Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/799350
www.postmagazine.com 17 POST MARCH 2017 spent a lot of time with [production designer] Sarah Greenwood and her illustrations, so when I got there I had a pretty good sense of what this movie was supposed to look like, in terms of the illustrations and the feel for lighting. Also, the tone of the music dictates the style of movie in a sense, too. The tempo of the music. We start with storyboarding in [Bill Condon's] office together and talk about the scenes. We bring in the storyboard artist and it goes into previs and that kind of sets the feel for the camera work and the framing. But once we're on-set and if a scene feels better with how an actor moves, it can easily change on that day. But this movie was definitely planned out — especially with the musical scenes — we went in and shot rehearsal video and creat- ed moves. We brought the footage to the editor and she started cutting already with the rehearsal footage and that gave us an idea of how and how fast to move the camera." What was the overall look you were going for? "It's a period piece and it's a fairytale, but we did want to give a modern feel to it, too. So, for the first time, I actually really embraced LED lighting. About 90 percent of the movie was done with LED lighting. We were able to control every light through an iPad, and we were able to change temperature in the shot. There's one scene where Belle, Emma Watson, cleans a window in a ballroom and the sunlight comes through. When it comes through, I wanted to make the room become warmer and brighter, and I could do that with the control of the LED light, I could change the color temperature and intensity all by dim- mers without having to change gels or bulbs. So I was able to really play with color temperature a lot during a shot. There was a lot of a sense of theatrical lighting that we designed through the LEDs. Same thing with the camera and the angles. Even though it has to have a classic feel to it, we didn't go into handheld mode or push the framing, we definitely wanted to make it feel like a modern movie." What cameras did you use? What was the acquisition format? "We shot on Arri Alexa Raw and Alexa XTs and I used the Leica Summilux Prime lenses. The inte- riors are all lit by light coming through windows or candlelight and that was the nice thing about using the Alexa's because the HD cameras are so sensitive with lighting that I could basically use the candlesticks that were on the walls or overhead and a lot of times they were doing the practical lighting for me." I know there was a lot going on with the production of this movie — not necessarily an easy film to shoot — and a lot of visual effects. "People say that there was so much visual effects, and in a sense, yes, it was visual effects driven, but Sarah Greenwood built all these sets and there were set extensions. Overall, I feel like we did a lot of things in-camera. It wasn't a blue screen movie. We hardly used blue screen." What were some of the biggest challenges for you? "Just the scope of the sets and to light them. The sizes of the sets were pretty enormous and it was a challenge…a challenge to light on that big a scale. We built a whole forest inside a stage. Definitely the biggest challenge I had." Knowing that there were going to be visual effects in a scene that you're shooting, say a CG character, does that present any challenges for you? Is it harder to shoot? "We had props that would simulate the characters. When we had Lumière, the candlestick, we had a prop that we had on set that we would then move and I would light them for reference for visual effects. He had interactive lighting, so we would use our prop to do the interactive lighting. Do I prefer having actors right there? Of course! But it's a dif- ferent type of challenge. In fact, it was pretty simple because Bill had everything so well thought out and we had the previs done. It was not bad. It's a different type of work, because you have to have a little bit more imagination sometimes. Once you get into the shooting, it becomes pretty straightforward I think. With Beast, even though it's a CG Beast, we had Dan Stevens acting — he was there on set. We had a mock up of his fur so I could light it for refer- ence. We had great visual effects." You've worked with Bill Condon before on other films and also with editor Virginia Katz, how closely do you work with the editor? Have you all developed a shorthand? "Definitely very much. Especially because Virginia comes on early in the movie for the previs and so we're all in tune in terms of what the style of the shooting will be and the style of editing. I want to be able to cover all of what she needs or what Bill needs, and if I feel like in a scene I feel like we need a shot for this cut I would say it and the same thing for her if she starts looking at data she would come to me or Bill and say I could use this in a scene. We work together well. There's defi- nitely a shorthand and we trust each other and The Third Floor created previs for CG characters, such as Lumiere (pictured). The film was shot on Arri Alexa cameras.