Page 37 - Fujifilm Exposure_29 Trial & Retribution_ok

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MOTION PICTURE & PRO-VIDEO feature in focus
Despite frequent light changes on its Liverpool and Manchester loca- tions, Dod Mantle worked hard to cre- ate a strategic colour palette for the film, which would enable him to make last-minute tweaks and enhancements in post-production. But although Boyle and co were keen to give the North its dues, the characters themselves were an integral part of the colour scheme.
“We did a lot of tests to choose the colour of the kids’ tops and we visited a lot of schools near where we were filming,” said Boyle.
“We went to this one school and I saw this mixture of yellow and blue and I thought that’s just perfect for the film. I knew that Anthony would make it burst into life and it was a great key that our production
designer, Mark Tildesley, could use to bounce off.”
But despite this apparent spon- taneity, Boyle and Dod Mantle had very specific ideas for the characters themselves and the particular worlds in which they live.
“For instance,” said Dod Mantle, “Danny and I had aspirations about visual horizons for the father Ronnie as he tries to create a new role and a new life for the boys.
“Damian’s a more spiritual charac- ter, and as he encounters the saints I wanted his colours to be more muted and gentle. Anthony is a potential materialist, so I’ve tried to frame him and colour him in a certain way because I feel he’s attracted to bright, violent colours.
“His eye-line and expression are much more brutal too as he looks towards the camera – he looks hard and has his own passport for sur- vival – while Damian is far more gen- tle and serene as he looks up to the camera. This is a boy who’s search- ing for something.”
For Dod Mantle, the chance to step into a child’s mind offered more of an excuse to rip up the rulebook and experiment. “It’s an excuse to play,” he corrected, “and if you have a director who wants to play too, like Danny, that can be amazing.” ■
Millions, released in the UK on December 3, was predominantly originated on 35mm Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative using a combination of F-64D 8522, F-125T 8532, F-400T 8582 and Reala 500D 8592
THE DP VIEW
ANTHONY DOD MANTLE BSC DFF
was particularly impressed with the Fuji stocks on a telecine level (he told Anwar Brett during film- ing). I’ve noticed that the 400 tungsten might not look so
appealing in the low contrasts but when you get it into the telecine the quality of separation, and your ability to work on it is very good indeed.
As far as the control goes - dolly- ing and not-dollying and running loose with two cameras - I had an imagined a less controlled environment.
I feared I would have to run two operated cameras to get what I could get as quickly as possible, then try and grade it as well as I could in post. But in fact these boys are performing well, and seem to be quite comfort- able with it all. We’re choreographing our shots and getting away with it.”
One thing we’re shooting is a strange night exterior, with sky plates and colour plates put together. It’s a sodium light, a very strange look. On the tests I shot at three frames per second on available light just to see what it looked like in that exposure.
I lit it with massive Wendys on cranes, with black & white plates mixed in with colour filters, that I would then treat to match the sky. The result is kind of magical. ■
“Normally in Britain we either make films about the upper classes in period dramas or we make them about
the working classes.”
Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video • Exposure • 35