PRODUCTION DEADHEADING
That downsampled 4K image was one of the things that made the camera such a compelling choice. “You’re still benefiting from the entire large format sensor, with all the advantages that brings in terms of image quality and noise performance, without needing the storage and post-production requirements of a full 12K workflow,” Connaughton elaborates. “When we tested the camera, it immediately felt like the right fit, and paired with the TLS Vega lenses it was a fantastic combination.“ With some of the film taking place during night exteriors, the large format sensor also provided them the low-light performance they needed. “When you’re
LIGHT AND DARK Director Jack Hughes says the Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF let him and DOP Ash Connaughton give a cinematic feel to the small apartment where much of the film is set
than just cramped. We were constantly asking ourselves how we could give that small world a sense of scale,” explains Hughes. “Shooting on a large format sensor really helped with that, it gave those confined spaces so much more depth and allowed the environment to feel larger.” The reception to the film has been far beyond what the filmmakers could have hoped for – and the Sony award was the cherry on the cake. “There was some incredibly strong competition, so for our little short film about an elderly couple and an allotment to win in Los Angeles was pretty special!” laughs Connaughton. “More seriously, cinema has been through a tough period since Covid, and there’s a lot of discussion about where the industry goes next. For me, films like Deadheading represent the kinds of original, distinctive stories that keep cinema exciting.” Hughes, too, promises audiences something unique from the film. “At its heart, it’s about someone trying to fulfil the wishes of the person they love most. That’s something almost anyone can relate to. But we’ve paired that with a story that’s incredibly unusual. It takes something that’s quintessentially British – the culture surrounding allotments – and combines it with another thing that Britain has always done exceptionally well: dark comedy,” he sums up. “Hopefully that combination gives audiences something they haven’t quite seen before, and the film stays with them long after they’ve watched it.”
working with a tight budget,” he adds, “those scenes can be difficult to light convincingly. Having that extra light- gathering capability really helped.” For Hughes, meanwhile, the most impressive thing was the colour science. “We shot across 11 different locations in only four days, so naturally some locations were beautifully controlled while others weren’t. We simply didn’t have the luxury of arriving somewhere and spending hours rigging enormous diffusion frames or extensive lighting set-ups. So the dynamic range gave us an enormous amount of flexibility,” he explains. “Working in Blackmagic RAW inside DaVinci Resolve meant we could recover highlights, lift shadows and balance shots in a way that would have been much harder with other workflows,” he continues. “That flexibility became
incredibly valuable since our schedule was so tight.” With only three days of principal photography and not much in the way of budget, the crew faced challenges along the way – not least figuring out how to shoot a dramatic sequence involving a shed exploding. The solution, says Hughes, was building a half-scale shed and simply blowing it up for real (‘a lot of fun, but also quite ambitious for a production of our size’), while the multitude of murders – which includes death by knitting needles – also caused some head-scratching, especially in terms of choreography and timing. The biggest creative challenge, though, was making the world feel bigger than it actually was. “Our characters spend a lot of time in a tiny high-rise flat, and we wanted that environment to feel lived-in, interesting and cinematic rather
62
DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
Powered by FlippingBook