Canadian Cinematographer Spring Issue

CORONA MÉXICO MANDA

WOMEN TALKING with Luc Montpellier csc

RICEBOY SLEEPS with Christopher Lew

with Farhad Ghaderi

Trusted by Cinematographers to capture their creative vision from Blockbusters to Indie films.

CSC MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Jericca Cleland csc

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By Roman Sokal, Special to Canadian Cinematographer

With Farhad Ghaderi (associate member)

By Fanen Chiahemen

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With Luc Montpellier csc

By Trevor Hogg, Special to Canadian Cinematographer

By Adam Madrzyk (associate member)

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By Fanen Chiahemen

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The Road of Possibilities

By Trevor Hogg Special T o canadian cinematographe r

An anaesthetic made for cattle was secretly given to the female inhabitants of a Mennonite colony in Bolivia by the men in the community in order to rape them. The story made international headlines in 2009 and a decade later inspired novelist Miriam Toews to publish Women Talking in which after one of the rapists is caught, the matriarchs of the fictionalized Mennonite colony of Molotschna gather to decide whether to stay or leave. The film rights were purchased by Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand who approached filmmaker Sarah Polley about writing the screenplay and directing the adaptation, which stars McDormand, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey and Ben Whishaw, and had its world premiere at the 2022 Telluride Film Festival.

Getting to witness firsthand Polley evolve from an acclaimed actress into a respected screenwriter and director is the cinematographer responsible for lensing Away from Her , Take This Waltz and Women Talking . “It has been wonderful watching Sarah decide to engage in increasingly challenging concepts,” Luc Montpellier csc notes. “This requires a lot of bravery as a filmmaker. Her will to tackle major issues that exist among humans has had a major impact on me as a cinematographer. Our approach on Women Talking was the same as on all the other films we’ve made together: story is the primary motivator on the choices we make photographically. We believe every film deserves its own visual language, and much effort is put towards finding this honestly.”

The vast majority of the narrative in the book takes place within a barn. “That in a film medium can become quite a tedious journey. You have to engage the audience on a visual level to keep the story moving and world build. It is amazing when you’re adapting a work into another medium. You have to almost rethink a lot of how you’re going to approach the similar and same themes,” Montpellier says, adding that shifts in tone were essential to have the viewer experience an emotional journey and to make the

performances believable. “Sarah attempted to write a screenplay and we tried to design a movie that would be conscious of what you’re thinking and feeling at certain moments so that we can give you the space, whether it be through laughter or silence. Having that extra year to prep the film because of the COVID-19 situation enabled us to dig deep into how to design that. I’m proud of that about the film.”

Each line of the script was dissected by Polley and Montpellier to understand the dynamics between the women congregated in the barn. “The film begins with the three families having different points of view as to where they stand, and then that starts shifting,” Montpellier explains. “Sarah created this amazing document that outlined where the turning points occurred. It was almost like a second script that just showed various points of view. We designed the camera movement within the barn to always accentuate a moment as opposed to being only coverage. Whether it was crossing an axis or going outside to the children or when we cut to a three shot. We shot in the ultra-widescreen 2.76:1 format to have the faces fill the frame all of the time to get this sense of a collective. We actually ended up shooting the interior of the barn in a studio [Enercare Centre at Exhibition Palace] with

bluescreen around it so that we could control the views of the outside. I also needed to freeze time because a lot of scenes happen at sunset and dusk, and those we had to extend a little bit to give the actors time to perform.”

A real barn in Pickering, Ontario, served as the blueprint for the practical set. “Our production designer Peter Cosco ( Damien ) did an amazing job of creating the colony in an empty field,” Montpellier states. “We ended up putting in roads and constructing buildings for where the houses of Scarface Janz (McDormand) and Mariche (Buckley) were. Those were all real shootable structures on the actual property. We captured the plates that would be inserted into the bluescreen [with the help of Ghost VFX], but when filming the sun rising where it was supposed to set in the film, we ended up reversing the shot. There is a shot of the little girl in Salome’s (Foy) arms and the sun sets behind her. That is the visual climax of the film because time was an important aspect of the story. It was critical that you felt like the sun was moving through the entire film and that the men could come back at any time.” Rather than depicting sexual assaults, the focus is on the aftermath. “It’s more about the reaction of the women as opposed to the actual act. The flashes in the film were just enough to make you feel a

certain way and empathize with the women enough to understand what has happened. What you see is exactly what we shot.”

Throughout the film, a road is often seen in the frame, serving as a prominent symbolic visual presence. “It’s like the road of possibilities that they’re hoping for but is still unknown,” Montpellier notes. “We didn’t want the roads to terminate. Every time you see a road in the film it goes off into nothingness.” Closeups were seldomly utilized, “except for Mariche, who is always fighting the group. When cutting to her in a wide aspect ratio you feel she is alone within that frame. I shot in large format with the RED MONSTRO sensor of the Panavision Millennium DXL2, but when you get that big of a sensor it’s a shallow depth of field. Panavision in Woodland Hills, California, has these lenses called Ultra Vistas that essentially give you the benefit of large format focus but the quality of how anamorphic defocuses the background. As much as we wanted to go wide angle, when you put a wide-angle lens to frame a bunch of faces, you still have the ability to have shallow depth of field so you can pick within the frame who is speaking and who you want to focus on.”

Sarah talked about how the film is supposed to be a fable because it’s not a documentary. It’s a comment on what happened. Having this wide frame gave it a magical feeling where it’s not quite a reality but is based on a reality. All of the visual decisions were made that way, even the palette.

- Luc Montpellier csc

Two Panavision Millennium DXL2 cameras were running at all times and paired with two sets of Panavision Ultra Vistas lenses ranging from 21 mm to 250 mm. “I got attached to the 40 mm lens because it filled this wideangle view that you’re picking up on, but when you got close to the actor’s face – the camera was sometimes three feet away – it felt like you were there,” Montpellier remarks. “You also got to manipulate the focus and it didn’t distort. It was a good quality lens to represent our actors in a true way. You were able to put five to six faces in the frame, which was our mandate. When you start moving with that aspect ratio there is something magical that happens. Sarah talked about how the film is supposed to be a fable because it’s not a documentary. It’s a comment on what happened. Having this wide frame gave it a magical feeling where it’s not quite a reality but is based on a reality. All of the visual decisions were made that way, even the palette.”

Colours were desaturated to create a gothic aesthetic. “We chose to keep a little bit of colour because it enabled me to have a colour gap to be able

It has been wonderful watching Sarah decide to engage in increasingly challenging concepts. This requires a lot of bravery as a filmmaker. Her will to tackle major issues that exist among humans has had a major impact on me as a cinematographer.

- Luc Montpellier csc

to sell time of day,” Montpellier reveals. “We also wanted the film not to be too heavy as an image and for you to feel hope whenever we went outside. I wanted to show the beauty of the colony, faces, costumes, of it all. We toyed with the idea of shooting black and white; however, it felt too period and inaccessible to an audience because it would have said, ‘This isn’t about me. It’s about another time.’ You don’t quite know what time it is, but then there is some set decoration that comes up that is more modern like a gas lamp or the truck arriving with the music playing, and suddenly you know that you’re not in a historic time. That was important because you needed to insert yourself into the story. Also, when you strip colour away, you are forced to lean in and look at what the essential elements are in the filmmaking which is the story. I’m hoping that you will lean into the image, listen to what is said and see how we were guiding you through the film.”

Photographer Larry Towell, a native of Ontario, was a major visual reference. “Larry had unprecedent access to Mennonite colonies and produced these beautiful photobooks. One of them is called The Mennonites ,” Montpellier

says. “That was a major influence for us because every still has so much emotion and is very immediate. He enabled us to figure out how to create a frame or camera movement without doing too much that is extremely expressive.” On Women Talking , the ASA varied from 800 to 1,600 at night. “The noise floor of the MONSTRO sensor is extremely low so it keeps things clean,” Montpellier says, explaining that three LUTs were created with the full spectrum of colour being captured. “I primarily used one which is based on Fuji print stock. When we did Away from Her , Sarah’s first film, we were shooting on film, scanning the negative and doing DI work. This LUT was in the projector so that Mark Kueper and I could simulate the print stock. Over the years, we have been using that same LUT but have been adapting it to different projects because I’m in love with what it does. I still use a light meter on set because it’s the way I work. I love being intimate with the light, not always being glued to a monitor.”

For the studio set, a custom lighting rig was constructed. “There were these massive soft boxes that had hundreds of Arri S60 SkyPanels in them

The interior of the barn was shot in a studio with bluescreen around it. Luc Montpellier csc

Witnessing these wonderful performances was like being present for a master class in acting. I am truly humbled by what these women accomplished, as we asked them to give it everything they had. Truly amazing. I’ve been enjoying the ride, and the film is probably the most important one I’ve worked on.

