Short Film

Director & Cinematographer

Red Scarlet-W +
Cooke Panchro/i Classic

Ilford
Lucy Ridges
Rogue Studios

Notes

Analogue photography is a passion, so when Lucy and ILFORD approached me to shoot for the #MyFilmStory series, it was the perfect chance to experiment in a cine/doc hybrid format.

Given the nature of Lucy's work - her distortion of reality - we took every opportunity to shoot into reflections through objects and explore unusual perspectives. Otherwise, I intentionally kept the camera work simple, using a tripod and dolly, occasionally going handheld. 

The lighting was designed to be natural, although, at times, we pushed the style a little further than reality might allow. I used various fixtures to suit each location. From larger HMIs to small tungsten gem balls and everything in between - the darkroom scene was lit entirely with Astera tubes, for example.

The Cooke Panchro Classic was the perfect set of lenses for the story. They have an analogue, vintage feel that plays into the surrealist nature of her work. They look beautiful, in a wabi-sabi, broken way, especially looking down through the ground glass of the Mamiya. Other closeup work was achieved using Arri diopters, which also distorted the image pleasingly.

The underwater sequence was shot in the Lake District on a smaller camera body, with a 35mm Canon vintage stills lens that would be accommodated in the housing. The sequence was captured at 100fps at a wider shutter angle with a polariser filter.

I hope the film represents Lucy and her work authentically, with a touch of personality and beauty.