PRODUCTION THE STUDIO
echoes the opening sequence of Touch of Evil (1958), although Newport-Berra points out that this wasn’t intentional. “It’s funny because we didn’t even think about it when shooting that opening scene,” he admits. “We weren’t always designing these shots ahead of time. We were having to just show up and block them, figure out what’s happening and then find a lyrical, poetic way to have the camera flow through all of it.” FORGET IT, OLIVIA. IT’S CHINATOWN Newport-Berra captured The Studio with the ARRI ALEXA 35 and ARRI Master Prime 21mm T1.3 lenses across a period of two and a half months, with four to six days required per episode. “We had an incredible camera operator named Mark Goellnicht,” he says. “Mark has a great attitude, and can just do take after take. He’s an absolute machine, and I sought him out because I knew how athletic he was. We also had an additional operator, Jesse Cain, who handled all the DJI Ronin work as well as helping with the handheld work, as many of the shots required multiple operators.” The Missing Reel episode pays homage to the noir genre, notably Chinatown (1974), with the film’s score even featuring in the final sequence. “The episode was written like a noir, and the goal was to make something more impressionistic and dramatic, all with a sense of humour,” adds Newport-Berra. “There are layers of jokes in the show, and we wanted it to be self-aware so we could lean into it without fearing it would feel too kitschy, because it was supposed to be, in a way. But I think it turned out quite beautifully.” Newport-Berra utilised the set and lighting from Olivia Wilde’s movie within a movie. “It was nice that we were shooting on a film set for this episode because we could see all the lights,” he explains. “It was easier to inject colour and stark lighting, as I could just put a light directly
AND... ACTION! Goldberg and Rogen designed the show to both feature and pay homage to various shooting styles and genres
in the shot if needed. We weren’t able to do that for the majority of the show because we had to light a set 360°. The noir episode gave me the opportunity to be a bit more impressionistic.” At one point in the episode, a stern-faced Matt descends a stairwell surrounded by smoke. For a moment, it’s as if we’re seeing the opening of another movie. “It’s funny because the smoke wasn’t originally part of the shot, but I was adamant about putting it in this scene,” says Newport-Berra. “Seth and Evan were both a little sceptical at first, as they thought it would be ridiculous, but of course that’s the point. We ended up basically filling up that alleyway with smoke right before each take, to the point where you could hardly see anything.”
ONER OF A KIND One of the most physically demanding episodes to capture was The Oner . This follows the very complicated process of shooting a oner for Sarah Polley’s fictional romantic drama starring Greta Lee. Matt’s presence on the set causes tension and chaos inevitably unfolds. Newport-Berra shot the episode over a period of four days. “We couldn’t shoot the entire episode in one shot because of actor availability issues. There was never a day in which we had all the actors together per se, so we had to
THEN FIND A lyrical, poetic WAY TO HAVE THE CAMERA flow through ”
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