BEH I ND HER EYES | PRODUCTION
GOOD, CLEAN THRILLS Going against the thriller grain, Felix Wiedemann
captured clear and detailed imagery for
Behind Her Eyes. He talks naturalism, nightmares and baring souls on screen
WORDS LEE RENWI CK / P I CTURES NETFL I X
ABOVE RIGHT Wiedemann decided upon a clear, detailed image, not wanting to establish a heavy thriller mood that would detract from the viewer’s own decision making
P icture any psychological thriller you know. What do you see? A grimy urban hubbub, or desolate, yet oppressive rural locale? Brooding cinematography with constant shadows, heavy grain and a desaturated colour grade? They’re staples of the genre. So much so, it’s hard to imagine someone creating the very same content without them. But this was the somewhat surprising approach of Felix Wiedemann during the making of Behind Her Eyes . The Netflix hit is an unusual, but enticing blend of psychological thrills, romantic drama and supernatural elements. One that’s backed by cinematography giving the remainder of the production, and the audience, much-needed room to breathe. The end result seems to have landed with viewers, and while there’s some division over the show’s number of twists
– as will always be the case with such endings – there’s something new and exciting on show. Thanks to visual genre bending, we’re cast adrift, left to make up our own minds without the clues we’re used to. For a viewer, it’s all the more thrilling. MENTAL CLARITY “The tone we set with the image was a big decision for us,” explains Wiedemann. “It’s a psychological thriller, but also a character-driven drama. We questioned to what degree it should live in the dark, foreboding world you’d expect – and how that would impact the audience. Ultimately, we settled on an image with real detail, clarity and naturalism. “Heavy textures and grains, coloured filters, and so on, are a great way of visual storytelling, in that they let you infuse the image very strongly with a mood. In this
MAY 202 1 | DEF I N I T ION 05
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