May 3, 2023

Comedian and director W. Kamau Bell on the new HBO documentary, 1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed

Comedian and director W. Kamau Bell has been a fan of documentaries as much as a fan of comedy. As a kid, he would sit down with his mom and watch documentaries on PBS, since there were only a few broadcast TV channels when he was growing up. He came of age at a time when lots of documentary filmmakers were putting themselves on screen and telling personal stories. For Kamau, it’s always about looking at the material and the story you want to tell.  As a comedian, he’s skilled at bringing humor into more serious subjects. But there is a clear difference between something personal that happened to him that he can joke about in his standup act vs. something with more nuance and depth that can be explored as a longer-form project.

1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed is very personal to Kamau, since his children are mixed race. He wanted to talk to his three daughters about their identity and experiences, something they discussed often in their household. He also included interviews with his wife, mother and mother in law. The production team cast several other kids in the San Francisco Bay Area, including friends of his daughters, to expand the focus of the documentary further. The intention was to keep it lyrical and light, and temper any intense or heavy topics with humor when possible. On set, Kamau made sure the kids were as comfortable as possible and that the cameras were always framed at their level so they could look him straight in the eye. The set was a rented house that they intentionally decorated to feel homey and welcoming, and Kamau made the children feel at ease by showing them the cameras and equipment first. The parents interviewed in the documentary found that the project led to them having deeper conversations about their racial identities with other family members. HBO and the producers decided to keep the edited time of 1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed down to just one hour, so that families could sit and watch it together.

Kamau thinks 1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed is just the beginning of what could become a bigger project. He would love other directors to talk to kids in different parts of the country, because there’s lots of kids out there with different experiences than those in the very liberal and diverse Bay Area.

1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed is currently available on HBOMax.

Find W. Kamau Bell: http://www.wkamaubell.com/
Instagram & Twitter: @wkamaubell

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

April 27, 2023

David “Gribs” Gribble, ACS on his long career and films Cadillac Man, The World’s Fastest Indian, The Quest, Jesse Stone

David “Gribs” Gribble grew up in Brisbane, AU and began studying photography at night school. He became a photo assistant, moved to Sydney, and found a job at a local film studio making commercials and low-budget movies. At the time, in the 1970’s and ’80’s, Australia was experiencing a resurgence of its cinema, known as the Australian New Wave. The government provided tax incentives for ordinary people to invest in movies, and established the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. The country’s film industry was jump started, and the genre known as Ozploitation was born.

Gribs learned camera operating on the job. His first feature film was The Man From Hong Kong, followed by the Aussie cult classic race movie, Running On Empty. The film Monkey Grip won some awards, and Gribs was asked to shoot his first American movie, Off Limits, starring Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines. He thinks that working with American actors was different than working with Australian actors- the Americans seemed to be more prone to distraction and sensitive about their appearance. Gribs learned to “light faces, not places” since that’s where the dialog comes from, and flattering actors by telling them how great they look in a particular spot, to give them tools to make themselves look better on screen. He also learned that in lighting, it’s better to work with a broad brush and shoot before you’re ready- as a cinematographer, don’t indulge yourself too much.

The movie Cadillac Man was challenging to shoot for a few reasons. The movie takes place almost entirely in one location- at the car dealership. Gribs had to combat flat lighting up against the walls of the office, as well as dealing with reflections from shiny cars and large windows. Director Roger Donaldson shot take after take, because actor Robin Williams was constantly improvising off script. Gribs found him extremely funny, and says there was so much extra footage of Williams that was cut out, it could probably make another movie.

Gribs also discusses working with Anthony Hopkins on The World’s Fastest Indian, Jean-Claude Van Damme on The Quest and shooting the Jesse Stone movies starring Tom Selleck.

