FEATURE | MAK I NG OF A LEGEND
COOKE S4/i SOME PIECES OF EQUIPMENT REACH A TAGE WHERE THEY ACHIEVE LEGENDARY STATUS. IN THIS NEW SERIES WE START AN EXCLUSIVE CLUB JUST FOR THEM
P erhaps the shortest and most apt term in the industry to describe a product is ‘the Cooke look’. We all know what it is and we all aspire to it. For the purpose of this article we have chosen the Cooke S4/i lens family and the Mini S4/i. The creatives who have used these lenses are always the ones that we should listen to most as their careers can pivot on choosing the right glass.
Greig Fraser ASC, ACS Zero Dark Thirty shot on S4/i lenses (2015)
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom Call Me By Your Name (2018), shot using a single S4/i 35mm lens
“[For Zero Dark Thirty ] we decided early on to shoot digitally on the Arri Alexa, which is a great format but I wanted a lens that would take the digital edge off. We needed to find a way to achieve the honesty and reality of the story – it’s not a documentary but we also didn’t want to make it too cinematic so that the audience might lose the reality of events. “The Cooke S4s excelled at this because they bring that degree of warmth and honesty. The look is paramount but the Cookes also needed to be able to go into battle. They were a great size for what we were doing. There was a lot of handheld work, and they are big enough that they balance well, they are robust and almost bulletproof. Their toughness was really a key issue: if you’re going off to the far ends of the earth, there aren’t going to be many lens technicians if there’s a problem. I’ve never once had an issue with them on set, even when we were hanging out of Black Hawk helicopters.”
“I am quite new to Cooke – when I started working in Thailand 20 years ago, there wasn’t much choice, everything was all about Arriflex, Arri lenses. So later, when the door was opened I wanted to try something else. Cooke was the very first lens I went to – I felt they gave a natural texture, they are clear but gentle. “My director suggested the idea of shooting on one lens, which was a challenge. I did some research before I said yes; I went through the script to understand what was happening and I thought it was possible to shoot this way. I thought it might give a special perspective. When we are making art, we don’t know what it’s going to be – you can guess from your experience, but it’s an unknown, and that appealed to me. We compared several 35mm lenses, including the Cooke 5/i 35mm, but we liked the S4/i best. Cooke lenses give more gentle contrast compared to others, they are also superb for skin tones.”
I’ve never had an issue with them, even when hanging out of Black Hawk helicopters
48 DEF I N I T ION | APR I L 20 1 9
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