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3 Indie Honors Madeline’s Madeline The Film Independent Spirit Awards Cinematographer: Ashley Connor honor exceptional directors of Director: Josephine Decker

photography Director of photography Ashley Connor met Madeline’s Madeline writer-director Josephine Decker eight By Jim Hemphill and Iain Marcks years ago, and in the time since, they’ve worked together to create a unique cinematic language based on a fluid sense of discovery. “All of Josephine’s movies involve heavy impro- visation, so I developed a camera style that could help facili- Honoring feature projects that are off the beaten trail tate that feeling of the unknown,” Connor reflects. and often supported by limited resources, Film Connor’s dreamy, enigmatic style is an ideal visual Independent’s Spirit Awards ensure that productions veer- corollary for the inner state of the movie’s title character — a ing from the mainstream have a chance to take center stage. troubled teenage girl whose sense of reality starts to frag- AC spoke with the five cinematographers nominated for ment when she becomes involved with a theater group Best Cinematography at this year’s event: Ashley Connor whose leader is all too willing to capitalize on her new for Madeline’s Madeline, Diego García for Wildlife, Benjamin protégé’s raw emotional nerves. “Josephine wanted to push Loeb for Mandy, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom for Suspiria, and the style from our first two films and really embrace abstrac- Zak Mulligan for We the Animals. tion,” Connor says. “She sent me a lot of pictures of outer

42 March 2019 ASC 100th Anniversary This year’s Independent Spirit Award nominations recognized the outstanding cinematography in the features Madeline’s Madeline, Wildlife, Mandy, We the Animals and Suspiria. , s o f i space, and a few portraits of masked wanted the times when we tell the “Because most of the film involves o d

u y t s subjects by Diane Arbus. Then I sent story from her direct point of view to intense handheld where we don’t set S e t r n u

o her [the 1962 experimental short film] really capture her energy. It was marks or do proper blocking, I like to z o a c

s Cosmic Ray by Bruce Conner and some emotionally and physically exhausting, have the option to pull my own focus, m e A g a f other pieces featuring fun in-camera but so fun to play in her world.” and the Canon K-35s allowed me that o m i y s e effects.” The biggest challenge for Connor flexibility. We wanted the image to melt f e i t l r d u l For Connor, giving the actors and her crew was simply making the and bend, and the K-35 set came with a i o c W

s

, freedom of movement was essential, most of their limited budget. “We had lot of inherent characteristics that we e s g e i a r given the improvisatory nature of the many locations and not enough time, responded to — chromatic aberrations o m i t a a r project. “My gaffer, Danny April, and I so we had to be quick to make sure we and things of that nature.” i o r i b p a

s designed setups that gave the perform- made our days,” she remembers. “I In terms of filtration, in lieu of L u

S e

, p ers the most amount of freedom to made a little rig for the front of the softening-filters, Connor would paint s o . c m d s l r

i explore the space,” she explains. “We camera to do in-camera effects, like different substances onto the surface of o a l F l

h i c c E didn’t have any large HMIs, so we’d abnormal focus shifts. Hopefully, our a clear filter — “lube, Vaseline, other r s J L O O

R f use mirror boards outside and practi- experiments will encourage someone viscous fluids,” she elaborates. She also e o f h

o y T

s cals in the space; our lighting package else to play around and find their own used glass to distort the focal plane, y f e s t o e r t

y was very minimal, so we had to get magic.” “basically layering different types of r u s o u e c t o

r

c creative.” Connor’s choice of camera was magnifiers,” she says. Regarding her s

u e s o g e c a g

In terms of camera movement, it influenced by the budget as well. “I selection of a softening or distortion a s m e i m g i e wasn’t enough to see Madeline’s world always prefer to shoot digital on Arri technique in a given circumstance, a n y i m d l i e

n — Connor wanted the audience to feel cameras,” she says, and the production Connor notes, “I usually chose one or s d a l a a

M it as well. “It became a pas de deux ultimately employed Arri’s Amira. the other, [as] it was too difficult to

m M , i

s s ’ n e m A between [lead actor] Helena Howard Connor’s 1st AC, Will Castellucci, have everything working at once, n l i i e l F e h

t d and me,” Connor says. “Her perfor- researched old vintage primes to help because I was rotating the x, y and z

