DRAMA | WI LD B I LL
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To achieve that sense of location, Irvine used wide-angle Zeiss Supreme lenses
ABOVE The Zeiss Supreme 65mm became Irvine’s go-to close-up lens
THE CABBAGE PATCH Lincolnshire has a fairly distinct geography, and brassica are native to the county; for all the non-horticulturists out there, a genus of leafy green vegetables, including broccoli and cabbage. Irvine says, “I was stunned when I went up there. It feels more different to me than any other county in the country. It’s got this edge-of-Europe feel to it because it has these big epic flat landscapes and strong winds coming in from the North Sea.” For the look of Wild Bill , FX’s Fargo was often referenced, as it was a series that combined real and personal tales with a surrealism that tied into the location of the show. “I can’t think of a series that I’ve watched in the last five or six years with a stronger sense of identity than Fargo . When you’re watching it, you feel as if you’re in the Minnesota landscape, and we wanted to capture that impression in Wild Bill .” To achieve that sense of location, and image of the characters within that location, Irvine used wide-angle Zeiss Supreme lenses. He says, “I got these lenses fresh out of the case and I used the 29mm, 35mm, 50mm and 65mm to shoot the whole series
on. The 65mm was still a prototype during the production of Wild Bill but I really loved that lens, and Sundeep Reddy, who is the tech specialist at Zeiss UK, went above and beyond his normal call of duty to make sure that I could have it.” Irvine continues, “it became my go- to close up lens and I even managed to swindle a second set for the B camera. I was operating the A camera, but I wanted the B camera to be more than just a B camera on set, I wanted it to have the freedom to hit different times of the day. In a way, I wanted its operator, Ben Chads, who is a long-term collaborator of mine, to be on a stealth black ops mission, where he could take his own call times to get the dusk and the dawn shots.” Irvine describes Wild Bill as having an artistry that allowed the moodiness and bleakness of the characters, setting and storyline to penetrate through a truly cinematic image. He calls this “heightened realism” and it’s a style that he says would not have been achievable without the Zeiss Supreme lenses, together with the Sony
ABOVE Baz Irvine with the Sony Venice shooting package
28 AUGUST 20 1 9 DEF I N I T ION
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