- Luc Montpellier csc

that you can adjust,” Montpellier states. “The SkyPanel has become the workhorse of the film industry because they’re so versatile. My key grip Rico Emerson and gaffer Scott Phillips built these soft box pancakes that were 40 x 70 and we had four of those outside of the barndoors. Because there were slits in the barndoors, I wanted you to feel the landscape beyond the barn even when the doors were closed so you could see the shape of the hills. The soft boxes hung on motors outside of the barn to essentially create the sky. But you could also instantly hit a button and program a dusk or sunrise look; that mixed with three other 20Ks that were on trusses and outside of the windows gave me the sun. The soft box would give me the reflection of the sky within the set and a sense of time of day, but then I was

literally able to put the sun anywhere I wanted around the set.”

In addition to Emerson, Phillips and Kueper, key support for Montpellier were A camera operator Sean Jensen and B camera operator Lainie Knox. “I wanted the cinematography to support these performances so you didn’t feel bored and it felt cinematic as opposed to theatrical,” Montpellier says. “Witnessing these wonderful performances was like being present for a master class in acting. I am truly humbled by what these women accomplished, as we asked them to give it everything they had. Truly amazing. I’ve been enjoying the ride, and the film is probably the most important one I’ve worked on.”

FamilyAlbum

b y f anen c hiahemen

In Anthony Shim’s second feature Riceboy Sleeps , a young widow and her son leave everything they know in 1990s South Korea for a better life in Canada. Making a home in a suburban neighbourhood out West, the single mother, So-young, tries to cope with new cultural and racial challenges, while her six-year-old son, Dong-hyun, grapples with fitting in with his peers. As Dong-hyun grows into an adolescent, so does his curiosity about his Korean heritage and the father he never knew, and as mother and son struggle to find harmony, a sudden turn of events prompts them to reconnect to their roots and revisit their tragic past.

It’s a particularly personal film for Shim, whose family immigrated to

Canada from South Korea in the early 1990s when he was eight, settling on Vancouver Island. Recalling the films he enjoyed during his childhood, Shim was determined to shoot Riceboy Sleeps on 16 mm. “I’m just a big fan of film,” he states. “I’m sure a certain amount of my affinity for it has to do with nostalgia for the films I grew up watching and loving and wanting to create movies that have a certain look and feel. And then on top of that, the story is set in the ‘90s and I wanted the experience of watching this film to be similar to looking through your childhood photo album. I wanted a sense of the colours, the texture, the tone, but also the beautiful imperfections old photos have. It would also help the audience buy into the time period through tone and feel. So I knew how important finding the right DP was

going to be just because I knew how vital the visual component was going to be.”

Through a mutual friend, Shim found associate member Christopher Lew who met the director’s core criteria of having experience and comfort shooting on film. “Aesthetically speaking, it’s the best look,” Lew offers on the subject of film. “It’s what Anthony and I respond to the most strongly.” The fact that the Toronto-born cinematographer happens to be Chinese-Canadian was a bonus for Shim. “I wanted to work with Chris because he is extremely talented, but also, with certain positions on this project, I felt like I wanted people to have a personal connection

to the story, and he had a really deep understanding of this story and these characters and the message that we were trying to convey,” the director says.

Although Lew was brought on board in late 2020, the COVID pandemic meant principal photography did not begin until August 2021, which ended up being a blessing. “I feel like I was privileged in having so much prep time because I was able to work with our colourist David Tomiak at Elemental Post in Vancouver,” Lew says. “We had so much time to talk and discuss. As I would gather references for visuals, I would share that with Anthony, and I would always make sure to include Dave in those

I wanted the experience of watching this film to be similar to looking through your childhood photo album.

- Anthony Shim

“

conversations so that he could always be thinking in the background and developing looks. When it finally came time to shoot camera and makeup and lighting tests before actual principal photography, we went back to his suite and just toiled away in the dark for days trying to massage the different looks for the different eras. For the 1990s, the 2000s, and then when they go to Korea, we knew we wanted to have three separate looks to visually separate those timelines and those places.”

Much of Lew’s inspiration came from still photography. “A lot of photojournalists. There are a few that I absolutely adore and I think have had a really strong effect on my approach,” Lew says, singling out the street photography of the late Ernst Haas. “I think on some subconscious level, it was informing this sort of observational approach that we took to the camerawork.” That approach is evident in a scene when So-young and Dong-hyun sit down to discuss a sensitive topic, and the camera stays outside the room, capturing the scene through the doorway, like a third character observing a private conversation from a distance. Or when Soyoung is calling Dong-hyun, who’s in another part of the house, the camera roams the hallways as though looking for the boy.

Lew says the seed of the concept was planted when he first read the script, which opens with a monologue by an unidentified male character. “Anthony never explicitly wrote in the script who was saying these words. It was kind of just this omnipotent voice,” Lew says. “But it always felt like it had to belong to somebody. And to me, it felt like it was the voice of the father, recounting the story of his life. I just thought that’s interesting, he’s obviously passed away, so maybe this could be the spirit of the father who’s telling this. That gave us a jumping-off point to take this camerawork and ground it in a philosophy of the camera being the eyes of the spirit of the father, and he’s following these characters.”

As the main camera operator, Lew often found himself taking on the role of the imaginary character. “Anthony even told me in prep, ‘You’re going to have to really be this character; you have to react in a certain way,’” Lew recalls. “That really came back to the camera having its own personality and being a character in the room. How would the father be reacting in this scene? So for instance, when Dong-hyun gets in a fight at a house party, when the classmate comes up and punches him, the camera slowly starts to back away. So it was this idea that if things were getting really intense, the father wouldn’t want to be very close to this. He’d want to back away because it’d be a very difficult thing for him.

“Conversely, if it was something really intimate or something sensitive that a character was going through, and we were trying to create this feeling of sympathy, we would think, ‘Okay, well, the father would want to get close to this character,’ so that was our anchor for the movement of the camera,” Lew says. “If we ever felt lost, we would come back to this idea of where would the father be in the scene? Would he want to be close? Would he want to be far? I’ve been on projects before where, maybe it’s a cliché, but they say the camera is a character in the scene, but for this feature it truly was like I had to take on the emotion and try to think like this character. I wanted the viewers to take on the perspective of the father, seeing the lives of the characters through his eyes as if he were there spiritually and invisible to everyone. This is why the camera moves independently from

the action of the characters, sometimes losing them during the shot, and then finding them again.”

Lew says he is grateful for the support of gimbal tech Michael Krizaj, who operated a DJI Ronin 2. “He is also an incredible operator; he did such an incredible job,” Lew states. “We shot almost the whole thing on a gimbal, and that helped get that floaty aesthetic that felt kind of ghostly and spiritual.” Shooting on an Arriflex 416, Lew’s choice of lenses was also inspired by the observational perspective he employed. “The choice to shoot on wider lenses had two purposes – I feel wider lenses are closer to what I interpret human perspective to be, and I wanted to push that further to a heightened level, which I felt supported the other-worldliness of the camera. The other was that practically, I knew we were going to be doing long continuous takes with the camera floating and panning around the sets, and I didn’t want it to become nauseating. The wider lenses helped me make sure that the viewers would have a sense of horizon and know where we were in the space,” he explains. “I think we probably shot most of the movie on a 16 mm. We shot with the ultra 16 lenses.”

The lighting he also approached primarily with the camerawork in mind.

“Once we knew that we wanted to do these very long takes and to capture the scenes in as few cuts as possible and that we were going to be on very wide lenses and really seeing the entire space, I knew that the lighting would have to almost come second to the camera,” Lew says. “I’m not saying that there was any less importance to it, but it really had to start with what is the blocking, where’s the camera going? And then based on that, we would create the lighting setup. Anthony really wanted to be very authentic to the era, so he initially didn’t really want to use any sort of LEDs because in the ‘90s nothing was LED. But I kind of had to make him come around to them because once we started scouting locations, I knew it was just going to be impossible to light without something that would be as low profile as LEDs.”

An example is a scene in a classroom where Dong-hyun’s schoolmates bully him for the exotic food his mother packed him for lunch. “The lights in the existing fixtures were LED and built into the fixtures and we couldn’t swap out bulbs,” Lew explains. “So we had to gel the light overhead to correct for a bit of a green spike. Then we added Titan tubes that our gaffer Greg Goudreau had all on wireless. So while the camera’s moving, he could be dimming up and dimming down different tubes to bring up a backlight and bring it down as we wrapped around, and then

I wanted the viewers to take on the perspective of the father, seeing the lives of the characters through his eyes as if he were there spiritually and invisible to everyone.

- Christopher Lew

“

bring up the backlight on this side. Since so much of the film was on a gimbal, our key grip Grace Loeppky and her team were vital in engineering different rigs to achieve the shots we dreamt up. Meanwhile, our loader Eily Sprungman was a hero behind the scenes keeping the mags loaded and organized."

