DP Denson Baker, NZCS ACS, chose Cooke Anamorphic lenses to recreate the universe portrayed in the TV adaptation of Eleanor Catton’s Man Booker prize-winning novel, “The Luminaries.”
Produced by the BBC, Working Title Television and Southern Light Films and adapted for the screen by Catton herself, the six-part miniseries tells an epic story of love, murder and revenge, as men and women traveled across the world to make their fortunes on New Zealand’s South Island in the boom years of the 1860s gold rush.
Baker said, “We wanted it to be atmospheric and cinematic, a smoky, textured world, with muddy streets…a very lived in world.”
The producer Andrew Woodhead from Working Title was very passionate about the idea of shooting the show on anamorphic lenses, framed 2.0:1. Director Claire McCarthy and Baker agreed with him that it would be a great choice as they have a high production quality look and give more of a timeless quality, which was very important for a series set in the 1860’s.
“I tested every anamorphic lens set that was available to us in New Zealand which is amazing–pretty much anything you could want was presented to us to play with. I screened these tests to Claire and the producers, and we all felt that the Cooke Anamorphic/i lenses were the right choice,” Baker explained. “They have a high production quality look, but don’t look too ‘slick’ or modern as some of the other lenses we tested. Cooke lenses have such a cinematic quality and look filmic on digital cameras; they have a gentleness that is very pleasing and flattering, yet there is also a sharpness that makes the image bold and the faces pop in the frame. They are also lovely to handle and work with on a practical level too.”
The show was shot on ARRI Alexa cameras.
The story follows a large cast of characters, each variously associated with the 12 signs of the Zodiac, the planets within the solar system, and the Sun and Moon. Director Claire McCarthy came up with the idea of linking the story arc of the main character Anna Wetherell (played by Eve Hewson) to reflect the Moon’s phases. Baker looked carefully into this in order to find the key moments to light the character according to the moon phase she was in, positioning the light on her face to reflect this phase. For these scenes, the 75 and 100mm anamorphic lenses provided a very pleasing focus edge to them, especially when shooting around T2.8-4 when shooting mid shots and close ups, to draw the attention to the characters eyes, and mouth and letting the surrounding area drop away.
Baker’s main lenses of choice were the 40mm and the 75mm lenses, and he also used the 65mm Macro as a portrait lens when shooting intimate moments. “The 65mm has a very lovely, flattering quality to it. We could also get the camera quite physically close to our actors with the 65mm to give a feeling of intimacy, but with very little if any distortion,” concluded Baker.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More