Film review. An analysis of the cinematography of Kon-Tiki, by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sanberg

Kon-Tiki is a co-direction between Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg who already directed together theirs previous features (Max Manus, Bandidas). It is the Norwegian film with the highest budget ever produced and it is the official submission of Norway to the best Foreign language Film of the Oscar 2013.

The plot. It's a true story about explorer Thor Heyerdal who, in 1947, decided to cross the Pacific Ocean from Lima to Polynesia in a balsa wood raft to prove that Polynesia was first settled by south Americans and not from Asians.

Cinematography: Geir Hartly Andreassen

Camera:Arri Alexa Plus,Red One MX, Sony NEX-FS100

Lenses: Zeiss Master Prime, Fujinon Alura

Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Format: ARRIRAW, Redcode RAW

Film Stock: -

As he already did for the previous two directors' features, Max Manus, Gair Hartly Andreassen is in charge for the cinematography of Kon-Tiki. I don't know his previous works so I am not able to say if the way he lit for Kon-Tiki is his own style or not. But, to be honest, I found that the cinematography did not have a structure throughout the film apart from few characteristics.

Since the beginning of the film, Andreassen makes use of wide angle lenses offering us some beautiful landscape shots, like the opening one, in the snowed Norwegian countryside, and, particularly, the shots of the raft while in the ocean. 

Light, at the beginning, has a natural feel: every light source is justified; day light, windows and artificial lights are used as sources, always softened by diffusers or, sometimes, smoke. Anyway, there are some shots where the light looses its naturalism and becomes a bit more theatrical, without really a reason. In the second half of the film, all the scenes are shot in the balsa-wood raft and light looses completely its natural feel. In the daytime scenes, contrast is never as high as it is under the sun in open ocean neither as harsh; in the cabin, I like the way Andreassen plays with the reflection of the sun passing trough the wooden roof, but I really miss some more contrast: light is very soft and the worry of filling up shadows caused problems of double shadow in some shots.  At night time, light imitates the moon light or lightning but not always with good results: there's always a Back Light cutting the characters out from the background that sometimes is too strong and sometimes unnatural, like in the storm scene, where moon light and lightnings coexist.

The strong Back Light is not a negative point though. This is another characteristic we find throughout the film and I quite like it actually, especially  I find very interesting the use of on set lights as light sources placed as Back Lights: lampposts, shop signs and neon lamps are used for this purpose, creating some very pleasant images. Even on the raft, characters are placed between the camera and the sun, producing beautiful flared or washed images. But it's true that sometimes the Back Light is far too strong, which can be disturbing and the problem is that we don't know if it is for a chosen aesthetic inspired by the original documentary Thor shot or the necessity of getting chroma right.

As it has become usual shooting with digital cameras, a soft filter has been used, probably a Pro Mist, to soften the image. Also we can notice some grain which add an organic look, though there are some shots, particularly the ones in low light conditions, where the presence of grain is too strong and not really pleasant: working at high ISO or shots taken with the NEX?

Kon-Tiki is a film with a lot of CGI which offers us some really spectacular images. It is entertaining even without the tension and the twists you normally expect from a film of this kind. Its cinematography, though, is quite fair to be honest, with very good approaches but with unhappy solutions too.

Film Review. An analysis of the cinematography of La Migliore Offerta by Giuseppe Tornatore

La Migliore Offerta (The best Offer) by acclaimed Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore (Baaria, Malena, Cinema Paradiso) was one of the three Italian movies whose screening I was waiting for since they have been released in Italy earlier this year.

The plot. Geoffrey Rush is an eccentric art auctioneer who rejects every kind of relationship with people, especially with women. But he starts to be obsessed with an heiress who wants to sell her family's works of art and whose agoraphobia makes her even more eccentric than he is. 

Cinematography: Fabio Zamarion

Camera: Arri Alexa Studio

Lenses: Zeiss Master Prime

Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Format: Arriraw

Film Stock: -

G. Tornatore doesn't have a trusted cinematographer he usually works with; he changes quite a lot. He already worked with Fabio Zamarion in The Unknown woman and the documentary L'ultimo Gattopardo but he didn't call him for the magnificent Baaria, his last movie before La Migliore Offerta. Zamarion is known for Respiro by E. Crialese and Evilenko but his filmography is best known for his work as a camera: Goya en Burdeos and Tango by Saura, Little Buddha and The Last Emperor by Bertolucci among others. So he had one of the best teacher possible: Vittorio Storaro. Unfortunately, in La Migliore Offerta, very little of the master's legacy can be seen. 