Production designer Louisa Birkin was also indispensable to Lew. “She was incredibly collaborative,” the cinematographer says. “And she knew what the visual approach was, so she was totally game to do whatever was needed to assist that. Like in the high school classroom scene when they’re being taught about their school project to learn about their family tree. It was like, how do we have enough space? How many desks do we have so that the camera can sort of float through everything and do this big loop and end on Dong-hyun? She was just really supportive and made sure that I had the space to move through doorways and come around furniture.”

Following a 15-day shoot in Vancouver, the crew travelled to South Korea to shoot the portions of the story that are set there. “We were in Seoul; we did our initial prep there. And then it was a six-hour car ride to the coast, actually really close to the border of North Korea. It was crazy,” Lew recalls. “It was such a weird time because COVID was still a big thing. It was September. It was hot. It was so humid. We were on the coast in this little village of maybe 15 or 20 people nestled in these mountains, and we were having trouble getting the equipment over because there were issues with paperwork. And there was all this stress because in Korea they’ve completely abandoned celluloid filmmaking; everything is digital. As soon as digital became the

de facto standard, they just completely got rid of everything. So there are no labs; the closest lab was in Japan. And they had no film equipment. So our entire 416 package had to be shipped in. And if something ended up breaking or didn’t work, we were really just screwed. We didn’t have any sort of backup plan. So it was a very stressful situation. Our 1 st AC Mikael Bidard, who’s from Vancouver, and his second, John Fleming, came over and they were incredible. Mikael is not only a wizard with film and pulling by eye, he also has a lot of knowledge with the Ronin 2, so he was almost acting as an additional gimbal tech assist because it was a bit of a language barrier working with the local crews. It was a wild time, but it all worked out, thankfully. We just had faith.”

Once they got into post, the process became more manageable as Lew saw his efforts in preproduction pay off. “I had so much time in prep with our colourist David Tomiak creating LUTs,” Lew says. “So once we got the footage back from MELS, he would apply the looks that we developed in prep, and it really made the whole colouring process fast because we’d done so much of the work beforehand. The whole grade was just five days.”

With Riceboy Sleeps racking up accolades on the festival circuit – including winning the Platform Prize at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival – the time Lew had to craft the look of the film was more than worth it, and he is grateful that the story is resonating with audiences. “It really means a lot,” he says. “It’s encouraging and makes me feel really gratified and humbled that a story like this that deals with these types of discussions is being so well received and people are reacting to it in this way.”

By Fanen Chiahemen

VISUAL R O LLERCOASTER VISUAL R O L LERCOASTER

Associate member Farhad Ghaderi shoots a lot of commercials, but rarely does one hit as close to home as the latest Corona campaign he shot for director Nico Pérez Veiga last August. Produced by Primo Content, the filmic spot, “México Manda,” encourages Mexicans to conquer the world just as the locally-produced beer has, and the Mexican-Iranian cinematographer was flattered to be considered alongside such prominent DPs as Rodrigo Prieto asc, amc ( Babel, Brokeback Mountain ) and Diego García ( Wildlife, Causeway ) for the project. With his schedule aligning perfectly, the Vancouver-based Ghaderi landed the job and soon found himself heading back to his home town of Mexico City to prep for the shoot, which would take him all around the country. Ghaderi tells Canadian Cinematographer what the project meant to him.

Canadian Cinematographer: Why was this commercial particularly special to you?

Farhad Ghaderi : I love what I do and the people I do it with, but for me it’s hard to be proud of most commercials, honestly. A lot of the core elements are already in place when you come in, and many other people’s egos are involved. Plus, you’re always just selling something. All these things make it hard to do something that feels creative or personal, like you’ve had a chance to put your touch on it. And that’s something I’ve had to come to terms with in my career in commercials – when to let go of one’s ego and one’s creative aspirations and enjoy the ride. So this one was special because the team was great, the director Nico Pérez Veiga is a legend in Latin America and he is such a nice guy and incredibly collaborative. I also had worked with the agency creatives before, so the agency trusted us a lot, which is rare. And so that just ended up being a very nice scenario to work in.

CC: What were your initial conversations with Nico Pérez Veiga about the concept of the project?

FG: Our first conversations had to do with the fact that Nico’s Argentinian, and the spot is intrinsically all about Mexican identity. So my initial conversations with Nico had to do with the fact that even though we’re both Latin American, we’re worlds apart in terms of cultural aspects, and so he wanted to make sure we did justice to the culture and were culturally relevant, and he was relying on me a lot for that. So a lot of our first conversations were like, what is too stereotypical, what feels culturally relevant and what’s just marketing bullshit. And I think that’s the right way to go. There’s a lot of Mexican content that’s been shot by non-Mexican people, and sometimes it’s fine, but when it has to do with the culture itself, it’s always better to trust people with their own culture. So I’m happy that they chose that path because the advertising industry doesn’t really care much about that.

CC: How did you handle the scope of the project and the multiple locations?

FG: It was pretty intense. Expectations were really high and we were

moving at a very fast pace. But it also meant that we were working with a lot of amazing people that excelled at their jobs. That’s the thing about working in Mexico, you have some of the most amazing crews, technicians and artisans in the world. But the downside of working here is that there’s not as many regulations or unions for the commercial world. And so they tend to exploit people in the sense of horrible work hours, like 18-hour days. We did big, long days so we had a chance to maximize daylight and maximize locations. We were building a lot of stuff, big rigs, billboards on fire, boxing gyms; in the jungle we built this entire monolith that looked like an ancient

Mayan ruin. The art department was amazing, led by Argentine production designer Luciano Lasca. That day we had like 200 extras dressed in all kinds of costumes that span from all of Mexico’s history, from pre-Hispanic indigenous, colonial Nueva España, revolutionaries to contemporary.

CC: Talk about the decision to shoot on film. Is that something you often get to do in commercials?

FG: It’s not very common in commercials, but it’s getting more and more, I

think. But it’s hard because it’s a medium that requires a lot of trust for the DP because you can’t see what you’re shooting with the detail as you would with digital. We shot on two 3-perf Arricam LTs, which is my favourite 35 mm camera, other than the Aaton Penelope, and paired them mostly with Cooke S2 Panchro lenses, which are some of my favourite spherical lenses. We also had a big Angénieux Optimo 12:1 zoom, which is a classic. But we also shot some stuff digitally. There was this big running scene, and we couldn’t afford a chase vehicle at that point. So in the end, we borrowed the digital unit’s camera, and Nico and I were running around with the Sony FX6

I think, because running with the Arricam handheld is almost impossible unless you’re super ripped. We also have some crazy FPV drone footage by Daniel Villagomez. And then our amazing colourist Sam Gilling in Vancouver, who’s my go-to colourist, did an amazing grade so nobody could tell the difference. Shooting on film also requires a top-notch crew and I’m grateful to my Steadicam op Faba Lozano, focus puller Rodrigo Cervantes, 2 nd AC Josue Durán, and loaders Paul Lima and Toño Huerta.

There’s a lot of Mexican content that’s been shot by non-Mexican people, and sometimes it’s fine, but when it has to do with the culture itself, it’s always better to trust people with their own culture.

- Farhad Ghaderi

CC: What was your approach to the lighting?

FG: We wanted the lighting to be very realistic, but also we wanted it to feel very expressive, and finding that sweet middle point was a fun challenge. Also, something Nico said a lot was he really wanted this film to feel visceral, and like suddenly aggressive but then suddenly calm and contemplative. Really intense. I remember him saying he really wanted it to feel like a visceral rollercoaster, and so the lighting approach had to reflect that. Sometimes it was just relying on natural light and shaping that. But sometimes it meant bringing really big lights and almost over-lighting something, which could feel bad to the eye but once you processed the film, it would be nice and toned down thanks to pulling or pushing. It was a very eclectic approach to lighting. I’m not picky about fixtures most of the time and we had all sorts of them. Certain situations needed a very particular thing and others were open to exploration. I’m lucky to have been working with my go-to gaffer in Mexico, Leonardo Julián, who would suggest things I hadn’t used before. A lot of big tungstens and a wide array of LEDs. It was my first time using concert and event lighting, which you operate from a console – in Mexico we call them roboticas . Concert and theatre lighting seems to be sometimes miles ahead of film lighting in many ways. Like the concert scene, which was really complicated to get just because of the amount of beams and fixtures we had and the zero amount of time we had. One of the most complicated things was this big scene with a jaguar walking through a subway. We had to recreate a whole moving subway wagon and a subway station. Replicating the subway wagon was really hard because I had to light this subway set interactively, making it look like it was moving and alive, plus add that extra spice for the wow factor, in this case explosions of colour. And then we had to replicate the exact same setup in another studio without the fake wagon, in which we were going to put the real jaguar, so we had to replicate everything to then composite that jaguar into the previous set. So there was a lot of coordination and math between my board op and Leo my gaffer. And the scene didn’t make it to the final cut!

CC: How does a cinematographer stay creatively fulfilled in the commercial landscape? Are you hoping to do more artsy commercials like this one?

