< PreviousEXCLUSIVE REPORT THE COLOUR CRAFT MASTER As someone who has received widespread critical acclaim for her work, including the Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography, a special craft award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September for her work for The Power of the Dog starring Benedict Cumberbatch, star cinematographer Ari Wegner is in peak form. Afterall, Wegner also made history as the fi rst female recipient of the BSC Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film award is now on the jury of the highly- anticipated FilmLight Colour Awards 2022. Digital Studio’s Misbaah Mansuri meets the director of photography whose hauntingly beautiful craft makes her reign over one of the most male-dominated industries, bringing to the light the integral role of colourists www.digitalstudiome.com10 /OCTOBER 2022EXCLUSIVE REPORT timber barn – things that just are the colour they are. So now we have some of the palette defi ned – the next question is, do we want to add more colours? Or stay within that existing palette? For Jane [Campion] and I, we were both excited by a visual minimalism, so between us and our production and costume designer we decided to not add additional colours, to strive for a rainbow of browns, blacks, tans, and golds. Next, we decided that we wanted to break this rule for the very lush green place where Phil goes to be alone, and for Rose’s outfi ts which would be warm pastels. What is nice about a hard strong rule like “no additional colours” is that when you choose to break it, the eff ect How was the colour palette drawn for the movie The Power of the Dog and what was the “aha” moment that led to the creation of the fi lm’s eponymous dog? For me, I always start with the locations. If you look at a frame, a decent amount of what’s in that frame is going to be whatever is behind the actors – be that walls or landscape or sky. And so, I always start there because the colours of the locations are always going to be a big part of the palette of the fi lm. Next, we know some other things that will defi nitely be seen in the fi lm – for us that was things like cattle, horses, leather saddles, a I LOVE TO SEE A PROJECT WHERE THE COLOUR HAS BEEN CONSIDERED HOLISTICALLY, INTEGRATING THE PRODUCTION DESIGN, THE WARDROBE, LIGHTING, LOCATIONS AS WELL AS THE COLOUR GRADE. A In the frame: Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons in The Power of the Dog. In the frame: Critically acclaimed cinematographer Ari Wegner, the mind behind The Power of the Dog . www.digitalstudiome.comOCTOBER 2022 / 11 SPOTLIGHT shape in the clouds, only this time it was the shadow of one mountain ridge falling on an adjacent hill. It was certainly an “aha” moment for both of us, as before that we had all been imagining the dog would most likely be some kind of rock formation, but the idea that it could be a shadow fi t so much better with intangible, mythical quality that the dog has in the Thomas Savage’s novel. is powerful. The dog “aha” moment, as I recall, was at the very end of a scout day when the sun was very low, Jay Hawkins (VFX Supervisor) and myself were looking out at mountain range, kind of in awe of the beautiful long shadows on it. We were looking at the shapes that the shadows were making on the mountains, and we both spotted the face of a witch. A bit like you would see a FOR JANE [CAMPION] AND I, WE WERE BOTH EXCITED BY A VISUAL MINIMALISM, SO BETWEEN US AND OUR PRODUC- TION AND COSTUME DESIGNER WE DECIDED TO NOT ADD ADDITIONAL COLOURS, TO STRIVE FOR A RAINBOW OF BROWNS, BLACKS, TANS, AND GOLDS. What aspect of judging the FilmLight Colour Awards 2022 are you most excited about? I’m really excited to see the work of DPs and colourists whose work I already know and respect, but even more excited to discover new teams and what they have been up to in the last year. What would you look for in entries at the FilmLight Colour Awards 2022 in order for them to stand out from the rest? What metrics wow you in entries? I love to see a project where the colour has been considered holistically, integrating the production design, the wardrobe, lighting, locations, and the colour grade. That said, anything that surprises me always gets me super excited. I love when a project contradicts my natural taste and makes me fall in love with a look that I hadn’t before