C a e F M W I mance was so raw and powerful that I the cinematographer find the right set. axes of the filters.” ➔

www.ascmag.com March 2019 43 Indie Honors

! The same name, Wildlife tells the story of a eponymous small-town family in the 1950s, and Madeline (Helena adopts the point of view of a teenage Howard) in a frame from the boy whose parents’ marriage is disinte- feature. grating before his eyes. ▹ Director of Cinematographer Diego García photography Ashley Connor. felt a kinship with Dano as soon as they were introduced. “I was very inspired by the way he wanted to approach the The final grade for Madeline’s was a unique experience to interact film,” García recalls. “It was a combina- Madeline was performed at Goldcrest with so many true artists, from the tion of both modern and classical in New York with Blackmagic Design actors [to the] crew. It made the work language, and from the beginning I DaVinci Resolve, where Connor deeply personal.” understood that Paul wanted a true worked closely with colorist Nat Connor was profiled as one of collaborator with whom he could share Jencks. “He’s done about 93 percent of AC’s Rising Stars of Cinematography in his vision, and find the film in the the projects I’ve shot,” she says. “I tend the Feb. ’19 issue. process of doing it.” Together, García to build the look when we’re shooting, and Dano looked at numerous movies so coloring sessions are more about Wildlife and photographs for inspiration, start- sweetening the image and matching, Cinematographer: Diego García ing with such 1950s-era American rather than making huge changes. Nat Director: Paul Dano photographers as Stephen Shore and really knows my style, so he knows William Eggleston. “The way that they how to bring out the best in the As an actor, Paul Dano has captured the essence and beauty of footage.” worked with such directors as Paul everyday life in the ’50s influenced us Madeline’s Madeline, Connor Thomas Anderson and Denis as we created the visual world and attests, was an experience — and a set Villeneuve, and with a list of esteemed mood of the film,” García explains. — unlike any other. “We started every cinematographers that includes ASC “Paul also brought a lot of Asian morning with five minutes of silence, members Roger Deakins, Darius cinema into the conversation. We both followed by some sort of primal Khondji and Matthew Libatique — so admire Hirokazu Kore-eda’s work [in] scream or improvised chant,” she it comes as no surprise that Dano’s composing his frames, especially Still remembers. “I think when a director directorial debut is a confident, Walking. The same goes for Edward asks their collaborators to bring a lot of controlled production with a precise Yang’s A Brighter Summer Day.” their own experiences into a project, visual style. Adapted by Dano and Zoe García considered capturing the there needs to be safety and trust. It Kazan from Richard Ford’s novel of the era to be one of his greatest challenges,

44 March 2019 ASC 100th Anniversary ▹ Wildlife director Paul Dano leans in to check the frame as cinematographer Diego García operates the camera. " Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal as Jeanette and Jerry Brinson. and looked to period films like The Ice through a very fluid and pleasant Mandy Storm and The Master for inspiration. creative process.” Cinematographer: John Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Wildlife was shot on Arri’s Alexa Benjamin Loeb Influence, a film that shares in common XT with Panavision’s spherical Primo Director: Panos Cosmatos with Wildlife a searing portrait of Prime lenses. “After some research dissatisfaction with family life, was about glass, Paul and I determined that Photographed by cinematogra- another key influence. those lenses had the clean and correct pher Benjamin Loeb and directed by García adopted a less-is-more performance [as well as] the personal- Panos Cosmatos, Mandy tells the story approach to his lighting, not wanting ity and texture we were looking for,” of a warm-hearted lumberjack named to distract from the emotional core of García says. Red (Nicolas Cage) who has the love of Dano and Kazan’s script. “This was my The final grade was performed his life, Mandy (Andrea Riseborough), way to approach not only the lighting at Harbor Picture Company in New stolen from him by a gang of demonic setups, but the mise-en-scène, in York, where García credits colorist Joe bikers. He does not take it well. Due in general,” he says. “We were looking for Gawler with adding a new dimension part to scheduling issues arising from a simple and natural aesthetic to make to the movie. “In essence, the film was Cage’s breaking his ankle on another the film connected and consequent already there because of its natural production, Loeb — a Kenyan-born, with the storytelling. Light in this film spirit, but Joe pushed the material to a Vancouver-based Norwegian cine- is not over the characters, but is part of higher level,” the cinematographer matographer — joined Mandy’s them. It is just there. That’s why I says. “He understood the simplicity of Belgium-based crew a mere two weeks decided to use available light as much it, and found the right path to follow prior to the start of principal photogra- as possible, choosing the right moment with color and contrast, using the phy. Other than Loeb, Cosmatos and of the day for each scene.” proper blacks.” producer Josh Waller, nearly everyone This was a method that allowed When talking with García, the on the crew was a local to the García and Dano to discover the visual word “simplicity” comes up often. He Wallonian region in Southern Belgium, language of the production as they notes, “The idea was to achieve including gaffer Dirk van went. “We had a plan, but it was complexity through simplicity — Rampelbergh and key grip always open to modification by new doing everything in a very straightfor- Témoudjine Janssens. things that we found on location, or ward manner that helped us find the When Loeb asked the director that we observed while blocking the right way to tell the story based on for a list of visual references, Cosmatos scenes,” he says. “We were discovering emotions.” returned with The Hitcher (1986), Days the language of the film every day of Thunder, Revenge (1990), Psycho III,

