PRODUCTION STRANGER THINGS
the ‘de-aging’ of actors (they hired younger versions of Will, Jonathan and Joyce Byers) and the bathtub scene in episode 2, The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler . Henry abducts Holly Wheeler – Mike and Nancy’s little sister – into his world, but not before their mother, Karen, puts up a mean fight. “Of the entire season, that was the first thing we shot, to figure out how to do that transition from the Demogorgon to underwater in the bathtub, where Karen and Holly are hiding,” recalls Heymann. “We needed to shoot them on a separate set where we could have one side of the bathtub clear so that we could shoot through it, but then shoot the top half in the actual Wheeler bathroom.” The whole scene is stunt-heavy. Holly is pulled through her ceiling, Ted Wheeler is ‘blasted through the wall’ and Karen stabs the Demogorgon with a broken wine bottle. “As a DOP,” begins Heymann, “it’s wonderful because you’re working with all the different departments at the same time and having conversations with VFX, stunts, special effects and, of course, the Duffer Brothers. I was really happy with how it all came together.”
TRICKS AND TREATS Season 5 also marks a slight departure from its predecessors, introducing new visual tricks and camera techniques. For instance, Will, who’s connected to the villainous hive mind, has visions, able to see through the Demogorgons’ (and later, Vecna’s) eyes. To communicate the change in POV, Heymann used filters – called centre spot dioptres – coupled
with a physical shake of the camera whenever Will entered an altered state. To capture the POV footage itself, Heymann selected the DJI Ronin 4D, which could “simulate the galloping of the Demogorgon and do the tight turns and thread the needle between trees,” he says. Meanwhile, he used the ARRI ALEXA 35 – fitted with Cooke S4 lenses – as his main camera, occasionally
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