FG: That is the dream! I’m grateful to have been able to break into the commercial industry, but as most people, I didn’t become a filmmaker because of commercials; I’ve always wanted to make movies that are touching. I think being able to make a living in commercials is a huge privilege – you meet great people, develop your craft and travel – but the truth is that you rarely get to make something special. I think it’s all about finding the time to make passion projects with your friends, to foster those relationships and your creativity. For me it’s like, make a couple commercials a year and then make sure I have time to work on personal projects for my soul. Because when you’re passionate about something, it shows.

The visual element of the show matches the grittiness of the just-abovestreet-level roughness and immediacy of the sport. While traditionally, sporting arenas are well lit (and often flat) for their sporting events, Lynch takes viewers into a sort of dirty Hades.

Lynch had come up through the ranks by shooting music videos for artists such as Martin Garrix, Khalid, Koffee and Joël’s social-justice-themed song “Clean Up,” which won the Toronto-based associate member a CSC Award for Music Video Cinematography last year. He has shot two features –Tehranto and a TV movie called Amazing Grace (Oprah Network productions).

The series was shot entirely with a RED GEMINI camera. A majority of the show’s scenes are re-enactments of wrestling matches, as well as anecdotal material provided by a particular episode’s guests at a roundtable chat, usually wrestlers from the respective territory that is the theme of that show. The series will certainly wax nostalgic for those who were grade schoolers following their favourite wrestlers like Ric Flair, Baby Doll or André the Giant and Adrian Adonis. For the match sequences and

He landed Tales from the Territories through his friend, Andrew Appelle, who directed many of the show’s episodes and shot the first few.

“

Because it had this strong visual language with the depth of field and how it’s used, we had to think of a new way to approach things and to tell the story. It’s not a traditional way to tell a story.

- Keenan Lynch

out-of-arena stories, the RED GEMINI took precedence. Lynch explains why: “We shot at 120 frames per second, which obviously eats a lot of light. We wanted something that had good low-light sensitivity and could shoot 4K at 120 frames. There’s not a lot of options out there. We did some tests and we really liked the GEMINI’s variable sensitivity feature. At 800 ASA, it’s clean, and we usually rocked it at 1600 ASA most of the time in lowsensitivity mode. The one thing that I knew we were going to do was muddy up the image. We used vintage glass, Super Speed Mark IIIs wide open. We always rocked one Warm Pearlescent, and we’d add filters on top of that. Sometimes we’d throw on a Blue Streak or add a little Pro-Mist. We also

had some of these kaleidoscope filters as well. We were always stacking on different filters to really soften up and give the image a unique patina look.

“ Territories is described as a ‘wrestling fever dream with adrenaline,’” Lynch continues. “We wanted the arenas to feel at the time like it’s the ‘70s, kind of down and dirty. We wanted it to feel like a tobacco-filled room colourwise.” A tobacco filter (made famous by Gordon Willis asc in The Godfather features) was employed. “I did always set the colour temperature of the camera at between 3,800 and 4,800 just for colour contrast,” Lynch says. “We used a lot of tungsten lights; they always felt warmer than any type of

Territories is a wrestling fever dream with adrenaline. We wanted the arenas to feel like it’s the ‘70s, kind of down and dirty. We wanted it to feel like a tobacco-filled room colour-wise.

“

fluorescent lights. We’d get daylight fluorescent or use Pixel Tubes in the housing, and we’d always add plus green to it to make everything feel grimy and dirty. If you see photos of New York City from the 1970s, you’d see that it was a grimy time. We wanted to recreate that. Wrestling fans were pretty crazy then too. It was a weird time. We wanted to reflect the time of the wrestlers and kind of bring that to life.”

Lynch says he and Appelle pulled a lot of references from ‘70s films. “All of the fluorescent lights are super green and blue. We were trying to recreate that and really make it feel muddy. Your natural instinct is to try and correct it, but we just kind of embraced it and wanted to dirty up the image and add flares and haze and filtration.”

With a very shallow depth of field and at times intentional use of soft focus, the framing is often tense and strikes fast like a serpent. “We used Steadicam often,” Lynch says. “Our operator was Connor Jarvie. Because we were shooting 120fps, you’d always be flying in and out of these actions, because we can only take so much out of each segment. We had a second RED GEMINI on set too. I’d say 50 per cent of the time we were rolling two cameras, and I’d be handheld on one. Then Connor would be with the Steadicam. It is always hard because I always want to see the monitor because I’m not operating so I can give notes. After a certain while, we built a level of trust. It was a kind of balance. I’d say 75 per cent of the stuff you see was the Steadicam.”

Since the wrestling sequences take place in different arenas in different cities, the team had only a couple of sets in which they had to work their magic to separate them from each other somewhat. “My gaffer Alex Poutiainen built different tree rigs of different stadium lights,” Lynch explains. “Each stadium has a different lighting configuration of just 350 and 650 tungsten light that we dim down. I think I had five or six different configurations of those to kind of give different stadiums a different level of scope and size. Some of the arenas were smaller and some bigger. I wanted to play with the amount of light you’re seeing. Also, because we didn’t have a lot of background, we kind of wanted it to be super overpowering and the crowd just behind. Heavy diffusion, the haze, the flare, it all kind of helps sell that there are more people there than there actually was. That was the trickiest thing, trying to make the stadiums feel bigger since we were limited on how many extras we could get to be the audience”.

The other major component to each episode is a clean, well-lit, modernlooking roundtable of varying wrestlers who grappled in said territories and often appeared on television. “We shot two different blocks for that,” Lynch discloses. “We shot one in Atlanta, Georgia, which I think we shot six episodes in, and we built the set and the studio. Then we did the other block in Los Angeles. We had two cameras on our original sliders, one camera was kind of the medium-wide, which was a semi-circle that would sort of drift back and forth throughout the whole conversation, and then we had a locked-off camera on a ladder about 14 feet high to kind of get the bird’s-eye view. We got a practical lamp and brought it in. For the actual roundtable discussions, we originally wanted to shoot it in old southern dive bars, the types of bars that these wrestlers would go to after a show when they’re moving from town to town, because they’re always on the road. But it was hard trying to source one that would let us shoot in. So we ended up building it in the studio. That’s kind of the vibe we wanted, a bar and these old friends from these different wrestling territories coming back together to talk about the past.”

In postproduction, Lynch worked with colourists Clinton Homuth and Kevin Wu at Artjail. “All the references we sent were ‘70s movies and ‘70s photographs. Almost every reference we sent was shot on film, so one thing we talked about is having a really dirty, gritty 35 mm film texture to put over everything,” Lynch recalls. “They applied a 35 mm grain. We used Baselight, and I know they added some new effect that kind of adds halation to things, like a bright object. It helps add to the era. A lot of the tweaking and final look of the show came together in post, but we shot it in a way that it wasn’t crazy difficult to get to that final place that we wanted to bring it to.

“One of the hard things about this overall process for the show was, because it had this strong visual language with the depth of field and how it’s used, we had to think of a new way to approach things and to tell the story,” Lynch muses. “It’s not a traditional way to tell a story. We used a lot of contrast and high key lighting to really make the subjects pop. With the colour grade we did, it really helped the characters snap and get definition, since so much of everything was out of focus or was slightly out of focus. There are so many great moments in the show. We have people throwing popcorn, drinks, blood, vomit, pee and blow darts!”

The crew shoots the snowstorm scene from Episode 5, "Stampede: The Hart of Pro Wrestling." Nathan Boone

Keenan Lynch with director Andrew Appelle (right). Nathan Boone

Powered by Web Series / Propulsé par les séries web

par / b y b enoit Jones-Vallée

At a time when film and television are blending more than ever thanks to streaming platforms, web series allow emerging creators to tell stories that break the customary mold. This evolving industry has lowly origins. Several years ago, funds were few and far between. Either the distributors (TV5, TOU.TV or Noovo) provided small advances for productions, or the Bell Fund, the FIP (Fonds indépendant de production) or the Fonds Quebecor made it possible for creators to film their stories. We have now entered a new era when distributors are attracting advertisers, resulting in bigger budgets than just five years ago.

I had the chance to shoot several web series that stood out and launched the careers of directors, including Dominos directed by Zoé PelchatOuellet, winner of the best web series at Canneséries. In Quebec, web series were still in early stages, but we were ready to work hard with ambitions that greatly exceeded our budgets.

Web series are based on the production of a trailer or a scene excerpted from the series that allows creators to stand out. This works exactly like a TV pilot. However, the pilot of a web series is often created for free. Everybody who is involved must understand this, as the time invested in pre-production, production and postproduction must be provided with peace of mind, considering that the project might fail the selection rounds.

