Cine_TellTale

cinematographer

photographer

.

director of photography

SELECTED CLIPS and IMAGES

16mm. 1.33:1. 5218 rated ei 500, develop normal.
Optics: Zeiss superspeeds, primarily 16mm and 25mm, T1.4 to T2.
Filters: Some ND for day scenes. Camera: Arriflex SR3
Other: Manual iris attached to matte box.
Lighting: Actual candlelight used whenever possible with grouped triple-wick candles. Day scenes lit with controlled/shaped natural light only.

Daylight scenes were lit by shaped natural window light only, and real flames illuminated night interiors whenever possible - triple-wick candles were custom ordered for this purpose, made from beeswax in order to work as a practical in the frame. Clusters of variously dimmed bare bulbs emulated candle-light whenever the scope of the shot was too great.

An aspect ratio of 1.33:1 was chosen to attain more classical compostion, and to give a sense of claustraphobia to the house. For much of the early part of the film, this idea of symmetrical formality was rigidly followed, especially for wide shots - we would often place the camera at a measured middle-point of the room, pan it perpendicular to the wall and arrange the set dressing and blocking to accomodate a formal, proscenium presentation. In these cases, the tilt of the camera was even neutralized with a bubble-level and the camera raised or lowered to suit the frame. To further evoke the era (1840s), vignettes were sometimes created by taping a spotlight iris to the mattebox. The iris was large enough to be centered at nearly any position in the frame, slid front to back for edge definition and could be opened/closed during the shot, as long as the camera tape didn’t fail in the freezing room.

If the production had been able to shoot 35mm, I feel we could have better evoked early photography with much less depth-of-field and a selection of early optics and bellows systems that the format would have facilitated. We instead pursued a more painterly approach, given the deeper focus of the 16mm format. It should also be noted that without such strong production design (Robert Eggers), such a revealing formal approach would have fallen apart.

(click to enlarge)