BEHIND THE SCENES: Cameras and Lenses Used to Shoot 54 Films Featuring in Cannes1 min read
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe world’s best cinematographers talk about how they created the look of the highly anticipated features about to premiere at Cannes.
IndieWire reached out to the cinematographers whose feature films are premiering at the Cannes Film Festival to find out which cameras and lenses they used and, more importantly, why these were the right tools to create the visual language of their films.
“Atlantics”
Dir: Mati Diop, DoP: Claire Mathon
Format: Digital, 1.66 aspect ratio, post production was done in 2K
Camera: Red Epic 5K and Panasonic Varicam35 4K
Lens: Angenieux 45/120 and 25/250, and Zeiss lenses T1.3
Mathon: We chose the Red Epic to shoot daytime, to give romance to images that were captured in a documentary way, and to enhance the sun-drenched sets. We wanted to make a film that was visually arresting but remained very grounded in reality.
We chose Varicam at night for its great sensitivity that allowed us to visibly film neighbourhoods of Dakar almost plunged into darkness. The texture is a bit matte, and the rendering of flares and shine, especially on the skin, work with the fantastical dimension of the film while still capturing the soul of the Senegalese capital. We wanted the viewer to feel the dust, humidity and the ocean spray.
“Atlantics” is a movie of ghosts. The work on the materials, the elements (setting sun, ocean, etc.) and the ability to capture black skin in the night was very important.
The lightness of the chosen tools allowed me to shoot the film either on my shoulder with an easyrig (mostly) or on foot with a very long focal length, in a documentary approach: I could turn fast, catch things on the fly, and improvise in the moment.