I don`t mean at all that Zamarion badly lit the film, but its cinematography is impersonal and undefined. This way of lighting was probably chosen to make the audience pay attention to the plot but a cinematographer's job is not only to illuminate a scene with sufficient light to record it on a sensor or a film. Placing a light on the right has a meaning, placing it on the left or above has another one: that is what I missed in Zamarion's cinematography. 

Light is always soft and diffused, even outdoor, as well as natural, so, when windows are not used as light sources (very balanced contrast, by the way, when they are in shot, with details both in highlights and shadows) light comes from above.  Side lighting set-up is preferred thou, which is a very good election for the story: throughout the film the audience doubt about the real intentions of the characters who have a lot to hide so, leaving them half in shadow and half in light enhances this concept (the same Storaro taught that light is the conscious and shadow the unconscious). But contrast is never strong and shadows are soft as there were an intention of showing everything in the scene; to remain with Storaro's teching, by this way only the conscious is visually represented, not the unconscious.

However, Zamarion's choice of lighting works well in the scenes held in Oldman`s house: it emphasizes the eccentric art auctioneer's pulchritude and clinical order (even his wardrobe and collections of gloves and ties are held and placed as they were pieces of art in a museum); moreover the camera follows him in a slight low angle giving the character  the importance and the authority he really possesses in his life, but, the camera maintains the low angle even at the end, where the character is lost and defeated, which is contradictory.

The Zeiss Master Prime lenses' hardness is softened with a diffusion filter, probably a Pro-Mist, and the camera is sometimes placed in interesting angles; but when we see Claire's house for the first time, in a wide shot, the barrel distortion is not corrected, resulting in converging lines that make the image not quite pleasant.

Zamarion's cinematography of La Migliore Offerta is quite fair then, even though we can enjoy some beautifully composed and lit images that are spread all over a film that, in my opinion, deserved more from a visually point of view. La Migliore Offerta, anyway, is well directed but its script is predictable and sometimes improbable; I understand Tornatore's need and desire to film stories different and far from the ones told in his Sicily but, being such a great director as he is, I expect him to deliver us a work whose quality is at the same level his previous works are: La Migliore offerta failed to satisfy this expectation of mine.

How they did it. Shooting Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones is the HBO TV series everyone is talking about, but, have you ever wondered how they shot it? 

Shooting Game of Thrones

Like every production of its genre different directors and cinematographers have been working in different episodes: the challenge was to match visions and maintain a certain consistency to the whole series. This task wasn't easy at all, considering that the story develops in dissimilar locations spread from the snowed north down to the sunny south and the shooting time they had was almost the same  of a one location TV series: about 18 days per episode.

During the preproduction, several tests were made to chose the best camera possible to achieve functionality and good quality; this time digital won the battle with film: Arri Alexa camera was chosen for its characteristics similar to films, details in highlights, noiseless images in very low light conditions (Alexa recommended ISO is 800) and of course the quickness of delivering and watching dailies (raw, unedited footage of the shooting day). As I said, Games of Thrones was shot in different locations (Iceland, Northern Ireland, Croatia, Malta, Morocco...) because every kingdom has its own climate and environment; this wouldn't have been possible if they didn't have two units shooting simultaneously: dailies and flip books with screen shoots of the scenes and locations were absolutely necessary and consulted by cinematographer to give consistency to the shooting. 

Above, the original frame. Below, after VFX

Every kingdom has a different look: blueish and cold for the Wall, a sort of Mediterranean feel for King's Landing, harsher light in Red Waste and Quarth; but the way of shooting and lighting is basically the same. The camera is often hand held, crane and dolly are used but not excessively, the focal length of the lenses (they used Cooke S4 and Angenieux Optimo zoom lenses) is normally between 21mm and 85mm. Light is natural but expressionistic: windows, doors, fireplaces, candles, etc. are used as light-sources but light is always exaggerated making the scene more dramatic.  Low light scenes are abundant: lots of scenes were lit just with candles taking advantage of Alexa´s characteristics; or, especially in the scenes shot in the snowed woods of the North,  Wendy lights mounted on high cranes were used to simulate the light of the moon. Quite often the Key light is place behind the actors, shot in back-light. 

Above, the original frame. Below, after VFX

The art direction department made a great work creating a new world from the scratch, inspiring themselves in different cultures from modern and past time achieving a really believable result. Another aspect which gives credibility to the scenes and the whole series is the use of visual and 3D effects created by the Irish VFX company Screen Scene, which, apart from animating dragons and other creatures, changed and beautified landscapes and castles, multiplied people and objects and made battles far more spectaculars.

Game of Thrones managed to gather more and more public throughout the 3 seasons and today, Monday 10th of June, season 3 finale will be aired. But their fans should not wait too long for new episodes: the filming of season 4 will start on July.