American Cinematographer - May 2018 - 62

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High-School Horrors

Optics Spotlight
Summilux-C
Primes
*|*

hooting Riverdale with CW
Sonderoptic's Leica Summilux-C
prime lenses was "an easy sell," says
cinematographer Brendan Uegama,
CSC. "Production had used the
lenses in the show's first season, and I
had used them on a commercial and
loved them.
"We use all of the focal lengths
on Riverdale, but I'm a big fan of the
21mm and the 40mm," he continues.
"There are certain lenses you just fall
in love with, and for me, those are the
ones in that set.
"I think the 21mm has a great
quality for our wider shots," Uegama
adds. "The 40mm is my preference
for clean close-ups. Sometimes, when
we want to get two cameras working
for medium shots and close-ups, we'll
end up on a 65mm or 75mm for the
closer size, but whenever possible I
try to get close-ups with the 40mm.
Because of the wider focal length for
close-ups, the camera has to be fairly
close to the actor. I think you get so
much more energy out of that than
you do when you're on a long lens
from farther away. It just pops more;
you see and feel so much more into
the character. For that reason, I often
use wider lenses closer.
"But," he concludes, "it all
depends on the show and the visual
approach."
- RKB

Uegama adjusts a practical table lamp for a scene between Martin Cummins (portraying Sheriff
Tom Keller) and Apa.

tend to use a True ND 0.6 filter, as it
holds the neon at a good level at my
preferred T-stop, which for Riverdale is
a T1.4/T2 split," he adds.
"Every window in the diner is
outlined with red neon lights," Uegama
continues. "Outside, on the under-hang
from the roof, we built in a long RGB

"I want
atomosphere in
every shot all
the time. I want
texture in
every frame."
LED strip that runs across the whole
front of the building, and we sometimes
changed its color from red to blue,
depending on the situation."
In one sequence at Pop's, Josie
(Ashleigh Murray) and Chuck ( Jordan
Calloway) flirt and share a dance before
her mother, Riverdale's mayor (played
by Robin Givens), arrives and spoils the

May 2018

American Cinematographer

moment. "For that, we used the exterior
LED strip at blue to give a night-ambient kick off the Venetian blinds," says
Uegama. "We actually shot the scene
day-for-night because the schedule
wouldn't allow for us to be there during
the evening on that day, so our grip
department had to surround the building with a duvetyn tent. The mood of
the scene was flirtatious and fun, but I
wanted the harshness of the red to feel
prominent in the scene, so the red neon
lights around the windows and the red
'Diner' sign played strongly.
"In the corner behind Chuck, we
added a [K 5600 Joker-Bug] 800 with
Cyan 90 to create a strong shaft of light
through the windows," he continues.
"All the overhead pendant lights were
dimmed down to an exposure that felt
right and gave them a bit of texture.
They didn't do much to light up the
room, but they did give the scene a
warm color contrast, and they also
provided motivation for the cast to be lit
with warmer light. To do that, we
pushed a Baby with a Chimera on it
through a frame of 250 diffusion. It was
a nice, soft source that looked great on
Ashleigh and Jordan."
At the opposite end of the spec-

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - May 2018