British Cinematographer
To reboot 1965 TV series Lost in
Space, Netflix returned to the source material, in the form of the novel ‘Swiss
Family Robinson’ publisher in 1812, and combined it with a visual treatment
straight out of the future.
The adventures of a family stranded
light years from home on an unknown planet was made in an enjoyably camp Irwin
Allen version for CBS and revisited in a 1998 New Line Cinema feature film. The
Netflix version, produced by Legendary Television, is set in 2046, spanning ten
one-hour episodes and starring Toby Stephens, Molly Parker and Parker Posey,
whilst also featuring Taylor Russell, Ignacio Serricchio and Mina Sundwall.
Lost, not knowing where they are,
they try to fix their spaceship as they encounter various kinds of mysteries, a
robot, and also have to deal with a saboteur in their midst.
Showrunner (executive producer) Zack Estrin tapped
director Neil Marshall and cinematographer Sam McCurdy BSC to set the project
on its way. McCurdy lensed six instalments of the series, including the pilot,
with Emmy-nominee Joel Ransom shooting five episodes to complete the first
season. McCurdy had previously shot The
Descent and Game of Thrones’ episode
“Blackwater” for Marshall.
“Zack very clearly
wanted the crux of the story to be about the family, but for the driving
force to have a darker, more grown-up undertone,” says McCurdy. “The
fundamental story is about a family lost in a difficult, life-threatening
situation and how it challenges them and brings them closer together. In every
tone reading and visual reference meeting we would mention (James
Cameron’s) The Abyss and
the Spielbergian world of E.T.”
Indeed, there is scene in one episode
in which a young member of the family has a close encounter with a creature,
deliberately echoing an iconic shot of Elliot befriending E.T.
“We are all big fans of sci-fi –
Neil, Zack and I – but we were keen to do something that wasn’t a brash, glossy
superhero show. We wanted to build a world that was completely ours, but there
are some definite references in there.”
The biggest
thematic reference though was Jurassic
Park/Jurassic World. “We know we are making a family
show but it’s one grounded in a reality,” says McCurdy. “Because of the freedom
Netflix gives you we knew we had the support to make this more a theatrical
than a TV visual experience.”
They were wary too of comparisons with
Netflix’s Stranger Things,
wanting to differentiate their story by delivering a modern rather than ‘80s
nostalgic look. The template here were Christopher Nolan’s films from The Prestige to Interstellar, which infuse
high-concept with realism.
These sensibilities led to McCurdy’s
choice of the Red Weapon with Helium 8K S35 sensor. “I’ve been a believer in
Red for some years and applaud the way they try to develop new technologies to
suit new ways of filming,” he explains. “We tested the Helium extensively and
it was quickly apparent that there was nothing else out there like this in
terms of its modern look.”
McCurdy paired the Red Weapon with a
set of Leica Summilux-C Primes. “These offer a very sharp, European sort
of feel if you draw it down a few stops, and a softer, American movie feel if
you shoot a little more wide open,” he describes. “I wanted the softness to
depict the family, but the extra sharpness and extra depth-of-field for visual
effects to play around with.”
With a third to half the total budget
being spent on visual effects, McCurdy wanted his shots to be big. “We don’t
need to be spending money on a greenscreen comp outside of a window. If a shot
needs VFX then let’s make it a big shot. Let’s make sure they are getting money
from the set. So, we framed for family/group shots rather than close-ups. For
me, this takes on a much more cinematic feel because you are not just cutting
heads together but cutting from group shots against amazing locations and
sets.”
The theatrical aesthetic also
determined the use of two cameras (A-B) - and primary use of dollies and tracks
with very little Steadicam.
“Although we deployed two Weapons, we shot the show
as a single-camera drama. We used very little handheld or Steadicam and instead
went back to basics. We didn’t want the new gimmicks like fancy 360-degree
shoots. I felt we needed to be intimate with the family and their drama, and we
were there to photograph that.”
Shot at The Bridge studio in
Vancouver, a good third of the series used locations in British Columbia. “We
travelled beyond Whistler and Blackcomb to mountain ranges covered in pristine
snow. Just physically taking all the equipment up there was a big deal. The
locations are remarkable and a big part of the show’s aesthetic.
“Even though we knew the plates would
be augmented by VFX – and they could have chosen to design everything in a
laptop – we all wanted to keep as much reality flowing through the piece as we
could,” McCurdy notes.
The planet on which the family
Robinson crash land houses several ‘eco-structures’ ranging from barren, snowy
mountains to glacial landscapes and a rainforest with 30-foot diameter giant
redwoods.
“You are kind of blown away by the
sheer scale of this wilderness and that’s entirely what we wanted to capture,”
he says. “The Helium was phenomenal in natural light. It has a softness and a
curve that coped with the extremes of big skies and snow as well as contrasts
of massive tree lines and being deep in forested areas. We pushed it as far as
we could, and it upheld for creative reasons and for VFX. The depth of exposure
and latitude gained by the sensor meant it was the obvious choice.”
With a 4K deliverable requirement, McCurdy shot 7K
compressed 7:1. McCurdy, along with production designer Ross Dempster and
gaffer Todd Lapp, devised a lighting system for the spacecraft, crew quarters,
mobile vehicles and ‘garage’ to operate in a range of different scenarios. The
fixtures were routed back to a console for McCurdy’s control, for example,
switching the lights to ‘emergency’ mode or having individual lights illuminate
parts of the ship as a crew member walks through them.
The inspiration for part of the
design was the smart lighting effects found in modern office buildings, which
switch off after a certain time, or switch on automatically when they detect
movement. “Each of the fixtures had a daylight tungsten LED and an RGB LED
system in it so we could mix any combination of colours and run sequences at a
flick of a switch. This gave us incredible 360-degree freedom to move the
camera where we wanted.”
He adds, “It was an incredible
experience technically and creatively because we weren’t tied to the key
lights. I don’t think we ever had need in any episode to bring a key light onto
the set.”
Preferring to mix the camera “for the
moment” rather than use a LUT, McCurdy set daily parameters with the on-set
colourist. “The colour was then kept through the offline but inevitably when it
came to DI, with so many VFX shots needing to go in, some things changed. A
scene that was maybe scripted as dawn or dusk ended up as day or night.”
In what is now becoming commonplace
for high-end drama, the entire show was given a HDR pass, as well as an SDR
master. “Having done a few HDR shows, I was keen to split the two. You can’t
just let one copy across to another. You need to start from scratch and
Legendary were very understanding with this, giving us a week for the HDR and
4-5 days for the SDR colour correction [in the pilot] with time reducing a
little per episode.
“I was very proud when I saw the first cut of the
pilot. It felt like a movie.”
No comments:
Post a Comment