American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 57

The Rider photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics and Joshua James Richards.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer photos by Atsushi Nishijima, courtesy of A24.

This year's Film Independent Spirit Award
nominations recognized the outstanding
cinematography in the features (from left)
Columbus, Beach Rats, Call Me by Your Name, The
Rider and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

budget movie shot over a very short
time."
Christian's most reliable tool in
this regard was Arri's SkyPanel. "That
light was used more than anything else
on the truck," he says. "We employed a
lot of SkyPanel book lights with
Ultrabounce and Full Grid. We
employed a fair amount of Leko
bounces, and a lot of indirect sources in
general." The minimalist approach
influenced Christian's choice of camera
- Arri's Alexa Mini. "We were shooting in practical locations, and the form
factor helped us fit into some smaller
places," he explains. "Though anamorphic was never really an option for us,
we did discuss cropping to 2.39:1. The
main consideration was always what
would make our locations the most
impactful, and we ultimately decided on
1.85:1 because it gave the frame room to
breathe."
Christian chose the Alexa paired
with Cooke S4 lenses for the soft look
the combination provided, though he
"took the edge off a little" with some
light use of Hollywood Black Magic
filters. In terms of camera movement, he
and Kogonada primarily adopted a

locked-off approach. "We would visit
locations in preproduction and
Kogonada would say, 'What is the best
shot here?' His priority was finding the
best frames and figuring out how the
actors would inhabit those frames, rather
than just framing the people," Christian
says. "For every shot in the movie, we
shot a plate without actors in addition to
shooting it with the actors. Kogonada
emphasized the contrast between
absence and presence, and wanted to
show the locations with and without
people. Even when people don't inhabit
the spaces, the spaces still exist."
Though most shots were locked
off, Christian and Kogonada sprinkled
in a couple of long tracking shots where
they felt appropriate. Christian adds,
"Kogonada was very opposed to panning
or tilting the camera to follow the action,
and there are also almost no over-theshoulder shots in the movie - they are
almost always clean singles. The only
time we shoot an over-the-shoulder is at
the very end of the film when Jin and
Casey say goodbye."
Christian's job was made clearer
by Kogonada's decision to edit the film
himself. "He knew on set how he was
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going to cut it," the cinematographer
recalls. "I was really impressed with how
he was able to put it all together in his
head as we were shooting - he would
be able to say what coverage we needed
based on how he thought he would put
it together. For example, the scene in
Parker Posey's [character's] hotel room
with all the mirrors consisted of the only
angle we shot for that scene. We had
planned on shooting two other shots,
but Kogonada decided we didn't need
the coverage. That's a bold call, especially for a first-time director."
At the end of the day, Christian
refers to a line from the film to sum up
the style to which he aspired:
"Modernism with a soul."
- JH
Beach Rats
Director: Eliza Hittman
Cinematographer:
Hélène Louvart, AFC
In a dark bedroom, a young man,
tough and sensuous with chiseled torso,
takes a selfie. The flash reflects in the
mirror, but his eyes remain in shadow
under a baseball cap. This is Frankie in
March 2018

57
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - March 2018
