SEPTEMBER 5 PRODUCTION
making you second guess what you’ve seen playing out through the screens or in ‘reality’. The monitors served as a key practical light source, but also played a critical role in amping up the tension. One of the most distinctive visual elements is the use of screen flicker as an emotional cue, intensifying as the tension builds. “We tested different flicker frequencies by taking LED tubes back to our hotel rooms and seeing how much was too much before it gave us headaches!” he laughs. “In the opening sequence – the swim race – we introduce a slight flicker, so that the audience can get used to it. But when the first masked terrorist appears on screen, we ramp it up dynamically to create a subconscious sense of unease." THAT SEVENTIES LOOK Given the setting and historical backdrop, the conversation naturally came up around shooting the whole thing on film. But after extensive testing, Förderer and the team opted for digital, shooting on RED V-RAPTOR cameras and using vintage lenses, detuned modern glass and lighting techniques to achieve the period aesthetic. “We tested 35mm, but the sensitivity of film stock – even pushed to the limit – wouldn’t have allowed us to achieve the
naturalistic feel we wanted,” he says. “The entire set was built within a real, existing studio in Munich, which had no windows. This meant that the only key light sources were the TV monitors themselves, and using film would have required more light than we could justify for the look we were going for. What makes September 5 unique is that when people watch it they might get the feel of a film from the seventies, but it actually doesn’t look like that,” he continues. “It invokes the feel through lenses and lighting, with references to films and documentaries shot at the time, but it actually looks more modern.” To bridge the gap between digital capture
and the grainy, textured feel of the era, Förderer scoured eBay for lenses from the seventies, including Zoomar glass, which had originally been used to shoot the Munich Olympics. “I saw an advert for them in an old copy of American Cinematographer from the time, promoting that they’d been used in the event. I thought: this is a sign, we have to find them! “Most of them are long telephoto lenses, but we managed to find a wide- angle Zoomar lens made for stills; it was actually the first zoom lens ever made. We had it converted into a PL mount so we could use it on the RAPTOR and it looked amazing, but also a bit funky, so I knew we also needed a more modern lens with very close focus.” To keep the vintage character consistent, Förderer decided to detune the modern lenses himself. “I don’t recommend trying this at home,” he laughs. His experience testing vintage glass for his website cineflares.com had given him insight into how older optics reacted to light: “In those places, I found some really unique aspects and lenses from the seventies,” he explains. He then introduced imperfections to mimic older optics. “Old lenses, they were never built in a clean room, right? Today’s lenses are, but back in the
ON THE GROUND Director Tim Fehlbaum (left) and DOP Markus Förderer (right)
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DEFINITIONMAGS
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