the UK ones.”

He also explains that discussions with Madden at the beginning of the creative process revolved more around the movement of the camera. “That’s very much John’s approach – the rhythm throughout the film.”

Blenkov and Madden looked at the 1956 espionage thriller The Man Who Never Was (dir.

Ronald Neame, DP Oswald Morris BSC) which was one of the very first films to depict Operation Mincemeat and was based on Ewen Montagu’s 1953 book of the events.

“That film has very much a 1950’s look,” says Blenkov. “What we were trying to achieve was quite different, but I do like the colours a lot. So, it wasn’t an inspiration in terms of aesthetics. It’s a lovely film, but it’s also quite dull.”

We didn’t want to make the film too dark, or too serious

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Blenkov is no stranger when it comes to films depicting the UK war effort, having previously shot Their Finest (2016, dir. Lone Sherfig), which focusses on the making of British propaganda films during WWII. “I’ve spent a few years focussing on the Second World War” Blenkov laughs. “With films like this it comes down to costumes to help with the look, and there were a lot more uniforms in Operation Mincemeat.”

Operation Mincemeat was shot in 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio. “I love that format,” explains Blenkov, “ as it allows the set to stand out within the frame.”

In terms of camera choice, Blenkov selected the ARRI LF Mini accompanied with DNA lenses from ARRI UK. “They are beautiful lenses,” he says. “You can tweak them inside and adjust them to your liking. They render colour beautifully and are not too vintage, but they do strange stuff, a little bit funky, which I like. We used two Alexa LF Mini’s for the majority of the shoot. I operated A-camera and B-camera was operated by John Ferguson, who did Steadicam as well.”

The shoot lasted eight-and-a-half weeks and filming wrapped on the eve of the pandemic, in March 2020. “The day after wrap I flew back to Denmark.

And the day after that, the UK Prime Minister shut down the country. We were super lucky,” Blenkov remarks.

Lighting the movie’s London blackout sequences proved to be one of the most difficult aspects of the production.

“It was super tricky to film because obviously you can’t light-up London during a blackout,” Blenkov notes. “You can’t have lights in the windows or street lights and all of these other gags to create illumination.

It needed to be a very dark London. When we found out that Londoners used torches facing downwards when they were out walking, we decided to use that trick to create the London blackouts.

“So that involved a lot of head-scratching together with gaffer Mark Clayton. We acquired the original period torchlights that were used during the war and installed LED lights inside balanced for Tungsten.

We then added a half straw gel to make them a bit warmer, and used big softlight sources from cranes to illuminate a backlight which was to the cooler side of the colour temperature.”

All of the locations were scouted and mapped-out in advance by Madden and production designer J.P. Kelly, before Blenkov came on-board the project.

“We shot the exteriors of the operation’s offices at Somerset House and elsewhere around central London,” says the DP. “There were a few different obstacles with the locations, but with a little bit of help from CGI you can get away with a lot. Bring in some costumes, vintage cars and extras and it’s suddenly there.”

Blenkov says he looked at paintings and old stills of London as a reference point, but adds that, “we wanted to romanticise the operation and also the era a little bit.”

Following the London-based shoot, production moved to various locations around the UK, including Saunton Beach in North Devon, where a key Sicilian battle sequence was filmed in freezing cold conditions, before the shoot concluded in Malaga, Spain, where the fictitious corpse scenes were captured.

The Gela Beach invasion of Sicily sequence was meant to be shot over a period of two days, however plans had to be quickly altered due to a report of inclement weather for the following day.

“We ended-up having just one night for that shoot,” Blenkov recalls, “which led to a lot of meetings about the location, deciding where lights would go, where the unit base should go. Because it was such a limited window, with the weather and the tide too, we had so many people trying to make it all work within that restricted time frame.

“The night invasion scene was very tricky. It was quite something to coordinate all of the explosions, Higgins landing craft in the water, 200 extras dressed as soldiers running-up and attacking the beach, along with all sorts of other vehicles and equipment, whilst contending with the tide and lighting the space without actually showing your lights.”

The movie’s submarine sequences with rain effects were captured in a studio against greenscreen, under the auspices of production designer John Paul Kelly, with final composites done at Union VFX. The warship in the beginning sequence of the film on the otherhand was shot on-location in Chatham, Kent.