www.ascmag.com March 2019 45 Indie Honors

! Red (Nicolas Cage) forges his battle ax and plots his revenge in Mandy. ▹ Cinematographer Benjamin Loeb (second from right) and crew prepare a setup. # Loeb operates the camera for a dolly shot.

the animated Fist of the North Star, and Cobra. “He was pretty specific about which films would be references for night exteriors, which would be for lenses, [and which for] day interiors,” says Loeb. One detail in particular was the way an ND grad filter intrudes into the frame — a reference from Black Rain, photographed by Jan De Bont, ASC (AC, Sept. ’89) — and sometimes even over the actors’ faces. Though the original plan had been to shoot on 16mm film, the feature was ultimately captured digitally, with the filmmakers employing Arri’s Alexa Mini and XT from Panavision in Paris. When it came to moving the cameras, Loeb and Cosmatos agreed early on that they would always be on either sticks or a dolly, and never handheld. “We wanted the camera to be present, but not in a way where it felt subjec- tive,” says Loeb. The production employed Panavision Primo Anamorphic Prime lenses — along with such additions to the package as Panavision’s AWZ2 40-80mm (T2.8) and Angénieux’s 50-500mm HR Anamorphic (T5.2) zooms, the latter of which was converted to anamorphic

46 March 2019 ASC 100th Anniversary from a spherical 25-250mm HR (T3.5) Loeb says he was “pushed to the original. American dancer Susie via a rear adapter. edge of sanity by the pure nature of the Bannion (Dakota Johnson) travels to The production made significant project, both conceptually and logisti- Germany to study under Madame use of primary colors as a vehicle to cally.” When he finally saw the movie, Blanc (Tilda Swinton) at the prestigious rotate through emotions, contrasting however, any questions and reserva- and exclusive Helena Markos Dance mostly blues and reds against the warm, tions he’d had during the production Company, only to discover that this natural tones of the movie’s early were finally resolved. “Even if I’d been tanztheater fronts for a coven of scenes, and later against the similarly given two months to prep, I’d still murderous witches. pleasant hues associated with an apoca- believe the approach we actually took The filmmakers behind Suspiria lyptic cult called Children of the New was the right one,” the cinematogra- ’18 all agree that Argento’s film is a Dawn. Loeb accomplished much of this pher muses. “A lot of things went masterpiece, “so if we couldn’t make it through a combination of lens filters — according to plan, and — as it usually more interesting, we should do some- Tiffen’s Corals, Chocolates, Tobaccos, goes — quite a bit didn’t, but we were thing different,” says Sayombhu Reds — with sometimes four or five of put in a place where we had to Mukdeeprom, a Thai cinematographer them in front of the lens at a time. embrace our faults and mistakes, and who had previously collaborated with Seeking vengeance, Red funnels those helped set the tone of the film Guadagnino on Call Me by Your Name his molten rage into a blazing forge, and make it what it is.” (AC, March ’18). It was during the from which he fashions a gleaming For the full article on this produc- production of that film that the director battle-ax in a fiery montage shot at a tion, see AC ’Oct. 18 or visit and cinematographer first began blacksmith museum in Ittre. “We bit.ly/MandyACMag. discussing the Suspiria remake. installed some fluorescent tubes in the Suspicion and subterfuge perme- background and blacked out the rest of Suspiria ate every aspect of the film — which the space with negative fill,” Loeb says. Cinematographer: this time around takes place in 1977 “We placed a few Arri SkyPanels in the Sayombhu Mukdeeprom Berlin. The filmmakers heightened and ceiling to give some texture to Nic’s face, Director: Luca Guadagnino harnessed this oppressive atmosphere and to get a reflection off of the ax. with a color palette that suggested Otherwise, we wanted the flames of The premise of Luca myriad shades of brown, green and molten metal to do some of the work, Guadagnino’s reimagining of Dario blue. Mukdeeprom wanted Berlin to and for Nic’s coverage we installed a Argento’s 1977 giallo landmark, look “very somber, very sad” — an little flame bar along the mold that Suspiria, closely resembles that of the arguably easy ask for the German capi- reflects off the lenses of his aviator sunglasses.” Cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom moves through the hotel in Northern Italy that served as Suspiria’s dance theater. For one of the movie’s two climac- tic boss battles, the flames from a burn- ing car provided Loeb with a key backlight source, with two 12K Dino lights illuminating some of the loca- tion’s rock walls. “On top of this,” Loeb says, “we had rigged a 12-by-12 frame equipped with [a silver reflector and] 200 100-watt bulbs [powered through a dimmer pack controlled by a three- channel LFXHub flicker box] onto one of our vehicles that would act as a moving stand for this unit. It would help wrap the light from the flames around a bit. We also had a small 4K balloon light that would be rigged to a stand for some gentle fill when needed.” The final grade was performed at DameBlanche in Belgium with colorist Peter Bernaers, who worked in 2K reso- lution on a FilmLight Baselight plat- form.

