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LOST IN SPACE SHOOT STORY
The techniques of shooting TV episodics are being refined by some very experienced crew. Netflix’s Lost in Space is a great example WORDS JULIAN MITCHELL IMAGES NETFLIX
“From my experience on Game Of Thrones , the overall style of the piece emanates more from the content than the way we photographed it,” says Sam. “You try and allow the script and story to define the style of what you end up doing. You’d think that if you put a dozen episodes of Game Of Thrones back to back that they would end up looking very similar. We were given carte blanche on that show as directors and cinematographers so the characters within those stories were also defining the style. “I really like that way of working as you don’t go in paying homage to anything or referencing any other content. You may use some material as a tonal reference but then let the script dictate how everything was photographed. For instance, in the pilot and the second episode of Lost in Space we kept the camera very static to let the family introduce themselves in their new environment. New planet, new ship and the rest. This allows the audience to take everything in, so there wasn’t a lot of handheld; in fact we kept well
he TV and movie business is also a people business – something DOP Sam McCurdy can attest to, as his star has risen alongside that of his friend, Director Neil Marshall. These two Newcastle lads started out shooting and directing some quite dark material, with adult-oriented drama including Dog Soldiers , The Descent , Centurion and a stint on Game Of Thrones before Netflix commissioned them to take on the heavy lifting on Lost in Space , a more family-friendly show. “I hadn’t really done any family drama,” says Sam on being faced with filming the ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ in space. “But we knew we weren’t afraid of going dark in the style of maybe Jurassic Park or some of the later Harry Potter movies. We wanted to push that family limit but not too far.” Netflix itself was very keen to keep the show family friendly but with an edge. It is their first attempt at that kind of science fiction, a story that was very much about the characters and their journeys. It had to be family based but still gripping.
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JULY 2018 DEFINITION
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