October 16, 2024

House of Spoils haunting beauty: DP Eric Lin

The spooky thriller House of Spoils on Amazon Prime is about an ambitious chef, Ana (Ariana DeBose) who follows her dream to open a restaurant on a remote estate in the woods. She quickly realizes it’s haunted by the vengeful spirit of the previous owner. As Ana battles stress, self-doubt, a skeptical investor, and kitchen chaos, the ghost’s sinister presence threatens to sabotage her every step.

When cinematographer Eric Lin met with directors Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy (Blow The Man Down), they presented him with several inspirational references by surrealist painter Leonor Fini and Dutch painter Adriaen van Utrecht. Both artists captured the unsettling feeling of eerie decay while being surrounded by the natural world. Nature, rot and its influence on bodies became the movie’s core aesthetic. Films like Black Swan (psychological horror), The Shining (single, oppressive location) and Phantom Thread (artistic obsession) also served as inspiration.

Eric embraced the use of zoom lenses in the film. “Zooms are super psychological and we tried to find ways that we would sneak them in, because it has this very unsettling feel,” he says. Because Ana is a chef, food also played a major role in the film. “I was interested in trying to find a way to represent the colors that had a feeling of decay- almost a mushroom, moldy look,” Eric explains. “Because what comes from that decay is life, right? It’s like creativity is born through all this death and decay. And so I wanted the colors of the film to represent that feeling.” He created a LUT where the vibrant colors stood out while the browns and greens stayed dull and earthy. The kitchen was really being used to cook the dishes, and a food stylist helped to plate all the ingredients. Second unit would then shoot the dishes as they were presented to the table.

House of Spoils was shot on location at an estate in Budapest. The crew built a fully functional kitchen set, allowing for meticulously planned lighting. The garden outside the kitchen was also created by the production design team and the greens department. The natural fog blanketing the estate’s garden provided the perfect eerie atmosphere, eliminating the need for fog machines.

Eric’s passion for cinematography wasn’t always his career path. After studying at UC Berkeley, he switched gears to study film in grad school at NYU. He managed to land a job as an assistant editor, but cinematography was his true passion. Eric shot music videos and independent films as much as he could on the side. While shooting music videos and independent films, his dedication paid off. The short film Missing went to the Cannes Film Festival. Eric’s cinematography is also in several Sundance Film Festival projects, such as The Sound of Silence, Hearts Beat Loud, and I’ll Be Your Mirror (originally titled Blood).

House of Spoils is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Find Eric Lin: www.eric-lin.com
Instagram: @holdtheframe

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Facebook: @cinepod
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September 11, 2024

Hollywood’s rainbow: Hollywood Pride author Alonso Duralde

Hollywood has long been a place of glamour and storytelling, but its history with LGBTQ+ representation is complex and ever-evolving. Film critic Alonso Duralde dives deep into this fascinating world in his new book, Hollywood Pride: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Representation and Perseverance in Film.

Hollywood Pride is a history of queer Hollywood in chronological order, starting from the very beginnings of cinema in 1895 and journeying all the way to 2022. It’s not just about the movies themselves; Alonso delves into the lives of the artists – actors, directors, writers, and more – who have shaped Hollywood, both on and off screen. “The book is a look at how queer history evolved over those decades, off the screen and in society,” Alonso explains. “And then how that was reflected in the movies.”

Each chapter focuses on a specific period, highlighting the key LGBTQ+ figures and films of that era. It explores not only positive portrayals but also the coded messages and subtext that emerged during times of censorship, like the Hays Code era. Alonso argues that even negative portrayals hold certain significance. “Even negative inclusion is at least visibility and a reminder that we exist,” he says. “It’s not the greatest reminder, but it’s better than nothing.”

The book examines Alfred Hitchcock’s films, some of which are very homophobic, but still offer a glimpse of LGBTQ+ characters.There are also unexpected gems celebrated in the book, such as 1999’s The Mummy, a film that has resonated with the bisexual community. By the 1970’s, Dog Day Afternoon and Midnight Cowboy could more openly deal with gay characters, if not in the best light.

Alonso especially enjoyed writing about Salome, Caged, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Ed Wood’s Glen or Glenda, and by the 1990’s, the era of the New Queer Cinema movement. While celebrating the strides made in LGBTQ+ representation, Alonso acknowledges there are still many stories waiting to be told. “It feels like I was skimming the surface of a very deep topic,” he says. But even a glimpse into this rich history is a valuable step forward, offering a deeper understanding of LGBTQ+ experiences in cinema and beyond.

You can find Hollywood Pride as a book, ebook, or audiobook wherever books are sold.

**WIN A COPY OF HOLLYWOOD PRIDE! Like, Follow and Comment on our post for this week’s episode on Instagram, Facebook or Threads and we will pick a winner**
*Winner must be within the continental U.S.!*

Find Alonso Duralde: Instagram: @alonso.duralde

Listen to our previous interview with Alonso Duralde about his Christmas film book, Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas. https://www.camnoir.com/holiday2018/

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The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

December 14, 2023

Saltburn cinematographer Linus Sandgren, ASC, FSF

Cinematographer Linus Sandgren believes that films don’t always have to look pretty. “A film should look appropriate for the story we’re telling. It’s about communicating the emotions of the film. And that can be ugly.” For his latest project, Saltburn, the beautiful images counterbalance the evil within the main character, Oliver Quick. Oliver is an outsider at Oxford who grows obsessed with Felix Catton and his friends, who are effortlessly born to power and privilege. Director Emerald Fennell wanted to create a “vampire movie without vampires” due to Oliver’s ability to latch on to Felix and his family.

Linus met with Fennell, who described her vision of the film. She was influenced by the rich colors in Caravaggio paintings, the early vampire film Nosferatu, and Hitchcock movies for suspense and voyeurism. It was important to tell the story as though the viewer is observing the film from a distance, as if it were a painting. To create the language, Linus found images of paintings and photography that were light-specific to put into a lookbook. They chose to shoot on Kodak film that emphasized the red spectrum, and for a portrait style look, Linus shot in the nearly square aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

With the exception of shooting around Oxford University, Saltburn was almost entirely filmed at one estate in Northamptonshire. Linus and the team scouted around the grounds and inside the building, thinking like a painter to decide on shot composition, lighting, furniture placement and blocking for the actors. Outdoors in daylight at the Saltburn estate, it’s summer, so Linus felt inspired by fashion photography, impressionist paintings and the square framing and colors of a Polaroid picture. He captured the Gothic feel of the grounds at night, adding to the suspense of Oliver’s encounter with Felix’s sister Venetia and the showdown he has with Felix in the maze. 

Saltburn is currently in theaters.

Find Linus Sandgren: Instagram @linussandgren_dp

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The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
Facebook: @cinepod
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September 1, 2021

Director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino and DP Sayombhu Mukdeeprom discuss the Netflix film, Beckett and their close collaboration

Director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino and cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom have worked together on Call Me By Your Name and Suspira. Ferdinando served as the second unit director on both films. Beckett is the second feature Ferdinando has written and directed. Sayombhu also shot Ferdinando’s first feature, Antonia, and was Oscar-nominated for his cinematography on Call Me By Your Name. Prior to his experience working with Ferdinando and director Luca Guadagnino, Sayombhu built his cinematography career in Thailand, shooting films such as the Cannes festival winner, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Beckett is a thriller, reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock films, starring John David Washington as an American vacationing in Greece with his girlfriend, played by Alicia Vikander. After a tragic accident, Beckett is pursued by the police and drawn into a political conspiracy while being chased across the country. Ferdinando intended to have the film nod at Hitchcock, but he wanted to stay away from the heightened, perfectly choreographed elements of Hitchcock movies such as North By Northwest, where every scene is a spectacle, with amazing set pieces following one after the other. For Beckett, Ferdinando liked the idea of shooting everything with very natural light, keeping the movie grounded and not quite so heightened. As a hero, Beckett is relatable and believable- when he fights or runs, he sweats, gets out of breath and becomes seriously injured, and all of the action sequences are grounded in reality.

Sayombhu enjoys shooting films using natural light, preferring to reshape or bounce sunlight. If he has to use lights, he uses as few as possible, and in a way that’s almost invisible. He also prefers to light the environment rather than the actor, to give them space to move around, so that they can live in the moment and he can capture it as it happens. When Sayombhu scouts locations, he uses his eyes and his gut feeling to explore the place and memorizes the kind of natural light available, noticing potential issues before figuring out how to overcome them.

To have a good rapport with a director, Sayombhu suggests listening to the director first, and only then make a suggestion that would make it better. Ferdinando enjoys collaborating with Sayombhu because they both understand the importance of preparation during pre-production and research, and they have similar taste in filmmaking and visual language.

You can watch Beckett on Netflix.

Find out even more about this episode, with extensive show notes and links: https://camnoir.com/ep138/

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com
Sponsored by Aputure: https://www.aputure.com/

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz