CULPRITS PRODUCTION
FRONT AND BACK Gemma Arterton (right) stars, while DOP Philipp Blaubach (below right) headed up the crew
rope, pulling.” Combined with the car on location, “you get these three elements, and they just go from A to B to C and back again,” describes Blaubach. FROM STAGE TO SCREEN Once Joe retrieves the cash, he gets into the three-way car crash – another stunt that luckily took only one take. After stashing the bag in a nearby bin, Joe goes on a wild goose chase when he realises the compactor truck has gone by – and the money with it. “Reading that sequence was so much fun,” admits Blaubach. “Of course, logistically, we had a lot of planning to do. I looked at this truck and what we could do, practically, with it.” He continues, “Very early on, it was clear we would need the studio to build a compactor to get the actor in there. We never had the actor in the actual truck.” As with the money tree, the crew combined on-location with in-studio filming, using Wembley Park Studios for the virtual FX. “There was a bit where he crawls onto the roof of the truck. We shot that in a car pack against a blue screen,” explains Blaubach. “Then we had a stunt double jump down, and for the interiors, an animated street lighting effect gave that sense of motion.” Besides rubbish trucks, Culprits features a number of other vehicles, requiring virtual production elements like LED volumes and green screens to convey movement. “The scenes which often look the least complex can be really difficult for unexpected reasons,” states Blaubach. In episode 2 Angler Fish, Joe realises he’s being followed, luring his stalker to a shopping mall before confronting them in a parking garage. “Because we couldn't take the American and Canadian cars to London, we built our own LED studio in Toronto,” reveals Blaubach. But this only presented more problems. “An issue with the car rig stabilisation meant they didn’t vibrate, but sometimes the stabilised cameras do an automatic pan correction. It messed up that footage completely.
CULPRITS 2023 © CHARACTER 7/DISNEY+/PHOTOGRAPHER: DES WILLIE
It didn't work because the car wasn't properly in the frame, so we had to go to green screen,” he discloses, which the crew was originally trying to avoid. “It was incredibly complex to shoot – the number of meetings we had and the number of angles we needed from the backseat,” he continues. “In the end, it was edited very effectively.” SEEING RED According to Blaubach, Blakeson is incredibly attentive to detail, playing an active role in each department. One recurring image is a red Rothko painting, which transcends the timelines, appearing in both ‘before then’ and ‘now’. The Culprits crew was granted special permission to shoot in the Rothko Room at the Tate Modern – but they had to follow strict instructions. “Rothko stipulated in his will that [his paintings] should only ever be viewed
in subdued, very low-intensity lighting,” Blaubach claims. The crew had a dedicated conservator – ‘she had her own light meter’ – to ensure the lighting didn’t exceed a certain level and ‘to be respectful to the Rothko work’. “I was super excited; I love Rothko,” beams Blaubach. “It felt like having an A-lister joining. I felt this pressure to not mess this one up,” he admits. Plus, with five hours for a dialogue-heavy scene, the team had to bring their A-game. Despite its impressive action sequences, Culprits is a character-driven story at its core. Blaubach – who acts as both DOP and operator – enjoys being right there in the moment alongside the actors. “It’s such a privilege,” he enthuses. “Getting to see such long, uninterrupted performances. That's why I love operating – to be part of that filmmaking process.” Culprits is now streaming on Disney+ (UK and Ireland), before hitting Hulu (US) on 8 December
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