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Cinematographer Brendan McGinty shares how TLS - rehoused Canon Rangefinder lenses played a key role in bringing a compelling Netflix show to life Uncovering the secrets of the Neanderthals
P roduced by BBC Studios for Netflix and directed by Ashley Gething, Secrets of the Neanderthals takes viewers on a fascinating journey into the world of our ancient ancestors. Bringing to light cutting-edge research – including a landmark recent discovery – the documentary challenges preconceived ideas about Neanderthals as dim-witted and primitive. Instead, we’re offered a compelling portrait of a complex and creative group that has been misunderstood for tens of thousands of years. Narrated by the legendary Sir Patrick Stewart, this documentary explores new understandings of Neanderthal behaviours, bonds and rituals, taking into account what fossil records now tell us about their lives. In the film’s dramatic sequences, scientific theories and discoveries are brought spellbindingly to life – and it’s here that cinematographer Brendan McGinty works his magic. These vignettes, woven throughout the film, allow for a more poetic glimpse into a sub-species society whose DNA we all share, but about whom we have previously known so little. Right from the
get-go, McGinty knew which glass he wanted on the project. “From my very first discussions with the film’s creative team, I referenced my desire to use the TLS Canon Dreams on a full-frame sensor for the production,” explains the DOP. “I had used the Dream lenses previously for The Devil on Trial and loved the painterly imagery they could produce.” The set he’d previously used had been extended to eight lenses by this point (reaching from 19mm to 200mm), and they performed perfectly in the pre-production tests. The goal, says McGinty, was to give the sense that the cinematographer was standing alongside the Neanderthals, observing them at ‘breath-on-the lens close quarters as their lives unfolded’. “The large format coverage of the sixties Canon Rangefinders, their softness, glowing amber flares and the significant curvature of focus and geometry they produce, is remarkable,” he enthuses. “We wanted to lean into all the vintage and organic optical accident we could – while keeping the camera handheld and intimately close to our subjects. Our
scenes were, of course, entirely imagined and impossibly distant from our present, and we wanted to evoke something like a heightened dream state, perhaps that after which these lenses were named.” The lenses impressed when used out on location in Croatia. Combining vintage characteristics with cutting- edge focus-pulling mechanics and mark accuracy, McGinty credits TLS’s engineering prowess with enabling such old glass to meet the exacting demands of a contemporary production. “The iris consistency across the set is also essential for motion work and part of the rehousing innovation,” he adds. McGinty sourced and developed the glass in collaboration with lens maestro Michael Lindsay, and calls on them whenever a job calls for full-frame, spherical, vintage beauty. “For the right project, creative or script, there is nothing that I dislike about these lenses,” he concludes. “But make no mistake – they are optically transformative, extremely vintage and incredibly funky. So if you want modern, sharp, flat photographic imagery… you may want to look elsewhere!” Secrets of the Neanderthals is available to stream on Netflix now
UP CLOSE McGinty knew which lenses would be best to create a sense of proximity to the characters, portraying them in an all-new light
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