appreciated. In the frame: Kirsten Dunst as Rose in ‘The Power of the Dog.’ www.digitalstudiome.com12 / OCTOBER 2022SPOTLIGHT and problem-solving techniques. I would also say that the real skill of a great colourist really shows when it comes to “tricky” footage, scenes where shots really don’t match, or the exposure isn’t ideal – if you can get your hands on footage that is less than perfect, it’s a great way to learn. How do you see the growth in imaging technology and tools and their role today in driving the colour grading process making it more creative and challenging than before? The biggest challenge currently that I see is the high range of diff erent monitors both on set and in the real world. It is super challenging to judge what an audience will ultimately see when there is so much variation in the monitors we are viewing on – especially when you are attempting to make very delicate tweaks. The trend towards remote grading has been both a gift and an additional challenge. While the convenience of remote is undoubtable, I do hope the experience of having a colourist, DP, and director in the same room, looking at the same image, will remain as the benchmark. Now that people watch fi lms on TV, computers, and even their phones, do you think about that end experience when you are shooting? Does it affect how you tell a story? Well, that’s a tricky one! On one hand, for a fi lm, I’m always framing for the big screen. For me that equates to how tight a close up might be, how wide a wide is, how handheld a handheld is – so in that sense it certainly eff ects how I use the camera to tell a story. On the other hand, I think when a fi lm is powerful, it will resonate on whatever size screen you watch it. Some of my absolute favourite fi lms I have only seen on a television. As a viewer, for me, the biggest diff erence when it comes to seeing images in a theatre versus elsewhere is that one is being projected, while the other is a backlit screen – it’s a very diff erent viewing experience. In addition to that, the fact that a projection requires a big, very dark room, I think is a huge part of the magic – the sense of the outside world disappearing as you start to watch a fi lm in a cinema, I love that. What is your advice to colourists starting out in the industry? I’m not huge on advice but I do believe that the best learning happens from trying, maybe failing, and trying again – pushing yourself outside your comfort zone. Tutorials are great to get you started but nothing compares to learning through sheer hours of exploration – fi nding your own way of doing something, your own workfl ows, IT IS SUPER CHALLENGING TO JUDGE WHAT AN AUDIENCE WILL ULTIMATELY SEE WHEN THERE IS SO MUCH VARIATION IN THE MONITORS WE ARE VIEWING ON - ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO MAKE VERY DELICATE TWEAKS. In the frame: Behind the scene shots from the set of ‘The Power of the Dog.’ www.digitalstudiome.comOCTOBER 2022 / 13 IN-DEPTH www.digitalstudiome.com14 /OCTOBER 2022IN-DEPTH hat fi lm mimics reality is a fact widely acknowledged for years now and for good reason. While real life often feels arbitrary in the same way that fi lmmaking does, fi lm and all its technicalities are underpinned by calculated and precise decisions that barely seem obvious to anyone else. Choices of colour is just one of those many crucial decisions. Cinematographers and fi lm colourists use colour to subliminally manipulate the audience’s emotions and deepen the narrative. As Matthew Tomlinson, colour scientist at Harbor, says, “The colour adjusts your perception of what the “reality” is of the fi lm but often the viewer is never really aware of it.” What diff erentiates good fi lmmakers from average ones is the ability to maximise the potential of colour to service the story while maintaining the very aesthetic of the shot. Colourist and visual director Andreas Bruckl notes, “The audience might not understand if it is a good or bad colour grade, but they know if it looks like a high budget fi lm or a cheap regional series. So, colours and good grading are pivotal for a fi lm, just as important as sound, VFX cinematography, and editing.” When done right, colour becomes its own character in the fi lm, eliciting strong psychological reactions from audiences and guiding the trajectory that the plot takes. Traditionally, each colour connotes