EUPHORIA PRODUCTION
advanced colour science, landing on the ARRI SkyPanels and Orbiters. Rév and his gaffer, Danny Durr, designed their own contraption called the ‘cooler light’ – a metal casket made of 20 150W Edison tungsten bulbs. “We used it a lot in the strip club, the Silver Slipper,” which is where Rue works as a floor manager. “That was a personal favourite of mine.” DONE DIFFERENTLY Euphoria has never been an action show. There is plenty of violence, sure, as well as the occasional police chase, but it is the drama and character development that prevail. This season, though, opens with Rue attempting to cross the US-Mexico border by driving her car up a makeshift ramp and over a metal fence. “That sequence was technically challenging,” admits Rév. “It’s a big stunt. You have to work 15ft in the air. We were shooting over multiple days, and working in the desert is not the easiest thing. It is sort of an action sequence, so you try to make it as engaging as possible. We built two border walls – one a little lower, one its original height,” he continues. “We had two units filming at the same time. It was a big operation.” Historically, Rév and his fellow Euphoria cinematographers (there have been five) filmed the show primarily on set builds and sound stages. This season, however, they broke that mould, shooting roughly 45% on location, Rév estimates. The team constructed the Silver Slipper and Jules’ apartment, and scouted Alamo’s house (where Rue’s employer lives), recreating some of it on a stage. “My favourite was
definitely the strip club,” Rév reveals. “I liked the embedded lighting and the way we designed our set-up around it. There were so many angles you could find in that space – just looking through windows and door frames.” Jules’ apartment, meanwhile, was “basically a big glass aquarium and we photographed the view,” Rév recalls, which the team then printed and placed beyond the windows. “Making that look real – and creating different moods – was not an easy one to pull off.” Yet, unlike many other productions today, Euphoria isn’t trying to recreate reality, visually or otherwise. It is highly stylised: characters speak directly to the camera; it’s regularly intercut with dream sequences, flashbacks and fantasies. For audiences craving an escape, that is a major part of the show’s appeal. “It is intentionally different from most of what is on television. That was always our goal,” Rév shares. It has been said that Sam Levinson approaches each season of Euphoria as if it may be the last, but it’s rumoured this one will officially bring the story to a close. Four years flew by between the release of Seasons 2 and 3, and while that time wasn’t altogether pleasant (besides the LA fires and Hollywood strikes, several cast and crew members sadly passed away), it did allow Rév to explore a fuller range of creative possibilities. By the end of the break, he was hungry to get back on-set – and fans are equally eager to see their favourite characters on-screen once more. Euphoria is available to watch on HBO Max in the US and Now or Sky in the UK
WATT’S UP Euphoria’s new season has a record number of scenes set during the daytime, a bright turn from its original dark and moody atmosphere
E and C Series anamorphics, a Macro Anamorphic Panatar and a Primo Anamorphic Zoom on the ARRICAM LT. As for lighting, Rév prefers tungsten and HMIs over LEDs. “Since we were shooting on large format film and I wanted to have saturated, rich colours, it was important to get the full spectrum of light,” he explains. He opted for Mole- Richardson Molebeams, since ’they have both tungsten and HMI versions’. When he did use LEDs, he prioritised ones with
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