DEFINITION September 2022 - Newsletter

EMMYS INDUSTRY.

Ozark

Yellowjackets

Showtime’s Yellowjackets isn’t just one of the best shows around, it also carries cinematography that follows the ‘craft, not over-craft’ guidance we called for at the start of the article. The series has a 25-year-gap dual timeline, which DOP C. Kim Miles makes distinct. It’s an all- Arri show, with large format cameras and customised old glass contrasted against new Signature lenses. Most of the older scenes are shot outdoors at night, which gives more kudos to Miles’ consistency. Winner? Don’t be surprised by Euphoria or Yellowjackets , striving for adventurous filmmaking without treading on the story. Up for seven awards, we’re betting on Yellowjackets .

Squid Game is one of Netflix’s most watched shows; it’s even been satirised on SNL , such is its iconic status. The company allegedly had a large say in how the show looked, to win over those who are turned off by subtitles. You had competitors in green tracksuits, guards in pink and sets that looked like tributes to the Teletubbies . Stranger Things Season 4 from Netflix called in the changes, with new DOP Caleb Heymann and a fresh feel. Arri’s Alexa LF, twinned with vintage glass, nailed that dreamy interpretation. They also went heavy on lighting – and colour contrast between the orange of sodium against the cyan of mercury lights (maybe

this had something to do with a fan letter they received from Steven Spielberg, who mentioned ‘loving their retro look’). Shame that all we can remember now is that Kate Bush track. HBO’s Succession always been shot on film and is much the better for it, but its camera work is inspired, too. The camera in Succession almost acts as a new, unheard and non-speaking character – swivelling and reacting to the toxic madness of this poisonous family. There’s a faint feeling of a documentary crew somehow given the job of recording all this corporate misbehaviour and scheming. They almost can’t believe their luck that nobody has thrown them out.

37. SEPTEMBER 2022

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