“The ship was just floating there in the docks, so we had to create the movement with a Technocrane and then the rest is CGI,” explains Blenkov. “It was such a windy place and I knew it would be a bugger to get the lights set-up. So we used a new lighting system called TommyBars, a rig comprising of 8ft-long banks of closely-set LED strips where the wind and rain go straight through.

“When you have big lights up on cherry pickers, or lighting balloons, it is always very difficult with wind.

But these TommyBar lights are brilliant and effective in bad weather. Also, they are bi-coloured and you can adjust them from Tungsten to daylight, and dim them remotely, whatever you want.”

During the shoot, Blenkov worked with DIT Anthony Bagley who timed dailies on-set. Adam Glasman at Goldcrest performed the final colour grade.

“Operation Mincemeat was timed perfectly to evoke the period setting,” Blenkov concludes. “The colours aren’t too muted, but we mixed Tungsten with daylight and tried to a change things a bit in different scenes so you get variety of looks, a journey if you like.”

The result is an extraordinary war film that shows us not only the horrors of war, but the horrors of the home front. Operation Mincemeat is set to be released 15th April, 2022.

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WINNING TIME: THE RISE OF THE LAKERS DYNASTY•TODD BANHAZL SOC

SLAM DUNK

TODD BANHAZL SOC•WINNING TIME: THE RISE OF THE LAKERS DYNASTY Images: HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty.

Image copyright HBO, all rights reserved.

Shooting this series on film really felt like coming home

By Ron Prince

K

oodak 35mm, 16mm and Super8mm colour and B&W film stocks formed the visual foundation for HBO’s acclaimed, ten-part sports drama, Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty, which chronicles the razzmatazz during the 1980’s ‘Showtime’ era of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.

Created by Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht for HBO, with Adam McKay as executive producer and the director of the pilot episode, the dark comedy series steps back in time to depict the professional and personal lives of players and management in one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties. These include NBA stars such as Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the larger-than-life businessman and majority owner, Jerry Buss, who defined an era, on and off the court with fast play and even faster private lives.

The series features an ensemble cast led by John C. Reilly, Quincy Isaiah, Solomon Hughes, Jason Clarke, Gaby Hoffmann and Adrien Brody, with critics noting the whiplash-style of visual storytelling – a flamboyant hybrid of celluloid film and vintage video formats, intercut with commercials, archive newsreel and basketball footage from the era.

The pilot, plus episodes 2, 5, 6, 9 and 10 were shot

by DP Todd Banhazl with DP Mihai Mălaimare Jr. on episodes 3, 4, 7 and 8. Production took place under strict safety protocols in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, at landmark locations around Los Angeles and on interiors/exterior sets constructed at LA Center Studios and Santa Anita Race Track. These builds included the iconic façade of the LA Laker s Forum stadium, and a replica basketball court.

“I am a fan of cultural stories and the Showtime era was part of a big cultural change in America, especially

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in terms of race relations and its depiction in pop culture,” says Banhazl, who had previously shot Hustlers (2019), with McKay working as a executive producer.

“When I heard that the pilot for Winning Time was happening, I reached out to Adam. We were both on the same page about it from our very first conversation, as we discussed creating an immersive collage of our collective American cultural memory, to tell this story of race, capitalism, class, gender and sports.

“We both knew and agreed that visually the show was best anchored on celluloid film, because of the way film can evoke a time period in itself, and how appropriate and interesting it could be to play with different formats of the time period and blur the line between what was actual archival and what we shot.”

Banhazl says he began his creative process by researching filmstocks that were used during the story arc. That meant absorbing the look of 35mm KODACHROME in advertising during the 1950s and ’60’s, and later EKTACHROME reversal film, along with reviewing significant volumes of 16mm and 8mm archive newsreel, much of which was in quite poor condition.

He also investigated the electronic TV tube cameras used to cover basketball matches and sports reports in the era.

He says, “I came to realise that the look we were going for was not Ektachrome as it is now, but rather Ektachrome as we remember it, as an old, forgotten film print, and that all of these different film and video formats, as well as styles of shooting, could be used like paintbrushes to enrich the narrative. This was all very much in-tune with the sarcastic, referential and culturallyaware tone of the script.”