a specifi c feeling. Red is anger and love, blue is sadness, and yellow is joy and warmth. With this in mind, Bruckl explains how he uses colour in his projects, “Colder colours emote tension in crime stories, and warmer colours for action movies, a little green in the shadows to create a subtle unwell feeling or bright images for love fi lms.” These are the associations that we generally tend to make about colour when we see them being used by cinematographers. T THE COLOUR ADJUSTS YOUR PERCEPTION OF WHAT THE “REALITY” IS OF THE FILM BUT OFTEN THE VIEWER IS NEVER REALLY AWARE OF IT. How does colour theory shape an audience’s perception and the narrative of a fi lm? Digital Studio’s Zaynab Kamran explores how colour is the essence of fi lm, why the right colour scheme matters and the critical role of the fi lm colourist and cinematographer in pre and post production www.digitalstudiome.comOCTOBER 2022 / 15 IN-DEPTH will always have an innate psychological reaction to colour. Colour theory in fi lm is how diff erent colours come together to evoke these deep-seated psychological feelings. While those aforementioned traditional connotations of colours are a familiar language of art around the world, the interpretation of colour is a lot more fl uid. The same colour palette can create one eff ect in a movie and a completely opposite eff ect in another. There are no set guidelines or a rulebook, so to speak, to determine how a colour should be used. At its very core, fi lm colourists materialise intangible moods and atmosphere in their own way, through this visual canvas. Tomlinson says that his goal when working on a project is “to take verbal information and create something But it’s a lot more complex than just simple cultural connotations. “Colour has to be taken in context. Green can make you feel calm the same way a lush fi eld of grass blowing in the wind does. At the same time, it can evoke feelings of jealousy or sickness. It all depends on context and the motivation behind the story being told,” says John Daro, senior colourist at Warner Bros. There is a very specifi c approach that professionals undertake when coming up with the colour scheme for a fi lm and it has to do with a concept called colour theory. “Understanding colour theory can subtly infl uence the emotional connection a viewer has to the media being presented in front of them,” notes Henri Bassil, TVC Ad director. Humans UNDERSTANDING COLOUR THEORY CAN SUBTLY INFLUENCE THE EMOTIONAL CONNECTION A VIEWER HAS TO THE MEDIA BEING PRESENTED IN FRONT OF THEM. tangible that we can apply to imagery.” Apart from manipulating our emotions, colours also have the power to set the tone for a movie, draw focus to a detail, refl ect a character’s arc and show a change in mood and time. “At its most basic, colour fi nishing is the process of highlighting and subduing certain key areas which direct the viewer’s attention to where the fi lmmakers intended,” mentions Daro. Before digital colour grading, cinematographers highlighted these key areas through shadow, light, depth of fi eld and lens eff ects. Today, the options are limitless. It is an all- encompassing visual technique that cinematographers and fi lm colourists have mastered in the last century. But, how do they do it? To understand this, it is important to know what colour really is. Colours have three key elements: hue, saturation and value. If you change any of these elements of the colour then the tone changes. And if the tone changes, then you have an entirely diff erent movie altogether. It is the interaction between these colours in a palette that controls the cognitive impact of a scene. As Daro points out, “I think the responses to these colours helped our ancestors survive at some point. So when I say it’s in our DNA I do mean just that.” When deciding on a colour scheme for a shot, cinematographers understand that some colours work in harmony with others, while others do not. In fi lmmaking, this is called balance and discordance. WHEN DECIDING ON A COLOUR SCHEME FOR A SHOT, CINEMATOGRAPHERS UNDERSTAND THAT SOME COLOURS WORK IN HARMONY WITH OTHERS, WHILE OTHERS DO NOT. www.digitalstudiome.com16 / OCTOBER 2022IN-DEPTH It’s a very collaborative process that happens organically.” While the colour grading process takes place separately from the rest of the production process, Daro believes that