RAW ELEGANCE

Production: Athena 

Cinematographer: Matias Boucard AFC 

Director: Romain Gavras 

Overview of production and the visual approach you adopted: 

The entire movie is shot in several long takes. I wanted the best lens for each take, and if I had to change lens sets during the shot or during the production, I wanted no compromise on focal length. I really needed light lenses because we shot on Alexa 65 and Alexa Mini LF and were always moving using Steadicam and a gimbal for 8-10 minute long takes. 

Lens(es): Tribe7 Blackwing (binaries and bespoke) and also Zoom Angenieux (30-80mm) and the 30mm Leitz Thalia. 

Lenses supplied by: RVZ PARIS 

Camera: ARRI Alexa 65 and ARRI Mini LF 

Look you needed to achieve: Natural, raw but elegant. I needed contrast but also some character, between modern and vintage. 

Lens testing process: I did some tests on location, testing filters that I finally didn’t use, but I took time to learn which lens was the best in which situation. I had a lot of smoke, night, hard backlight, very different set-ups.  

Why your chosen lens was the most appropriate: That’s something that I can’t really explain. I always start my test with a different lens set and naturally at the end of the day, I forget some lenses and I am more focused on other lenses and it’s always those that I select. It’s a feeling, I think, technically before the test and during the test it’s more about my sensitivity. First my head, and then my heart.  

Filters: None 

Lens lessons this production taught you: I knew before that I can mix different sets of lenses on a movie, but I never experienced that I can use different sets of lenses in the same single shot. If you choose them on purpose and for the narrative point of view, the audience will not notice if it’s the right thing to do for the film. That’s almost magic.