Going viral with Venice in lockdown London

written for VMI

Enterprising young filmmakers Edoardo Forato and Fyras Slaiman hope their new short film Influenza will catch the attention of producers and directors.  

https://vmi.tv/blog/production-story/going-viral-with-venice-in-lockdown-london/

The period drama, set amid the 1920 Spanish flu outbreak, is vividly told with a combination of Sony VENICE camera and Leica Summicron lenses.  

That’s an uncommonly high-end package for a production by two recent film school graduates and not possible without the perseverance of cinematographer Slaiman.  

“We had a starting budget of £4,500 from London Film School as part of our MA which we pushed beyond £20k using kickstarter and personal funding,” he explains. “I wanted the very best for our story and having used the Sony F65 before I wanted to try to see if we could get hold of a VENICE in particular because of its wide dynamic range from ISO 500 up to 2500.  

“A friend introduced me to Jonathan at VMI who quickly understood what we needed. They really helped us out with support and pricing and, even better, the results were exactly as I imagined.”   

Originally titled The Last Dance, writer-director Forato’s story about a man trying to cope with the death of his wife, was adapted to reflect our current pandemic.  

The filmmakers had to be patient as their initial shooting plans were delayed and delayed as a result of lockdown. Finally, they got permission for the nine day shoot in February in three London locations including an abandoned flat, a luxury Soho apartment and the Langdon Down Center’s Normansfield Theatre which was used for scenes of a cabaret.  

“We used a lot of our budget on buying Covid-19 tests for our actors and crew. We were all working under Covid-safe protocols including social distancing and wearing masks,” Slaiman says.  

He explains that the film’s story takes place in two worlds. That of a cabaret in which everyone is dressed in colourful nineteen-twenties costumes, and the more personal world of the lead character called Coleman.  

“Expressing these distinct colour schemes was the reason I wanted to work with the VENICE,” he says. “The cabaret world is vivid and brightly coloured while Coleman’s world is darker, monochromatic and blue. The sensitivity of the camera and its incredible color space offers a good mix so I could push the saturation without affecting the skin tones. To keep the surrealistic mood of the film we shot the blue monochromatic scenes day for night, changing the colour temperature and under exposing while shooting RAW to be able to fully adjust the parameters in colorgrade.”  

Using Summicrons enhanced the overall mood. “The blur and depth of field from the Summicrons make it look like a painting,” he says. “I mainly used a 35mm for framing close to the actor so we can see some background without forcing the face too much.”  

For lighting, Slaiman chose to work with a mirror kit and Source Fours. “Because of the location we needed to play with tight spaces and still have directed light. It had to look like theatre lighting. It’s remarkable how a 3cm x 3cm diffused mirror can light a fill on a person from 10 metres away.  

At London Film School, Forato and Slaiman were tutored by luminaries including editing master Walter Murch ACE and Tristan Oliver BSC who shot Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs.  

It is Darius Khondji AFC, ASC who has worked with David Fincher, PT Anderson, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Wong Kar-wai, and the Safdie brothers who is Slaiman’s hero.  

“I don’t believe a DOP should have a style. They should be the translator of the director’s vision,” Slaiman says. “When you look at someone’s showreel you shouldn’t be able to discern a singular style. Darius Khondji has worked with so many great directors you almost can’t believe it all comes from one person. I feel like he always creates the perfect mood for the movies he’s working on. There will be beautiful arresting images of course but I believe that what makes a good film are images that tell that story.”  

Influenza is in postproduction before being entered for film festivals later this year.  

Slaiman adds, “It was a great experience with VMI and I’ll be taking my future projects, hopefully with bigger budgets, back to them too!”