Banhazl also cites the cinéma vérité aesthetics in films such as The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie (1976,

dir. John Cassavetes, DPs Mitchell Breit/Al Ruban/ Frederick Elmes), and the subversive style of California Split (1974, dir. Robert Altman, DP Paul Lohmann), in helping to develop a dynamic and more complex visual experience for the audience.

After several months of testing production formats and finishing techniques, the ingredients for the visual recipe emerged – a mixed-format arsenal of 35mm, 16mm and Super8mm cameras, adapted to shoot in Max8mm format, for the narrative live-action sequences, plus a bevy of vintage Ikegami three-tube colour TV cameras, as used in the 1980s, for basketball games and press conferences.

It was a beast of a show to work on, but a joyful experience to be part of The workhorse filmstock was KODAK VISION3 500T in 5219 35mm and 7219 16mm/Super8mm formats, for its warm and vibrant colour, and ability to enable the DPs to shoot at a deep stop, from a T8 to a T16 outside, and for interior and night sequences.

KODAK VISION3 50D, also in 5203 35mm and 7203 16mm/Super8mm formats, was also used for exterior/daylight scenes, similarly chosen for its colour, contrast and more shallow depth-of-field properties.

The same trio of KODAK VISION3 250D 5207/7207 formats were employed on shady or

overcast exterior day shots. KODAK DOUBLE-X 5222 35mm B&W, plus KODAK TRI-X Reversal 7266 16mm panchromatic B&W , ere also harnessed to emulate newsreel footage.

During production, and in order to take steps towards period KODACHROME and EKTACHROME print looks, all of the film was underexposed between 1/4 to one full stop, depending on the scene. The footage was then push-processed at the lab to encourage subtle image detail in the toe, increased contrast, grain, and colour saturation, and a slightly foggy image overall that looked like yesteryear. In post production enhanced film gate weave, 16mm highlight halation, image softening and custom print LUTS were all added to complete the effect.

“Our basic set-up was that we always had two 35mm cameras to cover a scene, with a third being either a Super8mm or an Ikegami tube camera,” says Banhazl.

“We followed a rough rulebook about how we would use them. Typically the Max8mm cameras were used for our establishing shots, to set time and place, and the Ikegami was used for TV footage recreations.

But we quickly started breaking these rules and started using the formats in more jazzy ways.

“On particularly emotional scenes, we would also use the Max8mm’s for close-ups, and if that involved depicting a character’s vulnerability, we might also introduce the Ikegami into the mix. The scene in the opening episode, where Jerry Buss and the coaching team argue on the golf course, is a hybrid mix of 35mm, Super8mm and an Ikegami.

Apart from the pilot episode, which was shot using Cooke S4 lenses fitted to ARRICAM LT cameras, the rest of the series was filmed entirely using Panavision

Primo lenses and 35mm Millennium XL2 cameras. Zeiss Ultraprimes were used on ARRI 416 16mm cameras, while the 8mm cameras were fitted with vintage Angénieux and Canon zooms. In tribute to the show and the LA Lakers, Panavision Woodland Hills made special yellow and purple, 400ft and 1,00ft 35mm film magazines for the shoot.

Film processing of the 35mm and 16mm footage was done at Fotokem in LA, with the Super8mm material handled by Pro8mm in Burbank.

“We specifically asked the lab technicians at Fotokem to not dustbust the negatives, and informed our QC team in post production that, apart from appearing on faces, any scratches, sparkles and hairs-in-the gate were perfectly acceptable.”

Banhazl continues, “I studied cinematography at AFI, just before the big explosion of proper digital cinema cameras, when the learning was still all about light meters, exposure, printer lights and film densities.

My previous professional experience of shooting on celluloid encompassed commercials and music videos, but never long form. So shooting this series on film really felt like coming home, and what cinematography is really all about. ”On this show, we also wanted to evoke a certain pheromonal sensuality, for the characters to look suitably shiny and greasy. So we were very interested in capturing the reflective quality of sweaty skin, plus the texture and glow of faces as they overexpose, which film also handles so incredibly well.”

With so many cameras to supervise, Banhazl opted not to operate during production. Scott Sakamoto operated A-camera/Steadicam on the pilot, with Sarah Levy taking on that role for the rest of the series. Dominic Bartolone and Justin Cameron were respective B-/

Steadicam and C-camera operators for most of the production.

