The idea was that Zoe is kind of taking control of the film at this moment, and she also takes control of the cinematography. She can point that very hard light that follows her to the people she talks about. She’s also able to bring the camera with her. We had built this lighting system that remotely operated and was able to point at every time ever she would go, you had a lighting operator that was able to follow her in the space.
This is a pioneer story, you could call it a western… Trains are coming and nothing can stop them from coming. We know ultimately what happened. I felt the same way I felt when I read Titanic, I felt like, wow, this is a piece of history. This is less about the gunslinger and more about the birth of America and that blew my mind.
June created this atmosphere on set where it completely felt like a family, and we felt so free to do whatever we wanted to do without judgment. She trusted us. I felt completely free to explore. But the thing about her too is her performances don’t seem theatrical. Looking through the viewfinder at her face, and oftentimes I’m this close to her face on a wide lens and the nuances of her performance, it was like I would get shivers.
“I hope that we’re inspiring people. I feel like it’s so needed right now with the state of cinema and all of that, winning Cannes, winning the Palme d’Or, felt like a win for independent cinema. It truly did. I think the fact that we won, the fact that we were able to stand out, just kind of, to me it’s a sign of the times. It’s a sign that indie cinema needs a comeback. This is what people actually want. They want bold, original films, that are risky, that are subversive.”
“We didn’t have the budget or the time to be able to light everything in the gym. We just used available lighting. We were shooting at this place called The Pit in Albuquerque, which is huge and they broadcast games there. There was enough light but in that case, how do we make this one piece about getting into his head? Let’s turn almost everything off and just play with this idea of creating this world like the spot.”
The ICG 2024 Emerging Cinematographer Awards (ECA) was held at the Saban Theater Center Wolf Theater in North Hollywood. Now in its 26th year, the event showcased eight short films lensed by 8 of the best and brightest local 600 cinematographers. A distinguished group of exceptional burgeoning talent that makes the ICG standout as one of the only unions that honors emerging talent..
“The reason why there are two DPs on it is because there’s so much to shoot every day. So you couldn’t physically be in two places at the same time. It’s in real-time, so when they get up in the morning right through to when they go to sleep at night, filming them essentially.”
“There was a lot of preparation, especially when we got Olivia Colman and Claire Foy confirmed for the episode with Imelda Staunton. We always knew about the last scene, having three queens altogether would be iconic.”
“At the end when you understand that Princess Margaret says goodbye to Queen Elizabeth, which I feel that in the whole film and how it’s been built up, that it works, that you really feel that The Queen is actually walking in on her own and now she’s on her own.”
“We always knew that the sun set right behind the mountains in front of Hiro.”