www.ascmag.com March 2019 47 Indie Honors

Dance student Susie Bannion (Dakota Johnson) studies at the dance company — which in fact is a front for a coven of murderous witches.

tal in the cold season. Mukdeeprom notes that for pher wanted the ability to capture the Mukdeeprom shot Suspiria Suspiria, he eschewed creating a look set all the way up to the ceiling, so he, entirely on Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 for the film, per se, and instead sought Italy gaffer Francesco Galli and crew lit color-negative film — including day “to create the world of the film, and the ritual stage from across the room exteriors — without correction filters, approach it as if we just brought the with 750-watt ETC Source Fours, using and pushed it one stop to 1,000 ISO camera there to photograph it.” The a combination of 10-, 19-, 26-, 36-, and when needed. The camera package way in which Mukdeeprom engaged 50-degree lenses, all through included an Arriflex 535A and two with this world was primarily influ- Hampshire Frost, as well as 1,000-watt Arricam LTs, all configured for 3-perf enced by Guadagnino’s direction and PAR 64 lamps with spot and flood Super 35 operation, as well as one 4- the work of production designer Inbal bulbs. perf Super 35 Arriflex 435ES for visual- Weinberg, as well as the movement of The Mutterhaus ultimately effects shots. the actors. “I like to create a stage for plunges into darkness, save only for a “This is my standing point: I Luca and the actors, so they have the soft, red light — created during the always shoot movies on film,” the cine- freedom to move anywhere,” color-correction process — just barely matographer says. “Film cameras talk Mukdeeprom says. “Luca watches the bright enough to make out the grisly, to me more than digital cameras.” frame, and if he chooses to go in for a incendiary fate of the coven’s unbeliev- In addition to the project’s close-up, it will be driven by the charac- ers. “I check everything with my light Cooke Speed Panchro S2 and S3 prime ter.” The cinematographer adds that he meter,” Mukdeeprom says. “Even if I’m package, the production also carried generally lit “the whole set at once, like at the deepest, darkest point of the Cooke’s Varotal 18-100mm (T3) zoom a stage,” and only on occasions when curve, it’s there, and because I shot on and Angenieux’s Optimo 24-290mm there was limited space would he light film, I can do a digital intermediate and (T2.8) zoom, as well as vintage one angle at a time. have the best of both worlds.” Arri/Zeiss Super Speed (T1.3) glass. The film’s climactic dance perfor- Augustus Color in Rome devel- When it came to moving the camera, mance takes place in the tanztheater’s oped the negative and delivered dailies. Mukdeeprom strove to limit his immense Mutterhaus chamber. “We are Colorist Alessandro Pelliccia performed options to what the cinematographers at the very heart of the [witches’] world both dailies and final color correction of the German New Wave would have — a secret place, and I wanted to create with Blackmagic Design DaVinci used in 1977 — which meant no big a different kind of stage for them,” Resolve. cranes and no Steadicam. Mukdeeprom notes. The cinematogra- “I was just very honest with the

48 March 2019 ASC 100th Anniversary script,” Mukdeeprom concludes. He suggests that the success of any collab- orative art form — be it film, music, dance or witchcraft — ultimately depends on the successful interaction of a team. As he says, “You have to let everyone show off.” For the full article on this produc- tion, see AC Dec. ’18, or visit bit.ly /SuspiriaAC18.

