February 1, 2023

Award-winning Sundance films Bad Press and The Persian Version

We kick off our Sundance Film Festival 2023 interviews with the documentary Bad Press and the dramatic comedy, The Persian Version.

Bad Press follows the battle for a free press on the Muscogee Creek Nation reservation in Oklahoma. As a sovereign nation, the Muscogee are not bound by the U.S. Constitution to guarantee freedom of the press. When local journalists for the tribal paper Mvskoke Media discover that the tribe’s “Free Press Act” will be repealed, they begin demanding that freedom of the press be written into the tribe’s constitution, led by Mvskoke Media reporter Angel Ellis. The Free Press Act does get repealed, and immediately the newspaper is in danger and put under the control of the tribal government. The tribal council began censoring the news and preventing the community access to free and fair reporting, which reporter Angel Ellis knew would impact the upcoming tribal elections.

Filmmaker Rebecca Landsberry-Baker is a citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation and a journalist, so the people in the film are her people. Co-director and editor Joe Peeler was an acquaintance with a background in documentary filmmaking, so he came on board right away. Cinematographer Tyler Graim was brought on to the project when Joe had had enough of shooting everything himself, allowing him to focus more on what was happening as a director. They wanted the footage in the documentary to give people an accurate feeling of what it’s like to be on the reservation, and the oppressive heat of an Oklahoma summer. Becca, Joe and Tyler agreed that they also wanted Bad Press to have a distinctive look, and were influenced by newspaper movies such as All the President’s Men.

They made a conscious choice for viewers to make the larger connections of what is happening to free press from within the microcosm of the Native American community, to the macrocosm of what’s happening to media in the outside world. A free press supports tribal sovereignty, because it supports an engaged and informed electorate and the movement to ensure a free press by writing it into tribal constitutions is spreading in Indian Country.

Bad Press won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression at the Sundance Film Festival and is seeking distribution.

Find Bad Press on social media: #BadPressFilm

The Persian Version is a dramatic comedy that follows Leila, a young Iranian American woman who grew up in New York and New Jersey with 8 older brothers. Leila is determined to forge her own path and has a tumultuous relationship with her immigrant mother. When her father is hospitalized for a heart transplant, she must return home to help care for her grandmother and uncovers a secret about her mother’s past.

Director and writer Maryam Keshavarz chose to make The Persian Version semi-autobiographical. While much of the story is true, the film had to take artistic liberties for it to fit within two hours and also stay funny. Maryam wanted the past and present within the film to feel similar, but for all of the storytellers in the movie to have a point of view, so there is a tonal shift within the film when Leila’s mother’s narrative begins. Maryam felt like her cast was family, and as they rehearsed, she rewrote the script as needed.

Maryam’s first feature film, Circumstance, also won the Sundance audience award, and she went on to make a bigger-budget feature, Viper Club in 2018, starring Susan Sarandon. But Maryam found that she wanted to feel more personally connected to the cast and crew during the filmmaking process, so she returned to independently writing and directing with The Persian Version. She feels that films from her standpoint in the world as an Iranian-American hold a large place in her heart. Maryam enjoyed making a film that was both meaningful, funny and reflective of current and past societal and political views.

The Persian Version won the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award & The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in U.S. Dramatic Competition and is seeking distribution.

Find Maryam Keshavarz: Marakesh Films http://www.maryamkeshavarz.com/
Instagram: @TheTPVFilm

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The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

January 25, 2023

Yule Log director Casper Kelly and cinematographer Alex Allgood

Yule Log is a crazy, surreal, comedic horror movie written and directed by Casper Kelly and with cinematography by Alex Allgood, made for Adult Swim and available on HBO Max. Even though it’s a month past Christmas, fire up Yule Log if you haven’t seen it already- it’s bound to be one of the weirdest and most original movies you’ve seen in awhile.

For Yule Log, Casper and cinematographer Alex Allgood decided to keep the camera locked off on the fireplace logs for as long as possible, so people might think it was just a recording of a fireplace for holiday ambiance, before introducing more action around (and inside) the fireplace and in the cabin, as people enter and events unfold. The movie takes place in a cabin, but over multiple timelines that overlap and combine different genres from comedy to horror to Lynchian-style surrealism.

