American Cinematographer - June 2013 - 20

Production Slate

Finding Her Way
By Iain Blair

Directed by Noah Baumbach and shot by Sam Levy, Frances
Ha follows 27-year-old Frances (Greta Gerwig), a New Yorker and
would-be dancer who, along with her friend Sophie (Mickey
Sumner), is navigating a life full of failed romances, unreliable roommates and crushing career disappointments. When Sophie suddenly
deserts her to move in with another friend, Frances must pick up the
pieces and find some direction for herself.
Levy, whose credits include Wendy and Lucy, met Baumbach
through the late Harris Savides, ASC. “Harris was a friend and
mentor, and he had worked with Noah on Margot at the Wedding
and Greenberg,” says Levy. “When he wasn’t available to shoot this
movie, he recommended me to Noah.
“Noah knew he wanted the movie to be black-and-white,
and together, the three of us shot a black-and-white test with a
Canon [EOS] 5D Mark II that Noah had been experimenting with,”
Levy continues. “He was interested in shooting a whole feature with
it.” Using the 5D wasn’t a foregone conclusion, however. “We
discussed the pros and cons of a number of formats but kept coming
back to the 5D,” says Levy. “I wanted the freedom and lightness of
a small camera for this project. The story has a great buoyancy, and I
wanted to bring that out.”
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June 2013

The trio gave the test footage to colorist Pascal Dangin, who
had worked with Savides previously. “Pascal made a black-andwhite 35mm print, and it was so beautiful we became convinced
the 5D was the way to go,” says Levy.
During principal photography, Levy used just one 5D (carrying a backup) and shot everything in color. “The 5D is capable of
capturing in black-and-white, but that severely reduces the dynamic
range — we could see in our test that it wasn’t going to work for
us,” says Levy. “Just prior to our shoot, Technicolor created its
CineStyle Profile for the Canon, which basically flattens the image
and gives it a raw look, but in color. We decided to use that, and
then I did even more tests.”
Judging black-and-white values while shooting color proved
to be relatively straightforward. “On set, Noah and I each had a 5.6inch TV Logic [VFM-056WP LCD monitor]; mine was on the camera,
and his was tethered to mine,” the cinematographer recalls. “Both
monitors had the chroma turned off so we could watch what we
were shooting in black-and-white. Having these calibrated monitors
on set enabled me to set an exposure without using a light meter.
Testing had prepared me to work like that. In prep, I used a meter
to study what the 5D sensor does and determined how to calibrate
our monitors accurately.” After wrap, Levy and digital-imaging technician/2nd AC Gregorio Franchetti would screen that day’s work on
Franchetti’s 27" Apple HD monitor, which was set to “universal

American Cinematographer

Frances Ha photos courtesy of IFC Films.

Frances (Greta
Gerwig, right)
and her
roommate,
Sophie (Mickey
Sumner), talk
on the fire
escape of their
New York City
apartment in a
scene from
Frances Ha, shot
by Sam Levy
and directed
by Noah
Baumbach.

American Cinematographer - June 2013

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