it is necessary to have colour decision lists so that there are no surprises for the rest of the team, “Grading your dailies is very important for making sure that everyone knows what to expect when they get to the DI theatre. I’ve had past experiences where producers see something that has the fi nal grade but it’s too far of a departure from what the look was in editorial.” To combat this reaction, the colourist tries to make sure that the look is consistently maintained from the fi rst shot out of the camera, through to the fi nal fi nish. Colour grows and evolves throughout the fi lm, much like the journey of the hero. Ever since colour was introduced to fi lm in the 20th century, fi lm colourists, cinematographers, and producers have played around with this tool to infl uence the way audiences think and feel. From colour schemes to hues and saturation, a high level of attention of detail is required to construe the aesthetics of fi lm production. There is an endless ocean of potential in the subtle, often overlooked technique of fi lmmaking that elevates this medium of visual storytelling. For instance, if a scene has either a monochromatic, analogous, or a complementary colour scheme, it will create a balanced image. When trying to evoke feelings of nostalgia, calmness, or joy, fi lmmakers will opt to use a balanced colour scheme. Adding balance to the image means that there is a smooth fl ow of colour to create harmony in the scene. Cinematographer and director of photography, Adil Afsar highlights, “We decide on the colour palette of our fi lm to be analogous, complimentary, split complimentary, and so on, to make the audience engrossed in the world we are trying to create.” On the other hand, however, fi lmmakers can choose to disrupt the colour scheme by adding in a colour that doesn’t fi t in to create chaos, suspense or feelings of unease; this is referred to as colour discordance. It intentionally draws the attention of the audience towards a subject. One of the many remarkable things about colour is that the audience will instantly notice something that doesn’t fi t in. When a new colour is introduced to a scheme, it is a subtle but eff ective way to show that there has been a shift in mood, tone or even character. Another skilful way in which the meaning of colour can be manipulated is through associations. The repetition of a specifi c colour throughout the story is how we associate that colour to a particular subject or idea. A great example of this technique is in the 2013 movie, Her, where the main character falls in love with an AI machine. In this movie, the colour red is seen in almost every shot, with the main character wearing red in most scenes. The colour red was chosen to symbolise loneliness and the desire for love. By the end of the movie, we see the absence of this colour as a nudge towards the protagonist’s state of mind. On that note, cinematographers also utilise colour to refl ect a transition in location, time, or a character’s psyche. As the plot unfolds, the colour palette gradually shifts as the hues move from one part of the colour wheel to the next. When working towards creating a palette for a fi lm, fi lm colourists play an instrumental role in achieving the fi nal look of the movie. Katie Jordan, fi lm colourist at Light Iron takes us through this process, she begins by talking to the director and cinematographer about the look they have in mind and then reviews any visual infl uences they might have. “I create a dailies LUT to be used on set so everyone has an idea of what the fi nal look will be. Once we get to the fi nal DI is when I can really dig in shot by shot and use Baselight to its full potential,” she says. “I spend some time unsupervised to get a feeling for how the footage responds and trying diff erent things before I fi nd something I like and want to present to the fi lmmakers. From there we work together adjusting to hone in on the fi nal look, adding windows and more details as we go. ONE OF THE MANY REMARKABLE THINGS ABOUT COLOUR IS THAT THE AUDIENCE WILL INSTANTLY NOTICE SOMETHING THAT DOESN’T FIT IN. www.digitalstudiome.comOCTOBER 2022 / 17 COVER STORY COVER FEATURE WHEN ART MEETS CINEMA SHOOT CREDITS Magazine: Digital Studio Middle East Celebrity: Ahmad Al Morsy Location: Cinema Radio/Dakhli West El Balad Photography, Art/Creative direction, Production: O’Art Studio (Henar Sherif & Adel Essam) Stylist: Nada Hussam Videographer: Mustafa Yasser BTS video: Mohamed Sherif White Suit: Waseem Khadra Accessories: Azza Fahmy Black Outfit: Calvin Klein From DStore Talent Management: MAD Solutions www.digitalstudiome.com18 / OCTOBER 2022COVER STORY HAT REALLY DREW YOU TO THE FILM SPACE? AS A DIRECTOR AS WELL AS DOP, WAS IT THE ABILITY TO CREATE? I was drawn to many things such as the ability to be creative and innovative, creating a world depending entirely on your imagination always sparked my curiosity. Also I’ve always loved the freedom to choose which topics you want to discuss and the opportunity to focus on the message you really want to convey. The diversity and experiences you gain from telling diff erent stories that you indulge in, each and every one of them, helps you evolve immensely. WATCHING SOME OF YOUR CINEMA WORK, I’M BLOWN AWAY BY THE IMAGINATIVE DEPTH OF THE TEXTURES AND HYPER UP- CLOSE SHOTS YOU’RE ABLE TO ACHIEVE. ARE THERE CERTAIN TECHNIQUES OR PHILOSOPHIES YOU EMPLOY TO ACHIEVE THESE TYPES OF SURREAL DEPICTIONS? I’M CURIOUS ABOUT THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN THE METHOD, CREATIVE PROCESS, AND THE ENDS ACHIEVED BY THOSE APPROACHES. I prefer surrendering to the script and allowing it to guide my creative direction rather than having a specifi c technique. I search for a lead within the story, W afterwards I decide on the style we’re going to use and visualise what’s needed without abiding by any restrictions like budget. Then if I don’t know how to achieve what I visualised, I do my research, even conduct tests if needed until I achieve the results I set out for and bring it to live the way I imagined. When I choose the method I’m going to use, I’m a believer in fi rstly discussing it with the producers so that we can collaboratively unlock the best way to achieve it. TAKE US THROUGH THE PREP FOR KIRA & EL GIN. TELL US ABOUT YOUR CONVERSATION WITH THE DIRECTOR ON THE VISUAL LANGUAGE OF THE FILM AND TRANSLATING IT TO THE SCREEN? The preparation stage took a long time as we had all types of discussions, and tackled every aspect in the story, characters, and their motives. We were telling a story of a historical period that we didn’t witness and was never presented in a proper way in the movies before. So, we studied this period and analysed other movies, discussing similar historical periods, the techniques, pros, and cons, until we reached a visual style and resolutions for the action scenes to come up with a unique and cost-effi cient movie when it came to its implementation. The shooting stage took a long time too so we modifi ed the plan because every time we indulged more on each scene, we would understand and implement it even better with each take. WHAT WAS THE PROCESS OF CREATING A VISUAL IDENTITY FOR THIS PERIOD TO BE DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER HISTORICAL PERIOD FAMILIAR TO AUDIENCES OR THE FEW WORKS THAT ADDRESSED THAT HISTORICAL PERIOD IN EGYPT? I watched some Egyptian and international fi lms tackling this period. I think our movie has a diff erent style, which was exactly what I wanted. In many attempts, most of the past creations on this period would usually make the imagery a bit warm but I didn’t want to use this style. I thought that this fi lm would have a visual character we didn’t witness before. So, I had many options in my mind, which made me conduct tests and shoot in diff erent styles and that led me to come up with the style I want to use in his fi lm even before starting the shooting process in cooperation with the colourist, Ahmed Essam. WITH THE PRODUCTION OF THIS SCALE AT HAND, WHAT WERE THE MOST UNNERVING CHALLENGES THAT CAME WITH IT? We were narrating a historical period, so there was no room for any historical mistakes, therefore every detail mattered. Even the action scenes were diff erent for In the frame: Al Morsy’s work on The Pharaoh’s Golden Parade. A believer in craft that comes from a combination of identity, cultural settings, and emotions, DOP and director Ahmad Al Morsy is a true storyteller at heart. Misbaah Mansuri catches up with the force behind the recently-released Kira & El Gin who opens up on visualising and crafting the highest-grossing fi lm in Egyptian history and largest production in Arab history www.digitalstudiome.comOCTOBER 2022 / 19 Next >