Alex liked the script, and felt that even though the movie leads with the long lockoff shot on the fireplace that the dialog kept everything going. He only had about three weeks to prep the movie, and they shot Yule Log in about 14 days. He enjoyed working with Casper and combining so many different creative elements into the movie. Alex always sees projects in terms of lighting first and camera second, so he tried to create a cohesive look with the lighting on the film throughout each scene, using a lot of firelight of course.

Casper has always enjoyed taking risks and seeing things that he hasn’t seen before vs. following a formula. His first job was on the low budget horror movie Basket Case 3, and he wrote and directed another short dark comedy spoof TV show for Adult Swim called Too Many Cooks. With his previous experience and relationship with Adult Swim, Casper pitched Yule Log and was paid to make it- he thinks if he had done it as a spec script, no one would have given him money to make such a crazy film. Casper wasn’t sure the many, many ideas in Yule Log were all going to work, but he wanted to go for it and take risks. But everyone was on board through all the crazy twists and turns the story takes.

You can see Yule Log on HBO Max.
Find Casper’s short for Adult Swim, Too Many Cooks, on YouTube.

Find Casper Kelly: Twitter & Instagram: @heycasperkelly
Find Alex Allgood: Instagram @alexisallgood

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com
Sponsored by Greentree Creative: https://www.growwithgreentree.com/

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

January 18, 2023

Russell Carpenter, ASC on Avatar: The Way of Water, working with James Cameron, creating realistic lighting for a virtual world

Our guest Russell Carpenter, ASC comes back for a second time on the podcast to talk about Avatar: The Way of Water.

When cinematographer Russell Carpenter began working on Avatar: The Way of Water, it was much different from any other film experience he’d had. Russell had previously worked with director Jim Cameron on True Lies and Titanic, which won him the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. He began working on Avatar: The Way of Water before they even rolled cameras, testing and integrating the world of live action capture with completely virtual images. The process was like a huge layer cake of world creation, with writing, concept art and production design all being developed simultaneously.

As the cinematographer, Russell’s primary concern was making sure that the lighting design on the live, motion captured actors looked real and played well with the CGI generated world. It’s hard to fool the eye when people instinctively know what sunlight, water and shade in a forest should look like, so every scene with a live person and a Na’vi person had to be exactly right. It was important to Cameron that everything on Pandora be grounded in reality. The animals had to move realistically and the interplay of shade and light in the forests needed to feel real to an audience so that they would have an emotional connection, rather than watching an alien-feeling, fake-looking science fiction world.

The entire process of making Avatar: The Way of Water was a huge puzzle, with a small army of teams working on different parts of the movie and simply trying different things. As the writing and story development continued, Cameron would decide they needed a certain scenario or plot point, and he would ask the teams to creatively figure out how to make it happen. After the locations were computer generated, several virtual cameras were used to shoot multiple angles to get an idea of the blocking, lighting and camera placement for the CGI action. Finally, the actors came in to do motion capture and read their lines. Russell thought he’d start to see scenes coming together, but everything was such a piecemeal process that he watched the virtual camera material to get an idea of how the lighting was matching and coming together. They would move lights around on automated overhead trusses in the studio to change the lighting for each scene and to keep as many lights out of the blue screen shots as possible.

You can see Avatar: The Way of Water in a variety of formats in theaters everywhere.

Find Russell Carpenter: Instagram @russellcarpenterasc
Hear Cinepod’s first interview with Russell Carpenter, ASC: https://www.camnoir.com/ep40/

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com
Sponsored by Greentree Creative: https://www.growwithgreentree.com/

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

January 11, 2023

Director Antoine Fuqua and cinematographer Robert Richardson on the Apple TV+ film, Emancipation

To tell the story of Emancipation, director Antoine Fuqua and cinematographer Robert Richardson were influenced by the colors in the famous photo “Whipped Peter,” whose story and the photograph of his scarred back is still one of the most famous photos documenting the brutality of slavery today. They chose to desaturate the images to a sepia-tone with just hints of color. Antoine also felt the lack of color reflected the world of a slave- it’s bleak and hopeless, and he wanted the film to look beautiful but brutal. The Louisiana swamps Peter must navigate through as he escapes also looked more eerie and otherworldly with a lack of color.

