AMERICAN FICTION PRODUCTION
They also had to cut some of the funniest moments because it would have gone too over the top,” Dunlap says. “In terms of camera, I tried to be cognisant of not pushing it too far one way until the story called for it. Most of the film is drama, then the end of the film is an OTT rom com and action film. We did this to have a variety and add that extra punch to the ending.” Her camera package was a single ALEXA Mini LF using BLACKWING7 TRIBE7 primes, choosing spherical to have audiences ‘fall into the story’ and not be distracted by the flares and distortions of anamorphic. The same light-touch philosophy fed her approach to lighting. “Generally, I didn’t want it to feel overly lit. There are some moments we try to make it a little more crafted though.” For a post-wedding scene, they planned to bathe characters in a blue light matched against the blue sky. “It got a little darker than we wanted by the time we were shooting, but we still hung blue lights around the porch to create the look. In Monk’s office, there is some more surrealist lighting. In a dramatic restaurant scene, we placed CRLS mirrors on top of the window to bang in this very hard light and cast a shaft of light onto the table.” Picture grading was done by Phil Beckner at Fotokem, who sent Dunlap a selection of LUTs before shooting. This
I TRIED TO BE COGNISANT OF NOT PUSHING IT too far one way UNTIL THE STORY CALLED FOR IT”
[Ruben Östlund’s caustic 2014 drama] is one my favourites, where DOP Fredrik Wenzel often held one shot for an entire scene. You’re looking at someone’s back for half of it, but the emotion is still conveyed. Cord and I took a lot of time to plan those angles and how we wanted the emotion of a scene to come across. That meant using Steadicam in a constantly moving coverage.”
Some scenes were curtailed or cut from the final edit to achieve the right tonal balance. This included a longer version of the scene in which Monk and a book publisher discuss calling his book FUCK [a working title for the film], and another when Monk breaks down in a coffee shop after the death of his sister. “While such a beautiful scene, it was taking the movie too far in one direction.
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