June 12, 2013

Film review. An analysis of the cinematography of Sightseers by Ben Wheatley

Sightseers is a British black comedy by Brighton based director Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Down Terrace); it was screened in the Director's Fortnight section of Cannes Film Festival last year.

The plot. Chris takes her girlfriend Tina, who never left her house and her mother, to a trip around Yorkshire with a caravan. But soon unfortunate events make them become condescending psycho killers.



Cinematography: Laurie Rose
Camera: Red MX
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Format: RedCode RAW
Film Stock: -


Ben Wheatly knew Laurie Rose when shooting Down Terrace, which was the first film both of them ever shot; since then Rose has DP'd all Wheatley`s work, including Sightseers. In an interview after the film première, Rose insisted that he was not comfortable with being called cinematographer or DP: he was just a simple cameraman. After watching Sightseers I realized that he was not trying to be just modest:  Sightseers lacks in cinematography

Light crew was reduced to a minimum and so were lights used and that can be noticed since the very first scenes, where the image is quite flat and the contrast poor. Light is natural and quite soft, almost shadows free, even in the exteriors, where the typical British overcast days helped to diffuse light. When the sun came out though, we can appreciate some harsh light and strong shadows creating an atmosphere that doesn't really serve the story. 

The camera Rose chose was a Red One with MX sensor, a great camera, but he didn't manage to get the best of it. Throughout the film there are scenes (indoor or outdoor shots) with very bright spots with blown out highlights, which is quite unusual for a camera with 13 stops of dynamic range. Also Roses didn't used many lenses, sticking basically to the 50mm Arri Zeiss and switching to wide angle lenses for landscapes, to keep the natural look of the film, almost shot as it were a documentary. Camera movements are very little used; often camera is hand-held and sometimes placed in very low angles (and perhaps missing a wider angle lens), different and unexpected decisions that never contribute visually to the story. 

It looks like Rose limited himself to expose correctly the scenes, but, as we have seen in past posts, cinematography is much more than this and a correct exposure is not always the right one. Some scenes of Sightseers though are beautifully shot: some foggy landscapes and scenes filmed outdoor at sunrise or sunset, some back-lit, others with wanted gorgeous flares, but all of them with nice contrast and tones and shot with wide angle lenses.

Sightseers is a (literally) bloody good fun but also a bit obvious and predictable, and probably less mysterious and interesting than Wheatley's last work, Kill List.
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Camera: Arricam LT, Arriflex 235, Panavision, Red MX,
Lenses: Arri Zeiss Master Prime
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Format: 35mm, 65mm, Redcode RAW
Film Stock: Kodak 5218
- See more at: http://donatelloromanazzi.blogspot.com.es/2013/06/film-review-analysis-of-cinematography.html#sthash.1odzoTYW.dpuf

Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Camera: Arricam LT, Arriflex 235, Panavision, Red MX,
Lenses: Arri Zeiss Master Prime
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Format: 35mm, 65mm, Redcode RAW
Film Stock: K
- See more at: http://donatelloromanazzi.blogspot.com.es/#sthash.KI6SyFZy.dpuf

Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Camera: Arricam LT, Arriflex 235, Panavision, Red MX,
Lenses: Arri Zeiss Master Prime
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Format: 35mm, 65mm, Redcode RAW
Film Stock: K
- See more at: http://donatelloromanazzi.blogspot.com.es/#sthash.KI6SyFZy.dpuf

Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Camera: Arricam LT, Arriflex 235, Panavision, Red MX,
Lenses: Arri Zeiss Master Prime
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Format: 35mm, 65mm, Redcode RAW
Film Stock: K
- See more at: http://donatelloromanazzi.blogspot.com.es/#sthash.KI6SyFZy.dpuf

Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Camera: Arricam LT, Arriflex 235, Panavision, Red MX,
Lenses: Arri Zeiss Master Prime
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Format: 35mm, 65mm, Redcode RAW
Film Stock: K
- See more at: http://donatelloromanazzi.blogspot.com.es/#sthash.KI6SyFZy.dpuf
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Camera: Arricam LT, Arriflex 235, Panavision, Red MX,
Lenses: Arri Zeiss Master Prime
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Format: 35mm, 65mm, Redcode RAW
Film Stock: Kod
- See more at: http://donatelloromanazzi.blogspot.com.es/p/film-review.html#sthash.tIPS4wjN.dpuf
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Camera: Arricam LT, Arriflex 235, Panavision, Red MX,
Lenses: Arri Zeiss Master Prime
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Format: 35mm, 65mm, Redcode RAW
Film Stock: Kodak 5218 500T, Kodak 5217 200T, Kodak 5219 500T
- See more at: http://donatelloromanazzi.blogspot.com.es/p/film-review.html#sthash.tIPS4wjN.dpuf
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Camera: Arricam LT, Arriflex 235, Panavision, Red MX,
Lenses: Arri Zeiss Master Prime
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Format: 35mm, 65mm, Redcode RAW
Film Stock: Kodak 5218 500T, Kodak 5217 200T, Kodak 5219 500T
- See more at: http://donatelloromanazzi.blogspot.com.es/p/film-review.html#sthash.tIPS4wjN.dpuf

6 comments:

  1. Cinematography work of Burak Oguz Saguner - award winning Cinematographer. Portfolio of short film, feature film, documentary, TVC, and music video projects.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had a wank while watching the dog join in

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  2. Very Good, thanks for the insight!

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