The idea behind the lighting of this music video, that we shot in Barcelona area, was looking for flares everywhere, so we lit in a impressionist way, with light-source on a side and sometimes facing camera which hardly stood still to increase the effect of glare and flares. Hope you like it!
August 30, 2013
August 28, 2013
Film review. An analysis of the cinematography of À Perdre la Raison, directed by Joachim Lafosse
À Perdre la Raison (Our Children is the title in English) is a film by Belgian director Joachim Lafosse (Élève Libre, Nue Propriétè) whose story was freely inspired by a tragedy happened 5 years ago that shocked Belgium.
The plot. Mounir (Moroccan immigrant) and Murielle fall in love, get married and have 4 children, but they share their hous and life with André a doctor who has been taking care of Mounir since he arrive to Belgium. The situation generates tensions, especially inside the fragile Murielle.
Camera:Aaton Penelope, Arricam LT, Moviecam Compact MK2
Lenses: Cooke S4
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Format: 35mm
Film Stock: Kodak Vision 5219 500T, Kodak Vision 5205 250D
Jean-François Hensgens (Darktide, District 13: Ultimtum) is a young cinematographer from Belgium who already worked with director Joachim Lafosse years ago for a short-film. The approach they made to tell the story visually is very natural. The choice of film and the Cooke S4 lenses was made in this sense. Cooke lenses produce a neat and soft image, low contrast and a soft transition from focused to out-of-focus areas. But, I think that the main reason why Cooke lenses were chosen is because of their colour reproduction: they are generally warmer than other lenses; in fact, the beginning of the film is warm, with golden colours: this helps the audience to connect with the family and the story and be closer to them; later, this sense of warmth tends to disappear till the final moments of the film: when Maurielle is driving and crying alone, she is lit by the sun-light but it is not yellowish as normally it is represented: it is white and harsh, it hurts.
The way of lighting is naturalistic: windows and lamps on set are used as source lights and Hesgens' job here is so good that you can hardly say he lit the scene. He reinforced the light coming through windows but softening it with Chimeras or Softubes, achieving a light which is natural but always diffused. Light is always bright and colourful, apart from some scenes where the landscape or the sky are in the background and for compensating the exposure he tends to under-expose the actors, which doesn't really work for the approach of not making a dark look film.
The use of camera contributes to the naturalistic look too. It's always hand-held with an easyrig following the actors all around, and often they are framed with the back facing the camera, reminding a docu-film style. The shaky camera not only allows the audience to be there with the actors and experience what they do, but also reflects the instability of the three characters, particularly Maurielle's. The focal length used barely goes under the 50mm: telephoto lenses are preferred producing shallower depth of field and constraining the camera to move back. This results in the negative space being always filled with blurred objects which most of the time is a door frame due to location space availability, a quite pretty aesthetic that also transmits the impossibility of the characters of crossing and leaving their boundaries.
À Perdre la Raison is a nice movie that tells us an horrible tragedy in a simple and elegant way with a fine cinematography that serves well to the story.
August 26, 2013
Boudoir. A colour film contrasty portrait of a girl.
When I thought of this photograph I imagined it full of contrast: the outfit of the model with the place where she is, her attitude and posing, the gun, the orange tone of the skin with the bluish tone of the background... It was taken on Kodak Portra 400 and home processed with C-41
August 24, 2013
Sunrise at the Aneto Mountain, Pyrenees
The sunrise in the mountain can produce spectacular lighting, like the view of the Peek next to Aneto mountain, in Pyrenees, lit by the rising sun, while everything else is still in shadows. The picture was taken on Kodak TMaxx 400
August 23, 2013
Stills from films. A possible light diagram of a scene from The Last Emperor
Camera: Arriflex 35 BL
Lenses: Technovision Anamorphic
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Format: 35mm
Film Stock: Kodak Vision
The last emperor is a great example of fine cinematography, in which Storaro makes a perfect use of colour and its psychology reminding every photographer and cinematographer the importance of the effect of colour tones no matter how subtle it is. In the scene above, the orange colour was used: the emperor is a child and at that age life is colourful and vibrant, entirely spent with the family, all concepts strictly connected to the orange colour. The light (probably a filtered HMI) is diffused with smoke which adds mystery to the image making it more dramatic. The position of the light and the selective lighting on the emperor leaving everything else in the shadows, obviously represents the divine blessing to the child as emperor.
