15 minute read
LINDA WASSBERG DFF•TOVE
COLOUR ME SPIRITUAL
By Darek Kuźma
French DP Jeanne Lapoirie AFC collaborated with Dutch provocateur Paul Verhoeven to give his most recent feature film, Benedetta, all the visual panache it needed.
Religion and sex have always made for a controversial cinematic concoction capable of arousing the most seasoned viewers, yet throughout his career Paul Verhoeven has repeatedly proven he can take things to a whole new level. This is also the case with his latest feature film, Benedetta, based on a true-story of the eponymous novice, possibly with a gift of miracles, who joins a 16th century convent in Italy only to enter into sexual relations with another woman. This leads her to clash with the Church, making the film a thoughtprovoking tale of faith, love and passion in the age of reason..
Verhoeven is essentially an authority on making divisive, erotically-charged films, yet Benedetta certainly benefitted from having a woman’s eye behind the lens.
“I was surprised when producer Saïd Ben Saïd offered me the job. I never thought I’d work with Paul Verhoeven,” says Lapoirie, a veteran DP with over fifty feature films to her credit, with the likes of 8 Women (2002) for François Ozon, Robin Campillo’s Eastern Boys (2013), and Les Estivants (The Summer House) (2018) for Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. “I liked the script, the characters, the challenge of shooting an unconventional period drama, but I accepted the project because of Paul.”
Visually, the director did not want to push the envelope, but rather to focus the viewers’ attentions on the intricacies of the story, yet he had a particular look in mind.
“Paul gives a lot of freedom to his collaborators, but he was adamant Benedetta should be shot handheld, but without being shaky. Just to have a bit of vibration in the frame, a personal touch, yet to retain the flavour of classic filmmaking,” explains Lapoirie. “He asked me to watch some Hitchcock and Fellini films, and Eisenstein’s Ivan The Terrible (1944, DPs Andrei Moskvin/Eduard Tisse), but said those were just a loose framework that I should infuse with my ideas.”
That she did, implementing her particular style on Benedetta’s canvas.
“I love colours. Not just my favourite palette, but all colours. I can’t do a movie if there’s no contrast or colour. I remember the joy of taking still photos on Kodak Ektachrome. While making my first feature as a DP, Les Roseaux Sauvages (Wild Reeds) (1994) on Super 16mm, I pushed the stock one stop to make the colours more vibrant,” asserts Lapoirie. “Period movies are often devoid of that, but not Benedetta. All the colours you see – those of the nuns’ habits, the covenant’s interiors and the candlelight – are integral to its visual language.”
The film is set both in the covenant’s gloomy chambers and in sun-soaked exteriors of an Italian town, with a number of night scenes infused with a hellish red glow of a comet flying by Earth.
“I had a contrasty and colourful LUT that I had used many times before. It makes black a bit blueish, whilst other colours are more on the yellow side which melded nicely with red hues of fire and candlelight,” offers Lapoirie. “When we graded Benedetta with my colourist Serge Antony, most of the work had already been done.”
Lapoirie used a lot of her favourite lighting equipment, too.
“It was mostly LED, a mix of SkyPanels, DMG Lumière SL1 fluorescent tube alternatives, Tungsten and HMIs that I was comfortable with. They matched really well with many scenes lit by candlelight and torches. I wasn’t afraid of darkness and characters staying in shadows at all. Darkness was my friend,” adds Lapoirie. “There was one particular scene on the convent’s roof that I had to light using a drone because we could not put a lighting big tower on the ground, but apart from that, I had a good level of control over everything. Pretty creative stuff.”
Lapoirie also brought her preferred camera and lenses to the project. “In the past, when I shot on film, I always chose Kodak stock. I shot a lot of films on 35mm, and know how to organise the set. I tested other options but nothing came close. However, after making the transition to digital, I use the ARRI Alexa Mini with the compact Angénieux Optimo spherical zoom lenses, mostly 28-76mm and 45120mm. The only difference was that Paul wanted to have lots of coverage, so we shot with two Alexas, and I had the fast Leitz Summilux lenses for our complicated night exteriors.”
The film was shot between July and September 2018 on location, with a few greenscreen studio scenes done after the principal photography. Principal photography took place in Montepulciano, Italy. Other locations included Val d’Orcia and Bevagna, also in Italy, as well as the Silvacane Abbey and Le Thoronet Abbey, in France. Lapoirie’s only regret was that due to scheduling problems they had to shoot the exteriors first.
“I would have preferred September, with less harsh sun, especially since Paul likes to do a lot of shots for quick cutting and shoots them in order inside a scene,” says the DP. “We shot this complicated sequence for five days straight in a town square as if from the 16th century. Because Paul insisted on shooting chronologically, I had to prepare a lot of set-ups to keep the levels of light and shadow consistent throughout, no matter whether it was high noon or evening. It was a real challenge.”
