American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 24

Cinematographer
Sturla Brandth
Grøvlen, DFF
lines up a shot.

the scene. On a more distant roof, Arri
M18s and M25s with ½ CTO gel provided
additional ambience and enhanced the
street lamps. Par 64s with various gels to
match specific lamp colors - including
sodium, CTB and a variety of greens -
were mounted on roofs to serve as streetlight extensions, with some boomed out
with 4-meter pipes. Fluorescent-lit billboards were erected to provide background
highlights, while unwanted storefront lights
were scrimmed out.
The most elaborate interior setup
was the nightclub set, which was used
twice. It opens the film, with strobe effects
hitting Victoria's face, and then serves as
revelry central when the group triumphantly
returns from the robbery. Built in an empty
basement, this was the only constructed
set, done for proximity's sake. Two scanners
and four moving Mac 250 profile spots did
the yeoman's work. "The moving lights
were used for the strobe effect because we
needed a longer flash time to provide a
clean effect in camera," says Fricke. Adds
Grøvlen, "A strobe light would have created
artifacts in the form of half-exposed frames
because of the rolling shutter of the
camera."
In addition, a large soft box faced the
DJ. "For his face, I used two Linestra halogen light tubes," Fricke notes. Both the DJ
and the crowd behind him were backlit with
gelled Par 56s - the DJ himself with a pair
of reds and the crowd with a pair of bluishgreens and another of yellow-oranges.
"The whole dance floor was prepared with
a lot of Par 56s and Par 64s," Fricke continues. "We had different colors on them for
the two different moods." The biggest
difference in lighting between the gang's
two visits to the club was a switch from a
stroboscopic effect to a cool bluish-green
24

November 2015

and hazy ambiance "to complement the
dawn," Grøvlen explains.
The first time the production tried a
full take, it was as taxing as any robbery.
"The hopes were really high to nail it right
away," says the director. The initial attempt
was technically successful, but otherwise fell
flat. "Everybody was holding back," says
Schipper. "Nobody wanted to be the guy
that made the mistake."
They took a week's pause, then tried
again. Schipper encouraged the team to
embrace whatever happened and incorporate that into the story. But this second try
"top-sided in chaos," Schipper says. He had
promised his funders a jump-cut version if
the one-take approach failed, but he could
tell that an edited version, culled from full
takes and filmed rehearsals, just wouldn't
work. "It would probably qualify on some
level as a 'product,'" he says, but that
wasn't their goal.
Given the high stakes, their third and
final take was "supercharged," says Schipper, who hung closer to the actors this time
around, slipping into the car off-camera and
being in their sphere during certain trouble
spots. This time, they pulled it off on all
fronts. "Actually, I felt it wasn't the best
work I had done," Grøvlen confesses. "But
after the last shot, when Victoria is walking
away and we're about to cut, Sebastian
came over, put his hand on my shoulder and
said, 'We got it.' He was very clear: This had
the best performances, the best energy. And
I have to agree."
That take also included some happy
accidents. The chaos that erupts in the
getaway car, for instance, was real. Costa
was driving too fast on unblocked streets, so
everyone was yelling at her to slow down.
What's more, they tried a new, shorter
route, and the actress nearly turned down
American Cinematographer

the street where craft services was located.
The yelling intensified. "I could see it out of
the corner of my eye," says Grøvlen, "so I
just panned the camera to Frederick Lau,
who was on the floor, and stayed on him for
a while. When we finally found the route
back to the club, everybody took a breath. It
was really authentic. That was something
that could have gone very wrong, but it
made everything so much better."
Grøvlen's proudest moment came
toward the end, when Victoria parts with
Sonne. "It came together perfectly," he
recalls. "When I moved in close on her, a
tear was falling. In a normal shoot, we probably would have done that 20 times to get
it right, and here, after two hours of shooting, it was there. That was a magical
moment."
Victoria's color grade was done at
NHB Berlin on a FilmLight Baselight Two
(Generation V), with a DPX sequence
transcode in 1920x1080 24p and Rec 709
color space, for a final 2K DCP deliverable.
Grøvlen, producer Jan Dressler and colorist
Pana Argueta pursued a natural look to
enhance the "you are there" experience.
Argueta explains, "My main task, and the
most challenging part of my work, was to
enhance the changes in the light and the
color temperature as the characters were
moving throughout the locations," he says.
"I had to use hundreds of key frames on the
Baselight - kind of like color dissolves
within scenes - to achieve the right mood
for every situation in the smoothest possible
way. I still get dizzy when I think about it."
According to Grøvlen, another big
task was painting out the most obvious
camera shadows and crew reflections. They
also had one sky replacement. "Up on the
rooftop, we wanted dawn to start being visible, instead of looking into blackness."
Overall, Grøvlen assures, "there wasn't that
much trickery." Just a lot of gumption.

TECHNICAL SPECS
2.39:1
Digital Capture
Canon EOS C300 PL
Zeiss Standard Speed

➣



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - November 2015

Contents
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 1
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 2
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - Contents
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 4
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 5
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 6
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 7
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 8
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 9
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 10
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 11
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 12
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 13
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 14
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 15
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 16
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 17
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 18
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 19
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 20
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 21
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 22
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 23
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 24
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 25
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 26
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 27
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 28
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 29
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 30
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 31
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 32
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 33
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 34
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 35
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 36
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 37
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 38
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 39
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 40
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 41
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 42
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 43
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 44
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 45
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 46
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 47
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 48
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 49
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 50
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 51
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 52
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 53
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 54
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 55
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 56
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 57
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 58
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 59
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 60
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 61
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 62
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 63
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 64
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 65
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 66
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American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 69
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 70
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 71
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American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 73
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American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 76
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American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 78
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American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 81
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 82
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American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 96
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - Cover3
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