SHOOT STORY | STRANGERS
There are quite a few shots in Strangers that fool you into thinking they were shot in Hong Kong when actually you were still in London. For instance the character Jonah is looking out of his hotel window and gazing at the Hong Kong night with all the neon and lighting, he’s actually looking out of a London hotel room. If you’re not in Hong Kong the obvious way to cheat is to green screen the window and comp the view in later. Eben cheated in another way, he hired Anna Valley LED square panels and blocked the window up with them so you couldn’t see around it. He them played a previously recorded night scene from Hong Kong on the screen and you would never know the difference, also saving potentially thousands of pounds in green screen costs. HONG KONG IN LONDON TWO LOCATIONS, BUT WHICH IS WHICH?
Paul was very relaxed about the way scenes were approached as far as shooting themwas concerned. It was very spontaneous
say to my gaffer ‘just give me two lights that will perfectly match that colour’. He can go off with his colour meter and find that colour and dial it in. It was using what we were given for free in Hong Kong and then augmenting that. With SkyPanels on batteries we were able to get things very mobile and perhaps shoot in streets we didn’t have permission to shoot in. “In London it was a matter of remembering those colours. By then we had built a palette, so if we were doing an interior we’d just augment the lighting as we’d done before.” If you’re watching Strangers and want to get the full effect of Eben’s shooting, don’t watch the poor quality of the ITV Hub catch-up service but wait for Amazon Prime to stream it. What is constant in Eben’s shooting is his exquisite framing and in Strangers that, and his feel for colour and aesthetics, stand apart in drama shooting at the moment.
Williams, things got a little looser. “Paul was very relaxed about the way scenes were approached as far as shooting them was concerned. It was very spontaneous, we would get to a location, look at what the actors are doing in the blocking and then just talk about it. We might agree that its looks more handheld or this should start with a dolly shot for instance. Occasionally he might want a big tracking shot but quite often it’s more collaborative than that. Paul is very experienced and has won BAFTAs; that brings a certain level of confidence that’s great to work with.” LIGHTING DESIGN The essence of Eben’s light design was augmentation of the dirty, green light we have already described. He mostly used ARRI SkyPanels notable for one of the first uses of their large S360 panel. “I used one in London and in Hong Kong used about 20 of them. The thing I love about them is if I have a great colour coming from a practical, say from a billboard or similar, with a SkyPanel I can very quickly
DID YOU KNOW?
The original working title of Strangers was White Dragon
STRANGERS IS ON ITV NOW, AND ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO SOON.
44 DEF I N I T ION | OCTOBER 20 1 8
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