Producer Ben Saïd has admitted that the story of Benedetta might be a „subject of controversy” and feared reactions from fundamentalist Catholic associations. Production was followed by a strong campaign of secrecy and no-one, unless working on the film, was allowed on the set.
So were Benedetta’s daring erotic scenes challenging for Lapoirie?
“Not really,” she says. “Paul has a relaxed attitude towards this stuff, he deals with it with lots of humour. It’s rather a technical challenge with all the shots and close-ups. The crew and actresses Virginie Efira and Daphne Patakia adopted his mindset.
“You see, Paul runs a tight schedule. There isn’t a place for improvisation, everything is mapped-out. Everyone knew days before what we would shoot and what was going to be visible in the frame. The scenes turned out beautiful, colourful and spiritual. I’m proud of them.”
Lapoirie has a lot to be proud of, with Benedetta being a fearless cinematic feast of carnal pleasure and cerebral delight.
“You don’t see it but we had quite a small budget for such an ambitious project. We had to be creative with the challenges that lay ahead. I believe we fulfilled the film’s potential and made it visually exciting,” she concludes.
The film starts its journey in-competition at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where festival director
Thierry Fremaux stated that, „Paul Verhoeven delivers an erotic and mischievous, also political, vision of the Middle Ages in a grandiose production.” And whilst no one can predict whether it is going to join Basic Instinct (1992, DP Jan De Bont),
Showgirls (1995, DP Jost Vacano BVK) and Elle (2016, DP Stéphane Fontaine AFC), in Verhoeven’s canon, it will definitely be remembered as one of his most visually-striking. And that is no small feat.
Photo: (Below) Jeanne Lapoirie AFC on the set of Benedetta.
LIGHT
FANTASTIC By David Wood
Age // 34
Born // 5/12/87
School // Biola University, CA
Training //
Studied Cinema & Media Arts at university Worked at lighting rental house, began working on-set to gain experience Lives in // Pasadena, CA Hobbies/Passions // Lighting, hiking, camping, music and plants
How did you get started?
I always knew this was what I wanted to do. I grew-up making films with friends. By the time I hit high school I was producing for various class projects and realised I had a passion for filmmaking. I shot as many projects as I could, testing out new cameras, learning how to light subjects, making lots of mistakes and learning from them.
After school, I started working at a lighting rental house, hopped on as many jobs as I could and met other young aspiring gaffers. We formed a group – a hive mind – of learning, trying new things and sharing knowledge with each other. Learning the trade
I learned how to be a gaffer by watching other gaffers and DPs lighting sets – I did a lot of reconnaissance in my early days as a lighting technician. I watched a lot of movies and would take screen grabs of my favourite shots and figure out how they lit them. I read the ASC Magazine a lot, taking notes and studying the BTS photos for new lighting concepts and equipment choices. You can always learn a lot from your colleagues too. Discussing lighting with my friends over drinks has been a staple over the past ten years. Working with DPs
I really appreciate a DP who comes in with a plan. It doesn’t have to be super specific, but having a solid vision for how you want the show to look helps immensely as a jumping-off point for me to do my best work. I usually meet with the DP early in prep to discuss visual language, overall mood and tone. Once we dive into the specific sets, I can see what the DP is aiming for, and translate that into lighting fixtures and rigging it in a way that allows for not only the look to be achieved, but also to be adjusted quickly on the day. Regular crew?
I run with a young and hungry crew. They may not have the decades of experience that some do, but they are all smart, capable, know the technology and put in 100% effort.
Programmer Derek Hoffman is a long-time best friend – we grew up and made movies together, and now we make movies together as working adults. Derek’s incredibly smart and always knows the best way to approach and manage our complex lighting rigs, networks and data.
I’ve been with rigging gaffer Bobby DeChellis for the past few years. He’s absolutely hilarious and brings great energy. He’s always striving to improve and is an extremely hard worker, coming up with amazing ideas daily that make us all look good. A joy to be around. Big break
It came when I was asked to be the gaffer on the second season of Legion with DP Dana Gonzales. We had worked together previously, but I didn’t feel I had the experience to tackle such a large show. He stuck his neck out for me, despite my lack of experience, which gave me a chance to step-up. That show pushed me far beyond what I thought I was capable of.
