Four Day Hombre - The First Word Is The Hardest
Saturday, August 21, 2010 at 4:57PM Director of Photography: Ross McWhannell
Camera Operator: Fabian Wagner
Editor: Ross McWhannell
I love anamorphic. I love it for all it’s flaws. You see, flaws add character and anamorphic lenses have a character all of their own that gives them a certain something, and I can’t get enough of it. Now, this is not a format you get to shoot with very often, but sometimes a project comes along that is such a perfect fit for it that you simply have to go out of your way to make it happen.
Early in pre-production, director Mark Wordsworth and I were working out the storyboards at my flat. We spent a lot of time discussing shots, drawing, scanning and then editing them to the track. This was incredibly useful structurally and proved to be a great communication tool. One of the things that became apparent early on was the number of shots from either the inside of the car looking out or the outside of the car looking in. This leads to a massive contrast ratio, and retaining detail in both the highlights and shadows was going to be a challenge. The only real solution was to shoot on film. We had by this point decided on the scope framing, so to me it was clear that we needed to shoot this on 35mm anamorphic. The tone of the story, the landscapes, the contrast issues, it couldn’t be more perfect. Of course we had very little money, like 1000 Bulbs, First Word was completely band funded, so the question was, was there any way it could be done?
I had been at talk by Joe Dunton at the Bradford Film Festival some months earlier where he had been talking about anamorphic cinematography. It was a great talk during which he reiterated his company (Joe Dunton Camera) would be happy to help any production shoot in the format wherever possible. So, when it came to this project I gave them a call and they were able to offer us a great deal on a camera kit (Arriflex 35III, 50mm & 100mm anamorphic lenses - Cookes I think, but I can’t quite remember). I was also fortunate to be able to source a box of short ends from Fujifilm and camera operator Fabian Wagner was able to get us a great deal on processing and telecine at Film Lab North and the Finishing School.
We were able to source a cheap secondhand car that we could beat up as well as a trailer we could attach it to so we could get the ‘through the windscreen’ shots under tow. I am sure someone has some photos of this rig, it was spectacularly DIY, but it worked a treat! The band were able to pull more strings when it came to the location of moors part of the shoot, they had played a number of times at a pub called The Lion Inn in Blakey Ridge and knew the owners very well. We were able to use the Inn as our base and Blakey Ridge served as our backdrop.
We had 2 1/2 days to get the video in the can, 1/2 a day in Leeds to get the opening and 2 days out on the moors. This wasn’t an easy shoot, filming in the north of England in November is a bit of a double edged sword. On the one hand you have this wonderful low golden light all day long, an absolute joy for a photographer, but on the other hand the days are so so short… We were under a lot of pressure and a few compromises had to be made but we got there in the end (even though we were using car headlights to simulate sunlight for closeups at the end of the last day!). Aside from our DIY car rig, we were largely hand held, and I think Fabian - once again supported by Borja Berrosteguieta - did a great job (that camera, fully loaded is not exactly light weight).
One of the slightly nerve-wracking things about shooting film on such a short and low budget project is you don’t generally get the benefit of dailies, and this shoot was no different. We didn’t get to see a frame of what we shot until the production wrapped, so there were some tense moments waiting for the call from the lab saying everything was ok. My biggest fear during this time was whether film was able to hold the massive contrast range during the ‘through the windscreen’ shots and, boy was I stunned when I finally got to see the footage; film had retained more highlight and shadow detail than I could have dreamed of! Bear in mind, we had done no testing as there was time or money for it. I remember when we shot those scenes, looking at my light meter and thinking to myself ‘ok, well… in film we trust…’.
Editing was made a lot easier by having the animated storyboards as a reference. While there was a fair amount of tweaking to be done to get the rhythm of the edit to match the rhythm and feel of the song, the edit came together reasonably quickly. Early on in the project Mark and I had discussed a progression of colour throughout the video. At one point we even thought about gradually increasing saturation from B&W to vibrant colour over the course of the track, but in the end a cool to warm progression seemed to be the right fit. We then just needed to add the lighting effects to the boy as he runs at the end and we were done.
I still can’t quite believe we managed to pull it off. It was an ambitious project given our resources and 35mm anamorphic was definitely the right way to do it. We were pretty lucky with the way things seemed to fall into place at times and are eternally grateful to all those folk who went out of their way to make it happen.
Did I mention I love anamorphic?
Reader Comments (3)
It takes my breath away that there is so much art and craft to appreciate in a film, and I've never known about it. Ross' explanations of the 'life-story' of The First Word is The Hardest are exciting for me as a non-technical person because he makes me feel as if I can understand some of the work involved if I really concentrate. I have huge respect for the talent and energy put into this film by so many people. Thank you for the commentary.
"...looking at my light meter and thinking to myself ‘ok, well… in film we trust…’."
entirely in a nutshell. big grins here.
I would love to see the DIY rig if anyone has pictures! Thanks for posting these histories, Ross. It's really helpful to hear how you handled the various aspects of production, from pre all the way through post.