DRAMA | CURFEW
DRIVE TIME Curfew, currently on Sky in the UK, threw aesthetics from the eighties at this dystopian race against time
WORDS PH I L RHODES / PICTURES SKY
S ky’s Curfew is a television series that was shot with anamorphic lenses and aired in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. That’s not quite unique, but it is very unusual. The eight-part drama is set in a near future ravaged by a pandemic plague, following street racers in an action-packed, after-dark dash from which takes place during the titular curfew. Curfew was directed by Colm McCarthy, fresh from episodes of Peaky Blinders , Black Mirror , Ripper Street , Sherlock and Krypton , with cinematography on the first three episodes by Suzie Lavelle, an Emmy-nominated cinematographer with credits on Doctor Who , Silent Witness , Jekyll and Hyde and Ripper Street .
Lavelle remembers. “So, we could inhabit that world of fake moonlight, movie moonlight, blue.” Achieving a Carpenter- esque result, though, would require a range of techniques, particularly the choice of anamorphic lenses. With modern digital cameras sometimes felt to be excessively sharp and clinical, anamorphics are far from unknown on high-end television – but the decision to show the 2.35:1 results letterboxed into a 16:9 frame is much, much rarer. ANAMORPHIC RISK It wasn’t a risk-free decision. Lavelle’s focus puller wrote what she describes as “a long email basically telling us about
Lavelle joined the production in late 2017, the result, she says, of “a very quick hire. Colm had a DOP he worked with a lot who was unable to do the project as he’d taken a job in America. I’d met Colm through social connections and had just finished on The Discovery Of Witches . Suddenly I was called to an interview – I had the script for 24 hours, and thought ‘this is mental – zombies and car chases!’ I went to meet Colm and [series producer] Simon Maloney and they were lovely. I was hired inside 24 hours.” The production’s ambitious visuals began with a disarmingly simple reference. “Basically, Colm’s only reference to me when we met was John Carpenter movies,”
36 DEF I N I T ION | APR I L 20 1 9
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