Cinematography

There are certain things about the cinematography for this film which I think have always just been accepted from a very early stage. Aaron and I obviously wrote the film together, so right throughout the writing process the visuals were always at the forefront of our minds. We always knew the film would be widescreen (at least 2.35:1). This is to mimic the westerns we love so much, but also to give the film a sense of scale and epicness, while allowing us to push Ellis further to the edge and smaller in the frame to represent his loneliness and isolation.

Aaron and I must have looked at at least fifty different films together to examine their cinematography, but here are just a few examples.

Whale Valley

Paul showed us a short film called Whale Valley. One of the major themes of the film was depression and the film represented this visually by desaturating the world. Everything looks dull, flat and dead, matching the character's mindset. The character is numb to the world and so that is how we see the world.

The Revenant

The Revenant features extended scenes where the character completes some kind of action and we the viewer merely follow him. I think that by merely having the camera follow the character, you build a certain connection to them. You see the world as they see it so you can identify with them much stronger.

The Ballad of Lefty Brown

We've been looking at a load of Westerns for inspiration, but I wanted to watch something a bit more recent that had a bit of a lower budget. That's why I watched Lefty Brown. I found it interesting seeing the slightly desaturated image and while I do think the budget showed at times, it was reassuring to see that something grand in scale can be made on a budget. I particularly liked how the character almost blends into the background at times.

The True History of the Kelly Gang

I found the stuff in the forest particularly interesting to look a. I was surprised by how dark it actually is when you really look at it. In fact, the characters are largely backlit. It gives a really nice look.

Miller's Crossing

I love the cinematography in this on scene of Miller's Crossing. The most common colour is green, but it's not vibrant. It's flat and cold. You actually feel cold for the characters.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Jesse James is one of my favourite looking films. Its look is well beyond what we could achieve on our budget, but it's still worth looking at. The lenses used give the image an old-fashioned, dreamlike haze.