The first time I met director Nick Love, his first words were, “I’ve got a very good idea of how this film should look.” The very next day, we were in the production office sharing our ideas. Nick spoke about statement wide shots with pink titles, branding the film with a bold visual identity. It became clear that we had to match the same energy with the cinematography. 

Throughout the film, Danny’s character, Jack, often breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience with his internal thoughts. This provided a great opportunity for us to really explore those moments and shoot in a dynamic way, often without letting the audience know when it was about to happen. We would compose an over-the-shoulder shot that would grow into an extreme close-up as Jack turned around to whisper his thoughts to the camera. I found this technique worked especially well in heavy scenes, as Jack could break the tension very quickly, resulting in some fabulous comedic timing. These little moments were not only fun to shoot, but they also played a huge role in establishing the film’s visual language. 

Another obvious factor was intentional camera movement – it was integral to keep the visuals exciting, often shooting fast push-ins, crash zooms, and utilising whip pans to transition between scenes. Not only are these signature traits of Nick Love’s previous work, but they also serve the story perfectly, creating a fun and unpredictable world for our characters to inhabit. In contrast, any scene involving football violence had to be shot handheld, in and amongst the crowd, never clean. It was important to keep scenes involving football violence as authentic as possible – something that Nick was very keen to protect. He showed me references of real-life police footage, shot mostly on a handycam amidst the crowd during several clashes. We both agreed that shooting with foreground elements was going to be crucial in adding to the chaos and giving the audience the impression that they were really there. 

These scenes were shot using the 22-60mm and 45-135mm Angénieux EZ lenses, chosen not only for their small form factor but also because the use of smaller, twitchy crash zooms was part of our approach to highlight certain story moments within the fighting throughout the film. Our main shooting package, courtesy of One Stop Films, consisted of a beautiful set of Canon K35s paired with the Alexa Mini LF. The look from the K35s is always stunning; they are versatile and can be used in various ways, but we found that shooting them between T2.8 and T4.0 was our sweet spot. An additional 45-250mm Alura lens was used for slower zooms or quicker crash moments, which seemed to pair up nicely as well. It was important that our camera and lens package not only served the story and delivered on our intended look, but also provided us with the flexibility to tailor our approach at any time. 

With only 24 days to shoot, it was crucial to streamline our lighting approach, often pushing for pre-lights a day prior to shooting or early pre-calls on the day to ensure we hit the ground running. We wanted the lighting to feel organic, so we spent most of our interior days lighting through windows and allowing for natural falloff that we would shape to taste afterwards. Not only did this help achieve a natural look, but it also gave us and the actors the ability to move around our locations freely without having too many fixtures in the way. The entire film was lit using LED lighting, which was sufficient for most of our smaller locations but also held up well in some of our larger spaces too. My gaffer, David Witchell, did a fabulous job organizing his team and keeping us on track throughout, alongside my focus puller, Joshua Higgins, and grip, Alex Bojic. Here’s to a fabulous crew and fond memories! 

Synopsis: An outrageous comedy about addiction, violence, and happy endings, Marching Powder sees the long-anticipated reunion of acclaimed director Nick Love and long-term collaborator and national treasure Danny Dyer. There’s romance, there’s comedy, but this ain’t no ‘rom-com’… Set in the irreverent and profane world of cult classic The Football Factory, the film follows the story of Jack Jones (Danny Dyer), an ageing, drug-taking football hooligan who feels increasingly irrelevant in today’s society as he struggles to keep his family together. Hooked on drugs and adrenaline; and struggling to resist the pull of his firm of fellow football fans, Jack is arrested after some violent matchday exploits and given six weeks to turn his life around, or else face a long spell in prison. Juggling his marriage, his mates, his hard-nut bully of a father-in-law and his unhinged 25-year-old brother-in-law, Jack tries to get his life back on-track but his world slowly starts to spiral out of control. Can Jack overcome his inner demons or is he heading for jail?  

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Image credit: Luke Ross