DRAMA | THE END OF THE F * * * I NG WORLD
We let it go blue and leaned into the colours the camera produced
and it would just be a red wash inside the cafe, which didn’t quite happen, but I think that Ben Todd, who was the second block DOP, still got to have a bit of fun with it.” Spence wanted to keep the lighting on-set to a minimum to reflect the show’s minimalism and relied on practicals, as much as real daylight. He also used Litegear Litemat 8, Arri Skypanels, Arri M-Series Daylight lamps and Lanternlock china lanterns, channelling simple warm and cool tones, rather than complex colours. 4**K The show is a Channel 4 and Netflix co-production, so clearly there was some motivation behind Spence’s camera choice. It had to be 4K, but it didn’t have to be Red, which was the camera the first series had been shot on. He says: “I think that Justin Brown, who was the first series’ DOP, wanted to shoot it on the Arri Alexa, but wasn’t allowed to because it’s not true 4K – or, whatever you want to call it, it’s not Netflix approved. So, when I was asked to do the series,
loaded with 250D daylight film. “It’s an honest approach,” he says. “For example, when we shot at dusk, we didn’t white- balance anything out. We let it go blue and leaned into the colours the camera produced. One of my favourite scenes was shot at blue hour and it’s the scene where James drives up to the cafe Alyssa is working in, to let her know about the bullet he received. He hasn’t seen her since the beach and he still loves her, but when he gets there, he sees her kissing someone else. It’s another hit to poor James. But it’s a beautiful scene in terms of colour palette – a mixture of blue and red – which is coming from the neon lights that are draped around the cafe.” He continues: “I had a lot of chats with Lucy and our production designer about wrapping the cafe, which had been built specifically for the show, in red neon. Red being a classic warning colour. And unfortunately, because I only shot the first four episodes, I didn’t get to use it for the big shoot-out scene towards the end of the series. I had a vision the lights would go off
wintertime, which was a strange transition from the first series in terms of keeping the lighting consistent, because it was wet and cold, and not sunny and beautiful. And I remember shooting a scene in episode 3, where Alyssa and James crash out of the car impound, and it just bloody rained and rained, which, when you’re trying to do a stunt and have dusty, warm Americana vibes, became almost impossible.” Spence approached lighting by imagining he was using a film camera
RIGHT DOP Benedict Spence and director Lucy Forbes posing on location in the wintery Welsh hills
32 DEF I N I T ION | JANUARY 2020
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