American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 15

Charpentier photo by Aziz Maazouz.

on Craigslist," she remembers. "A
producer, Peter Odio, saw the ad, and for
some reason he contacted me. He told me
he was not interested in wearing a Speedo
for our car-wash scene, but that he was
looking for a female director of photography who could speak Spanish." Cartas a
Elena put Cabana on the map, leading to
multiple features and to the cinematographer's highest profile work to date on
season two of the Netflix series Narcos.
Cabana has earned accolades for
her action photography on the show, and
revels in the opportunities it has created for
her. "I love action, and Narcos gave me an
opening to do things I have never done
before - explosions, car chases, shootouts,
miniature work - and to use tools that I
never had available due to budget restrictions."
When asked what's next, Cabana
excitedly responds with a long list of
projects and ideas; she's especially interested in creating VR content while continuing to pursue her aspirations in features
and TV. "I dream of shooting a show like
American Horror Story or Westworld," she
says. Laughing, she adds, "Just putting that
out there."
Bjorn Charpentier, SBC
Belgian cinematographer Bjorn
Charpentier, SBC was always a movie lover,
but one film in particular made an impression. "When I saw The Rock, directed by
Michael Bay and shot by John Schwartzman, ASC, I was blown away by the
dynamic framing and lighting," he recalls.
"That film made me interested in photography."
Charpentier began his formal training at the Narafi campus of the Luca School
of Arts in Belgium, and went on to work
with Danny Elsen, NSC, SBC as a camera
assistant. Charpentier's career was further
facilitated by a Belgian directing duo
known as "Norman Bates," who brought
him on board for several international
projects.
Now, Charpentier divides his time
between commercials, music videos and
features. He recently received high honors
at Cannes with a promotional spot called
100 that he shot for Leica, which won a
Grand Prix and a Gold Lion in 2015. "That

From left: First AC Iurie Bustiuc (inside tracking car); cinematographer Bjorn Charpentier, SBC;
and 1st AD Ahmed Hatimi on location in Tangier, Morocco, for High Wire Act.

was a career changer for me," he says.
Charpentier enjoys moving back
and forth between film and digital -
sometimes on the same project. "I shot
several commercials where I combined
both," he says. A Jeep commercial that
spans various time periods, for example,
"was shot on Alexa, Super 8mm, 16mm,
and even on the iPhone, all in one project."
He adds, "The advantage of digital is that
you can push the image further because
you can see the direct result on the monitors. You don't have sleepless nights waiting for the prints. Also, the sensitivity is
greater, so I can use less light and a smaller
generator, and I have fewer reloads with
digital, so the director can keep shooting
and find more emotional moments with
the actors."
In terms of his narrative feature
work, Charpentier is particularly excited
about a pair of features that he shot in

anamorphic format with vintage glass on
Arri's Alexa Plus 4:3 with an XR Module
upgrade. "Over the last two years, I've
been shooting an epic sci-fi story titled
Behold a White Horse. Every shot looks
extremely expensive, even though we shot
it with a small budget and with small lighting setups, as we wanted to keep our footprint to a minimum. The idea was to take
items away from the existing locations and
to turn lights off instead of adding them."
For director Brad Anderson's High
Wire Act, "Brad wanted to push the limits
of darkness and night scenes. The theory
was that we would light everything from
within the location with lots of practicals
and a lot of murky industrial lights and old
fluorescents. Given the aesthetic we were
going for, I shot with a lot of reflected light,
which meant that all the sources in the
frame would have to be shiny - the walls
and even the makeup." Charpentier

On the agent-cinematographer relationship:
"It's a partnership. We're in the same two-man canoe. We have to be in
sync and operate in tandem to move smoothly through calm waters and
through rapids. I have to find what works for each client and tailor that; it's
not just one-process-fits-all. Some clients are great communicators; others
need help in the promotional area, selling their personality and selling their
artistry. A lot of cinematographers disdain self-promotion, and that's why
they need an agent."
- Charles Lenhoff, Lenhoff & Lenhoff

www.theasc.com

February 2017

http://www.theasc.com

American Cinematographer - February 2017

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