DEFINITION April 2018

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SHOOT STORY THE SHAPE OF WATER

COLOUR PALETTE Each Guillermo del Toro movie is evolved using a succinct colour palette. This is shorthand for the DOP and production designer to pick up and run with. “We are talking a lot about the colours of the walls, comparing them to skin tones, wardrobes and set design. Everything is blending in together and because all the colours are so specific we’re kind of doing the colour correction on the set. The colours we’re shooting on set were the exactly the same colours in the movie, we didn’t change anything colour wise when I did the DI.” The lighting design hinged on the close-up design but there were still a lot of lights around for wider shots. Dan also had a distinct idea for shooting with certain focal lengths. “I prefer to shoot 3.5, between 2.8 and 4.0, so you know we need a lot of EACH GUILLERMO DEL TORO MOVIE IS EVOLVED USING A SUCCINCT COLOUR PALETTE. THIS IS SHORTHAND FOR THE DOP AND PRODUCTION DESIGNER TO PICK UP

light actually, as I’m not a full open shooter. So there is a lot of light in the sets; mostly LED and the practicals are doing their job. This was a small budget movie so we could afford all ARRI lighting. We had to use all kinds of different lights because of this tight budget. It’s fine, you just have to work around it. IS ITWATER? As the movie gets more attention due to its many nominations, the news of

how they shot with water is coming out. The truth was that much of the start and finish was shot dry for wet. “The opening scene and the ending scene were shot with what we call ‘dry for wet’. This means that there was no water at all. So the trick is to fill the studio up with a lot of smoke; and we’re talking about lots of it. Also instead of having film light you have film projectors so you can project, like a Gobo light, what you look like when you are below the water because the light is moving around a little bit. Then of course the visual effects guys are putting fish in and bottles and all that kind of stuff. So the beginning and the end of the movie are shot like that and then you’re shooting high speed to get the movement a little bit slower. The VFX guys also have to put the hair in as you need that effect of floating water. “I’ve never used the technique before, I think it’s an old trick from the theatre. But I think we did it

TOP Director Guillermo del Toro on set with Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer. ABOVE DOP Dan Laustsen on set with Guillermo. LEFT Dan’s colour palette included lots of greens, blues and teal.

DEFINITION APRIL 2018

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