DEFINITION March 2018

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FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL FEATURE

“Again, we were replicating a memory; it wasn’t reality or real events, but we had to get the texture right. For the scenes on the balcony of the New York apartment, we used a Translight and I had a long conversation about colour with our wonderful production designer, Eve Stewart, who had definite ideas about how the backing should look. “I’ve been lighting for a while, but never to this degree on large studio sets, and then in a real theatre in Liverpool, and I never worked with back projection before, but people helped me, they supported me. We worked as a team. “We had two worlds to create: the dark gritty realism of Liverpool in 1981 and the glossy, colourful scenes of their time in LA, but we didn’t want the looks between present and past to be too different or jarring. “We photographed Film Stars on an ARRI ALEXA with uncoated master primes to have the sunny ‘flarey’ look. I rated the camera at 800 ASA, even for night sequences. I wanted as much latitude for both day and night, so I concentrated on trying to put the highlights in the right place. Obviously, I would have loved to shoot on film, because it would have given the film maybe a more

rushes. I shoot lots of stills on set, so we can readjust the look once it is edited, because the film often takes on another look at that stage of the process. Nothing is set in stone at that point, we were still finding out our strokes. We have a little back end work, but the grading in post can change everything. Paul and Nick worked on the edit up in Glasgow, then we graded at Molinare. “Overall, it was an incredible opportunity for me to shoot such a personal, intimate, romantic story and I’m very proud of it. You don’t see many movies like this anymore. Would I use back projection again? Yes, I would take the challenge again, any time. The results are fantastic, and it’s for the art of making films.” WE HAD TWO WORLDS TO CREATE: THE DARK GRITTY REALISM OF LIVERPOOL AND THE GLOSSY COLOURFUL SCENES OF LA

organic look, but the budget and the schedule didn’t allow it. “With my DIT, Thomas Patrick, who I have already done quite a few projects with, we always talk about the look I’m going for. We use the live grade on set, and when I have a moment, I’ll go over and check what he’s done, and alter it slightly to make it darker or brighter. I use my eyes to light, I use the monitor, the waveform monitor, and my light meter. Paul has strong ideas about how things should look, and even though I didn’t know Paul and never worked with him before, we could discuss everything easily and thoroughly. “For the work flow, we used an ALEXA with a live grade and worked with Pinewood Post to grade the

TOP Behind the scenes at The Rivoli Ballroom with director Paul McGuigan, producer Barbara Broccoli and hair and make-up designer Naomi Donne. ABOVE The award- winning back projection.

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MARCH 2018 DEFINITION

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