The Cinematography Podcast Episode 276: Giovanni Ribisi
In the new horror film Strange Darling, a one-night stand at a motel becomes a dangerous game of cat and mouse as the woman is chased down by a serial killer. But nothing is what it seems as the film is cleverly revealed in chapters out of sequence, allowing the audience to slowly piece together the thriller.
Giovanni Ribisi, the cinematographer of Strange Darling, has been a familiar face on screen for decades as an actor. Over the past 15 years, he’s been quietly honing his skills behind the camera on music videos and commercials. Strange Darling is his first feature as a cinematographer. After growing up on film sets and around cameras, Giovanni was always curious about the mystery, magic and technology of creating images on film. He says, “The difference between acting and cinematography is, with acting, you start from a subjective place where you want to work from the inside out on a character to establish or understand the experience of what the writer had intended for that character. (Cinematography) is the inversion of that. It’s an objective launching pad trying to get more subjective for stories.”
After working on the visually captivating film, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), Giovanni began exploring the world of visual effects. He enrolled at the Gnomon School in North Hollywood to learn the basics, while continuing to act in order to pay the bills. Giovanni and some partners formed the visual effects company, Stereo D, which they eventually sold. Though he continued acting, Giovanni turned his attention to photography and cinematography, experimenting with film stock and cameras for personal projects and music videos.
Once Strange Darling director JT Mollner sent Giovanni the script, they were on the phone within 15 minutes discussing how they could make the film on a tight budget with some of Giovanni’s gear and resources. Giovanni feels strongly that most filmmakers don’t have the time to really dig in and create a movie. Strange Darling was about $4 million dollars, and typically would have been granted 18 days to shoot. Instead, they budgeted for a 32 day schedule, which allowed Mollner to have time to make something in realistic terms, with a humane schedule for the crew.
Giovanni’s choice to shoot Strange Darling on 35mm film was a deliberate one. When a film is shot digitally, Giovanni feels the camera crew is often just checking off boxes, “hosing down” a scene with as many shots as possible without much thought to the process as they go. He appreciates the aesthetic qualities of film and the meticulous planning involved. In contrast to the often frantic pace of digital filmmaking, he and Mollner meticulously planned every shot, creating a detailed shotlist that guided the entire production.
The visual inspiration for Strange Darling came from classic films of the 60s and 70s, such as Mademoiselle, The Innocents, and The Devils. They worked closely with the production designer to develop a unique color palette for each scene, with vivid primary colors playing a huge part in each scene. As the cinematographer, Giovanni was extremely proud of a long dialogue scene in the film that was bathed in neon blue light from the motel. The carefully crafted lighting and composition create a visually striking and memorable moment.
Strange Darling showcases Giovanni’s ability to create visually stunning and thought-provoking work as a cinematographer. His passion for filmmaking and transition from actor to cinematographer is rare and inspiring.
Find Giovanni Ribisi
Hear Part 2 of our interview with Giovanni Ribisi next week!
Close Focus: The Animation Guild is in contract negotiations with the AMPTP and hasn’t yet settled on an agreement. They are still far apart on important issues, such as the role generative AI will have on jobs.
The NBA has signed a new deal with Disney-owned ESPN, ABC, Comcast, and Amazon to air all of the NBA and WNBA games for the 2025 -2026 season. Warner Bros. Discovery lost their rights to air the games on TNT.
Illya’s short end: The Time Bandits TV series on AppleTV+
Ben’s short end: A YouTube channel by Max Vega, who experiments with camera gear, such as putting modern recording equipment into old camera gear.
Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras
Sponsored by Greentree Creative: If you enjoy The Cinematography Podcast and you’re interested in growing or starting your own podcast, contact Alana Kode at Greentree Creative. Greentree Creative can help you with all of your digital marketing needs including podcast launch and creation, advertising, social media management and content creation.
LIKE AND FOLLOW US, send fan mail or suggestions! Rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts!
Email: editor@camnoir.com
Facebook:@cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Threads: @thecinepod
Podcast Credits:
Producer: Alana Kode
All web and social media content written by Alana Kode
Host and editor in Chief: Illya Friedman
Instagram: @illyafriedman @hotrodcameras
Host: Ben Rock
Twitter: @neptunesalad
Instagram: @bejamin_rock
Editor: Michael Dispenza
Composer: Kays Al-Atrakchi
Subscribe to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts or click on the link below to listen here
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:11:17 — 97.9MB)
Subscribe: RSS