Find David Gribble: Instagram @gribshott

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Facebook: @cinepod
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Twitter: @ShortEndz

April 19, 2023

Mark H. Harris, film critic and author of The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar

Mark Harris has enjoyed watching horror movies since the age of about 10 or 12. Growing up in the 1980’s with so few Black characters on TV or in movies, he always noticed when there was a person of color onscreen. It stood out even more in horror, and the Black character would inevitably end up dead since they were never the main character. As an African American horror movie fan, he decided to start keeping track of the countless ways in which Black characters were killed. In 2005, Mark started the website Black Horror Movies, where he reviews the portrayal of Black characters in genre movies all the way back to the beginnings of cinema. Mark’s website provided a lot of the background information he and co-author Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman needed for their book, The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar. While the subject matter is serious, The Black Guy Dies First is a fun read, written with humor and insight. It includes lots of pop culture references, timelines, photos and concrete examples of Black representation in horror.

Mark and Ben discuss many of the topics and issues raised in The Black Guy Dies First. Horror movies have always been seen as the ugly stepchild of Hollywood, and many people still think of horror as inconsequential. But this also allows horror movies to be transgressive, and push boundaries because the expectations for it to perform with mainstream audiences are low. Scary movies have a tendency to explore different avenues and reflect society’s fears and anxieties. Race in America is one of the biggest touchstones as far as fear and anxiety, so it’s valuable to analyze it as part of the horror genre. The trope of “the black guy dies first” is a history of how Black characters have been marginalized in movies. Since they are never the lead character, they are disposable. One of the exceptions, Night of The Living Dead, was ahead of its time, because it had a Black character in the lead. This made it an outlier in the history of black characters dying.

Other cliches and stereotypes Mark sees that marginalize African Americans in horror are: The Best Friend, The Voice of Reason, The Authority Figure (such as a Black cop), The Sacrificial Negro (the character who somehow decides not to save themselves, even if they could), and The Magical Negro (who is just there to help the white main character, such as in The Shining.) Mark does see the horror genre finally changing for the better- Jordan Peele’s Get Out was a runaway smash, which has allowed for more Black leads in horror movies and across all film genres. And he was genuinely surprised that Peele’s NOPE got any kind of Oscar buzz in 2023 (though it did not receive any nominations.) Other recent films such as His House, Master, and Nanny actively explore the social issues and history of Black trauma.

Mark agrees that the best way to increase diversity in front of the camera is to increase diversity behind the camera. When people of color are writing and directing, it empowers the development of strong characters and provides opportunities for diverse points of view. In Hollywood, there has always been the excuse that too many Black leads in a movie would make it a “Black movie” and therefore not appeal to all audiences or do well internationally. But now, a lot of blockbusters have people of color as the lead, which seems to prove that this attitude is changing. At the same time, it’s important for filmmakers to not necessarily try to make the next Get Out- often, social commentary can feel wedged into the storytelling, when it didn’t need to be. Mark feels that the key to Black horror is to show range in the storytelling, but it doesn’t always have to be so serious. As a genre, horror is the most self-aware of its tropes and tendencies, so it is constantly challenging itself to change things up and find better ways to scare you.

Find Mark Harris: https://www.blackhorrormovies.com/
Twitter @blacula

The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar is available on Amazon, Audible and in bookstores everywhere.

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com
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The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

April 12, 2023

Michael Zink, President, UHD Alliance discusses Filmmaker Mode for television sets

Michael Zink is president of the UHD Alliance, an industry group founded in 2015. He is also the Vice President of Emerging and Creative Technologies at WarnerMedia. The Alliance was founded to bring together consumer electronics manufacturers, film and television studios, content distributors and technology companies to have unified technical specifications for what Ultra High Definition should be.

Michael has been instrumental in helping set the standards for Filmmaker Mode, an option now available on most new TVs. Most electronics manufacturers have automatic factory pre-sets on their HDTVs that include post-processing of the image, known as “motion smoothing” or “smooth motion” which makes every image onscreen look like the evening news or a videogame. It can be very difficult to figure out how to disable it or turn it off. Starting around 2014, actors, directors and cinematographers like Tom Cruise, Rian Johnson, Christopher Nolan and Reed Morano loudly decried the smooth motion default settings and were very upset that their films were not being seen at home as they had intended. Tom Cruise even went so far as to make a PSA he posted to Twitter in 2018, asking viewers to turn off motion smoothing.

