The ShotDeck Recreations contest was dreamed up during the first Covid-19 lockdown, when Oscar-nominated cinematographer Lawrence Sher ASC and his wife, Hema, recreated film stills using household items as props, family members as actors, and their cell phones for cameras. Now, the winners of the 2022 ShotDeck Recreations contest have been rewarded with over $30,000 worth of prizes including cameras, lenses, lights and support from Sony, ZEISS, Blackmagic, Aputure, Rosco, SmallHD, Tiffen, and British Cinematographer.

The free competition saw entrants select a frame from the 300,000-plus stills in ShotDeck’s high-definition movie images library and recreate it, DIY-style. This year over 800 entries were received from around the world!

The November issue of British Cinematographer magazine will spotlight four of the competition’s amazing finalists, showcasing their creativity and inspirations behind their recreations. Last but not least, Peter Chun reveals how he captured an atmospheric still from the 2019 Chinese drama Better Days.

Don’t forget, you can see these shots and more on ShotDeck’s website (which offers a free two-week trial for new members).

Can you tell us a little bit about your background in filmmaking and/or photography?

I studied computer science at the University of Maryland. Sometime last year, as I was approaching my senior year, I became obsessed with filmmaking and cinematography. While still pursuing a degree, I invested money into equipment and time into learning everything I possibly could. YouTube was a big resource, but so were Vimeo and Instagram. Just by seeing other people’s works, I was able to build my taste and standards. As I was nearing my graduation, I started to get paid work to film, met some really cool people, and ultimately made the decision to pursue filmmaking as my career. Now, I’m working under District5 and handling projects in the Washington DC area.

What inspired you to enter the ShotDeck Recreations contest?

At the time, I was so focused on making sure I could pay my bills, that I hadn’t planned any passion projects in a while. And, this contest just came at a good time. Also, the prizes were a really nice incentive.

How did you decide which shot from ShotDeck’s library to recreate? What was it about that shot that caught your attention?

I wanted my shot to make good use of the resources that I already had: talent, location, set design, camera, lenses, and lighting. But I also wanted a shot that was challenging to replicate and one that fit my own personal taste. So, I made good use of the filters on the ShotDeck website, but I still scrolled through hundreds of different images. Then, [I went] back and forth between my top choices before committing to that shot from Better Days. The shot met my personal taste, looked challenging but doable, and had a main talent that sort of looked like my brother if you squint hard enough.

Before you started work on your submission, what challenges did you anticipate? Were there any unexpected challenges that arose during the production process?

I knew I only had the resources to shoot the scene outside during night, which I was aware would lead to overall visibility issues for the crew. Also, lights + windows + dark environments = unwanted glaring and reflections. So, I planned setup to be before sunset, and the actual takes to happen just after sunset. Glaring and reflections were still an issue during the production, so there was a lot of trial and error with the positions of some of the lights. And we had to try to make sure we weren’t seen in the reflection of the windows.

An unexpected challenge was surprisingly wardrobe. I remember going back and forth my closet trying to find a black or grey shirt that would actually fit onto David [Choi, talent], whose height totally dwarfs mine. We ended up just having a shirt wrapped around his shoulders since you couldn’t tell from the blurry background.

Where did you shoot your submission?

The street in front of my house. But I wish we would have been able to shoot in a garage since the heat and mosquitoes were vicious.

What equipment did you use?

We shot it on a Sony A7iv with a Sigma 50mm f1.4 @1.4. For the lighting, we used an Amaran 200d with an Aputure spotlight mount, a Godox ml60bi, an Aputure MC, and an RGB pocket light.

Who were the different members of your team and what were their roles?

For this project, roles were loosely assigned; I was mostly trying to have fun with the project. I was directing and producing, Louis Lee was camera operating, Sonny Tu was handling BTS, Tim Chun and David Choi were our two talents, and Anna Oh and Ben Lin were our grips. Besides Louis and Sonny, the crew was made up of friends and family, who’ve had no experience in the film industry. So it was a good time showing them some cool stuff and teaching them some techniques.

Can you take us through the shooting process?

Some planning and testing went a long way. I went out on a random night to test out the reddish-orange fill light and inadvertently noticed that I was getting some light spilling from a street lamp. I went out on another night to do some further tests and started to play around with the two backlights and the camera position/lenses. At this point, I felt pretty confident and scheduled the actual shoot. Since everything was pretty much already planned and tested out, the camera and light setup went fairly smoothly. There were a lot of small tweaking and adjustments, but there was a point where I just had to call it and say it was good enough. The set-up couldn’t be perfect and the hot weather was really getting to us.

How many takes/shots did the process entail and how long did it take to get the perfect shot?

We took a mix of photos and videos, but I ended up using a frame from the last take for the final edit. The shoot took around 2.5-3 hours including set-up and clean-up. There were a lot of minor adjustments, which took a good deal of time. But after everything was set up the way we wanted, it less than 5 minutes to direct the talents and record the shots.

Is there anything you wish you’d done differently?

There’s a lot I would have done differently, many of which are pretty nuanced lighting changes. Something less nuanced would have been having large, dedicated screens for monitoring the camera and viewing the original shot instead of using a tiny iPhone.

How did it feel to be announced as a finalist of the contest?

I was on another set at the time with Sonny and saw the notification come onto my screen saying ShotDeck tagged me in a post. I didn’t even bother reading the whole notification. I started quietly screaming and jumping toward Sonny. My hands were shaking as I was opening up the post to which I found out I was a finalist and I freaked out even more.