Notes

While our story is about Matt and his car's journey, the star was undoubtedly the 996 and those beautiful glossy black wheels. James (director) wrote the film around two key driving sequences with very different styles.

In the countryside, I wanted the camera to be more frenetic, occasionally cutting back to an 'expansive action' wide shot, usually on the drone. We achieved this through various 'hard mounts' to the 996 and from a pursuit Audi, shooting on a Ronin 2 remote head hard mounted to the vehicle's front and rear. The shooting style conveyed Matt's love for these winding roads, that thrill he gets from pushing the car through the bends, and the tactile feedback the Porsche provides its driver.

In contrast, the city sequences were smoother, with more clinical camera moves that represented Matt's calmer driving state - in search of his photography locations. We still deployed rigid mounts to the car, but the tracking was achieved with a Black Arm mounted from the back of a Land Rover tracking vehicle, but again, using a remote head for control.

Shooting on Venice, I wanted to embrace the full-frame sensor and needed a set of lenses that would cover the sensor but were also relatively low in weight and size but fast in T-Stop - as we were shooting a good part of the film at night. I settled for an un-tunned Optimo set, providing a classic look we all know from their zoom range but still offering modern and clean aesthetics. I didn't want to distort the geometry of the 996 too much, especially when running the lenses very close to the car.

I kept the lighting simple for time and budget reasons, but it worked as we leaned into the documentary aesthetic by not overlighting the 'day in the life' sequences. Owen and Rich replaced all the location lighting with higher-quality LED practicals, and we augmented it with light mats. One notable setup I enjoyed was the skip bounce into the table, lighting Matt from beneath when he was prepping his kit. The car in this scene was lit with a masterfully suspended poly board and a collection of Source 4s strategically bouncing into the board.