Àune époque où le cinéma et la télévision se mélangent plus que jamais avec l’apparition de plateformes de diffusion en ligne, la websérie permet à des créateurs émergents de raconter des histoires qui s’éloignent du moule habituel. C’est une industrie en changement avec des origines modestes. Très peu de fonds existaient il y a quelques années. Seuls les distributeurs (TV5, Tou.TV et Noovo), les fonds Bell, le FIP ou le fond Québécor avançaient les minces montants qui permettaient aux créateurs de mettre leurs histoires à l’écran. Aujourd’hui, nous traversons une autre ère où les distributeurs attirent des publicitaires, ce qui permet de gonfler les maigres budgets existant il y a à peine 5 ans.

J’ai eu la chance de tourner plusieurs webséries qui se sont démarquées et qui ont démarré la carrière de réalisatrices/réalisateurs. Notamment Dominos réalisé par Zoé Pelchat-Ouellet, lauréate de la meilleure websérie à Canneséries. Nous en étions aux premiers balbutiements de la websérie au Québec, mais nous avions le coeur à l’ouvrage et nos ambitions dépassaient grandement le budget.

Les fondations de la webséries se trouvent dans la production d’une bande-annonce ou d’une scène tirée de la série, qui permettrait aux créateurs de se détacher du lot. Exactement comme le pilote d’une sérietélé. Toutefois, il arrive fréquemment que le pilote de la websérie soit créé bénévolement. Tout le monde doit être dans le même état d’esprit, car le temps investi dans la pré-production, la production et la post-production doit être donné en toute sérénité, dans l’éventualité où le projet ne soit pas retenu dans les rondes de sélection.

I’ve had the opportunity to shoot pilots for several web series directed by extraordinary creators that, unfortunately, did not see the light of day for myriad reasons. It’s best to remain willing to take on opportunities and to believe in those projects that are important to us. I’m thinking especially of Mayday , a web series that Thomas Soto was supposed to direct, and whose specific aesthetic would have opened up new worlds for us.

Then, I shot a web series directed by Alec Pronovost called Le bœuf haché ou le tempeh , which is available on Noovo. It’s a completely absurd story that keeps breaking the fourth wall, and that is driven by a blend of a most Hollywoodesque universe (using Lomo Anamorphic lenses) and an interview with the creator of this web series (using Super Baltar). It’s fully disjointed.

Subsequently, I entered the world of Géolocaliser l’amour . Adapted from Simon Boulerice’s book of the same name, this web series dives into the world of an insecure man and his quest for love in a self-centred and merciless universe. The web series is directed by Nicolas Legendre ( Petit Poulet, Tucson ), who deconstructed this quasi-autobiographical story to identify the breaks between expectations and reality. We shot the pilot in a single day in September 2020. I didn’t have a technical crew, and we shot everything in natural light. Because we were shooting with a small crew, we chose the Zeiss High Speed T1.3. Six months later, we received the okay to go into production.

After shooting the pilot and before production began, I discovered a lens that I would fall in love with—the Cooke 20–100 mm T3.1 zoom. I discovered this lens after shooting a 35 mm project, and its realism awed me. It’s so

J’ai eu la chance de tourner plusieurs pilotes de websérie dirigés par des créateurs et créatrices d’exception qui n’ont malheureusement pas vu le jour pour milles raisons. Le plus important est de rester ouvert aux opportunités et de croire aux projets qui nous tiennent à coeur. J’ai ici une pensée spéciale pour Mayday, une webséries qui aurait été réalisée par Thomas Soto avec une esthétique très précise qui nous aurait amené ailleurs.

J’ai ensuite tourné Boeuf Hâché ou Tempeh , webséries réalisée par Alec Pronovost, disponible sur Noovo, complètement absurde, où le quatrième mur est brisé constamment. Un mélange entre un univers très hollywoodien (tourné avec des objectifs Lomo Anamorphiques) et une entrevue avec le créateur de cette même webséries (tourné avec des Super Baltar) dicte le récit. Assez disjoncté.

Je suis ensuite tombé dans l’univers de Géolocaliser l’amour . Basé sur le livre du même nom de Simon Boulerice, cette websérie nous plonge dans l’univers d’un homme insécure en quête d’affection dans un univers égocentrique et sans merci. La websérie est réalisée par Nicolas Legendre ( Petit Poulet , Tucson ) qui a décortiqué cette quasi-auto-biographie pour identifier les brisures entre attentes et réalité. Nous avons tourné le pilote sur une journée en septembre 2020, au début de la pandémie. Je n’avais pas d’équipe technique et nous avons tourné le tout en lumière naturelle. Nous avions opté pour les Zeiss High Speed T1.3, compte tenu des circonstances de tournage en équipe réduite. C’est six mois plus tard que nous avons eu le feu vert pour se lancer en production.

Entre le tournage du pilote et le début de la production, j’ai fait la

Germain s'éteint 2

incredibly heavy that I had to slow down for this 17-day shoot, but we took the gamble. We relied on this Cooke zoom exclusively, which allowed us to use slow zooms to amplify the discomfort, fears and emotions experienced by the characters. Due to the lack of funds, we chose to shoot with the Alexa Classic in 2K. ARRI’s achievement is wonderful: almost 13 years after its release, the sensor of the Alexa Classic remains very close to truth.

Due to the raw themes and the focus on loneliness, we selected an observer camera, welded to the ground, often very high or very low, offering us a true and neutral view. We liked the 4:3 frame, a very square one that allows us to focus on the character’s emotions. Within the first few days of editing, we realized that 4:3 made it all too detached and excessively stylized. We had some challenges, because when we released the files in 16:9, we could see equipment, team members and unprepared bits of scenery. The 2K allowed us to crop a few points without losing too much quality, even though this is not recommended.

We wanted the lighting to be imperfect and realistic. You can feel it in several scenes that are tinted with greenish neon light, or in bedroom environments where darkness is almost a character in itself. Our motto was to be calm with very wide frames whenever possible. I often tend to greatly simplify lighting setups when we must speed up the production, and considering we only had a two-person electro-mechanical crew, scene changes had to be swift. That’s why, most of the time, I chose to go with very sober and one-dimensional lighting.

I put this technique into practice with Géolocaliser l’amour , and I still use it to this day in circumstances where we have to shoot a large number of pages in one single day. For instance, if a neon light becomes our focal point in a hospital room, this will determine each direction of light, so that

découverte d’une lentille avec laquelle j’allais tomber en amour, le zoom Cooke 20-100mm T3.1. Je suis tombé sous son charme après le tournage d’un projet en 35mm et j’ai été très impressionné par le réalisme de cet objectif. Son poids astronomique m’a un peu ralenti pour un tournage qui s’alignait sur 17 jours, mais nous avons pris le pari de l’utiliser. Nous étions intégralement sur ce zoom Cooke, bénéficiant de lents zooms pour accentuer des malaises, des craintes et des émotions vécues par les personnages. Nous avons décidé de tourner avec la Alexa Classique en 2K, par souci budgétaire. ARRI a réussi tout un exploit, presque 13 ans après sa sortie, le capteur des Alexa Classique reste très près de la vérité.

Dû à ses sujets crus par moment et à un thème récurrent de solitude, nous avons décidé d’opter pour une caméra très observatrice, soudée au sol, souvent très haute ou très basse, nous offrant une vision neutre et véritable. Nous ressentions un attrait pour un cadre 4:3, quelque chose de très carré nous permettant de se concentrer sur les émotions du personnages. Dès les premiers jours de montage, nous avons réalisé que le 4:3 rendait le tout trop détaché et un peu trop stylisé. Nous avons eu quelques défis car en sortant les fichiers en 16:9, nous faisions apparaitre de l’équipement, des membres de l’équipe et des recoins de nos locations qui n’avaient pas été préparés. Le 2K nous a permis de recadrer à quelques moments sans perdre trop de qualité, même si ce n’est pas recommandé.

Nous voulions une lumière très imparfaite et véritable, ça se sent notamment dans plusieurs scènes où des néons verdâtres teintent les plans ou dans des environnements de chambre à coucher où la noirceur est quasiment un personnage en soi. Notre mot d’ordre était le calme et les cadrages très larges dès que possible. J’ai souvent tendance à simplifier grandement les installations d’éclairage lorsqu’il faut accélérer le pas de la production et avec l’équipe électro-machino que nous avions, composé de seulement 2

Le bœuf haché ou le tempeh

Modern Lenses. Timeless Look.

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we widen the sources without adding more. I’m a big fan of oblique lighting and three-quarter back lighting, I’ve always found that it trains the viewer’s eye to what’s important in the scene, which is the acting. The opening of the Cooke Varotal forced us to provide an intensity of light that I wasn’t used to in narrative feature writing. I usually prefer a very soft light, i.e. book lights, for key lights and very little fill. I had to adjust this, because otherwise we would have been in darkness for the entire shoot. I assumed that we would temper the softness for some scenes, and that we would have to accept that some locations did not allow for large soft sources. Our most effective tool was undoubtedly the “Leko 750.” This source is by far the most versatile in terms of power, smoothness and control. While we remained anchored in a fairly realistic world, a few flights of fancy allowed us to illustrate the emotions felt by the main character. This is particularly noticeable when he tells a slightly distorted vision of a disturbing event.

