SHOOT STORY | VAN I TY FA I R
NON-PERIOD PERIOD DRAMA So Director James Strong was never a massive fan of period drama – it was down to him then to move away from that style. “The Jane Austen stuff doesn’t immediately appeal to me so the first big challenge was to produce a period drama that appealed to those who didn’t like them, like me. Also I wanted to shoot in a contemporary drama way, it just happens to be set in the 1800s. It’s easy to say that but what does that mean? It ends up with the choice of cameras and lenses being very important. We went for RED and the Primos as I wanted a modern scale so we got big 10mm lenses to give our locations scale; but it has intimacy also with some handheld shots. We wanted a slightly beautiful reality but sort of with a realness to it. The contemporary feel was reflected in all aspects including the performances. Where in real life people talk fast and interrupt each other, I wanted that in this period drama. I just wanted to give it a bit of attitude and a bit of swagger.” Director and DOP were therefore on the same page as far as the look went; they wanted this ‘bold beautiful reality’, a strong colour palette, a dynamic, fluid camera. “We didn’t want to be afraid of pointing the camera towards what was important in the frame,” continued Ed. “We didn’t want a style that would overpower, but to have a slightly new wave feel. We wanted a certain freshness, an ability to break the rules. A bit like the main character Becky Sharp who was very much a rule breaker herself in a time when there was no social mobility. To get the chance to tell that story now with the gender politics of our time was very timely and exciting.”
We wanted a certain freshness, an ability to break the rules
SETTING THE STYLE Ed and James encouraged each other to push the look, not in an overbearing style way but more in its confidence in colour palette, camera work, optics and lighting style. Both were agreed on the tone of the piece they wanted to make but at the heart of this boldness must be a strong set of rules to stop the look running away with itself. Ed describes James’ set of rules for the shooting. “It’s fine to de-construct something but you have to be judicious with that so it has intent. When you do something that is episodic, like Vanity Fair ’s seven episodes, it’s about staying true to the rules you are adhering to so the style is consistent and coherent as you move through the various story arcs. I really felt that we did that. “James had this note, a Goethe quote, which he sent to me which read ‘As soon as one becomes aware of the intention the senses are numb’. He wanted us not to be ‘tricksy’ but he wanted us to be confident. My interpretation of that was to take Becky’s character and have a new wave feel. I thought of The 400 Blows movie directed by François Truffaut; the last shot of that film on the beach where the camera pans and then it zooms in to the kid. He then looks back and breaks the fourth wall. I can’t remember when I first saw that film but I do remember getting goosebumps with that new wave zoom if you like and then the breaking of the fourth wall. I’ve always loved that but it’s not very fashionable,
ABOVE Director James Strong. BELOW Camera Operator Roger Tooley with the RED Dragon camera.
26 DEF I N I T ION | SEPTEMBER 20 1 8
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