Is it me... or is Once Upon A Widescreen every director’s dream?
Not so long ago, in a land far far away, screens were square. Only the richest and wisest could afford glorious widescreen. Now, with the flick of a switch, the world can be transformed into 2:3! But is all content truly cinematic?
It’s a word used a lot in treatments. Guarantees from writers and directors of epic visions, full of scope and drama. Even inanimate pack shots are often labelled “cinematic”. But for those of us behind the lenses we know, not all content is born in ratio. Despite the fashion for slapping bars top and bottom of a 16:9 frame, shooting truly widescreen films needs serious consideration.
So what does it take to make your content truly cinematic?
START WITH THE SCRIPT
Watch the creative team behind JOKER and you’ll hear words such as “mood”, “tone” and “isolation”. Creating a truly cinematic style starts with emotion, atmosphere and visceral impact. It’s also not all about the look, often more the feel – the sound of tricycle wheels leaving carpet to impact on the hard wood of the Overlook’s legendary floor is the perfect description of cinematic.
KNOW YOUR WORKFLOW
Looks often go beyond sensor size. Cinema look-up tables created for cameras such as the Canon 5D have proved premium images at affordable prices. Used underwater for The Attack it proves you don’t have to have anamorphic lens and endless out of focus lights to produce a stunning moving image.
Thanks to digital development, cinematic looks can be created well before you shoot with a great grader and a well planned workflow. My friend and colleague - Basil Stephens at Annex Films created a beautiful film for Lush using a Sony A7s MkII with cine adapted Leica R series lenses and the talent of Tim Smith at Cheat who created a bespoke LUT before a single pixel was captured. (Cheat also graded The Attack and The Engine. Just saying)
CHOOSE YOUR CREW
As we’ve already established, your crew is your lifeblood and not just the DOP. Art department, costume, and sound can all make a big difference in the way a shot, a scene and a film comes across. Where would “A Quiet Place” be without sound design, “Edward Scissor Hands” without costume and “The Great Beauty” without Rome. Our very talented crew, lead my long time collaborator Cliff Evans, prove what can be created on non-Hollywood budgets.
FORGET THE BOKEH
In recent years cinematic has come to mean short depth of field, out of focus highlights and background sparkle. Often it’s not a decision, more the result of a technological byproduct of using certain equipment. The hardest look to achieve, is comedy. Films with wide-open brightly lit scenes are harder to achieve than shooting a night scene. (Maybe not) Of course the mastery of Roger Deakins can make even “clean simple” reverse shots amazing and let’s not forget the performance driven style of Jean Yves Escoffier with his passion for Kino Flows.
IF THE BUDGET ALLOWS GO ANAMORPHIC
Ok, hand up, nothing replaces an anamorphic lens, don’t take my word, listen to Mrs Richardson + Tarrantino. From the soft caress of old school Panavision to the newer sharper Hawk, anamorphics have a unique look and feel. They make you shoot wide, deal in the moment and focuses the eye on the very part of the image the audience should be watching, and there in, lies the rub – anamorphic lenses need your full attention. If there’s something not quite right at the edge, the lens will see it. Not enough light, the lens knows. They’re the all-seeing-eye and, if you fail, Sauron knows.
Which is not the reason we didn’t use them on this latest film we just (don’t tell anyone) couldn’t afford them. But I think the team did a pretty good job of making this latest piece of digital content look pretty, cinematic. Oh and streak filters, they’re pretty effective.