A few days after completing the production of Géolocaliser l’amour, I started working on the pre-production of a web series called Germain s’éteint II, directed by Dan & Pag. I found myself in a highly interesting situation – taking over cinematography after a first season that had been entrusted to Jean-Philippe Bernier. We stuck to his universe in terms of cutting and narrative intention while bringing our own aura and changing the camera body from RED to Alexa Mini. I was very grateful for JP’s words, when he pushed me to take ownership of the project and impart my touch to it.

membres (!!!), chaque changement de scène était accompagné d’un besoin d’aller très vite. C’est pourquoi j’ai choisi d’y aller avec des directions de lumière très sobres et unidimensionnelles la plupart du temps.

J’ai concrétisé cette technique sur Géolocaliser l’amour et je l’utilise encore à ce jour dans des circonstances où nous devons tourner un nombre de pages par jour trop ambitieux. Dans le cas où un néon devient notre point central dans une chambre d’hôpital, chaque direction de lumière va se baser sur cette direction, nous agrandissions donc les sources sans en rajouter. Je suis un grand fervent de la lumière en biais, lumière troisquart arrière, j’ai toujours trouvé que cela permettait d’amener le regard du spectateur sur ce qui est important dans la scène, soit le jeu. L’ouverture de la Cooke Varotal nous a obligés à utiliser une intensité de lumière à laquelle je n’étais pas habitué en fiction. Je préconise habituellement une lumière très douce, du ‘’booklight’’ pour les keylights et très peu de ‘’fill’’. J’ai dû m’ajuster, car sinon nous aurions été plongés dans la noirceur pour l’intégralité du tournage. J’ai assumé que la douceur serait moins au rendez-vous pour certaines scènes et qu’il faudrait accepter que certaines locations ne permettaient pas de grosses sources douces. Notre outil le plus efficace fût indéniablement le ‘’Leko 750’’. Cette source est de loin la plus versatile en terme de puissance, douceur et contrôle. Ancré dans un monde assez réaliste, quelques moments de fantaisie nous permettaient d’illustrer les émotions ressenties par le protagoniste principal, ça se sent notamment lorsqu’il relate une vision un peu déformée d’un événement troublant.

Left: Dominos 2. Right, top: Géolocaliser l'amour. Bottom: La Sonate du Diable.

After shooting five web series and five pilots that never led to funding, I started working for television last year. Web series are sometimes a real springboard for projects that have more means to realize their ambitions. Certainly, speed of execution is paramount, and web series provide a degree of focus and problem solving that carries over to any project where time is an issue. We always run out of time to do things right, which means we need to acquire tools and habits that allow us to be happy with the work and the directions of light. This means that when shooting a 25-page-aday product with several changes of chronologies, day and night, shoulder and tripod, and a few Steadicam shots, we must remember our first steps in the world of web series. Since then, I’ve consistently followed the principle that I must do my best with the fewest means.

Quelques jours après la fin de la production de Géolocaliser l’amour, je suis embarqué sur la pré-production de la websérie Germain s’éteint II, réalisé par Dan&Pag. Je me retrouvais dans une situation très intéressante où je reprenais les rênes de la direction photo qui avait été signé par JeanPhilippe Bernier pour la première saison. Nous sommes restés proche de l’univers en terme de découpage et d’intention narrative tout en y amenant une aura bien à nous et en changeant de boîtier, passant de RED à Alexa Mini. J’ai énormément apprécié les mots de JP qui m’a poussé à m’approprier le projet et à y amener ma touche.

Après avoir tourné 5 webséries et tourné 5 pilotes qui n’ont jamais été financés, j’ai commencé à travailler en télévision l’an dernier. La websérie est parfois un véritable tremplin pour des projets qui ont nécessairement un peu plus les moyens de leurs ambitions. Une chose est certaine, la vitesse d’exécution est primordiale et la websérie amène ce degré de concentration et de résolution de problèmes qui se collent à tout projet où le temps est un enjeu. Nous manquons sensiblement toujours de temps pour bien faire les choses, c’est à ce moment qu’il faut développer des outils et des habitudes qui nous permettent d’être satisfait du travail et des directions de lumière. De cette façon, lorsqu’on arrive sur un projet avec 25 pages par jour avec plusieurs changements de chronologies, du jour et de la nuit, de l’épaule et du trépied avec quelques plans de ‘’steadicam’’, il faut se rappeler nos premiers balbutiements en websérie et une doctrine qui me suit depuis toujours, faire bien avec rien, faire mieux avec peu.

Dominos 2

Moving

Movie Memories” is a television spot for Telefilm that was commissioned to premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and then broadcast across the country for movie lovers at select Cineplex cinemas nationwide. It aims to inspire Canadians to get back into movie theatres, which have been struggling to stay afloat in the wake of the COVID pandemic. When director LeSean Harris approached me about this project, he already had the first-person POV concept in mind. So the spot begins in first person and then seamlessly transitions to third person for our final reveal – that our protagonist’s is Director X in his early 20s going to the cinema with his friends.

This project required a fair bit of testing, but that’s often one of my favourite parts of the process. After countless tests and research, we ensured the first-person POV shots felt right, cohesive and were not too jarring when transitioning to third person POV. We did various tests to determine which lens and focal length would match this perspective best, and we used a helmet rig to emulate the perspective of first person. However, the challenge was that the camera build had to be lightweight enough while also packing a cinematic punch.

I had come across a unique helmet rig system that had two shoulder pads that supported a lot of the weight of the helmet/camera. I had done a similar helmet rig with an Alexa Mini LF on a spot I had previously shot.

Helmet POV rig from our first camera test with the Sony Venice Rialto system and 12mm Laowa Prime lens. We later opted for another helmet rig system that also had shoulder pad support, which is what we used on our shoot.

Adam Madrzyk

b y a dam m adrzyk

Although the Mini LF provided a perfect field of view and fantastic colour science, its size and weight were quite bulky and strenuous for our operator. The solution was to create a neutrally balanced rig through perfect weight distribution for easy and smooth operating. However, even with the shoulder pads bearing some weight, the sheer size of the Mini LF body required us to re-distribute the weight further and more evenly. So, we added a shark fin dual battery splitter on the back of the helmet to add more counterbalance, which was the perfect solution.

On this spot, I opted for the Sony Venice with the Rialto system, which worked brilliantly and helped us lower the overall weight. Beyond this, it also offered a similar LF field of view, good colour science and high 5.7K resolution, which came in handy for any reframing or post-stabilization needs.

In the end, we modified a custom helmet rig with the Sony Venice builtin Rialto mode with a combination of the Laowa 12 mm Zero D and K35 primes. I was really impressed with the Laowa 12 mm Zero D prime. By

cinema glass, it’s technically an inexpensive “budget lens,” but it’s quite impressive in its performance, design and build. It claims to be “Zero D,” which means zero distortion, while still offering a 122-degree field of view. It’s also one of the widest T/2.9 lenses that cover sensors up to both fullframe and vista vision. In addition, this lens has no vignetting and is packed into a small compact design and a very lightweight build. It’s truly one of a kind and one of my favourite specialty lenses.

Another challenge was that our operator had to act as both the camera operator and as a perfect body double for Director X. Beyond technical skill, physical parameters like height, skin tone and build further narrowed down the search for the camera operator. We were lucky to be recommended Fraser Collins, who was a perfect match in all departments. He did a fantastic job operating our helmet cam.

I also used a lot of Aputure lighting in this spot. They are one my favourite lighting companies because I feel like they’ve been really pushing innovation

I feel immense gratitude for being a part of this project because of my genuine love for film both behind the camera and as a consumer.

- Adam Madrzyk

while also always keeping the consumer in mind. For example, for the projector booth scene our key light was a tiny Aputure MC pocket LED light that we hid within the projector itself acting as a small projector light. We also used the 600C, Nova P600C and 1200ds in various moments for soft ambient fill and as our key light throughout the spot.

LeSean also did a fantastic job visualizing this whole spot. Working together through how we can best create some of our in-camera transitions scenes and setups was definitely a highlight of mine.

For the lighting, I wanted to reflect a lot of the fluorescent and incandescent lighting look of the ‘90s and early 2000s. Growing up, I had an affinity for the old fluorescent neon lights lining the walls of my local theatre, so I wanted to incorporate some of that in our sets as a note of nostalgia. Neon fluorescent strips are hard to come by now and also tend to flicker on camera. So I spoke with our production designer Noelle Hindi for alternative solutions. In the end, I brought in some of my left-over Moss LED diffuse flex LED strips and we camera tested them to see how they would look dressed in. These LED strips had a diffusion silicone bubble built in and were fully RGBW, which when turned cyan looked like old fluorescent tubes at a distance. I had my gaffer Adrian Antonecchia rig and wire a few strips of these, lining the walls of the popcorn concession area stand, which I think made the shot quite dynamic. For easy control, we then hooked it up to his Blackout iPad console for wireless DMX control.

