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To Docudrama
To Docudrama
behind the camera
takes them into feature territo- ry for the first time.
“It’s a question of pacing yourself,” he says of the differ- ence between a short film and a feature-length film. “The physical demands are a lot heavier, especially since I also do my own operating and lighting. But you also develop a sort of shorthand, a rapport
with the director. This film is being shot in a style which is a mixture of gritty documentary and drama which is one of the reasons I like it,” Küchler explains. “You have to be able to react intuitively, especially since you are working with children and you’re not always certain where they are going to go. I’ve been using a lot of hand-held shots and long lenses so that we get the sense of being more observational and less intrusive,” says Küchler.
Other cameramen as well as direc- tors such as Richard Attenborough and David Hayman have waxed lyrical about the quality of the light in Glasgow. One of the by-products of the city’s industrial decline is a consequent drop in the amount of muck and filth in the atmos- phere. Küchler had heard about this but, shooting in the worst Scottish summer in living memory, he didn’t get much chance to experience it.
“There were some days when we didn’t seem to get any light at all,” he jokes. “But then, when the weather was good, we got some marvellous skies; wonderful shades of greys and greens.”
After wrapping an eight week shoot on The Ratcatcher, Küchler says he may go and shoot a commercial or a rock
video until he decides on his next big job. But before that there is something much more important to be taken care of, especially after filming through a Glasgow summer.
“I think I need a vacation,” says Küchler, with grim good humour. “The Bahamas perhaps. Just somewhere where the sun is shining and the beach- es are golden and the sea is blue.” ■ ANDY DOUGAN
Ratcatcher was originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative