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SHOOT STORY THE CROWN
is spending weeks on rehearsals so the idea is that you should know the story and you should know the locations. When you get there there’s still time to improvise, there’s still time to give the actors some freedom to move around. We do storyboards for scenes that involve more VFX, sequences that we consider expensive as in they have many extras or require specific sets to be built. But it remains a very organic kind of show. We like the actors to step onto the set knowing where the light is coming from so everyone embraces the style which makes everyone’s life a little easier and more comprehensive – I really like it when the actors step on to the set in the morning and there are no stands. There are no lights on-set. The light is coming either from outside or from available light. Of course when you start getting close to the actor’s faces, there is always something that I bring in for the eyes or to wrap the face a little bit more, to make them look beautiful, but my main goal is to present an empty set, so we can have a free rehearsal and get the best choreography for that sequence. “We’re also very good about throwing away first ideas. For instance when you first see a rehearsal and you say ‘I know how to cover this’. You then ask if ‘she’ can be a little more static but then you realise that it is the easy way. Let’s complicate things a
“We have an amazing cast so why does it need to be ‘cutty’? Why do we need to shake the camera? Let’s pay attention to the line, let’s cover these beautiful performances in a very classical, elegant way, but it’s funny that it then looks modern. It’s not too pacy, it’s not complicated, just good storytelling.” the cast and crew like working with friends. “We don’t want to be boring, we don’t want to be repetitive and just present the same look. But on the other hand you want to remain consistent somehow so you don’t lose the audience and that connection. “I’m not a technical person in any sense, I rarely go over the script and try and break it in to shots,” he says. “I think Ben is very much like that too, so we prep in a very different way. We go to the locations several times. Ben THROWING AWAY IDEAS Adriano describes working with
little bit more. Let’s have her moving from her chair to the window so there’s another set-up, some very nice lighting by the window,” says Adriano. “We never actually rest on the style that we have developed. We’re always questioning ourselves. It’s either me questioning Ben or Ben questioning me. We also have this amazing camera operator who always brings us challenges. Like he’ll say, ‘Guys I think this is looking a little boring, can we do something else?’ It’s working with friends, it’s very luxurious in a sense. “It’s always challenging when you are shooting four pages a day. Some TV shows shoot seven or eight pages a day so we do realise that this is a special show and that’s why we’re so precious and precise and meticulous about everything we do. We’re suppose to deliver something high-end.”
DOPs on The Crown Season 2:
Adriano Goldman, Stuart Howell, Ole Bratt Birkeland. Aerial DOP: Jeremy Braben, Helicopter Film Services.
I LIKE IT WHEN ACTORS STEP ON TO SET AND THERE ARE NO STANDS THERE
DEFINITION JULY 2018
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