ALL OF US STRANGERS PRODUCTION
he’s stuck looking out at the world. The camera holds him within a frame and uses the negative space to create the sense of isolation.” With Mum and Dad, “the camera takes a more personal feel and becomes a bit more handheld to create three-dimensionality.” DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY Like with Haigh’s childhood home, Ramsay shot most of the film on location. This includes the nightclub scene when Adam and Harry take ketamine. “The whole sequence is a representation of the decay in [Adam’s] psychology,” states Ramsay. “All of it plays out in real time over a night, but there’s a load of intercut sequences that extend the relationship beyond that, which one can either take literally or not.” Before they could film in the club, “all the lighting had to be built in,” recalls Ramsay, who wanted complete control. They combined LEDs, disco balls and intelligent stage lighting, which the crew could adjust for flashing or strobing. “What was important for me was to evolve the visual language,” shares Ramsay, “to represent how a night out actually goes.” The combination of alcohol and music and dancing and drugs ‘comes to a crescendo’, and what was once euphoria becomes paranoia. “As soon as ketamine came into the equation, it was important for me to subjectify the experience a lot more.”
When Adam ‘goes into a K-hole’, Ramsay pulls out some visual tricks such as manipulating reflections, using tighter lenses and making the camera movement “slippery and unstable. This is an obvious way to represent the feeling of your legs being taken away from you when you’re on ketamine or when you’ve had too much to drink.” The sequence ends with Adam and Harry kissing on the dance floor, illuminated by an intense backlight. “I used a little poetic licence to represent how that moment feels,” reveals Ramsay. “You always experience it subjectively – you’re never standing outside your body looking at yourself – but it feels like you’re bathed in a God light." TRUST FALL Given All of Us Strangers ’ numerous sex scenes, trust was a key concern – not only between DOP and director, but also operator and actors. “That trust was all around. It was me trusting my instincts that I would react to what I was seeing carefully. It was [the actors] trusting that there was no judgement, that it was just pure acceptance and appreciation for what was going on,” describes Ramsay. “Often, the first person that an actor looks at after delivering a performance is the operator because they are in the eyeline. It’s so important that you always represent a warm and honest sounding board for them.”
Ramsay recalls creating a ‘shorthand’ with Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal specifically. “I knew that I would be inside their bubble. It was so important for me to position my energy so that it would never get in the way of their confidence or their focus.” He was also careful not to distract Haigh, so he could keep a ‘keen eye on the performance’. Ramsay confesses that the on-set trust “stemmed from Andrew Haigh. He set a wonderful tone from day one, which was ‘the best idea wins’. I can only speak for myself as a DOP, but I think everybody loved the process of making this movie.” BIG PICTURE Rather than getting caught up in the technical details, Ramsay prefers to look at the bigger picture. “In this world of ever-evolving elements in what we do – where every day there are new lenses, new technology, new stuff – I would say you can always assimilate the gear.” In an emotional film like All of Us Strangers , feeling is paramount. “What’s important is to first and foremost define exactly what it is you want to make and the feeling you want to create,” argues Ramsay. “After that, you have a plethora of choices in how to do it.”
FILM FAN Shot on 35mm (centre), it uses an analogue palette for Adam’s parents’ home (left) and a digital one at his block (right)
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