Antoine says he and Bob spent a lot of time discussing the film, designing shots, laying out storyboards, and going over the story more than with any other cinematographer he worked with. Antoine wanted Emancipation to show that a movie about slavery could also be a taut, entertaining thriller. They both wanted to create an action movie with sustained intensity throughout, but at its heart, Bob saw the film as a love story about a man fighting against insurmountable obstacles, on the run to get back to his family. They decided to show the caring Peter has for his family in the opening scene of the film, as Peter gently washes his wife’s feet.

Bob chose to use long, sweeping one shots to build the tension throughout the film, rather than relying on quick cutting. This allowed the tension to build as the slaves run away into the swamps. He and Antoine didn’t do multiple takes or alternate shots if they didn’t think they needed it. Antoine created tension within the railroad camp scenes with many layers of action- it wasn’t necessarily what was going on right in front of Will Smith’s character, but also what was happening to the men and overseers behind him.

As a director, Antoine always wanted to work with Bob Richardson, but at first Bob said no to shooting Emancipation. Bob says that as a white man, he didn’t really feel comfortable making a story about race. Antoine points out that most human beings could feel compassion for someone else’s story, and slavery exists across races. Though it wasn’t Bob’s personal history, Emancipation was telling the story of our history in America.

Antoine Fuqua and Robert Richardson are currently shooting a second project together.

Find Antoine Fuqua: Instagram @antoinefuqua
Find Robert Richardson: Instagram @robertbrichardson

Emancipation can be streamed on Apple TV+.

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

January 4, 2023

Linus Sandgren, ASC, FSF on shooting Babylon with director Damien Chazelle

We welcome cinematographer Linus Sandgren, ASC, FSF for his third time on the podcast. On his latest film, Babylon, Linus was happy to work with director Damien Chazelle again. The two had previously collaborated on La La Land and First Man. In all of his films, Chazelle thinks musically, and camera movement is essential to his films instead of just relying on editing. Linus liked Babylon’s script- though it was long, it had many fast moving pieces, and the story was told in a refreshing, unconventional way. He thought of it as a 2.0 version of La La Land- it expressed Chazelle’s love of cinema, and despite some of the dark places the story goes, he felt an affection for the characters in Babylon. Like La La Land, Linus combined long takes with complicated camera moves, while also using handheld verité techniques they developed on First Man. To prep for the film, Linus and Chazelle watched several Los Angeles-period films together, such as Chinatown, There Will Be Blood, and Boogie Nights.

The movie combines absolutely maximalist wide shots to intimate closeups and tracking shots on specific characters, in order to keep the film emotional. One of the biggest and most spectacular scenes in Babylon is the 32-minute pre-title opening sequence, depicting a wild Bel Air party complete with revelers, cocaine, and an elephant. They shot it in the lobby of the Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, crammed with hundreds of extras. Chazelle wanted a really high angle on the party, but they couldn’t fit a crane into the space, so Linus rigged a cable cam corner to corner from above to capture the action. They spent a long time blocking and rehearsing the party sequence, filming the overhead shots, then shot with a Steadicam through the party the second day.

Babylon is about the early days of cinema, when the silent movie era is transitioning to sound. The crew had to show the process of shooting film in the first days of “talkies” and the filmmaking equipment of the time had to be historically accurate. Though Linus didn’t use vintage film cameras on the movie, the production designer found film cameras to use as props and they were able to use old arclights that were fitted with HMIs so they actually worked on set.

Find Linus Sandgren: Instagram @linussandgren_dp
Babylon can be seen in theaters nationwide.

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

December 28, 2022

Matthew Libatique, ASC on shooting Don’t Worry Darling and The Whale

We welcome cinematographer Matthew Libatique, ASC for his third time on the podcast. For this interview, Matty, Ben and Illya have a more technical discussion about lenses, LUTs and cameras used on Don’t Worry Darling, A Star is Born and The Whale.

