Queer is the highly anticipated 2024 period film directed by Luca Guadagnino from a screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes, based on the 1985 short novel by William S. Burroughs. Set in 1950s Mexico City, the film follows an outcast American expatriate (Daniel Craig) who becomes infatuated with a younger man (Drew Starkey).
The movie premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival in September, where it played in-competition for the Golden Lion. It was released in the United States in a limited theatrical release on November 27, by A24, and was released nationwide on 13 December.
A team reunited
The film reunited a familiar director, DP and colourist team – Luca Guadagnino, DoP Sayombhu Mukdeeprom and colourist Claudio Del Bravo.
“I started working with Luca Guadagnino during the pre-production of the HBO series We Are Who We Are,” says Del Bravo. “I first met him during the camera and lens tests, where I presented the HDR results from different cameras to assist in the selection process. The series was a wonderful collaboration with the Swedish post-production team Tint Post. The footage was dislocated across both countries, and we worked together throughout the entire post-production process and deliveries.”
After a few advertising projects, Del Bravo went on to work on the grade of Guadagnino’s Bones and All (2022), alongside the talented cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan – which helped consolidate his relationship with the director and his team.
“I met Sayombhu the following year while working on Challengers (2024),” says Del Bravo. “The film was shot near Boston, with Postworks New York managing the dailies and film scanning process, and the final grade was completed in Rome.”
The post-production process for Challengers was lengthy due to extensive VFX and the SGA-AFTRA strike, which delayed the release, and so the team already began discussing their next project, Queer, during the final stages of post-production.
“They were planning to shoot in Rome at Cinecittà Studios,” says Del Bravo. “This gave us the chance to work together from the initial camera tests, developing the right look for the project. We conducted numerous tests involving sets, costumes, lenses, and film stock, which allowed us to refine our vision across various elements and create a streamlined workflow from dailies to delivery.”
Sayombhu and Del Bravo also spent some time discussing colour and grading tools quite extensively.
“He is genuinely interested in understanding how to work best with the footage and the innovations in our workflow,” adds Del Bravo. “He particularly enjoyed working with Baselight.”
Visual goals
For Queer, Del Bravo, Guadagnino and Mukdeeprom developed a look inspired by the Technicolor ‘three-strip’ process, evoking the rich colours of early 1950s films.
“We discussed references to old Hollywood studio films, the work of Bernardo Bertolucci, and the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger,” recalls Del Bravo. “Classic films like Black Narcissus (1947) and Amarcord (1973), as well as the works of the Flemish painter Michaël Borremans and the American artist Edward Hopper, played a significant role in shaping the distinct aesthetic for the project.”
LUTs and an ACES workflow
The team began by creating a LUT for the dailies, which evolved into a Look Modification Transform (LMT) for the final ACES workflow. During the camera tests, they conducted a full round-trip through the post-production process.
“Cinecittà did an initial Blackmagic Cintel scan of the footage to create dailies for editorial, followed by a new 4K Arriscan of the footage actually used in the film,” explains Del Bravo. “This allowed us to create two different LUTs – one for the Cintel scan and another for the Arriscan, to maintain colour consistency across editing, VFX, and reviews.
“I then created an ACES LMT from these LUTs and moved to Baselight for the final grading. I always prefer to use ACES and Baselight in complex workflows like this (with multiple deliveries) to maintain full control over each version, from HDR to screen to home video.”
Chromogen
Del Bravo utilised Chromogen, the new look development tool in Baselight 6.0, for the first time on Queer.
“It is an incredible tool that helped us develop our first LUT for the project,” says Del Bravo. “The Colour Cross Talk feature was also invaluable in creating a Technicolor-inspired look, mimicking the three-strip process.
“Additionally, I utilised the new RIFE engine for retiming some sequences, which worked exceptionally well and added a smoothness to the process.”
Challenges
The film was shot at Cinecittà Studios in Rome, so one of the challenges for Del Bravo was that many scenes involved shooting against green and blue screens.
“What made these scenes truly come alive, however, was how Sayombhu enhanced the sets with an additional layer of lighting,” says Del Bravo. “This not only aligned with the emotions of the story, but also provided a real light source to match the artificial backgrounds.”
But, since nearly every shot in the film involved VFX, Del Bravo’s biggest challenge was ensuring that everything remained consistent with Luca’s vision.
“This was a collaborative effort across departments, enabling us to achieve a result that felt both real and artificial, or – as Luca put it, ‘grotesque yet refined, like a Powell and Pressburger fantasy’. We aimed to take viewers on a strange and emotional journey, balancing the raw edges of the visuals with an unexpectedly clean and palatable aesthetic.”
