Panavision
James Chressanthis, ASC, GSC selects special optics to embed subtle iconographic imagery into Greenleaf.
With the fourth season of Greenleaf, the
enthralling saga set in an African American megachurch that premiered on OWN
this month, James Chressanthis, ASC, GSC explains how the show’s creatives
wanted to take the show to new heights.
“From a story perspective we wanted to strongly advance the
character arcs of our large ensemble cast and aesthetically we wanted to
continue to revitalize the show’s look, albeit in subtle ways.”
Writer/executive producer Craig Wright and executive producers
Clement Virgo, Kriss Turner Towner and Oprah Winfrey are behind the series,
which stars Merle Dandridge, Keith David and Lynn Whitfield.
Chressanthis boarded the show in early 2018 for Season 3, at
which time he paired the RED DSMC2 camera with the 8K HELIUM sensor and Cooke
i5 lenses.
“I shot the first DXL camera, which shared the same RED sensor
architecture, and I loved the natural look that could be achieved,” he
explains. “Greenleaf is essentially about the conflict between the flesh and the
spirit, characters trying to be good and failing. There is the whole range of
human goodness: deceit, frailty, bravery, and joy and visually I wanted to
capture more of that in this new season of the series.”
In
approaching Season 4, that meant a greater lens palette, to which Chressanthis
turned to Panavision’s Dan Sasaki. With the encouragement of Virgo to push the
look even further, Chressanthis took the prototype Panavision DXL-M camera kit
– which is a proprietary module and a Panavised DSMC2 camera
with HELIUM sensor, that extends the DXL2 ecosystem into the smaller form
factor – and paired it with Panavision special optics.
“It’s a slimmer version of the DXL2, very
light, with terrific balance when handheld. I know my Steadicam operators like
it – although they said, ‘don’t make it any lighter!’ Ergonomically it reminded
me of all the great handling qualities of Super 16.
He adds, “One of the reasons I went to Panavision was not only
because of my previous experience on dozens of projects but also shooting The
Family for
ABC,” he adds. “It was a show with a similar vibe to Greenleaf and I knew I
would get great support from Dan Sasaki and his team, creating custom
optics."
In December 2018, Chressanthis put a
range of lenses through an extensive two-day test at Panavision in Woodland
Hills. “While digital has its merits, it can easily look too sharp, so I was
looking for something softer, more natural and even imperfect. I looked at lots
of different glass before settling on the classic Primo Primes.”
With the producer’s blessing in Season 3, the DP brought in a
lighting design which echoed the Renaissance paintings of Caravaggio and
Rembrandt and deliberately referenced centuries old religious art not just in
lighting but in compositions.
“In my photography I wanted to use light to embed iconographic
imagery very subtly into the show,” Chressanthis says. “I wanted to craft halos
around characters, add delicate glowing sources of light and flare in the
frame. With that in mind for S4, I asked Dan and his team to push the halation
aspect of the lens much more than I’d done in the past.
“In addition to a static camera to compare the
different looks and lenses, with and without filtration, I shot Steadicam in
daylight, going through the fluorescent-lit hallways of Panavision, then
traveling into a darkened studio toward an actor looking at an exposed light
bulb and finally going 360 degrees around the subject. A real-world camera
challenge!”
Having settled on a modified set of Primo Primes from
14.5mm-150mm and everything in between, the artist also wanted the ability to
enhance certain scenes with more crispness and contrast. Sasaki also modified a
35mm prime converting it to 32mm which is a lens that Virgo loved in Season 3.
“I wanted the flexibility to use a conventional lens and put a
light filter on it,” the DP relates. “For this show I tend to shoot two cameras
perpendicular to each other (not sharing the same axis), one often with a
different lighting background to the main camera. Ninety percent of the time I
am shooting special optic glass but for thematic reasons I might use unmodified
glass as an option to render a really difficult contrast or to not have too
much flare or just for a cleaner or more clinical feel.”
A set of Classic Primos (21mm, 27mm, 35mm, 40mm, 50mm); a Primo
19 - 90mm zoom modified to a 21-100mm for Technocrane work, and a conventional
11:1 zoom 24-275mm (with 1.4X extender) completed the lens package.
Light Iron handled the entire post workflow including dailies,
beginning with a bespoke adaptation of the DXL film LUT.
“I went back to Michael (Cioni, Panavision and Light Iron SVP,
Innovation) and requested he apply the DXL film LUT to the HELIUM. I had some
other looks for flashbacks which came into play occasionally, but our secret
sauce was the DXL2 Film for HELIUM LUT, which I tweaked with Light Iron
Colorist Nick Hasson.
"As a colorist it is refreshing to be involved early on,”
notes Hasson. “Jim and I were able to collaborate on the look of the show
before dailies began. This helped us in the final grade because we were able to
focus on the fine details and not the overall look."
“I felt I got the best skin tones. Many African-American cast
members said they had never looked so good,” adds Chressanthis. “In Season 3,
we were developing these LUTs and in Season 4 we further refined it so that
what I was seeing on set was as close as you could wish to the finished color.
That meant that in final color correction, Nick and I could spend most of our
time refining and being creative and not repairing anything.”
Chressanthis observes that Season 4 has a more racially diverse
cast than in Season 3, including actors Beau Bridges, Jason Davis and Valerie Jane
Parker.
“Valerie in particular is an extremely pale actor and
we were shooting her together
with African American actors Deborah Joy Winans and Sean
Blakemore. This was a real test of tonal range. But I didn’t need to worry
about trying to capture everything as naturalistic as possible since the
camera, lens and workflow we’d set up handled this perfectly. The full range
between high highlights to deep shadows was beautiful. My flares and halos and
Christological iconic references were all captured with delicacy to help bring
the show to its emotional, and momentous conclusion.”
Greenleaf is produced for OWN by
Lionsgate in association with Harpo Films and Pine City.
No comments:
Post a Comment