American Cinematographer - May 2018 - 30
Optics Spotlight
Modified Lenses
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Don't Speak
*|*
T
o obtain the look and feel director
John Krasinki wanted for the horror
thriller A Quiet Place, cinematographer
Charlotte Bruus Christensen suggested
building the story in an anamorphic
environment and switching to spherical
lenses for night exteriors - and for the
very tight close-ups of Regan, the
pivotal character whose deafness holds
the key to the murderous creatures who
hunt their human victims by sound.
Similar close-focus work was needed
for such objects as Regan's hearing aid
and pieces being moved on a Monopoly
board.
"We [used C, G and T Series]
anamorphic primes to get the vintage-y
look Charlotte wanted, then modified
them for even closer work," says ASC
associate Dan Sasaki, Panavision's vice
president of optical engineering. "The
Panavision C Series 65mm [already
existed with a minimum] focus of 15
inches. This lens became the standard
into which we pulled/modified the
other close-focus C Series.
"To achieve [the Monopolyboard shot]," he adds, "we had to build
Charlotte a special periscope that put
the lenses on the front in order to get
her down to the game board at the
angle she needed.
"Charlotte loved the way the
anamorphics flared, so we tried to give
the spherical lenses the same flare characteristics. We made an attachment that
gave them similar speed and bokeh.
Charlotte is very sensitive to barrel
distortion and falloff; she wanted the
anamorphics, especially the wide lenses,
similar to what we had done together
on Fences (AC Jan. '17) and Molly's
Game, so basically I did the same application.
"To create the sense of isolation
that Regan feels in a hearing world,"
Sasaki adds, "we tried to make the
anamorphic lenses go out of focus a bit
faster - to limit the range of focus."
- JO
30
May 2018
The family's farm is rigged with an elaborate lighting system that they can turn to red
in the event of trouble - which happens when creatures descend on the property just
as Evelyn goes into labor.
[Macro Panatars]. The spherical macros
consisted of 50mm, 100mm and
125mm macro Sphero 65 lenses
converted for use on 35mm cameras. A
mini-periscope assisted with the macro
capability of the lenses, especially with
the very close POV shots."
Early on, Christensen made a trip
to the Los Angeles facility to prep the
lenses with Sasaki. Describing the benefits of the mini-periscope, she notes, "It
allowed us to actually lie on the floor
with the kids as they played Monopoly.
With most periscopes you have to shoot
T5.6 or T8, but the mini that Dan
crafted was a T1.9 - very light sensitive. We were shooting right across the
floor. We were so close to the game
board that you believe the sound that's
heard when the little [game] pieces are
moved."
Fernandez adds, "Sasaki designed
the mini-periscope with no stop loss. He
built it with a right-angle view and we
put the camera on baby legs. [For one
particular shot] we started tight as
Marcus rolls the dice and slowly pulled
back on the dolly."
Another specialty lens made by
Sasaki was a customized "100mm slant
portrait lens for an effect," Sasaki
describes. "It had a sharp center with
horizontally biased defocus on the edges
American Cinematographer
that the operator could control."
When it came to the film's more
conventional sequences, Christensen
favored the Panavision C Series, but she
and Sasaki discussed sharpening them a
bit - "we wanted soft but not supersoft," she says - and to change the
minimum focus on some of them to get
even closer. Sasaki then softened up the
Ts to make them match the C Series.
"Some of the Ts had a closer focus range
that worked really well for us," says
Christensen. "Even when we were
shooting anamorphic, we liked to get
close to characters as well as objects."
Using Krasinski's reference films as a
template, she aimed for sharp images
but cinematic texture - colorful,
rounded, filmic.
The director also wanted a warm
look for the film. "He wanted to feel the
warmth within the family, to sense the
bond between them," Christensen says.
"Creating a warm, candlelit environment adds to the understanding of a
loving family. Even though the story
expresses some deep frustration within
and between the characters' relationships, the tension is ignited from love."
Long strings of onscreen
"Christmas lights," as Krasinski calls
them, were an important visual element
in A Quiet Place. For example, they criss-
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - May 2018
Contents
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American Cinematographer - May 2018 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - May 2018 - 1
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