Das Weisse Band

Das Weisse Band

I finally got around to seeing Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon which I would say was one of the best cinematic experiences in recent memory. If you want to watch a contemporary filmmaker literally channel Ingmar Bergman, this is the film. In lesser hands I would call it plagiarism, but the pathos and zeitgeist that was captured here more paid tribute to the morose, psychological tone of Bergman's films while simultaneously addressing Haneke's familiar themes of characters at odds with their environment.

I loved this f-n movie and it reminded of the excitement I felt 10 years ago when I saw The Silence for the first time and realized how psychologically and emotionally penetrating motion pictures can be.

Look at just this one image - there's a whole story captured in this one frame of film. Could this not be from a Bergman film?

Fish Tank

Fish Tank

I saw the exquisitely crafted film, Fish Tank, at IFC yesterday and thought I'd share a few thoughts. This British feature was written and directed by Andrea Arnold and lensed by Robbie Ryan, BSC. The female lead is Katy Jarvis, a non-actor who the director spotted shouting at her boyfriend on a subway platform east of London. Unhappy with who the casting agency was offering for the lead, she followed the teenage girl home and asked her if she wanted to be in a movie. After some persistence she agreed to take the role and the performance Arnold was able to get out of her is nothing short of stunning. This film is very much in the style of Ken Loach and Lynne Ramsay in the naturalism of the images, performances, and the unfolding of the narrative. This is independent filmmaking done right and for every incredible film like this there are 1000 that are made and never find their audience. After working camera department in the indie film trenches for several years here in New York, that's just the sad reality of it. This film is the exception and is a fascinating look at the English underclass from the perspective of a 15 year old girl lashing out against her troubled Council Estate existence and dead beat mother. The direction and storytelling are expert but this isn't a blog about the all the wonderful artistic merits of cinema so much as it is about images and the technology used to produce them. 

From my perspective, what's most interesting and unusual about this film was the decision to frame and release in the old school 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Very few feature films have done this in recent history and seeing it in the cinema like this is a very different experience; a bit like watching a giant old TV screen. For Fish Tank, that's 100% from the perspective of the young girl and her inescapable, claustrophobic existence; this aspect ratio was a masterful aesthetic decision. It has such an intimate quality as if all that exists in the world is the tiny bit of frame around her Close Up. 2 shots also have a heightened intensity because of the tighter frame and the scenes with her and her mother's boyfriend are elevated because of it. I love this approach. A director I worked with a few years ago who is a vehement Tarkovsky enthusiast suggested working in 4:3 but we were shooting HD and at the time it seemed like a bad idea to me. These days I don't think I would be as opposed. Fish Tank however was shot on film and with the resolution celluloid affords, I don't think the quality is as compromised for 4:3. I'm assuming this film was shot on 16mm because of the gain structure, depth of field quality, and how nimble the camera operation was. However, it could have been shot on 4 perf Super 35 and the grainy look derived in the DI. I saw in the credits the cameras were Panavision and the stock was Fuji. It looked incredible so if anyone reading this knows more about the process, I'd love to learn more. Hopefully American Cinematographer will take notice and do an article. 

UPDATE:

I've just heard that it originated on 35. Fuji stocks used: Eterna Vivid 160, Eterna 400, Reala 500D. Apparently a lot of work was done in the DI to make the look as "photochemical" as possible.   

If think if I were to shoot something 4:3 digitally,  I would go with the Arri D-21 because the sensor is a 2k x 2k square. It's designed to be matted down to 1920x1080 or to be used with Anamorphic lenses but I'd just keep the picture right off the sensor. The D-21 is also very beautiful in low light and available light. Cinematographer Rain Li made some gorgeous images with this camera in another indie feature, Uncertainty. This film was shot in NYC and she did a fantastic job of capturing its energy and vibrancy especially the Chinatown sequences. Shooting in Chinatown is an art form unto itself! There is some absolutely stunning low light photography in this film and I highly recommend anyone who is afraid of underexposure to watch it. 

Digital Motion Picture Sweeps The Oscars

Digital Motion Picture Sweeps The Oscars

The lovely Slumdog Millionaire found the same success at The Oscars as it did at The Bafta's and Golden Globes, taking home the top honors - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Cinematography. This is the first (mostly) digitally acquired feature film in the history of The Oscars to win Best Picture and Best Cinematography. Not bad for a small independent shot with a relatively new and radically different digital cinema camera. I think this is the greatest possible success for next generation digital cinema companies like RED and Silicon Imaging - makers of the SI-2K Mini with which Slumdog was mostly photographed with. It is a massive confirmation that film isn't the end all be all in quality and that digital imaging is not going to get in the way of audiences recognizing a wonderful story. It's very cool to be working in the business during this paradigm shift. There is a lot of great energy and excitement as the tools of the trade are becoming more accessible and affordable to people with big ideas. When a film like Slumdog Millionaire can win the highest American industry accolades it should give independents and people working outside the mainstream a lot of hope that their work can find its audience and earn worldwide recognition.

Regarding the film's cinematography; when I first saw the film I noticed what I thought was sensor noise in the game show scenes. Since then, I've heard from numerous folks that this was an intentional look done in the grading process to match the grain of some other materials (mostly Day Ext's) originating on film. I also read Anthony Dod Mantle saying that the SI-2K images picked up a lot of noise as they traveled through the post pipeline. I'm still looking into this but if it's the case that it was done in the grade, the effect might have been pushed a little too hard. Don't get me wrong, it didn't wreck the scenes but one of the points of this blog is to evaluate the quality of digital images and if there are noticeable issues in a widely seen film such as this, they will be commented on. Other than that, I think what's really strong about the film's cinematography are the great angles and fluid movement that are only possible with a tiny, discrete camera like the SI-2K. The film's camera language has this great "fly on the wall" observational quality that I think is the most successful aspect of its storytelling.

Another aspect of the cinematography that I really like is the slightly rough around the edges, almost handmade quality of the images. In an era where "perfection" is the norm in motion pictures, it's really refreshing to see something so different than what we're used to seeing be so successful. It just goes to show you at the end of the day audiences want a great story more than they want perfect hair and makeup and perfectly consistent exposures and prefect camera moves. I don't want my movies to look like they were made by highly skilled robots. I want the human touch and Slumdog has it!

Go read this on ProLost >>> I failed to mention the film's very effective use of 12fps material. Stu has some great points about cinematic motion and some current industry trends that are a little disheartening.