Definition July/Aug 2025 - Web

DYNAMIC DUOS

REPEAT PERFORMANCES Fisher and Ryan have collaborated with Yorgos Lanthimos on the acclaimed Poor Things (above, far left) and Kinds of Kindness (middle)

GF: There’s a bit of a disease with digital where people see the LUT on-set and, if there’s any deviation from that to the cutting room or from the cutting room to the grade, everybody gets anxious about it. But shooting film, nobody sees it until we’ve graded it. – that when you’re shooting digital, just send the hard drives away. You know it will be fine down the line. Luckily, I’ve not shot a lot of digital because we’ve been doing a lot of film, which is really nice – it’s the best. RR: I would definitely advocate – and it’s only a personal opinion

GF: Nobody knows everything, and film’s the same way – we just have to figure it out every time. We usually get some surprises too. RR: Ektachrome was a big challenge. From my perspective, using Ektachrome was fun, but from a grading perspective… we did something special on Poor Things that not many people have done since. It’s a difficult process, but with all things that are a bit of a challenge, they pay off hugely if they work well in the end. Can you tell me anything about it? RR: We’ve done a film called Bugonia , and the majority was shot on VistaVision. It’s been quite a challenge, but it does look lovely, and it was interesting to shoot on a bigger format. Yorgos was very keen to try it. DEF: You mentioned that you’re working on something else now.

Nolan’s probably one of the only people who still does that. Getting your film to look the way you see it in a digital intermediate is hard work, and it’s giving us issues in what we’re working on at the minute. It’s a shame that photochemical techniques have become a bit lost in digital grading, yet everybody seems to want that filmic look. first thought – to retain that, not lose it, and at least get it to what it would be if it was graded in a lab. I try not to force a heavily graded look onto something; you might end up doing that on some shows, but I always start by trying to grade as well as possible in a more general way. DEF: Besides the aesthetics, what are some of the benefits of working with film? GF: It’s quite easy to lose it in the digital grading process. That’s my

GF: When we’re grading, there’s never a right or wrong answer. We

just arrive where we arrive.

DEF: It sounds like you really trust each other. RR: We definitely trust each other. The main goal is always focused on trying to get to a place where you all know what you’re trying to do before you even shoot. Having Greg at that stage is great because he can inform what we’re trying to do. That takes the pressure off. DEF: What challenges have you faced on-set or in the grade?

GF: Nobody on-set has seen the LUT, so only Robbie and Yorgos

GF: We’re well into it, but it’s not finished – there’s still VFX and that

know what I did.

RR: You need to have faith that it’s going to be alright. What’s

kind of thing to come.

RR: I’ve got Greg doing loads of short films and the odd music video, but Yorgos keeps bringing us all together. Dynamic trio, shall we call it?

beautiful about shooting on film is its analogue nature; it means you have to accept that the images are going to be fine when they come out.

47

DEFINITIONMAGS

Powered by