When we were shooting far away from the projector, I used a high-wattage stage light mover head to act as our projector beam. I had used this technique before and have learned that if done with the right gobo and the

correct DMX programming, and with it flickering realistically, there was a way to cheat it as a convincing looking projector beam. The bonus: it also emitted a sharper, brighter and further throwing beam than a high-wattage 12K projector. We hooked it up again via DMX through Blackout, and I had our gaffer create a randomized flicker/rotating gobo pattern to give it more of a projector feel. I was thrilled with the final result because it worked quite effectively and convincingly.

In postproduction, our colourist Bryan Smaller at Company 3 enhanced our vintage look with our colour grade and added subtle red halation to our incandescent fixtures, similar to what you get with Tungsten-based Kodak 5219 or CineStill film.

I firmly believe you are only as good as your crew. This was a project where I knew it would be essential to work with keys that had my back and believed in the overall vision. The main pillars keeping things streamlined and effective were great communication, mutual respect and creative alignment. One of the first things I did when starting my career was work towards developing a core team that I trusted and that I felt supported me. I feel immense gratitude for being a part of this project because of my genuine love for film both behind the camera and as a consumer.

This project wouldn’t have been possible without our camera operator Fraser Collins, gimbal op Dane Cutcliffe, gaffer Adrian Antonecchia, key grip Spencer Johnston, 1 st AC Eric Schweiger, 1 st AC Mike Pesut, 1 st AD Darrell Faria and of course, the team at production company Fela – LeSean Harris, Mikayla Fasullo, Amir Karimi, Director X, Taj Critchlow, producer Matt Wiele and PM Vlad Motorykin.

JERICCA CLELAND csc

How did you get started in the business?

I was lucky enough to find cinematography in CG as it was discovering itself, at Pixar on their early films. My first shots as a camera artist were on A Bug’s Life. It might look dated now, but in ‘98 it was cutting edge in the field! I was so inspired by how my eyes opened to colour, light, camera and choreography through this initiation into the world of animated feature filmmaking.

Who have been your mentors or teachers?

I first worked under live action cinematographer Matt Uhry on Toy Story 2 at Pixar. His passion for the craft made an indelible impression on me – the way he saw the power in both camera and light for storytelling set me on this course. As I began on Finding Nemo , Bruce Block’s “The Visual Story” workshop radically shifted and strengthened my approach

to linking visuals and story, which has since become the foundation and throughline of my work.

Name a cinematographer who has recently inspired you and why.

Greig Fraser’s [ asc, acs ] work on Dune . Amazing visual storytelling, both emotionally and from a worldbuilding perspective. I was really impressed by the distinct and unified visual language. The photography was just beautiful– compositionally, and in terms of light and colour. Gorgeous.

What films or other works of art have made the biggest impression on you?

Amadeus, Vermeer and Rembrandt paintings, Virginie Ropars’ sculptures, The Godfather, Blade Runner.

by Jo Enaje

Name one of your professional highlights.

Contributing to the design of the camera and staging for Finding Nemo remains one of my highlights. In early production, I had the opportunity to deeply support the narrative arcs through a cohesive design of camerawork, staging and composition in collaboration with the other filmmakers. It was a great experience.

What is one of your most memorable moments on set?

While an animated film is a massive collaborative effort between many artists in many different fields to pull off, we have less of that live action “on set” experience of everything coalescing at once. Each department is often very separate. But late in the making of Toy Story 2, the film needed to be reworked under tremendous time pressure. We had to come together across department lines, working closely together to get it done. The synergy of that moment was amazing and inspiring, and I always try to recreate that cohesion and crossover energy in my own projects.

What do you like best about what you do?

Creatively, the absolute freedom to do anything in CG cinematography. You can create any shot you want, any lighting, camera lens or camera angle. Essentially, if you can imagine it, you can craft it, making the creative process very rich and rewarding. However, it takes a lot of discipline and design to make good choices that support both the style and story.

What do you like least about what you do?

In animation, nothing comes for free! Every shot starts from black. No happy accidents. Every single element has to be pre-planned, created, and refined. The workload is high, and the process is extremely long and challenging. It’s always a marathon.

What do you think has been the greatest invention related to your craft?

Real-time lighting and rendering! For a long time in CG, you had to compose your shot without light and then light it later in the process, after everything else was complete. This meant lighting was very hard to integrate fundamentally into the storytelling. Now, we can see representative lighting and depth of field at the same time that we frame the shot, allowing for a much more unified approach.

How can others follow your work?

Instagram @jericcacleland and JericcaCleland.com

This page top two images: Toy Story 2. Bottom: We Are Not Princesses Opposite page from top: Finding Nemo, Ballerina (aka Leap!) Ballerina (aka Leap!) Fireheart, Fireheart Ballerina (aka Leap!), Finding Nemo

DP Kevin Rasmussen (associate member) with key grip Shawn Robertson and actor Nick Mirka on Dark Side of Comedy Season 1 for ViceTV. Nate Belgrave

Associate member Tess Girard with sound recordist Amanda Wong and field producer Lucy Cameron on the set of Swan Song Shaelynn Estrada

DPs Marco Bossow and Andy Brown with cam op Mike Decker, 1st AC Parker Chen, key grip Shane Day shooting the web series Foragers Belen Garcia (associate member)

DP Polly Pierce with B Cam op Andy Brown shooting IATSE 891 Equality Statement PSA. Belen Garcia (associate member)

Cast your spell with Blackmagic

DP Jonathan Decoste csc operates on the Sony Venice Rialto Mode on the set of the feature film Chien Blanc (see December 2022). Belen Garcia (associate member)

DP Leo Harim with key grip Elijah Zimmerman, grip Israel Seoane and on set sound Coby DeDegroot shooting the feature film Madar. Belen Garcia (associate member)

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DP Alfonso Chin and key grip Andrei Lyskov shooting Amanda Sum's music video "Different Than Before." Belen Garcia (associate member)

DP Mitchel Baxter (associate member) with key grip Thomas Amstrong shooting the short film Wildflower Belen Garcia (associate member)

DP Claudine Sauvé csc on the set of Denys Arcand's upcoming film Testament Jan Thijs

Benji Irwin with a fully built out Arri Alexa Mini with Arri Master Primes on the feature film The Last Video Store filmed in Hamilton Film Studios. Ingrid Monday

Associate member Matt Bendo on set of the feature film Dada with 1st AC Roy Zheng (affiliate member) and director Aaron Poole. Edgar Pinzo

by Jo Enaje

Nikos Evdemon csc was born in the picturesque port city of Salonika in northern Greece, into a family steeped in the art and culture of the area’s theatre community. Entertainment became embedded in his soul in childhood. As a youth, Nikos loved the theatre environment, and attending the local cinema was a frequent event that stimulated his young imagination. Nikos knew then that he wanted to be part of the arts industry but wasn’t sure in what capacity. His life’s calling came to him years later while he was completing his mandatory military service in the Greek army. Being a visual person with good sketching skills, together with his creative and technical abilities, Nikos figured cinematography would be a perfect match. Time would prove his aspiration to be prophetic.

Nikos enrolled at the notable Institute of Optics and Photo Technique in Berlin. Graduating in the upper half of his class three years later in 1967, Nikos set off for home to begin his career as a cinematographer in the prolific Greek film industry. However, the political climate in his homeland had changed dramatically that year. Greece was ruled by a military junta that restricted civil liberties and tolerated no opposition. The vibrant film industry no longer existed. Still, Nikos managed to work on two films. One was government sanctioned, and the other was a clandestine production evading

draconian censorship laws. Nikos decided to leave Greece.

In 1968, he landed in Toronto with $200 in his pocket. By chance, he met commercial producer Bob Schulz and was hired by Schulz Productions. It was the beginning of an incredible career for Nikos that has graced Canadian film and television for 40 years, including a remarkable 28 years with the CBC. Nikos became known for his decerning eye and ingenuity as a cinematographer. He was the DP on scores of productions during his career from documentaries to TV specials, series and movies across multiple genres. Nikos garnered an abundance of tributes for his craft, including the 1988 CSC Award for Best Cinematography - TV Drama for the movie Peacekeepers, and again in 2003 he won the CSC Award for Best Cinematography in a TV Series for Mutant X – “Nothing to Fear”. Nikos also collected four Gemini statues for his DP work in 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1996.

Nikos was accepted into the CSC in 1970 and remained a lifelong member and served on the Society’s executive board as its Publicity Chair from 2004 to 2011. It was during this period that he volunteered his time and his impressive computer/web building skills to the CSC, beautifully redesigning the look and functionality of the Society’s web site at the time. Along with maintaining the site, Nikos’ web innovations and upgrades provided CSC members not only links to their personal web sites, but also the ability to post demos of their work to a direct-access location within the CSC website itself for viewing by anyone. Other features Nikos added to the site included a sample flip-page version of Canadian Cinematographer and a popular online payment system. He was also very instrumental on numerous other CSC projects including helping to produce the CSC’s 50 th Anniversary commemorative book. For his dedication to the Society’s betterment, Nikos was the recipient of the 2009 President’s Award for his extraordinary contributions to the CSC.

