American Cinematographer - August 2018 - 51

Frame grabs courtesy of Lionsgate. Behind-the-scenes images courtesy of Robby Baumgartner.

Opposite and this
page, left: With
three days left on
his probation,
Collin (Daveed
Diggs) aims to
stay out of
trouble, but
proximity to his
mischief-making
friend Miles
(Rafael Casal), and
his decisions after
witnessing a
racially charged
killing, put his
freedom at risk in
the feature
Blindspotting.
Below:
Cinematographer
Robby
Baumgartner lines
up the camera.

that could drastically alter the course of
his young life.
Appropriately for a movie that
focuses on the importance and limitations of friendship, Blindspotting's writers - stars Diggs and Casal - have
been friends for years. Collaborating
with first-time feature director Carlos
López
Estrada,
they
wanted
Blindspotting to exhibit the vibrant cinematic energy of a film like Do the Right
Thing or Pulp Fiction, movies they referenced in their initial discussions with
cinematographer Robby Baumgartner.
Baumgartner, however, had seen
the project going in a different direction.
"My initial impression was that it should
be done in a gritty, handheld, realist
fashion," he recalls. "In my first meeting
with the creative team, I referenced
Fruitvale Station, Moonlight and Killing
Them Softly. At that point, the room
went quiet and I thought I had blown
it." When Estrada revealed his vision for
the movie, Baumgartner wondered how
they would pull off such a glossy, stylized
look on a 22-day schedule, and "made
the pitch that we blend the two," he
says. "That's what we ended up with -
a mash-up of both stylization and gritty
realism. I got the job after Carlos asked
me if I had a problem working with a
28-year-old first-time director. I replied

with my own question: Did he have a
problem working with a 55-year-old exgaffer? We both answered an emphatic
'no,' and that sealed the deal."
Baumgartner's background as a
gaffer - on such projects as 8 Mile, 21
Grams, Babel and There Will Be Blood -
informed his decisions about when to go
for a heightened, stylized look and when
to employ a more gritty and visceral
approach. "I knew well what we could
and couldn't achieve on such a short
shooting schedule, and felt that we
www.ascmag.com

needed to be careful about picking
which scenes warranted a more elaborate visual approach," he says. "Striking
the balance was a big concern for me,
because I knew we could pull off the
gritty realism in the time we had, but I
wasn't so sure we could pull off the other
[look]. In the end it worked out, because
the different styles beautifully matched
the mash-up of comedy and drama in
Daveed and Rafa's performances. That
kind of unity between the camerawork
and the content is what I'm always strivAugust 2018

51



http://www.ascmag.com

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

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