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poem, nor something filled with lockdown images we were already familiar with. I made contact with the Music Venue Trust, as there was something interesting about empty spaces that might make an effective visual companion to Hussain’s words. It was also an opportunity to support venues and the beautiful art deco Troxy in Stepney offered us two days of filming.” To help with production, Polonsky drafted in a world-class expert on 65mm cinematography –Haris Zambarloukos BSC. But the planwas to keep things simple. “There was an element of improvisation to what we were doing and we approached the project as simply as we could. No dolly, no gimbals – an almost Bressonian simplicity, partly driven by necessity and needing to have as small a crew as possible for health and safety issues,” says Polonsky. “No remote focus, no wireless video; not least because to attach these and power them via the GFX wouldmean building out the camera to a degree that slightly defeated the purpose of using a camera this compact. “It definitely seemed smart to keep the camera very simple in its set-up. It’s not
“Large format brings the opportunity to achieve narrowdepth-of-field onwider-angle lenses”
lenses. They are superb optics that have a lovely narrow depth wide open, and I had more control of light in those scenes.” Cutaways of other venues were also shot on the bitingly sharp Fujifilmoptics. The filmsees dancerWill Thompson inside the theatre, choreographed by Maxine Doyle. For full effect, Polonsky chose Tokina Vista One prime lenses, attached via an Alpa PL adapter. “The Tokinas are cinema lenses with great focus markings and open up to T1.5. I had limited lighting at the Troxy, so needed fast lenses.” The resulting film is as visually stunning as it is thought-provoking. And it highlights that TV drama, indie films, corporate productions, documentaries and even motion pictures can nowutilise the Fujifilm GFX100 and Ninja V to get the distinctive ‘larger than full-frame look’ in stunning Rawquality at an affordable price.
really designed to handle all the bells and whistles that we might have on a regular film shoot. So, we used a manual follow focus, Anker power banks, ND filters and my trusty Atomos Ninja V to record on.” Fujifilmoffers a wide range of very sharp native lenses for its medium format GFX system, but the camera also works well with other lenses via adapters to give cinematographers more options. “I’d hoped to get Hussain down to the Troxy to filmhim, but at the 11th hour I had to go to his studio onmy own with a few lights and the GFX kit and persuade him to spend a couple of hours performing the piece for me,” says Polonsky. “Beingmy own focus, grip and DITwas a challenge, but the fact that the GFX kit was so simple saved me. I’mvery happy with the footage, which I shot mainly with the Fujinon GF45mm f/2.8 RWR and GF110mm f/2 R LMWR stills
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