Nikos passed away October 30, 2022, in Toronto at age 82. Nikos was highly respected by colleagues and well loved by friends as a kind and considerate person who was generous with his time, knowledge and spirit.

Robert Crone csc was a Canadian film and television industry pioneer. As an independent news/documentary cinematographer based in Toronto in the early 1950s, Bob regarded his camera and television in general as vehicles for change. With his probing style of cinematography, Bob documented the human condition with all its frailties, highlighting triumphs and injustices where they could be found. He shot extensively for CBC News and contributed to groundbreaking news/public affairs shows such as Quest , This Hour Has Seven Days and Close-Up

An entrepreneur with vision, Bob recognized a production void in Canada’s film and television industry that needed to be filled. In 1963, he founded the legendary Film House, Canada’s first full-service postproduction facility. It boasted state-of-the-art processing labs and a postproduction facility with cutting-edge technology all under one roof. When the likes of Donald Shebib, Ivan Reitman and David Cronenberg walked through the doors of Film House with their projects, they found a top-rated facility on par with Los Angeles and New York film centres. Film House proved to be an important production catalyst that helped develop Canada’s nascent film industry at the time.

Film House was also extremely important to the CSC. Bob allowed the society to freely use Film House facilities as it needed, for meetings,

Bob Crone csc I932 – 2023

demonstrations, workshops, screenings and anything else to accommodate the society and its members. The Film House office during this period also handled the CSC administrative chores. This was an immense boon for the CSC, since a formal administration and staff was still in the future for the Society. In essence, Film House became a de facto HQ for the CSC.

Bob is also considered the “father” of the Steadicam profession in Canada. After watching a demonstration in Los Angeles of a Steadicam prototype, Bob sensed this new technology would have a major impact on cinematography and the motion picture industry. He ordered one on the spot. Steadicam #001 went to the inventor, American cinematographer Garrett Brown, while Steadicam #002 stayed with the manufacturer for modifications. Bob became the owner of Steadicam #003. For the longest while, Bob and Garrett Brown were the only Steadicam operators in the world. As Steadicam’s reputation grew, so did the demand for Bob and his motion stabilization rig. True to his nature, Bob was very generous with his time and knowledge. When anyone asked about the Steadicam, he was more than happy to explain and answer questions. Bob also provided handson instruction for free to anyone thinking about obtaining their own rig. Many did, and the Steadicam profession was born in Canada.

Bob was a lifelong member of the CSC. He was one of the first to join the Society in 1957 and was accorded membership #20. Bob served the CSC with distinction, in several executive positions, including President and Secretary. A highly respected cinematographer, Bob fully supported the CSC and its values and recognized the society as an essential organization for the development of a Canadian film industry through the nurturing of younger members and the championing of technological advancements.

At the 1981 Genies, Bob and his wife Vi Crone were presented with The Air Canada Award for “outstanding contributions to the business of filmmaking in Canada”.

In 1993, at the annual CSC Awards Gala, he was the recipient of the Bill Hilson Award “for outstanding service contributing to the development of the motion picture industry”.

Bob passed away on January 12, 2023, at age 90.

Don Angus I938 – 2022

Don Angus was the chief writer and editor of CSC News from 1994 to 2007. A consummate journalist, Don drew from his 30 years of editorial experience to transform CSC News from a four-page black and white newsletter into a glossy, full-colour, 28-page magazine that was published 10 times a year. During his thirteen-year tenure with CSC News , Don’s skills and acumen laid the all-important foundation that allowed CSC News to evolve into today’s finely crafted Canadian Cinematographer magazine.

A natural wordsmith, Don launched his journalism career while still a student at Acadia University, as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper The Athenaeum for the 1958-59 school year. He joined Canadian Press in its Halifax bureau as a report/editor. The speed and precision of the wire service was perfectly in tune with Don’s meticulous nature. He thrived with the company, earning postings to New York and Toronto. Don also had a key role coordinating CP’s coverage of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, working closely with Associated Press in New York to rapidly transmit the event’s results to the world. He was Chief of Special Services and General Executive in charge of the CP subsidiary, Press News Limited, before leaving the company after

28 years. Subsequently Don held a managerial position on the business side with Reuters of Canada for three years, before broadening his career as a freelance journalist. During this period, Don wrote stories for Detroit Free Press; Advertising Age magazine; World Trade Centre Toronto; Media Profile, Canada’s largest public relations agency, as well as several other organizations and publications.

At CSC News , Don became known for his superb editing skills, where not even the slightest copy error evaded his “eagle eye”. He was also a storehouse of knowledge that was almost encyclopedic in its depth. Needed a fact checked or the answer to a mystifying question? “Don’ll know” was the go-to refrain. More often than not, Don had the answer with a bonus explanation.

Don also took business as CSC News advertising manager, devising the fee schedule for placing ads and selling the advertising space in the magazine. His other involvements with the Society included the Annual CSC Awards Gala, writing the show script, speeches and the Awards Program. Don was also the writer of the CSC’s 50 th Anniversary book and the editor of the CSC Membership Handbook, compiling information and updating the compendium annually.

Throughout his involvement with the magazine, the one aspect that pleased him the most and continued to pique his interest was his interviews with cinematographers. He often said that he felt privileged to be invited into their homes or on set to hear their stories and to document their experiences, their craft, their techniques, and their use of technology. No two stories were ever alike. It was a constant source of fascination for Don, who saw himself as not simply a journalist, but also as historical scribe documenting Canadian cinematography history.

After retiring from the CSC Don remained active with the Society and the magazine dispensing his sage advice as editor emeritus.

Don was honoured as the recipient of the 2011 President’s for his outstanding contribution to the Canadian Society of Cinematographers.

Donald Gordon Angus died in Toronto on December 13, 2022, at age 84.

CSC Online Content SHOWCASE

The CSC is proud to be producing online content showcasing the fundamentals of cinematography and offering insight into our membership. Over the last two years, the CSC YouTube channel has expanded, producing more curated content featuring our membership in their cinematographic element. Two recent additions include CSC Presents and Walkthroughs.

CSC PRESENTS is an all-encompassing showcase of works by our members and their collaborators. It has grown to include various platforms of recorded talks and interviews, in-person screenings, colour demonstrations and deep-dive conversations with filmmakers who have decades of experience under their belts, along with the new generation hungry for knowledge. Most notably, our recent content has included: a retrospective look at the legendary career of Mark Irwin csc, asc, hosted by mentee Daniel Everitt-Lock; a conversation among director Otto Bathurst, cinematographer Paul Sarossy csc, bsc, asc, and colourist Mark Kueper, the filmmakers behind  Billy the Kid; an inside look at the hit HBO show  Station Eleven  with director Jeremy Podeswa, cinematographer Daniel Grant csc and colourist Cody Baker; a threepart inside look at Cabinet Of Curiosities episodes shot by cinematographer Colin Hoult csc and Oscar-nominated production designer Tamara Deverell, as well as the ASC-nominated episode shot by Jeremy Benning csc

David Greene csc, asc during the walkthrough of Titans. Artem Mykhailetskyi

Philip Lanyon csc during the walkthrough of Star Trek. Matthew McDonald

Colour demo with Marc Bachli at Pictureshop with CSC intern Kelvin Mendie. Byron Wong and Kate Latimer

Lighting board op Kalyna Conrad during the walkthrough of Titans. Jeremy Benning csc

Gaffer Terry Banting and Fraser Brown csc during the walkthrough of Titans. Artem Mykhailetskyi

WALKTHROUGH  was inspired by the success of the behind-the-scenes look at the set of  The Expanse . The series provides an all-access look at some of the hottest shows being produced in Toronto and follows department heads, such as cinematographers, directors and production designers, as they show us their unique approach to what goes into their work. The upcoming behind-the-scenes look of the popular show  Titans follows cinematographers Daniel Green csc, Fraser Brown csc, gaffer Terry Banting and lighting board operators Kalyna Conrad and Nigel Draper as they walk through their set. A walkthrough of the legendary  Star Trek  included a talk with cinematographers Philip Lanyon csc, Maya Bankovic csc and director/producer Olatunde Osunsanmi. The series also includes an exclusive look at the Billy Porter-directed episode of  Accused  shot by cinematographer Jeremy Benning csc with production designer Elisa Sauvé.

The CSC’s YouTube channel is the home for all curated content focusing on educational demonstrations, conversations among filmmakers and the celebration of cinema.

Jeremy Benning csc during the walkthrough of the Accused episode directed by Billy Porter.

Andres Galicia

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