In Broadcast - August 2017 - 28

28

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 7 - Issue 8 | August 2017

InForm

Anne with an E Shot On
VariCam 35s

Director of Photography Bobby Shore has shot Netflix's Anne with an E
with Panasonic VariCam 35 cinema cameras...

A

nne with an E is a filmed
adaptation of the classic comingof-age 1908 novel, Anne of Green
Gables, by Canadian author Lucy
Maud Montgomery. The seven-episode
Netflix series, created by Breaking
Bad Writer/Producer Moira WalleyBeckett, tells the story of Anne Shirley
(played by Amybeth McNulty), a young
orphaned girl who is sent to live with
aging siblings by mistake. With smarts
and a magnetic personality, Anne not
only transforms the lives of siblings
Marilla (Geraldine James) and Matthew
Cuthbert (R.H. Thomson), but the entire
town.
Re-imagining
The
series
was
shot
by
cinematographer Bobby Shore, CSC
with VariCam 35 cinema cameras.
Shore landed the job for Anne with an
E based on an interview for another
project with Executive Producer
Miranda de Pencier. "While we were
talking about her feature, she told
me about developing a re-imagining
of Anne of Green Gables," explains
Shore, who admits he never read the
book, nor watched any of the filmed
adaptations. "We just started throwing
out references on how you could do
it in a more interesting way and all
our references turned out to be the
same. It was mainly about approaching
the story in a much grittier, almost
[cinema] vérité kind of way, as
opposed to something too clean or
Merchant Ivory like."
Shore had a brief meeting to go over
the script with Walley-Becket and the
Director of the pilot Niki Caro (Whale
Rider, North Country), who both hired
him during the first meeting. "I've
been watching Niki's movies since
I was in film school," says Shore.
"From my point of view, the idea of
working with two people who were
at a level far beyond where I was at
was very enticing." Shore used a few
visual references in developing the

Netflix's Anne with an E's Anne Shirley (Amybeth McNulty),
Marilla (Geraldine James) and Matthew Cuthbert (R.H. Thomson)

look of the series, including
Andrea Arnold's Wuthering
Heights, Jane Campion's The
Piano and Bright Star, and
Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre.
He also was influenced by
the photography of Sally
Mann in how she captures
landscapes.
Shore's biggest challenge
was figuring out the best
way to capture a unique
perspective since it's entirely
from young Anne's point
of view. "You need to figure out a
way how to visually represent her
particular view of the world," says
Shore. "A lot of it was talking to Niki
and Moira, and developing techniques
that would help enhance the story. If
it's not handled properly, you end up
doing the story a disservice."
Shooting Style
Anne with an E was captured in
UHD (3840 x 2160) at 23.98fps with
VariCam 35 cameras. According to
Shore, it was a two-camera shoot but
they would occasionally bring in a
third camera if it was a big scene with
stunts. "There were a lot of scenes
that would be played out on long lens
oners," says Shore, "or with a camera
that pans back and forth between
people. On some of the traditional
overs, the focus would be on the

nice low contrast where the white level
was subdued and the black level was
lifted - a softer look. That's what we
used for the entire shoot."
One piece of gear that Shore made
great use of was the Panavision
Panaflasher.
In
cinematography,
flashing is exposing film, or a digital
sensor, to uniform light before
exposure, giving you more shadow
details.
Although there were many scenes
shot in candlelight, Shore almost
never used VariCam's native 5,000
ISO, except for a shot on a moving
train going through the woods. "In
my opinion, things usually look better
underexposed. When someone is
sitting next to a candle on a table,
the face is going to be a little soft and
dark, and that's just what it should
look like."

Classic Glass
Shore used a variety of
Panavision standard speed
and super speed lenses
from the 1960s to the late
'70s. "I wanted older lenses
that didn't resolve well with
weird chromatic aberrations
when you open them up all
the way," explains Shore.
"I wanted to show how this
"In my opinion, things usually look precocious young girl sees
better underexposed," says Shore
the world, so having these
person in the foreground and not the unique characteristics that the lenses
person talking. We took more chances provided was something that would
with the way the show looked and enhance her unique point of view."
felt."
Anne with an E was posted at
Because of the large amount of Technicolor in Toronto where Shore
footage they were capturing, Shore worked with colourist Jim Fleming.
decided to capture 12-bit 4:4:4 AVC
"Once we figured how V-Log
Intra files in V-Log instead of RAW. responded to highlights, midtones,
Due to the short prep time, Shore and shadows, compared with ARRI
had difficulty at first in finding an Log C, I was extraordinarily pleased
appropriate LUT for his V-Log footage. with the way everything looked," says
"I was basically trying to come up Shore. "It's like learning a new film
with a lower contrast LUT that still stock - you do the work to best achieve
looked good. I was at Panavision the look you're going for with the tools
setting up the camera and a DIT you have. That takes practice and
friend of mine who was prepping (xXx: experience. After shooting with the
Return of Xander Cage) had a bunch camera for six months, I'm confident I
of VariCam LUTs on him that he had can go into any project knowing how to
been developing," explains
make it look exactly the way I want."
Shore. "He gave me one
particular LUT and it
Netflix's Anne with an E's Anne Shirley
(played by Amybeth McNulty)
looked just perfect. It had
http://www.inbroadcast.com http://business.panasonic.co.uk/professional-camera/varicam/Varicam-35
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - August 2017
