NICKEL BOYS PRODUCTION
STAND BY ME Ross and Fray got up close and personal with the actors to create an ultra-immersive visual journey
never gave actors any marks, and we knew that we were going to cut in post,” adds Fray. “It meant whatever apparatus we were using with the camera, we had to sustain for the entire movement of the scene. We had to do lots of camera tests to figure out the systems, not only for them to work, but to make sure they felt evocative and emotionally tied to whatever Elwood or Turner were going through from moment to moment.” For Fray, the process of thinking about cinematography in a different way was a true joy. “There are moments when the camera appears to hug Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. That’s actually me, RaMell or the camera operator Sam Ellison physically hugging that person, and
I think something happens to you when you are creating that kind of image. How do you imbue the camera with that very consciousness of Elwood? “Then suddenly, the person you’re looking at in front of you isn’t Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, but your own grandmother. When you’re having physical interactions with the actor, at some point the lines start blurring between the actor and your scene partner. That was an interesting aspect of shooting from both of their perspectives in this movie.” The capturing of Nickel Boys involved unlearning everything Fray had previously known about cinematography. “It was a totally different level of thinking about vulnerability and connection,” he says.
WHEN YOU’RE physically interacting , THE LINES BLUR BETWEEN the actor and your scene partner ”
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