American Cinematographer - December 2016 - 14

Short Takes

Future Shock
By Derek Stettler

The half-hour science-fiction short Kryo opens with a
compelling 1980s-style VHS-quality promotional video for the Phoenix
Life Extension Foundation, promising viewers that a world free of
disease and death awaits if they undergo the company's cryogenic
services. Kryo explores the potential consequences of accepting that
promise through the story of David (Beat Marti), who chooses to be
frozen alongside his terminally ill wife, Evelyn (Jana Klinge).
When they wake up from their "cryo-coffins" in the year
2403, David and Evelyn find themselves in a high-tech medical bay.
Exploring their surroundings, they begin to realize that something has
gone terribly wrong, and they find that they are all alone in an abandoned subterranean facility. As they search for answers, they discover
a terrible truth about the mysterious Phoenix Foundation - and
themselves.
Kryo was a thesis project at the Filmakademie BadenWurttemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany, from which cinematographer Frederick Gomoll graduated in 2015. Although he had not previously worked with the cast or crew, Gomoll was a natural choice to
serve as the short's director of photography. "I had shot numerous scifi-related projects during my studies," he recalls, "but nothing as fully
realized as Kryo. I'm very proud of it."
Christoph Heimer, Kryo's director and a fellow student at the
film school, had seen Gomoll's work and reached out to him with a
script about cryogenics. "I joined because I was so captivated by the
story and the imaginable moods," says Gomoll. "The main idea was
there, but it evolved a lot over time. It was a very good atmosphere
between us all. Production designer Johanna Wagner and I had a lot
of freedom to evolve ideas, and Christoph was very receptive."
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December 2016

Producer Christian Schega rounded out the team members who
graduated with Kryo as their thesis. The screenplay was written by
Arend Remmers.
Coincidentally, just prior to joining the Kryo production,
Gomoll had finished shooting Call of Immortality, a documentary
about cryogenics that took him to locations in Germany, Russia and
Hong Kong. Asked whether he drew inspiration for Kryo's look from
the real-life cryogenic facilities he had visited, the cinematographer
laughs. "No," he says. "There was nothing sci-fi about them!"
Instead, Gomoll found himself most influenced by the
science-fiction films he watched with Kryo's production team during
the six months of prep. In particular, he cites Event Horizon (AC Aug.
'97), Moon (AC July '09), Cargo (2009), Prometheus (AC July '12) and
Alien (AC Aug. '79) as significant inspirations. "I learned a lot about
the art of scaring the viewer by doing slow dolly shots and keeping
things hidden in darkness," he reveals. "I wanted to achieve a claustrophobic atmosphere, and these films did that extremely well."
Pulling double duty as Kryo's cinematographer and camera
operator, Gomoll contributed to the short's palpable sense of atmosphere with precise camera movement; a focus on details through
close-ups; steam, smoke, snow and ice effects; and the use of
"almost every lighting technology out there: LED, HMI, tungsten,
fluorescent and monitor screens," he says. To cement the story's
futuristic look, Gomoll collaborated closely with Wagner to integrate
LED strips, fluorescent panels, warning lights and display screens into
the production's sets.
The ability to shoot in real locations - including a decommissioned 1980s Cold War-era military bunker near Dresden and an
active stone quarry - also helped immensely, and sub-freezing
temperatures during the winter shoot allowed visible breath vapors
to be shot practically on set. "For a long time, we discussed building

American Cinematographer

Images courtesy of the filmmakers.

David (Beat
Marti) and his
wife attempt
to cheat death
through
cryogenic
technology, but
wake up
hundreds of
years later to
find that
something has
gone terribly
wrong in the
science-fiction
short Kryo.

American Cinematographer - December 2016

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