Definition September 2020 - Newsletter

DRAMA | K I LL I NG EVE

It’s getting that to feel natural, appealing and interesting. That’s what I want walking into a large space with lots of light bouncing off white walls and it’s making everything look flat and unappealing, that’s not what you want and you should add some negative fill for sure.” CREATING AMBIENCE Court says that what is most difficult about creating ambience is that his camera simply does not have the same dynamic range human eyesight naturally does. “It’s easy to create a nice bit of shape light coming through a window that will fall on to the action and look great,” he explains. “It’s the rest of the room that’s not so easy. It’s getting that to feel natural, appealing and interesting. That’s what I want.” And Court does all this while juggling the time constraints that TV has these days, although Killing Eve is a well-funded show and prep time is generous. “I have some ‘go- to’ strategies that are supported by a great

ABOVE Julian Court uses light to create ambience within the episodes of Killing Eve

bobs when we actually see the actors doing the scene. It’s great to work that way.” ARE LENSES THE SECRET SAUCE? Court did look at the new Arri Signature lenses to twin with the new LF camera, but decided against them, despite liking them. “We used Canon K35s, which are very old.

team, gaffer and electricians who know me and know what I’m trying to do,” Court says. “ Killing Eve is a reasonably well-funded TV show, which means we can sometimes afford to do more preparation, so we’ll arrive at a location with it pre-rigged and pre-lit up to a point. And then we’re really just fine-tuning and adding the last bits and

38 DEF I N I T ION | SEPTEMBER 2020

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