Page 14 - Fujifilm Exposure_44 Damned United_ok

fter playing Kenneth Williams, Tony Blair and David Frost in roles on film and TV, Michael Sheen now spectacularly in- habits Brian Clough, the man
who famously once crowed: “I would- n’t say I am the best manager in the business. But I am in the top one.”
He was talking football, of course, and The Damned United, based on David Peace’s acclaimed novel, charts some of his highs and many of the lows during just one pe- riod in controversial Cloughie’s life.
Directed by Tom Hooper from Peter Morgan’s screenplay, the film concentrates on the 44 days in 1974 of the volatile manager’s short reign at Britain’s then top club, Leeds United. Filtered through these bitter weeks, are memories of rather hap- pier times earlier at Derby County, when “old big ‘ead” Clough lifted a mediocre team to the very heights.
With Timothy Spall as Clough’s long-time sidekick Peter Taylor, the cast also includes Jim Broadbent, Colm Meaney, Henry Goodman and Stephen Graham as other various key real life figures that occupied either the boardroom or the football field.
Hooper, working for the first time with DP Ben Smithard, said: “We liked the Fujifilm stock for this be- cause I think the stock still feels like film, because it still has what I think is a nice sense of grain about it. It’s obviously very subtle, but because we’re moving between archive and 35mm, we wanted them to sit to- gether in a way that was nice.
“We rejected digital as a format early on because we felt it wasn’t reminiscent of the period. The nice thing about Fujifilm is that it re- minds me of all the things I love about film as a medium; there’s no mistaking it for that clinical preci- sion of digital which sometimes feels a bit soulless.”
The Damned United, currently on release in the UK, was originated on 35mm Fujicolor ETERNA 500T 8573,
ETERNA 250D 8563 and ETERNA Vivid 160T 8543
THE DP VIEW
BEN SMITHARD
On its day of release, I went to
the Odeon in Shaftesbury Av- “enue to check out the first showing with the public so I could see the virgin print for myself. After a gruelling shoot and a longish post grade process, I could almost ‘smell’ the late 60’s early 70’s period the film was set in. Job done.
Most of my references when I started in pre-production came from social reportage photographs of the era, rather than films. Ultimately it came down to a few football history books that had colour pictures in them and that was pretty much where I left it before I started shooting.
You may think that not having a solid vision of the ‘look’ of the film before I started shooting is a little crazy for a cinematographer. How- ever, I made up the rest of my vision for the film from my own experi- ences growing up in the early seven- ties, some of it in the Midlands near where some of the film is set.
Now this is the pretentious bit. I could ‘smell’ this film as soon as I read the book and that was why I spent six months trying to get a meeting with the director. I had to shoot it, even if it was the last film I ever shot.
As with any period film, if you have great production design and costumes you are half way there, and we did. Eve Stewart and her
team did such an amazing job, some- timesIfeltallIhadtodowas ‘turnover’ and we got it.
The main part of the attention to detail the film needed was the director, Tom Hooper. One thing I can say about Tom is that he is the hardest working director I have ever worked with, and you sure need that when you are try- ing recreate anything period.
The last part of the jigsaw in creat- ing the ‘look’ of the film was of course the stock, Fujifilm. I must admit that I had not shot loads of Fujifilm in the past 12 years but once I started grad- ing the film I realised that the stock and the film were a marriage made in heaven. The stock contributed a mas- sive amount to that vision I had when I first read the book.
Many other cameramen who swear by Fujifilm have always told me how great the stocks are at re- producing greens. I have since found this note to be very misleading. Fuji- film is great at reproducing all colours, tones, hues etc. I was amazed. Go watch the film, see
for yourself.
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COVER STORY
BRINGINGBRIANCLOUGH SHOOT BACK TO LIFE IN THE DAMNED UNITED
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“THE FUJIFILM STOCK CONTRIBUTED A MASSIVE AMOUNT TO THAT VISION I HAD WHEN I FIRST READ THE BOOK.”
12 • EXPOSURE • THE MAGAZINE • FUJIFILM MOTION PICTURE