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FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL FEATURE
IT WAS A BIT CHALLENGING TO LIGHT BACK PROJECTION PLATES THAT HAVE BEEN SHOT BY SOMEONE ELSE
“We used back projection plates for the beach scenes at Malibu at her caravan (trailer), for the moonlit scenes of the ocean, and the driving sequences both on the PCH and in Liverpool. We wanted to showcase the landscape and the ocean and the bright California light that’s so magical, and so different to England. It was a bit challenging to light back projection plates that have been shot by someone else, and that becomes the template that you are locked into. I needed to see the projection screen lit up to watch how it played on the actor’s faces, and then to light them, and find the right emotion for the scene. “We started with daylight scenes, then dusk, then gradually worked into night. It’s important to have good plates to work with. We used CTOs to put some warmth into the images of magic hour after sunset. That projection has a colour temperature
she struggles to ignore and deny the breast cancer that will ultimately snuff out the light on this once bright shining star. Incarnating Turner’s role in a powerful heart aching performance is Jamie Bell. Gloria Grahame’s role is bravely embodied by Annette Bening, who appears majestic in the many luminous flashbacks and then visibly lined and ageing as the declining cancer patient, photographed with the uncompromising, unsympathetic detail and sharpness typical of today’s digital cameras. “We photographed Film Stars like an homage to Hollywood of the past, telling the story of a star from the black & white era using the old techniques. The imagery is more like a nostalgic memory; it is not reality. We went for an enhanced realism that has feeling and is much more beautiful,” explains DOP Urszula Pontikos.
of around 6200K. You take your plate and then you start your lighting. You can tweak it a little, but basically you are locked into that plate. “Back projection can be a bit tricky to work with, but the results are amazing and the actors love it. You could see it in their eyes that they were moved. Both Jamie and Annette felt the emotion. For the driving scenes up the PCH in the VW Beetle, we found old footage from the 70s. The plates for the grunion and Malibu beach scenes were shot by Stefan Lange on an ARRI ALEXA 65 camera, on Broadstairs Beach in Kent, England, and it was graded ‘day for night’. The Malibu beach scene and trailer park plates were shot by the team in LA on the location.
TOP A glimpse of the huge scale of the back projection screen Lester built at Pinewood. ABOVE Director Paul McGuigan and Urszula Pontikos behind the scenes at The Liverpool Playhouse.
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MARCH 2018 DEFINITION
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