American Cinematographer - March 2016 - 24

Cinematographer Jarin Blaschke (left) and director Robert Eggers (center) study
an exterior scene.

Thomasin's bosom as they wash clothes by a
stream.
Blaschke resisted using artificial light
sources as much as possible. "So much
effort went into the accurate costumes and
production design. I would have felt I was
betraying that with movie lights," he
explains. Daytime interiors on the main floor
of the family home were lit solely by shaped
natural light through the windows. "That's
Ultrabounce catching skylight," Blaschke
elaborates. "If it was direct sunlight I'd go to
a bleached muslin - which is more matte
- when I could afford the additional,
minute light loss. In our soft, overcast world,
solids and nets outside emphasized light on
one side versus another. We didn't want a
mushy 'available light' look. We wanted it to
have direction."
A pivotal day-interior scene occurs up
in the family garret. After getting lost in the
woods - a sequence that, like all day exteriors on The Witch, was shot with shaped
natural light primarily using negative fill -
Caleb returns in a strange, feverish state. His
parents put him to bed and try to cure him
of his delirium, as their young twins, Mercy
(Ellie Grainger) and Jonas (Lucas Dawson),
start writhing around on the floor in the
throes of apparent possession. At Lathrop's
suggestion, the long, complicated scene was
shot on a stage, which was built in an abandoned logging facility. In this rare case, a
large artificial source was used to cast a
ghostly glow.
Forty feet outside a small window,
24

March 2016

pairs of Arri M40s and M90s alternated
bouncing off a couple of 12'x20' bleached
muslin frames in a "V" formation, providing
a panorama of simulated overcast light that
filtered in through the lone window. "That
gave us a feel of what we had out in the
forest," says gaffer Chad Roberts. "It was a
challenge because I had to match what the
grips did with natural light." Inside the set,
8'x8' muslin returned some light for shaping
on the actors' faces.
Night interiors were lit by practical
and off-camera triple-wicked candles, tapers,
tea lights and gas flames. To eerie effect, this
would often illuminate the central action and
little else. In one instance, for the safety of a
live raven, Roberts' electrical team substituted flames with a rig they devised, which
entailed hanging three 1⁄4 CTS-covered 200watt bulbs on a C-stand and putting them
on a flicker generator at a low setting.
In a scene that transitions from night
interior to exterior, a tense family dinner is
interrupted by strange sounds from the goat
shed, and Thomasin's parents send her to
calm the animals. She walks toward the shed
as the camera dollies back, her face lit by the
lantern she carries. Not a fan of excessive
moonlight - and wanting to keep the level
well below that of the candles in Thomasin's
lantern - Blaschke employed a pair of M90s
on an 80' lift to simulate the lunar source,
while 12'x20' bleached muslin on the
ground supplied fill. "I had electronic ballasts
on the M90s," Roberts recalls. "I eventually
shut off one and dimmed the other down to
American Cinematographer

50 to 75 percent. We put in every scrim we
had. It was more like a 2K than a 9K!"
Brian Gedge, who served as camera
operator on The Witch, captured most
moving shots on a dolly and a handful of
others on Steadicam. All the film's static
shots were captured on a tripod or, while in
the studio, a positioned dolly. An Easyrig was
used for a climactic scene involving William
and a goat.
Footage was monitored on a 17"
Sony PVM OLED screen calibrated to Rec
709. Toronto digital-imaging technician Erik
Greensmith, who graded dailies in Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve, recalls, "I
would key and desaturate skies that were
overly blue, as well as any foliage that was
becoming too green as spring progressed
throughout the shoot."
Mila Patriki performed the final
grade, which stretched from December
2014 to January 2015 at Toronto's Urban
Post Production. She worked in Resolve 11
on a 2010 Mac Pro with 2880x2160 12-bit
ArriRaw files and off-speed shots in
2048x1536 ProRes 4:4:4:4.
"We muted colors overall," Patriki
says. "We kept it looking beautiful by keeping some details with full color, such as a lit
lantern, some candlelight and moonlight.
The biggest challenge was to achieve an old,
beautiful look with soft color and contrast
while having it moody and scary at certain
points."
For The Witch's stark look, Variety
recognized Blaschke as one of 2015's "10
Cinematographers to Watch." He has since
shot Oren Uziel's Shimmer Lake, a crime
drama told in reverse, whose Toronto shoot
allowed him to attend The Witch's presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival.
"The Witch is the movie with the
most of me in it so far," Blaschke reflects.
"So for it to receive this attention is especially
rewarding."

TECHNICAL SPECS
1.66:1
Digital Capture
Arri Alexa Plus 4:3
Cooke Speed Panchro Series II;
Bausch & Lomb Super Baltar;
Panavision Super Speed MKII,
custom zoom

American Cinematographer - March 2016

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