September 20, 2023

Talk to Me cinematographer Aaron McLisky, ACS

Cinematographer Aaaron McLisky is thrilled that Talk to Me, a small Australian independent horror film, has found such a huge audience. It has become A24’s highest grossing horror movie in North America. The movie is about a group of friends who discover how to become possessed by spirits with an embalmed hand, creating a thrilling party game. The main character, Mia, has recently lost her mother, and her grief makes the idea of finding her mom on the other side both compelling and dangerous. But soon, the supernatural forces can’t be controlled any longer.

Aaron had heard rumors about the Talk to Me script and was intrigued to find out more about the project when directors Danny and Michael Philippou direct messaged him on Instagram. The twin brothers had no feature film experience, but are self-taught YouTube filmmakers. Their channel, RackaRacka is huge, and features a series of horror/comedy shorts completely shot and edited by Danny and Michael.

During the development and pre-production of Talk to Me, Aaron and the brothers discussed how they wanted the film to look cinematically and frequently workshopped and filmed sequences. Aaron always wants to elevate the story through cinematography, making sure that every frame and every camera movement speaks to a world that’s truthful to the characters. He wanted to be sure that the camera work elevated the tone of the horror movie, by showing or withholding information as needed. As a former editor, Aaron constantly thinks about editing- how certain sequences will go together and how much coverage might really be needed. Once production started, he found it exciting to be bold, keeping coverage of each scene minimal, and confident that they didn’t need more. He kept scenes lit with practical lighting and green fluorescents as much as possible, making Mia seem sickly and possessed. During the possession scenes, Aaron chose to contrast the sequences with unmotivated lighting, and as Mia’s psychological decay progresses, the film subtly becomes darker and more desaturated in the grade.

Aaron was born in Australia but lived in Indonesia for much of his childhood. He fell in love with photography there and knew he wanted to study film, so he returned to Australia. After completing his degree, he got a job at a production company as an editor, eventually moving into directing commercials and music videos, but he didn’t enjoy it. Aaron found he was always more interested in visual images as a storyteller, so he decided to start over as a cinematographer. He was fortunate enough to shoot a music video for YouTube stars, The Bondi Hipsters, who then asked him to be the cinematographer for their television series. Aaron also served as the primary cinematographer of the FX series, Mr. Inbetween.

Talk to Me is still playing in theaters and is available to purchase on VOD.

Find Aaron McLisky: http://aaronmclisky.com/
Instagram: @aaronmclisky

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Facebook: @cinepod
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Twitter: @ShortEndz

May 4, 2022

Special Episode: Directors of festival docs To The End, TikTok, Boom. TV pilot Chiqui and short film Daddy’s Girl

It’s been a busy few months and we finally bring you our interviews with four directors of documentaries and shorts from Sundance 2022.

To The End is director and cinematographer Rachel Lears’ follow up to her 2019 documentary, Knock Down the House. It once again follows representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and three women environmental activists pushing hard for climate change legislation- first with the Green New Deal, then with President Biden’s Build Back Better plan. Rachel wants people to watch the film and become inspired to engage in politics in the United States in order to build a better world.
To The End is currently playing at the Hot Docs film festival in Canada and is seeking distribution.
Find Rachel Lears: https://www.jubileefilms.com/rachel-lears
Twitter: @jubileefilms Instagram: @racheliplears

As the title suggests, TikTok, Boom. is about how the social media app TikTok has exploded for both viewers and content makers. Shalini Kantayya’s documentary explores the phenomenon, from the young people who consume it to the influencers who are now themselves a brand. But the Chinese company behind TikTok, Bytedance, uses the app for data mining, restricts certain content deemed too political, and could pose security risks for anyone watching or using TikTok. Shalini researched, found the TikTok influencers and shot the documentary very quickly.
TikTok, Boom. also played at SXSW this year and has yet to be released. Shalini’s previous film, 2020’s Coded Bias is critically acclaimed and won several awards.
Find Shalini Kantayya: https://www.shalinikantayya.net/
Instagram @shalinikantayya