We the Animals !! Isaiah Kristian, Evan Rosado and Josiah Gabriel as brothers Manny, Jonah and Joel, respectively, in a frame from We the Animals. ! Jonah shines a light. Cinematographer: Zak Mulligan Director: Jeremiah Zagar The cinematographer found which was by design,” Mulligan says. We the Animals follows a group of inspiration for his visuals in a variety “They had to be real. Jeremiah didn’t young brothers whose unstable home of sources and media, from the want them hitting marks, worrying life leads to both liberating freedoms photographs of Eugene Richards, Nan about timing or eyelines, or any of the and abrupt introductions to life’s hard- Goldin and Mary Ellen Mark to films other technical aspects of acting. ships and disappointments. For cine- like Streetwise and Ratcatcher. “One of Collaborating with gaffer Brant matographer Zak Mulligan, telling that the amazing things we got to do was Beland, we lit most spaces for maxi- story was a years-long process that explore the visual look at the Sundance mum flexibility in blocking and move- began when he heard that director Directors Lab,” Mulligan recalls. “That ment. Most of the time, the camera Jeremiah Zagar, a frequent collaborator gave Jeremiah and me an unusually could look in nearly any direction on documentary and commercial rare gift: the time to explore what We without seeing a movie light.” projects, was adapting Justin Torres’ the Animals should look and feel like Mulligan relied heavily on practical novel of the same name with co-writer long before preproduction had begun. light, and placed larger units outside Daniel Kitrosser. “We first started talk- We shot sketches of three or four criti- windows. The production primarily ing about We the Animals roughly two cal scenes while at the labs. What we employed a handheld camera. years before filming,” Mulligan says. “I learned there was indispensable.” Early on, the decision was made purposely avoided reading the book so Mulligan and Zagar determined to shoot on film. The production was I could help Jeremiah create what was that they wanted to create images that captured in Super 16mm format with in his version of the script without captured the freedom of childhood. Arri’s Arriflex 416 camera, using knowledge of any other text.” “The boys weren’t trained actors, Kodak Vision3 500T 7219 and 250D

www.ascmag.com March 2019 49 Indie Honors

Jonah and his mother (Sheila Vand).

7207 stocks. “We used Cooke S4 and There’s an immediacy to the image “Getting an image around set in an HD Cooke SK4 lenses, mostly sticking to when you’re physically close to the world meant converter boxes and more wide-angle primes,” Mulligan says. subject.” cables. The trend in digital has been “The Cookes gave us a beautiful, One challenge the filmmakers smaller and lighter, and fewer cables. round, almost 3-dimensional look on encountered was wedging old technol- We went ‘maximalist’ with We the the boys, when in close-up. We were ogy into current on-set practices. “Even Animals.” shooting wide and close, so it was though it’s relatively modern for a film Mulligan was forced into further important that the wider end of the camera, the Arri 416 body still has an inventiveness when he and Zagar lens set had that particular feeling. SD video tap,” Mulligan explains. agreed that for some of their sequences,

50 they wanted the type of movement that a gimbal allows. “At the time, the Movi M15 was the most advanced gimbal available, but it was too small to support an Arri 416,” the cinematogra- pher recalls. “Its floating and racing energy, when matched up with a wide Cinematographer Zak Mulligan lens, was perfect for We the Animals, so shoulders the we modified a Movi M15 and stripped camera. down an Arri 416 to its lightest build possible, and got the old tech to work with the new tech. It allowed us to create some really exciting shots.” Seth Ricart at RCO in New York served as colorist on the film — employing Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve — and Dorian West served as the two most notable elements that three boys became extremely close, like visual-effects supervisor. “We used a separate the two formats. We spent a actual brothers,” he explains. “Their Red Helium camera for a few VFX lot of time developing our approach, reckless freedom always led us in a shots and low-light sequences,” which involved shooting grain passes fresh direction. The approach with the Mulligan reports. “In preproduction, of the film stocks we used, then scan- camera was one of discovery, of being we shot several tests to make sure we ning those for use in DaVinci Resolve.” present and ready for anything that could match the Red camera back to Ultimately, Mulligan notes that may happen in a particular moment. the look of 16mm film. Highlight reten- the biggest pleasure of the film was That came from the boys.” ◆ tion and grain structure are probably working with the young cast. “The

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