American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 61

Richards embraced the realistic
aesthetic dictated by his limited
resources, noting that it forced him to
keep things simple. "The entire lighting
package came from a trip to Home
Depot," he recalls. "Everything is practical or available lighting. We wanted
people to come into Brady's world on
the reservation, and feel it as it really is."
To that end, Richards and Zhao
set strict rules to keep things simple and
consistent. "I was mostly wide open or
at T2.8," Richards says. "The night
interiors were mostly top-lit with fluorescents, and night exteriors with 500watt halogen work lights. My gaffer,
Jack McDonald, and I designed the
lighting to emulate what was already
there and shape it to contrast in specific
ways with the exteriors. Putting everything on dimmers, blacking windows
and walls, and gelling and diffusing
practicals is about as far as it went. I
owned a few meters of VHO Pro
LiteRibbons from LiteGear, which we
rigged to the car [hood] for night
driving scenes."
In spite of the low-budget
circumstances, however, Richards insists
that there were no compromises.
"Exteriors were planned carefully for
specific times of day, using various
colored bounce and negative fill. If we
didn't like the light, we would schedule
for another day or move onto something else." Richards shot on Arri's

Amira for its ease, ergonomics, and
weight on the shoulder. "This film was
all available light, so the Alexa sensor is
a no-brainer, given its latitude," he says,
adding that he shot in the 2.39:1 aspect
ratio to showcase the landscape and
Brady's place in it.
In terms of lenses, Richards relied
on a set of Arri/Zeiss Ultra Primes
provided by Arri Rental. "They're fast,
not as sharp as the Master Primes, and
perform well when wide open," he says.
"I didn't want any filtration or 'prettiness' between the lens and Brady. His
wound, and the scars and dirt between
his nails, needed to be shown as vividly
as possible. We shot almost entirely on
a 32mm, 50mm and 24mm. I prefer
getting closer with wider-angle lenses.
There's something more immediate and
dynamic, which allows the audience to
be close yet still feel the landscape. On
longer lenses it gets lost. It's about
whatever feels right to the story and
conveys the right feeling."
Ultimately, all of Richards and
Zhao's choices led to a direct connection between the audience and the characters. "The outline came out of years of
friendship formed with Brady and his
family, and it showed," Richards
explains. "To have the opportunity to
capture their stories so intimately, yet in
a poetic and cinematic way, was a
welcome challenge."
- JH
www.ascmag.com

Top: After suffering a near-fatal head
injury, Brady Blackburn (Brady Jandreau)
seeks a new identity in America's heartland
in The Rider. Above: Cinematographer
Joshua James Richards captures a scene
with Jandreau.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cinematographer:
Thimios Bakatakis, GSC
In the "normal" world of cinema,
a child collapsing in a hospital from a
mysterious affliction would be milked
for emotion: close-up framing, perhaps
a handheld camera signaling the
parent's panic. But in The Killing of a
Sacred Deer, that moment is captured
in a static overhead high above the
action. It's a detached, dispassionate,
god's-eye view, and one of many cinematic choices that give the proceedings
a sense of unstoppable Fate with a
capital F.
➣
March 2018

http://www.ascmag.com

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