Chiqui was inspired by director and writer Carlos Cardona’s parents’ immigration story. The television pilot takes place in 1980’s New Jersey as the vivacious Chiqui and her husband Carlos have just arrived from Colombia and are looking for work. Carlos set out to make it as a feature film, but decided to develop the story into a television series instead. To keep it true to the look of the 1980’s he decided to shoot it on super 16mm and used Zeiss super speed lenses.
Carlos is currently developing Chiqui into a television series.
Find Carlos Cardona: https://www.carloscardonafilms.com/
Instagram @carlos.cardona

The comedic short film Daddy’s Girl is writer and director Lena Hudson’s third short film. Alison is a young woman in her 20’s who is a bit aimless, and her father comes to help her move out of her wealthy older boyfriend’s apartment. Lena had been playing around with the idea of a father/daughter movie that would be short and filmable, especially during COVID.
Daddy’s Girl also screened at SXSW this year and Lena is developing it into a longer feature film.
Find Lena Hudson: http://www.lenahudson.com/daddys-girl-1
Instagram @lenahudson

Find out even more about this episode, with extensive show notes and links: https://camnoir.com/sundancedocshorts/
All web and social media content written by Alana Kode

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

November 9, 2021

Jay Rosenblatt, independent filmmaker, artist and professor on being a jury member of CamerImage

Our host Illya Friedman had the opportunity to speak to one of his former film instructors, Jay Rosenblatt at CamerImage back in 2019. Jay taught Super 8 Filmmaking at San Francisco State University and has made over 30 short films. As a member of the jury for the Energa CamerImage film festival in Poland for the past several years, Jay looks for innovative storytelling in the films they screen.

Jay’s latest short film is When We Were Bullies, which premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and will be screening at CamerImage next week.

The 2021 CamerImage film festival begins in Torun, Poland next week.

Find Jay Rosenblatt: https://www.jayrosenblattfilms.com/

WIN an autographed copy of Directing Great Television by last week’s guest, director Dan Attias! Follow us on Instagram @thecinepod and comment on our post for this episode!

Find out even more about this episode, with extensive show notes and links: https://camnoir.com//ep147/

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

August 4, 2021

Director Braden King and cinematographer Declan Quinn, ASC on The Evening Hour

In the film The Evening Hour, director Braden King wanted to immerse the viewer in a fully formed world, with spare dialog and little exposition. This approach appealed to cinematographer Declan Quinn, ASC. With such little dialog, Declan paid close attention to finding the right camera placement, how each scene was composed and how the images told the story, with natural and motivated lighting.

The Evening Hour tells the story of Cole Freeman, a health aid at a nursing home who lives in a fictional rural West Virginia town. He makes a little extra money on the side selling his client’s prescription medication, until an old friend comes back to the Appalachian town and tries to convince Cole to get further involved in the drug trade. The film was shot entirely on location in Kentucky. Braden specifically wanted to shoot in autumn in order to capture the beauty of that time of year and show in images the collapse of these rural towns due to the opioid epidemic and the risk of environmental destruction by mining companies. Declan enjoyed actually shooting on location in the real Appalachia, instead of having to fake it on a soundstage or in a different area. He was able to freely capture everything in the environment, letting the art of cinematography work its magic in the film.

The Evening Hour is screening in limited release in New York at the IFC Center and Los Angeles at the Laemmle Monica on August 6th. https://www.laemmle.com/film/evening-hour
Twitter & Instagram: @eveninghourfilm

Braden King: www.bradenking.com
Twitter:@bradenking
Instagram: @truckstop

Find Declan Quinn: https://www.artistry.net/clients/directors-of-photography/declan-quinn-asc#category=narrative

Find out even more about this episode, with extensive show notes and links: https://camnoir.com/ep134/

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