August 21, 2013
Film Review. An analysis of the cinematography of Anna Karenina by Joe Wright
When summer comes outdoor cinemas open and they offer, apart the few premiers we usually have in this period, some of the best films of the season. Anna Karenina by Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice, The Soloist) is definitely one of them.
The plot. Based on the novel by Lev Tolstoj set in the Russia of the 19th century. Anna Karenina escapes the cold relationship with her husband and enters a love affair full of love and passion which will change her life.
Camera: Panavision Panaflex Millenium XL2
Lenses: Panavision G Series, E-series, ATZ and AWZ2
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Format: 36mm
Film Stock: Kodak Vision 5219 500T
Due to health problems, the former cinematographer of this project, Philippe Rousselot, abandoned three weeks before the shooting: he was replaced by Seamus McGarvey (The Hours, Avengers, High Fidelity) who already worked with director Joe Wright in Atonement and The Soloist. McGarvey didn't doubt a second at the moment of choosing the format: film was for him the right choice for the story and the period the story is set. And it really is: it works very well with the low light shots of the movie, making the shadows powerful and vibrant. The high speed film stock chosen delivers a beautiful grain structure while the high resolution of the Panasonic lenses is softened with a diffusion given by a stocking put in front of the lens, as we can see from the halo of the blurred lights in the scene (the good old Fogal Noblesse?), that gives a beautiful look to the image.
Wright is a director who uses lots of exquisite camera movements, and Anna Karenina is full of them: the camera dances with the characters, following them or going from a scene to another, revealing the set at a 360º angle; along with the camera the sets move as well (with some lights going on and others going off), creating different spaces and locations in the same area (Anna Karenina was almost entirely shot in a theatre).
With this theatrical mise-en-scène we can see the magnificent work McGarvey did. He not only had to light for the character but also for their movements and the ones of the sets, dealing with a camera moving around all the time. So in order to hide lights he illuminated from above, like they do in theatres, achieving a light which go perfectly well with the characters and the way the story is told. When lights are placed on a side of the characters, the Irish cinematographer always tends to a an expressionist use of it. The only character to be lit in a more natural way is Levin, who is the only one who has a relationship with the outdoor world, the only one to exit the "theatre". The 2.40 aspect ratio works really well with the story too, especially with the relationship between Anna Karenina and her husband with shots where the negative space and the distance between the two characters is emphasized by the chosen format.
Anna Karenina is a movie not everyone might like for the theatrical way it is made or for the story, too flat and shallow compared with the book. However the Seamus McGarvey's work is quite stunning, an absolute masterpiece of cinematography which well deserved much more than the nominee at this year Oscar.
Wright is a director who uses lots of exquisite camera movements, and Anna Karenina is full of them: the camera dances with the characters, following them or going from a scene to another, revealing the set at a 360º angle; along with the camera the sets move as well (with some lights going on and others going off), creating different spaces and locations in the same area (Anna Karenina was almost entirely shot in a theatre).
With this theatrical mise-en-scène we can see the magnificent work McGarvey did. He not only had to light for the character but also for their movements and the ones of the sets, dealing with a camera moving around all the time. So in order to hide lights he illuminated from above, like they do in theatres, achieving a light which go perfectly well with the characters and the way the story is told. When lights are placed on a side of the characters, the Irish cinematographer always tends to a an expressionist use of it. The only character to be lit in a more natural way is Levin, who is the only one who has a relationship with the outdoor world, the only one to exit the "theatre". The 2.40 aspect ratio works really well with the story too, especially with the relationship between Anna Karenina and her husband with shots where the negative space and the distance between the two characters is emphasized by the chosen format.
Anna Karenina is a movie not everyone might like for the theatrical way it is made or for the story, too flat and shallow compared with the book. However the Seamus McGarvey's work is quite stunning, an absolute masterpiece of cinematography which well deserved much more than the nominee at this year Oscar.
Camera: Arri Alexa, Phantom Gold, Canon Eos 1D MarkIV, Canon Eos C500, Indiecam IndiePov
Lenses: Zeiss Ultra Prime, Fujinon Alura, Hawk V-Lite, Canon, Indiecam lenses
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Format: ARRIRAW, Canon cinema Raw, H264, CinemaDNG
Film Stock: -
- See more at: http://donatelloromanazzi.blogspot.com.es/p/film-review.html#sthash.wi3nvanw.dpufAugust 19, 2013
Umbigo magazine fashion shooting
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One more picture from the fashion shooting we made in Barcelona. Kodak Portra 400 film was used and home processed with C41. All the credits here.
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