Not long after, I was approached by gaffer colleague – and long-time idol – Mike Bauman, who had just finished lighting tests for an untitled Star Wars project (The Mandalorian). Since I knew all the new LED technology from my time working on Legion, he thought I might be a good fit for the project which would be utilising an LED volume – a virtual stage with walls and ceiling made of LED screens, 20ft tall, 75ft across, with integrated motion capture cameras. I knew very little going into the interview with Greig Fraser ACS ASC, but we got on well and he hired me. Greig had left early to start work on his next project, so DP Baz Idoine and I
began our work together that continued into season two. Biggest challenge
The Mandalorian has been the most challenging and the most rewarding. It’s the first time in my career where I’ve had to create workflows that didn’t really exist before. Every time I walk into a new set, I’m facing a brand new set of challenges that are unique to lighting in a video wall environment, and I can’t run to other gaffers for advice since I’m the first gaffer to have spent ample time inside The Volume. Everyday is another science experiment to see what works and what doesn’t.
We work very closely with Manhattan Beach Studios (MBS), who provide our equipment packages for The Volume and surrounding stages. They listen to our needs and always strive to provide the newest gear with the freshest technology. Inside The Volume!
It’s tough because we’re running two units almost every day, have new sets moving in and out of The Volume regularly, and we’re always having to think outside of the box. On the prison ship set from The Mandalorian S1, we had hundreds of Digital Sputnik units that needed to be installed in very little time, all while programming the different effect cues and making sure everything was timed-out right. It was brutal working on a set doused in red light all day with the added bonus of white strobes putting the whole crew on edge. Baz came in with a great plan and Derek executed the cues with finesse. It was a team effort and at the end of the day, I’m really proud of what we accomplished in there.
On season two Baz Idoine and Matt Jensen ASC pushed the boundaries of what The Volume could do, creating a unique look and colour palette throughout the season (like the Ahsoka episode). We put our heart and souls into that season and I think we ended-up with something truly magical. New virtual production technology
The Mandalorian S1 was one of the first shows to utilise a full 360º video wall stage and ceiling, with the added bonus of live backgrounds and parallax. There are many advantages to working in a Volume. The video walls themselves emanate light and soft ambient light is easily added with light cards, but what people don’t quite realise is how much we augment the video wall lighting with our own. Not only does the “natural” light from the video panels spill everywhere and is difficult to control, but we’re limited by the maximum output of the video panels themselves.
Adding in hard light to The Volume is a challenge because of the space restrictions inside and out. We built ‘The Beast-, a 40-module Digital Sputnik light mounted in a custom yoke that we used for our sun sources. We needed full colour control in order to match The Volume light, and there weren’t any hard, full colour LED lights available then. When S2 came around, we needed a little more output and harder shadows in order to sell real sun inside of The Volume, so we implemented more HMIs to our package. Favourite kit
Colour meter, light meter, gaffer glass and laser pointer. I recently built out a gaffer cart with my own monitoring station and secondary lighting console so I can run basic cues and effects from my cart. I have been loving the Riedel Bolero comms systems, which we just started using on my last show. They allow for multiple groups or individuals to talk with each other on dedicated lines all from one belt pack. Incredibly efficient.
I’m loving all the new Fiilex and CreamSource units. The Fiilex P3 Color and the Creamsource Vortex8 are my new favourite lights; the P3 Color is a small, full colour 90w LED fixture, with different accessories to shape the beam and can be run off a small battery. The Vortex8 is a powerful, full colour, 8-pixel panel light, with a 20º beam angle, that can be softened with diffusers and built into large arrays.
What advice would you give to aspiring gaffers?
Always be trying new things and learning from new sources. Follow your curiosity. Watch a lot of movies. Try to reverse-engineer how a cinematographer lit specific shots in movies. Read books. Always try to use the newest technology because it’s constantly giving you more control and faster implementation every day. Find a gaffer who can be a mentor. On-set experience with a gaffer who wants to teach will help you learn very quickly about what to do and what not to do. Find a crew that has your back and takes pride in their work. This is a team sport, so surround yourself with people who are talented, hardworking and constantly seeking improvement. Cinematographer Greig Fraser ACS ASC says:
This new age of filmmaking has really stretched a lot of departments’ traditional methods of working to the absolute limit. It became apparent to me quite a while ago, and quite clearly to Jeff and his team, that the systems that have been in place for the last 100 years are due for disruption. I love it when a gaffer I meet knows more about the future of digital lighting than I do. Jeff is passionate about this. He is able to combine this passion with an aesthetic, which is exactly what I look for in a gaffer. Cinematographer Dana Gonzales ASC says:
Jeff is one of those rare types of gaffers that come from photography first and lighting technician second. I prefer this as our discussions can be based on photography and aesthetics and we are always on the same page. Jeff is always making suggestions regarding the newest technologies, which is great as we are constantly striving to create cutting-edge visuals. LED is becoming an increasingly important element to filmmaking, meaning that large numbers of complex lighting universes can be offered via a dimmer board at the flick of a switch. It’s this kind of work that Jeff excels at.
Photos by François Duhamel. Copyright: © 2018 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.
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