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“I WAS REALLY PLEASED WITH HOW THE STOCKS HELD UP, ESPECIALLY THE GRAIN DETAIL WITHIN THE BLACKS, AFTER OUR PROCESS.”
I had always loved cinema and, subconsciously, its influence could be seen within much of my personal
“stills work. I shot various projects in California, Buenos Aires and Havana and art directors would comment on how much of my reportage work had a cinematic feel, so I thought: why not. But how do
I become a cinematographer?
I enrolled at the London Film School and graduated in 2008 as
Director of Photography on
4 Kilometres shot on location in a Bedouin Village and the Southern Israeli Desert, and of the French unit on Les Mouches.
Both were shot on 35mm with ETERNA 250D, Super F-64D & Reala 500D stocks. I had always used Fujifilm stock in my stills work so the decision to use their Motion Picture stocks was easy - especially on 4 Kilometres, which was a very demanding shoot.
We had lots of interior to exterior shots to balance, with a latitude of up to 13 stops between midday desert sunlight, and a limited amount of lighting available to light the interiors. The stock really had to work as hard as we did!
On leaving film school, I became increasingly frustrated at the lack of opportunity to collaborate on film projects with a strong visual style.
With that in mind, I embarked on Fanatic, an admittedly ambitious 35mm short film project for which I took on the multiple tasks of Writer, Producer, Director and Director of Photography, as well as providing all the finance for the project.
The intention of Fanatic was to produce something that was a purely visual film with little dialogue: to
be almost like a silent film, with carefully composed frames and moves that would not only be visually beautiful but could also be a great learning curve for me both technically and aesthetically.
I’d always especially admired Almodovar’s films and the work of Darius Khondji on Delicatessen - so I wanted the visual style to be somewhere in between.
To make things really difficult, I decided to shoot the film in Spanish (which I don’t speak), and then settled on Barcelona as the main location.
Fanatic is the story of Daniel, an English dwarf bicycle courier, living on the outskirts of the Spanish city. The film follows Daniel’s daily life and the prejudice he encounters on a daily basis.
Choosing Fujifilm again was an easy decision. I wanted a stock which would hold the intended
yellow/brown colour palette of the film, without washing out or appearing muggy.
Much of my stills work has, I think, a subtle, tangible texture of light and composition, so I wanted to replicate that style for Fanatic. 35mm was the way to go.
away from many of the well-known tourist attractions, choosing instead to shoot in other less known areas, but every one having a distinct character that lent something to each shot.
I spent a great deal of time, with our Spanish production team finding areas of the city that would contrast against our diminutive lead. The huge Solar Panel scene at the
Forum became one of my favourite sequences.
Throughout the whole film, much of the framing was either at ground level or just above to replicate Daniel’s point of view. I framed
FUJIFILM MOTION PICTURE • THE MAGAZINE • EXPOSURE • 27
We managed to get hold of some Cooke S4 lenses which have a nice, subtle, soft feel, and embarked on some tests with Image Film Lab in Barcelona on bleach bypassing the negative and pushing the stock 1 stop in order the crush the blacks to add a bit of punch.
Of course, I could have achieved something similar within a grade but this project was an opportunity to be a bit playful.
I chose ETERNA 250D to shoot the majority of the exteriors and Reala 500D for the interiors. I was really pleased with how the stocks held up, especially the grain detail within the blacks after our process.
This together with some subtle lens filtration resulted in the required yellow/brown palette that runs throughout the film.
Shooting in Barcelona or any busy city with a low budget can be a big ask, even more so with our lead actor being a dwarf riding a modified bicycle dolly on busy streets. In that regard, we stayed
Photos left: scenes from Fanatic; inset above: DP Paul Robinson
every single shot as though it was a ‘stand alone’ still which together with the use of speed ramping gave Fanatic its unique poetic visual style.
Fanatic may not be everyone’s
cup of tea, quite obviously: it
is even a little self indulgent
at times on the visual side,
but that is to be expected.
For that, I make no excuse! ”
Fanatic, originated on 35mm Fujicolor ETERNA 250D 8563 and Reala 500D 8592, has gone on to screen at numerous prestigious international film festivals including Austin, Nashville, Warsaw, Molodist (Kiev), Bogota and Oldenburg, winning Best Short Film at Milano (MIFF) and in Thailand. It was also a finalist at the 2010 Fujifilm Short Film Awards and has recently won Best Cinematography at Born Shorts in Denmark.