For the film Don’t Worry Darling, Matty found it easy to find the right mid-century modern visual style, since the production design, costumes, hair and makeup were all influenced by that distinctive look from the 50’s and 60’s. Director Olivia Wilde wanted to invoke the Rat Pack era of Las Vegas and Palm Springs. She also heavily referenced the 1975 movie The Stepford Wives, along with an 80’s and 90’s thriller element from movies like Devil’s Advocate. They were able to shoot some of the exteriors at the historic Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, while all the interiors were sets. Matty chose the Arri Alexa Mini LF camera for the larger sensor, so they had more focus fall off on the wider focal lengths. He also wanted as much color in the frame as possible, and chose a LUT that accentuated the reds, oranges and yellows without affecting or oversaturating the skin tones. The lenses he used were Blackwings and Sigma Classics, because he liked the multiplicity of lens flares.

Matty immediately went from shooting Don’t Worry Darling into prepping and shooting The Whale with director and frequent collaborator Darren Aronofsky. They spent some time figuring out how to take a play and translate it into a film, where Charlie, the main character, spends most of his day stationary on a couch. Matty and Aronofsky realized that using 4:3 framing to hold the vertical in the foreground solved the problem. Aronofsky also wanted to block the scenes so that the camera wouldn’t be stationary and static the entire time. Matty chose to use the Sony Venice camera for the first time, due to its light sensitivity, with Angenieux Optimo Prime lenses. The camera movement was dictated by the characters who come and go around Charlie, so different scenes were marked with a wide shot, then pans and forced cuts to make it more visually interesting. As for the composition of each scene, the camera had to follow the eyeline of where each character is looking. Matty also used as much minimalist, naturalistic lighting to tell the story. He used the windows as a light source to show subtle changes in the weather outside of the apartment, and while there were not a lot of windows, it helped show the passage of time and affected the mood of the film as the days pass in the story.

Find Matty Libatique: Instagram @libatique
Don’t Worry Darling is available streaming on Hulu and HBO.
The Whale is currently in theaters.

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

December 21, 2022

Cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom on the film Thirteen Lives and working with director Ron Howard

The film Thirteen Lives is about the rescue of the Thai soccer team who were trapped in an underwater cave in 2018 for 18 days. Cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, who is Thai, knew that it was important to make the film seem as realistic as possible since everyone in Thailand was very familiar with the story. He liked director Ron Howard’s movie Apollo 13, which vividly dramatized a real-life event, so he was excited to work with Howard on Thirteen Lives, a true story he was familiar with. After reading the script, Thirteen Lives was a movie he could clearly see in his head, because it dealt with people against the elements.

Sayombhu decided to approach the film like a documentary, as though the viewer is right there in the cave with the characters. His first task was to think about how to shoot and light underwater, and he worked closely with the second unit crew to find the best methods. When shooting, Sayombhu did a lot of handheld camerawork, operating the B camera on first unit. He would actually occasionally duck underwater with the camera, so that it looked as dynamic as possible, even though the second unit handled most of the underwater work.

The caves were all a set built in Australia, except for some exterior shots of the real cave in Thailand. Because the caves had no light sources at all, Sayombhu knew all the light had to be motivated. He had to pick the color and intensity of the light, and figure out where to place lights and cameras during the cave design set build. The actors became part of his lighting crew, since much of the light had to come from their flashlights and headlamps. Sayombhu would often ask them to hold the lights and point them up or down to help illuminate the scene- actors Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell practically became a part of the lighting crew, he jokes.

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1178928/

Thirteen Lives is currently on Amazon Prime

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

December 15, 2022

Cinematographer Abraham Martinez on Queen of the South, the Disney+ show National Treasure: Edge of History, the upcoming Netflix series Obliterated and more

On our 250th episode, we welcome returning guest and longtime friend of the show, cinematographer Abe Martinez, who catches up with Ben and Illya about his work around the world for the past few years.

Most recently, Abe completed the new Disney+ show National Treasure: Edge of History and a new Netflix action-comedy series, Obliterated, by the creators of Cobra Kai. Abe has been learning and perfecting his technique of using video walls for action on big sets, creating a version of “poor man’s process” to shoot cars and figuring out the exact size video walls needed. They coined the phrase “middle class process” because it looks much better than the old poor man’s process. Using video walls requires a lot of math and tech setup, but it also offers plenty of opportunities for creativity without spending a lot of money to actually go to locations. Abe enjoys the challenge of trying to create realism with the proper lighting and angles.

After working as a loader and camera operator on many films, Abe began working on the series Queen of the South on USA Network. Working on Queen of the South launched Abe’s career into director of photography work, where he became the lead DP in season 3 and worked on the show for the next three years. As a Latino person who grew up in a rougher area, Abe felt he could really relate to the storylines about gangs. He also sees a throughline from his real life as a nomadic world traveler to the storytelling he’s drawn to lately- many of the shows he has been shooting are about characters who are being displaced, or who feel displaced.

Abe’s passion is doing street photography everywhere he goes. He enjoys exploring color and movement and experimenting with different film stocks or digital color science. This often gives him the creative spark for shots and compositions to use in his work. You can see Abe’s street photography on Instagram.

Find Abe Martinez: https://www.abemartinez.com/
Instagram: @abe.martinez.dp

National Treasure: Edge of History is currently showing on Disney+
Obliterated is coming to Netflix in 2023.

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

December 7, 2022

Florian Hoffmeister, BSC on TÁR, working with director Todd Field and Cate Blanchett

In TÁR, Cate Blanchett plays Lydia Tár, a fictional world famous female conductor and composer whose life takes a dramatic downturn after serious allegations are made against her. Cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister and director Todd Field made a conscious choice to “not put a hat on a hat”- keeping the cinematography very restrained and still throughout most of the film. The focus remained on the music and the performances, with little camera movement save for a few orchestra scenes and the finale of the movie. Florian found Field to have a very precise visual sensitivity so he was able to light the space and still allow the actors to have freedom of movement within the scene while shaping the light more precisely as needed.

Florian wanted the precision of his cinematography to reflect the precision of the orchestra. His work also aided the storytelling- carefully deciding where to place the camera and what to focus on allows TÁR to unfold in a slow burn, as the movie purposefully omits information and significant details at first. Florian feels that really good cinema leaves room for reflection and allows us to develop our own perceptions about the story. TÁR allows the audience to see itself and think about the time we’re living in, and it feels both timeless and contemporary. He found it an equal privilege to work with an actor like Cate Blanchett because she has a dedication to her craft and a focus on getting the best out of every single shot. She has a good understanding of the technical elements necessary to showcase the best performances.

Florian is currently shooting the new season of HBO’s True Detective in Iceland.
TÁR is currently playing in theaters

Find Florian Hoffmeister: http://florianhoffmeister.de/
Instagram: @florian.hoffmeister
Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

November 30, 2022

Autumn Durald Arkapaw, ASC on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Loki, and more

Unsurprisingly, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has been a huge hit, and cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw was excited to join the crew. She had worked with Marvel on the Disney+ series Loki and felt her creative vision on the show was really supported there. Autumn felt ready to step into a huge movie like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever after she spoke with original Black Panther DP Rachel Morrison and meeting with director Ryan Coogler. Rachel and Autumn were friends from AFI, and Rachel was not available to shoot the sequel as she has been transitioning into directing. Director Ryan Coogler had Autumn join the Black Panther team early for storyboarding and previs for the movie. She and Coogler had lots of time to discuss the images and were on the same page visually. Even though the movie has a huge scope and a massive amount of people making the film, Autumn felt like her ideas were supported and her images were well represented on screen.

Early in her career, Autumn worked on many projects for free both during and after film school, so that anyone could find her and see who she was through her visual approach. She approaches each film with passion, putting all of her creative energy into her work. Autumn’s breakout early work was on director Gia Coppola’s indie film, Palo Alto. The two bonded and worked together on more projects, and Autumn met director Spike Jonze through her. She worked with Jonze on Aziz Ansari: Right Now, a Netflix standup special, and Beastie Boys Story, a 2020 documentary about the band.

Autumn enjoys framing her shots with symmetry and low angles, with a lower eyeline, pointing towards the ceiling rather than the floor. For the series Loki on Disney+, she shot a lot of scenes from below, but the production designer Kasra Farahani embraced it, creating visually interesting ceilings that could be rigged with controlled lighting. They worked together to create a space in the Time Variance Authority (TVA) that felt full, with motivated light. Building practical ceilings was a big part of their design discussions during production meetings. Normally on a set, the ceiling is not built and isn’t ever seen, so adding it to the set design always adds to the cost. Autumn knew that shooting low in those spaces would create the desired effect of something looming over you.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is currently playing in theaters

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz