Page 12 - Fujifilm Exposure_38 As You Like It_ok

BRITZ
"One of the reasons we went for Fujifilm was
because I felt it dealt very well with multi-ethnic skin tones."
THE DP VIEW
DAVID HIGGS
ne of the reasons why Peter likes hand-held is because you end up with no corner unseen. A lot of the lighting, the way it was shot, was built in within
the structure; it’s very organic. We didn’t work with lights on stands inside the rooms –that just
wasn’t possible; for the night scenes we had maybe small practicals, things built into the environment that would work for us.
That’s one of the great challenges of shooting 360 degrees, sometimes walking into the room from maybe two rooms away. That’s part and par- cel of the challenge with Peter. Fourth time in, I still relish it.
We shot mainly on the Eterna 250D. One of the reasons we went for Fujifilm was because I felt it dealt very well with multi-ethnic skin tones, and the colour palette worked partic- ularly well in that environment.
The 250D, especially when you’re lighting with HMI on day interiors is a great stock and will capture every- thing the way you want it.
Peter likes to shoot quickly so it’s a question of planning ahead to get things in place before we start. I know roughly where the camera and actors are going to go beforehand but I shoot without rehearsals, which I think is great.
It’s a challenge especially for the focus puller, Matt Poynter and the grip Steve Pugh. When you’re shooting hand-held you’re walking around blind, so having Steve’s ability to guide me through doorways and gen- erally watch out for me is invaluable.
This is not filmmaking where it’s all down in stone in terms of dolly tracks and the moves. It’s a real chal- lenge in terms of having fluidity in the way the camera moves reflect the scene and the actors. For me physi- cally and intellectually, it’s 110 per cent every day. ■
O
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Rawalpindi. According to Kosminsky: “Originally we were going to build the interior on a stage at one of the stu- dios here, but it was too expensive. The set we could have afforded would have been very unambitious. So we decided insteads to find an interesting building and create our set inside it.”
So they settled on Farmiloe’s, a wonderful old Victorian building by Smithfield Market, which, until 1999, used to house the eponymous lead and glass manufacturers. Now it’s often used to host film and TV shoots like Batman Begins and The Libertine.
“Although I’d been on recces, it wasn’t until I got out to India, and in an area with a very strong Muslim influence, that I realised just how spot on our designer Pat Campbell’s set had been,” said Kosminsky.
There was, however, one big dif- ference. The temperature in Pakistan was probably in the high 30s and, “I
had to make it look steamy – that was entertaining,” said Higgs. Inside draughty Farmiloe’s, where some of the cast were having to play scenes in various states of undress, they were actually often shooting in sub-freezing conditions during midwinter.
Higgs, whose other recent TV work includes The Best Man, directed by Alex Pillai, and Nicholas Renton’s Who Gets The Dog?, a middle-age divorce drama, reflected on his fruitful collaboration with Kosminsky.
“Peter’s methodology is a great one. It’s very POV-driven and because of that I shot most of this hand-held. We’re on a journey with these charac- ters; everything including the way the camera works is driven from that per- spective. By being handheld you make, of course, enormous use of the environments you’re in.
“I particularly enjoyed working in India – the crew was great and I had a
Photo above: Britz on location; right: Kosminsky with DP David Higgs
hugely talented gaffer - but it was often very difficult. There are just so many people all in the wrong place at the wrong time. The moment you bring out a camera of whatever size, the dynamics can change and some- times those little moments of genuine public interaction can disappear in front of your eyes.
“Naturally, I was operating too. It wouldn’t work with Peter any other way. Mind you, it can be a nuisance when they’re waiting for you outside the toilet asking, ‘is he going to be long?’” laughed Higgs. “Peter will sometimes paint me into a corner on a technical point but I usually manage to figure a way out of it.” ■ QUENTIN FALK
Britz, to air on C4 in the autumn, was mainly originated on 16mm Fujicolor Eterna 250D 8663 and Eterna 250T 8653
10 • Exposure • The Magazine • Fujifilm Motion Picture