“Even though we were using modern technologies, such as remote stabilised heads and Steadicam, we kept bumps, extreme servo zooms and other imperfect camera moves, and didn’t worry about crossing-theline or matching eyelines, to give it a more handmade, caught-in-the-moment feeling.”

Gaffer Mike Bauman worked with Banhazl on the pilot, with Josh Hensley taking over for the rest of the series.

“For authenticity, we used built-in period lighting built into our sets – fluorescents, sodium vapour, metal halide and mercury vapour – with a lot of old-style hard light on top of that, akin to what you might see in movies like Pulp Fiction (1994, dir. Quentin Tarantino, DP Andrzej Sekuła),” he notes.

Banhazl completed the final grade with colourist Walter Volpatto at Company 3 in Los Angeles. “Walter is truly my creative partner. He was there for all of the testing and creative jamming at the start of the project, and was also responsible for the creating and enhancing the various cross-processed, bleach-bypass, KODACHROME and EKTACHROME looks in post production.”

Banhazl concludes, “Winning Time was a beast of a show to work on, but a joyful experience to be part of.

That joy came from McKay and the creative atmosphere he creates on-set, and also the fact that we were shooting on celluloid. Film is still just pure magic, and the grit and punch it delivered was so right for this show.”

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GAFFERS CAFÉ•JENNIFER SCARLATA

JENNIFER SCARLATA•GAFFERS CAFÉ

one. Adam McKay and Mark Mylod have a very improvisational way of working, which was fun to be a part of and we got to shoot at some pretty stunning locations. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel S3 was my first entire season of gaffing and everyone from top to bottom who works on it is so talented, top notch!

Why has the desk operator become such a key member of the lighting team?

It’s because fixture technology is now largely networked LED, which makes it easy to lean on What are your favourite bits of kit? programmers to do on-camera cue-ing and make Quite a few… my favourite lighting fixtures include: quick adjustments. Sometimes it can lead to a bit LiteGear Lite Mats (any size), Astera Titan and Helios of “over-tweaking”. Just because you know you tubes and Astera NYX Bulbs, ARRI SkyPanels, Mole have the ability to tweak lighting easily at the last Richardson 18K and 20K Fresnels, 9 Light Molefeys, minute, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you actually plus open-faced blondes and redheads, different need to. All I can say is some DPs are worse than Molebeams and, of course, Moleparcans. others at tweaking, but that it’s not a problem on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel! The lighting challenges How do you keep up with the latest innovations there are more about with eliminating shadows, in lighting? which can be seen with the moving cameras that the Mainly through working as a lamp op when I’m not shows uses so much. gaffing, to seeing what other gaffers are using, as well as talking to other gaffers and programmers about stuff

SHINING A LIGHT Age// Born// School// Early Career// Lives// Hobbies/Passions//

they like. I always ask my gaffer friend John Velez, as he is always on the forefront of technology.

42 Harbor City, California San Francisco State University (SFSU) Low-budget movies Brooklyn, NY Golf, watching LA Dodgers, visiting baseball stadiums around the country, travelling and photography

Recent filmography (as gaffer unless otherwise stated): 13: The Musical (2022) (gaffer: second unit) The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2022) (TV series) Bridge And Tunnel (2021) (TV series) Katy Keene (2020) (TV series) Succession (2018) (TV series) (genny op 8 x eps/ best boy electric 2 x eps) The Deuce (2017) (TV series) (best boy electric 7 x eps) Collateral Beauty (2016) (electrician) Vinyl (2016) (TV series) (electrician 7 x eps) Show Me A Hero (2015) (TV mini-series) (best boy electric 6 x eps) Boardwalk Empire (2014) (TV series) (electrician 38 x eps/lighting technician 8 x eps) Gotham (2014) (TV series) (best boy electrician) Orange Is The New Black (2013) (TV series) (best boy electrician 22 x eps/chief lighting technician 4 x eps) In Treatment (2010) (TV series) (dimmer board op 27 x eps) How did you get started?

I became interested in movies during high school.

We had a senior project to explore something that we had a passion for. I took film editing and film loading classes at UCLA extension and caught the film bug there. I then decided to go to San Francisco State University and do the film programme. From there I crewed many student films, some Industrial Light & Magic short films and low-budget features in San Francisco as a camera assistant.

