American Cinematographer - November 2012 - 20

Production Slate

Ruby (Emayatzy Corinealdi) tentatively explores a new relationship with Brian (David Oyelowo) in a scene from Middle of Nowhere, shot by Bradford Young.

A Sundance Standout By Jean Oppenheimer

A nominee for the Grand Jury Prize and the winner of the Directing Award for drama at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Middle of Nowhere revolves around Ruby (Emayatzy Corinealdi), a young woman from South Central Los Angeles who must reassess her ambitions and relationships after her husband, Derek (Omari Hardwick), is incarcerated. To make the picture, director/writer Ava DuVernay teamed with director of photography Bradford Young, who won Sundance’s Excellence in Cinematography Award for Pariah (AC April ’11). Speaking to AC from his home in New York, Young describes Middle of Nowhere as “an exercise in restraint and discipline, an intimate story that Ava envisaged as quiet and gentle, but still powerful.” He notes that Ruby is in transition emotionally — she feels alone and isn’t sure what her future holds — and this is reflected in the film’s muted palette. For day scenes, “our rule was that we would never have light coming from within Ruby’s apartment,” says Young, who notes that the 21-day production was shot mostly at practical locations. “That sense of darkness is part of her character; she’s in a kind of black hole. We kept it really simple, with one 12K HMI though Light Grid coming through the single window in her living room. Sheer curtains across the window softened the light even more. “There were no interior lamps in her place,” he continues. “If she stepped away from the window and fell totally into black, we were okay with that.” With a laugh, he adds, “We were actually
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stapling black Duvatyn and 8-by-12-foot blacks to the walls and ceiling to create more black inside.” These strategies also helped to eliminate reflections on the walls. As Ruby starts to feel more positive about her life, bits of color crop up, lending a feeling of hope and renewal. She dons a lavender blouse for her first date with a new suitor, Brian (David Oyelowo), and the nightclub they visit is full of colored lights. At earlier points in the story, color is used more as a contrast to Ruby’s stalled life. Her sister, Rosie (Edwina Findley), wears a bright blue dress for her job, and their mother (Lorraine Toussaint) wears orange and red blouses, whereas Ruby is attired in monochrome colors in their scenes together. The predominantly gray color scheme is one of the movie’s visual signatures; others are shallow depth-of-field and an extensive use of close-ups, medium shots and extreme close-ups. Young likes to concentrate on the human face. He favored a 40mm Panavision Ultra Speed prime for close-ups and medium shots, and the 50mm Ultra Speed for extreme close-ups. “The 50mm Ultra Speed is great because you can be really intimate with the characters, and it’s fast. It opens to a T1.0, so I could shoot in very low light.” He shot Middle of Nowhere with a Sony F35. “The Sony F3 had just come out, but it couldn’t record in S-log, and we wanted to have as much latitude as possible. S-log gives you a very flat, pastel image, which then gives you maximum flexibility in the digital grade.” Panavision Hollywood provided the camera package, which also included several other Ultra Speed primes, a 55mm Panavision Super Speed prime, a 24mm Zeiss Ultra Speed prime, and a Primo

American Cinematographer

Middle of Nowhere photos courtesy of AAFFRM.

American Cinematographer - November 2012

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