I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE PRODUCTION.
SPEED IS OF THE ESSENCE Having to block shoot an entire season in just 24 days across 50 locations meant that the kit and workflow for the show needed to be tailored for efficiency
S aturday Night Live (SNL) has been a major launching pad for talent since its inception in 1975, with many comedians, actors and writers getting their big break through the sketch-comedy show. The list of graduates includes Eddie Murphy, John Belushi and Chevy Chase, to name but a few. Three others that have been added to that exalted list in more recent years are Tim Robinson, Zach Kanin and Akiva Schaffer, who joined forces in 2019 to create the popular Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson . If you’re a fan of The Office , Curb Your Enthusiasm or Veep , then this is a cringe comedy for you. The majority of sketches centre on individuals committing humiliating blunders in either work or social environments. Instead of owning up to their mistakes, they adamantly try to persuade everyone that they are accurate and those around them are
erroneous. The show heavily relies on uncomfortable humour with elements of absurdity. It also integrates moments of toilet humour that are frequently turned on their head in unanticipated ways. Now in its third season, the sole cinematographer Markus Mentzer is again working with Schaffer, with whom he first joined forces on the cult American music mockumentary Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping . While it’s obviously good news that Netflix has seen the sense in investing in a third season, Mentzer is acutely aware that the show needs to keep reinventing itself if it’s to live up to its reputation. “When the first season came up, I was thrown into the mix,” he recalls. “I knew
they worked to a super-tight schedule in a run-and-gun style. For all three seasons I actually stole from Popstar quite a bit because we shot most of that on zooms as a faux documentary. There was loads to shoot for that film in a really short amount of time, and Akiva wanted to approach this show in the same way. So we did – 90% of the show is shot on zooms. But you’re not always necessarily seeing in-camera zooms or corrections,
“We used zooms so we weren’t swapping lenses between set-ups; in that way it’s like old-school TV”
depending on what aesthetic a particular script called for. We used zooms for the speed; we weren’t swapping lenses between set-ups. So in that sense it’s like old-school TV.” Those familiar with the series will know that the camera is mainly handheld. This also helped to facilitate the quick pace at which the crew needed to shoot. “One of the benefits we got from this season was that we used the new Angénieux Optimo Ultra zoom lens on both cameras,” Mentzer explains. “Those zooms have a more prime feel to them, especially when you put it on the Sony Venice. In that sense, we didn’t compromise anything for sketches that required a more traditional, dramatic prime-lens look versus scripts that had a documentary feel.”
73. AUGUST 2023
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