NAB
We’re all familiar with Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s
Kitchen, but Boiling Point aims to shine a light on
mental health and addiction in the hospitality industry. It does so in a
feature length one-take kitchen drama starring Stephen Graham as the harassed
chef with a simmering temper.
https://amplify.nabshow.com/articles/firing-up-the-feature-length-one-take-of-boiling-point/
Director Philip Barantini knows only too well is former head
chef. “I worked in kitchens for 12 years prior to filmmaking and I knew this
world was ripe to explore on film,” he told IBC365. “My idea was for the story
to be set in a kitchen and for it to be erratic and fast paced with overlapping
dialogue. I could picture it all in my head, how the characters should move.”
The budget indie film was also set in the same London eatery
where Barantini used to work. The feature arose from a short film on the same
topic, also called Boiling Point and starring Graham which won the
filmmakers a British Independent Film Award.
Not all shorts though necessarily translate into a 90-minute
feature, let alone one that require the DP to operate with a camera strapped to
them for the duration.
“We did that as a proof of concept to see if it was going to
work – the last thing we wanted was a gimmick,” Barantini explains. “The idea
to do a ‘one-er’ was to create an extra layer of tension and intensity to this
world. We didn’t want it to become the spectacle.”
The DP in question is Matthew Lewis who also lensed the
short film. “But, the prep, logistics and practical co-ordination were pretty
mind-boggling, and following the action with the camera through multiple
rehearsals and actual takes was physically-demanding,” he shared with https://www.cinematography.world/pressure-cooker-boiling-point/
Cinematography World.
Lewis worked with London camera house Focus24 for several
months in advance of the shoot to develop an ‘Easirig’ camera system that would
enable agile movement as well as seamless recording of the long take.
“We ran through the camera moves and story beats with our
cast for two weeks, and then did two full rehearsals before the actual shoot
itself, by which time I knew the camera path off by heart,” says Lewis, who was
supported by grip Will Anderson.
A reloader, dressed as a guest, swapped memory cards in the
camera, an operation the director describes as “like a Formula One” style
pitstop, he told British Cinematographer.
https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/matthew-lewis-boiling-point/
Those cards were going into a Sony Venice, which Lewis liked
not only because there were two card ports, but because the company’s Rialto extension
system allowed the sensor to live several feet away from the camera, with no
loss of image quality, literally taking more weight off his shoulders.
The final camera and body rig combination also included a
Zeiss Supreme 29mm lens plus remote focus mechanism, a Pancro Mitchell
D-strength diffusion filter, two Transvideo Starlite HD monitors pitched at
45º, a Teradek Bolt 3000 XT transmitter and two 150W batteries – came it an
10kg all-told. Lewis’ 1st AC, James Woodbridge, pulled focus remotely using a
ARRI WCU-4 hand unit.
Cinematography World explains how Jem Balls were used to
illuminate the exterior sequences, whilst the interiors were illuminated using
carefully-concealed RGB Quasar tubes, Tungsten Fresnels and existing practicals
refitted with LED bulbs by gaffer Max Hodgkinson.
Several areas, including some of the dining tables, were lit
from above with dimmable Tungsten softboxes. The lighting on these could be
heightened, whilst the surrounding ambient light was lowered, to deliver a subtle
vignette to the image for key moments. The lighting and power package was
provided by Pixipixel.
Photography was scheduled for four consecutive nights with
two takes each night at 10pm and 2am in March 2020. Inevitably, Covid
intervened meaning the production could only shoot for two nights, or four
takes.
“It had a remarkable galvanising effect, and everyone
focussed their energies towards getting the emotion on-screen,” Lewis said. “We
shot four takes, but it was the third that became the final film. I’m glad that
we wrapped when we did, as I think I’d have been a wreck after a further four
takes.”
Lewis told IBC365 that he aimed to create a constant flow
between characters so you never feeling like the camera is wandering by itself;
a criticism that could be levelled at the Oscar winning single-shot drama Birdman (2014).
“As soon as you notice a camera walking down a corridor
trying to find something you get pulled out of the story,” he says. “You’ve got
to keep the action busy. It was lassoing to someone and swinging around to
someone else – like pinballing between people to distract the audience from the
one take. As much as I want people to be raving about it, I’d be really
concerned if they were and not talking about the story.”
An additional trick was to avoid inadvertently winding up in
the film himself, especially given the shiny kitchen environment.
It did happen once, he revealed to BritCine: “I do show up
in the bathroom,” a women’s bathroom, where a hair dryer, caught his
reflection, but, he adds, “the VFX guys managed to get rid of me.”
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