Did you always want to be a gaffer?

No. At first I thought I wanted to be in the camera department or possibly a cinematographer.

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How did you learn the trade?

I learned by working for free, or very little money, on low-budget jobs, and steadily worked my way towards getting into the union, which was key, as it opened-up a lot of the bigger job opportunities.

DPs you have worked with?

I have had the pleasure of working with David Mullen ASC, Jeff Jur ASC and Alex Nepomniaschy ASC on multiple episodes and seasons of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Reed Morano ASC on Vinyl, Patrick Capone on Succession, and with David Franco as a best boy.

How do you prefer to work with DPs? Scouting and prep are so important. Making lighting diagrams and walking through sets gives me most of the information that I need. On The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the DP David Mullen has such a big vision. I prod ideas out of him by asking lots of questions, and sending lots of pictures and emails. He always answers them, until after a while I have to ask fewer and fewer questions. Plus, I already had a sense of the show’s style having bested season one and season two.

Who are your regular crew?

Rigging gaffer Ben Noble; rigging best boy Andrew D’Aurora; best boy Connell Burke; programmers Scott Maher, Jeremy Speece and John Luton; genny ops Paul Mallick, Dave Franzoni and Jim Grout; lamp ops Colin Oberschmidt, Damian Ward and Carolina Aceo.

What challenges have you faced as a women in becoming a successful gaffer?

I have been lucky to not face much of a challenge.

I came up under a very strong gaffer, John Oates, and I ended-up besting for somebody who has always has had women in his crew.

What production has been your biggest challenge?

I think it must be The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel because we do many large locations and we have to rig most of the lighting because of the large number of multi-room Steadicam shots.

Overall though, the lifestyle is one of most challenging parts of being a gaffer, given the number of hours that we do. It can be hard to find a life balance, and it can be a challenge not to get burned out. But there are compensations – such as some of the amazingly cool places where we shoot.

What’s been the most unusual/difficult set/ location you have lit?

In season three of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel we had to light a house on stilts along Rockaway Beach that was burning down, with the camera mostly on a floating platform in the water. We ended-up rigging around 50 Mole pars and using three Maxi Brutes encased in a large CTO frame all controlled through our programmer Scott Maher.

Which have been your favourite shows to work on?

I worked on five seasons on Boardwalk Empire on big location and stage sets with huge lighting set-ups.

It really helped shape me as an electrician and the whole crew was something special. I really enjoyed working on Succession as well, I bested season

Why are there not more women in film lighting?

When I started there were only a handful of us, but there are way more women now, which is great! I was just working on The Flight Attendant in LA (gaffer: Derrick Kolus) and four of the eight of us were women.

I can’t speak for everywhere, but I feel that in NY/LA more and more women are joining the grip/electric

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side. Like they say once you see somebody doing it who looks like you, then it becomes more of an option.

How can more women be encouraged to embark on this career path?

I think the first thing is to have a strong work ethic and a passion for lighting and film production, and be willing to work long hours. If you have that, and work hard, the work will be there for you. I’d also say that you need a bit of a thick skin in this business – man or woman – and the ability to let stuff roll-off your back a little bit.

You need a bit of a thick skin… and the ability to let stuff roll-off your back Cinematographer David Mullen ASC says: I look for a gaffer who is calm, quiet and organised, with a good crew who are treated with respect. Jenny fits that description perfectly. I feel the pressure of time every minute of the day and although I might seem calm on-set, I’m not. So I need a gaffer with a cool head who works fast, but who won’t be rushed if that makes things unsafe or less productive.

As Jenny can tell you, I’m fairly exact about how I want a smaller set or location to be lit when it comes to the more typical dramatic interior scenes with actors.

But I will listen when Jenny suggests a substitution or change that would be more efficient.

It’s the bigger spaces that need advance rigging where I really have to collaborate closely with Jenny to find lighting solutions that work within all the parameters of time and budget. And she always has several solutions to solve a problem when it arises.

I tend to be a micro-manager when it comes to lighting, partially as a result of coming up from low-budget independent filmmaking, but also because I love lighting more than any other aspect of cinematography. After so many seasons working with Jenny, I find that I can leave more to her to handle, because I trust her and she knows what I like.

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