American Cinematographer - April 2021 - 41

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER ASCMAG.COM

Artist Bill Viola's video-and-sound installation Ocean Without a Shore
(top) inspired ASC member Natasha Braier, whose credits include the
2016 feature The Neon Demon and the 2012 short Swimmer (bottom).

in motion pictures of the past. At the very least, our discussion told me
that the movie should not take on the expected look of a modern horror
movie, but instead give the viewer a retro feeling of nostalgia, filtered
through the lens of movies we all remembered.
Although most of the film only vaguely resembles the inspirations
we drew from Crewdson's work, one scene in particular stands out as a
direct homage from me to the photographer. Crewdson's photograph of
a man standing on a street at night, illuminated by a single beam of light,
had the feeling of non-reality, spirituality and isolation that I wanted
to convey for a scene where Addison Timlin's and Travis Tope's characters say goodbye because she's leaving town the next morning. This
interaction leads them to make love for the first time, so Alfonso and I
wanted the scene to convey the magic of momentary human connections - when we try to absorb the emotion of a moment with another
person, amid a world that doesn't understand.
Working on the roof of a house, I set up a 1,200-watt HMI light with
a spot lens on a stand, creating a blue beam that accented the couple
below. It was the only movie light I used for the entire scene; all of the
other lighting came from practical lights that existed in the house. We
dressed Travis in a red jacket so that the light that bounced off him onto
Addison would be the proper color temperature for her face, but we put
her in a blue jacket so that the light that reflected off her, and onto Travis, would be more intensely blue - alluding to the idea that his character might actually be the killer. The resulting scene fulfills the goal of
removing this couple from the rest of the world's reality, while also enhancing the unrequited romance they must endure. When speaking to
students about my cinematography in The Town That Dreaded Sundown,
I've always pointed out the immeasurably important contribution of
Gregory Crewdson's work as an initial point of inspiration.
On the following pages are some comments from fellow ASC members on art that has inspired them, particularly in terms of lighting. The
message in their reflections is that inspiration can be found anywhere.
As a cinematographer, you just need to be open enough to see it, embrace it, and apply what you observe to your creative process.

Heightening Reality

By Natasha Braier, ASC, ADF
I initially encountered Bill Viola's work while I was at my first film school
in Argentina, in a class on visual arts. All of his work was extremely personal, but also very visual. He was using visual language in a very existential, poetic, metaphorical and symbolic way, addressing his thoughts
about life and death.
He worked in the avant-garde of visual arts, so he was always getting
new equipment to test. In the early 2000s, I was studying in London, and
he had an installation at an art gallery there. In an entirely dark room,
there were these huge screens, and all of a sudden the darkness started
breaking and you were seeing footage taken underwater at very slow
motion - at least 1,000 if not 2,000 frames per second - revealing a
person falling through the water. For the first minute, the image was
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American Cinematographer - April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - April 2021

Contents
American Cinematographer - April 2021 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - April 2021 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - April 2021 - 1
American Cinematographer - April 2021 - Contents
American Cinematographer - April 2021 - 3
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American Cinematographer - April 2021 - 28a
American Cinematographer - April 2021 - 28b
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American Cinematographer - April 2021 - 30a
American Cinematographer - April 2021 - 30b
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