UHD Alliance met with industry groups such as the ASC and the DGA, and determined that preserving filmmakers’ creative intent on home televisions was very important. UHD Alliance then came up with the specifications for Filmmaker Mode, which most manufacturers have adopted. Filmmaker Mode is designed to help you watch movies and TV shows at home the way that filmmakers intended AND make it very easy for consumers to use. Most people just use their electronics directly out of the box, without any special calibrations. By disabling all post-processing such as motion smoothing, and preserving the correct aspect ratios, colors and frame rates, Filmmaker Mode enables your TV to display the movie or television show’s content precisely as it was intended by the filmmaker. Today, even streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video have automatic switching in the data stream that will communicate with certain brands of televisions to switch it to Filmmaker Mode.

Find Michael Zink: Twitter @_MichaelZink

UHD Alliance: https://www.experienceuhd.com
@experienceUHD

Filmmaker Mode: https://filmmakermode.com

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

March 22, 2023

Director Jon S. Baird on the new Apple TV+ movie, Tetris

The new Apple TV+ movie Tetris tells the unbelievable but true story of how the video game became a worldwide phenomenon. Entrepreneur Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) discovered Tetris in 1988 and partnered with Soviet inventor Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov) to bring the game from the USSR to the entire world. Tetris is a fast-paced, compelling Cold War–era thriller as Henk and Alexey race to outmaneuver their competitors who are determined to get to the market first with the “perfect” video game.

Director Jon Baird loved the script for Tetris because it was fun, fast-paced, full of political intrigue and family drama, yet based on reality. Jon decided to shoot the film in Scotland, around his hometown of Aberdeen. Moscow in the 1980’s was a very gray place, where it actually felt like someone had turned the color off. Jon worked with his DP Alwin H. Küchler, and they decided to keep the color palette desaturated in grays and browns. Aberdeen is often cloudy, with gray granite buildings, making it a great place to substitute Soviet-era Russia. Tetris producer Matthew Vaughn was very instrumental in the post-production process, and they worked with the visual effects team to put together just the right amount of video game elements in the film.

Jon grew up in a fishing town in Scotland without any connection to the movie industry. His dad loved musical theater so they would often go to London to see plays. He loved the feeling seeing live theater and movies gave him, and Jon knew he wanted to pursue a career in movies. Once he was old enough, Jon moved to London and after a few years he found a job as a production assistant, that eventually led to another job at the BBC, learning as he went. His short film It’s a Casual Life led to a technical advisor position on Green Street Hooligans, directed by Lexi Alexander, which became his big break. Jon has also won a BAFTA for directing the film Stan & Ollie.

Tetris will be streaming on Apple TV+ on March 31.

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

March 15, 2023

Rye Lane director Raine Allen-Miller and DP Olan Collardy

Rye Lane is a charming, energetic and funny romantic film that follows Dom and Yas, both twentysomethings going through bad breakups. They meet at a friend’s art show and roam around South London, helping each other deal with their exes while having crazy adventures and restoring their faith in romance. The movie premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, opened wide in the UK and is set to stream on Hulu March 31.

When she received the script for Rye Lane, direct Raine Allen-Miller knew she wanted to set the film in South London, a very vibrant, colorful place with lots of interesting characters. She loves movies by fellow British director Steve McQueen, and counts him as an influence on her work. Raine wanted her film to be funny and entertaining while still looking beautiful and “juicy” throughout. Rye Lane is Raine’s first feature, and she creates an energetic, colorful and happy world where, once Dom and Yas meet, they simply have fun together. It was important to her that Black people be captured in a way that’s positive, funny and goofy, and that people have a great time watching the film.

