American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 47

Left, from left:
Actor Kola
Bokinni, Hardy,
Garland, and
actors Oscar Isaac,
Josh Danford and
Sammy Hayman
discuss a scene in
the swimming
pool. Below: Lena
and the linguist
find what remains
of a member of
the previous
expedition.

The production scouted the St.
Marks National Wildlife Refuge in
northwest Florida, which inspired Area
X in VanderMeer's novel, but the thickness of the vegetation presented a challenge. The U.K.-based production
decided instead to stay close to home,
shooting the forest exteriors in Windsor
Great Park, the historic hunting grounds
for the British royal family near Windsor
Castle. Interiors were shot about 13
miles away at Pinewood Studios outside
London.
Hardy snapped a photo study of
Windsor Great Park, focusing on the
lush vegetation in dark, natural light and
atmospheric fog. Production designer
Mark Digby and set decorator Michelle
Day then dressed up the park with plant
life indigenous to the southern U.S. -
with an emphasis on the exotic - and
the filmmakers had their credible
setting.
As with Stalker, there are two
worlds at play: the normal world and the
familiar yet otherworldly Area X.
Garland and Hardy weren't aiming for a
hard divide between the looks for each,
so much as a visual arc tracking Lena's

emotional state as she moves in and out
of the Shimmer. Hardy looked to put
this across by alternating primarily
between Sony F65 CineAlta and Red
Weapon Dragon 6K cameras.
"Natalie's character's journey was
the springboard for the look," the cinematographer explains. "There are
elements of 'everything's weird in Area
X, so we're going to do these things to
www.ascmag.com

make it look weird,' but also when she
returns from Area X, she brings back
psychological elements of that place
with her."
Shooting with the F65 as they did
on Ex Machina, Hardy and Garland
achieved a naturalistic look for the establishing scenes, recording uncompressed
4K Sony Raw files to 256GB and
512GB Sony SRMemory Cards. Hardy
March 2018

47


http://www.ascmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - March 2018

Contents
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 1
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 2
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - Contents
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 4
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 5
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 6
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 7
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 8
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 9
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 10
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 11
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 12
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 13
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 14
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 15
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 16
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 17
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 18
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 19
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 20
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 21
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 22
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 23
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 24
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 25
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 26
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 27
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 28
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 29
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 30
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 31
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 32
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 33
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 34
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 35
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 36
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 37
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 38
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 39
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 40
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 41
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 42
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 43
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 44
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 45
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 46
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 47
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 48
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 49
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 50
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 51
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 52
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 53
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 54
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 55
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 56
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 57
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 58
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 59
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 60
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 61
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 62
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 63
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 64
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 65
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 66
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 67
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 68
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 69
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 70
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 71
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 72
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 73
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 74
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 75
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 76
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 77
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 78
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 79
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 80
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - March 2018 - Cover4
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