Cinematographer Olan Collardy grew up in Nigeria and later moved to South London, where he met Raine while working on commercials. He says that Raine brings a beautiful sandbox to play in, with her love of color and interest in creating a very energetic, stylized, modern look to the film. They worked together to ensure that the camera was always in the right place to play up the humor- if it wasn’t funny, it wasn’t functional. Olan used extremely wide anamorphic lenses to add a touch of the surreal to the shots. They were influenced by the British comedy Peep Show, getting very close on a wide lens while the actor looks slightly above the lens so they don’t break the fourth wall. Olan was influenced by Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing, which is also very rich in color and about a very specific place.

Rye Lane is in theaters in the UK and will be streaming on Hulu on March 31.

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com
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The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

March 8, 2023

Jenelle Riley, Variety’s Deputy Awards and Features Editor, discusses the 2023 Academy Awards nominations

Long-time friend and colleague Jenelle Riley of Variety magazine chats with Ben and Illya for our fourth annual Oscar nominations special. With a focus on cinematography, they discuss what they liked, what will win, what should win, and their favorite movies of the year that may not have been recognized.

Here’s a rundown of some of the nominations discussed in this episode, as well as great films that were not nominated this awards season. Listen to our interviews with the nominated DPs as well as other films of note!

Tár, Florian Hoffmeister
Mandy Walker, nominated for Elvis, the first woman to win an ASC Award
All Quiet on the Western Front, James Friend, who won a BAFTA
Everything Everywhere All At Once, Larkin Seiple who was not nominated
Roger Deakins, Empire of Light
Darius Khondji, Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Greig Fraser, who won last year for Dune and also shot The Batman
Women nominated for best cinematography but have never won: Rachel Morrison, Ari Wegner
Banshees of Inisherin, Ben Davis
Babylon, Linus Sandgren
Hoyte Van Hoytema, Nope

Find Jenelle Riley on Instagram and Twitter: @jenelleriley

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast
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Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

March 6, 2023

Oscar-nominated documentary Fire of Love director Sara Dosa, editors Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput

The documentary Fire of Love, directed by Sara Dosa, takes viewers on a mesmerizing journey into the world of volcanology. The film is centered around footage filmed by French volcanologists Maurice and Katia Krafft, who devoted their lives to studying volcanoes and capturing their stunning beauty. Fire of Love is an intimate look into the Kraffts’ personal and professional lives, as well as their ultimate fate, tragically lost to a volcanic eruption.

Director Sara Dosa and editors Jocelyne Chaput and Erin Casper created the story almost entirely from watching 250 hours of the Kraffts’ archival footage. Fortunately, the footage was in great shape and was fun and fascinating to look through. Sara knew that she wanted to focus on the relationship between Maurice and Katia, and their love affair both with volcanoes and each other. Sara, Jocelyne and Erin also collaborated on writing the script and narration. They wanted the amazing footage to speak for itself, and kept the story tight and intimate, filling in with narration, archival interviews and stylized animation rather than shooting current interviews with those who knew them. Sara was influenced by the look of French New Wave films as a guide for the documentary. It seemed a natural fit since Maurice Krafft’s footage of volcanoes from the late 1960’s and early 70’s also were influenced by the French New Wave.

Volcanologists Maurice and Katia Krafft shot most of the footage themselves on 16mm film, and proved to be good cinematographers. Katia was a talented artist as well, and photographed beautiful images of volcanoes that appeared in her books. Together, they captured some of the most stunning and rare footage of volcanoes, which continue to be used by scientists to better understand them today. Fire of Love is a beautiful tribute to the Kraffts and their legacy, and a reminder of the incredible power and beauty of the natural world.

Fire of Love is currently available on Hulu and Disney+ and is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Sara Dosa won the 2023 DGA Award for Outstanding Directing for Fire of Love. Editors Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput have won an ACE Eddie award for their work on the film. 

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

March 1, 2023

Jesse Feldman, ASC Award-nominated DP of Interview with the Vampire

Interview with the Vampire on AMC+ is based on Anne Rice’s novel of the same name. The new series changes and updates the material so that the main character, Louis, is now Black and a closeted gay man who is turned into a vampire by the Frenchman Lestat. But in 1900’s New Orleans, even when he’s “freed” as an immortal vampire, Louis finds that his power is still limited by racism.

Cinematographer Jesse M. Feldman was nominated for an ASC Award for his work on Interview with the Vampire. He found out about the series through his friend and fellow DP Brandon Trost, (also a former guest on Cinepod) and loved the strong visuals he got from the script. Jesse split the series with DP David Tattersall and they each shot alternating episodes. Each DP took creative control of their own episodes, and they had a good collaboration and visual cohesion.

Interview with the Vampire is shot in a dark and moody style that perfectly suits the Gothic horror genre. Jesse leaned in to the dim and shadowy lighting, with pops of vibrant color used to highlight key moments. The series deals with two different time periods- 1900’s New Orleans and modern day Dubai. It involved a combination of night shoots on location and shooting on sets, which allowed for total control of the lighting. Jesse found that the schedule was very tight but he was always open to ideas coming from the crew if a different approach became necessary. He feels that creative collaboration on set is important and one idea can lead to another, often better, idea.

Jesse wanted to become a cinematographer beginning in high school, when he took photography. He learned that you could tell a story through an image, and that just a still image could communicate a great deal. After moving to L.A. and enrolling at USC, Jesse got a job as a camera assistant on a music video and learned how to load 35mm mags. After graduating, he worked on several music videos and low budget films, became a camera operator and has been a camera operator on shows such as The Madalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and The Chi.

As an artist, Jesse finds that being a cinematographer has been more fulfilling. Being a director of photography vs. being a camera operator are very different jobs and involve using different skills. Lighting is a huge part of cinematography, and operators don’t have time to think about lighting when they’re just trying to do complex camera work at the pace of most TV schedules today. For a DP, who has to make so many decisions as you’re rolling about lighting and camera tweaks, it’s hard to pay attention if you’re operating a camera, and you also can’t watch multiple cameras.

After working as a camera operator for many years, Jesse had a lot of back issues. He invented the ErgoRig, which transfers 100% of the camera weight from the operator’s shoulder and back to their hips, preventing spinal compression.

Interview with the Vampire is currently available on AMC+

The ASC Awards are streaming on March 5, 2023
Find Jesse Feldman: https://www.jessefeldman.com/
Instagram @jessemfeldman

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com

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

February 22, 2023

Oscar-nominated documentary All That Breathes cinematographers Ben Bernhard and Riju Das

All That Breathes follows the story of two brothers in New Delhi, India who run a home-based bird sanctuary dedicated to caring for black kites. Black kites are a common bird of prey in the city and have adapted well to living alongside humans. But as the pollution and toxic garbage in New Delhi increases, the kites, as well as other birds, fall ill from smog and other hazards in the urban environment. Muslim brothers Saud and Nadeem, along with their friend Salik, found a passion for caring for birds as kids and it seems like a thankless job as they apply for funding to expand their work.

Director Shaunak Sen worked with cinematographers Ben Bernhard and Riju Das to simply follow and capture the brother’s day-to-day life, and emphasize the interconnectedness of all things within a busy urban place like New Delhi. DP Ben Bernhard wanted to show the coexistence of all the animals in the city and create a perspective for the audience to see things down at their level. In fact, All That Breathes opens on a nest of rats living in a traffic circle in the city, right at a rat’s-eye view. Cows, pigs, and monkeys also live alongside the people, just like the kites, and adapt to their surroundings. Cinematographer Riju Das recalls carefully getting closeups of ants and a bottle full of mosquito larvae. The whole team was rigorous and meditative about taking the time to capture the beauty of urban wildlife in the city, and they would pick up the camera to shoot any animals where they found them. They utilized long, slow pans, a narrow depth of field and extreme close-ups of animals throughout.

All That Breathes is currently available on HBOMax and is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Find cinematographer Ben Bernhard: Instagram @ben_bernhard
Find cinematographer Riju Das: Instagram @eyeris_4

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com
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The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
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Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz