Behind the scenes of The Coen Brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Behind the Scenes

A before-and-after visual effects comparison from “Mortal Remains,” the final chapter in the Coen Brothers’ Netflix western anthology film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. While the other entries were shot on location across New Mexico, Colorado, and Nebraska, “Mortal Remains” and its spectral stagecoach ride were shot entirely on a soundstage. In keeping with the Coen’s reluctance to delve into the meaning of their work, even the film’s production designer Jess Gonchor wasn’t sure of the passengers’ fate.

“I still don’t know whether the characters in that story are dead or alive or just living in the afterlife,” said Gonchor in an interview with The LA Times. “The Coen brothers didn’t discuss it. We built these monochromatic super facades, which were lit from behind. It was a storybook version of what the afterlife might look like.”

The images above come from The Art of VFX’s interview with visual effects supervisor Michael Huber.

Tags:

Before and After Visual Effects, Shot Behind the Shot, the ballad of buster scruggs, the coen brothers

Interview: A Star Is Born cinematographer Matthew Libatique

Interviews

My talk with A Star Is Born cinematographer Matthew Libatique is up over at Filmmaker Magazine. The film was shot on Arri Alexa Minis with Cooke/i SF Camtec Vintage Series and Kowa Cine Prominar anamorphic lenses. Here’s a preview, where Libatique discusses using the Kowas, what he loves about anamorphic, and why he stays loyal to the same rental house.

Tags:

a star is born, arri alexa mini, cinematographer interviews, Cooke/i SF, Kowa Cine Prominar, Matthew Libatique

The Shot Behind the Shot – Elf (2003)

Behind the Scenes

I found a few images of behind the scenes set-ups on the Blu-ray featurettes of Elf. They offer a glimpse into how cinematographer Greg Gardiner used forced perspective to create the illusion that Will Ferrell’s Buddy the Elf towers over his North Pole counterparts.

Check out more in the Shot Behind the Shot series.

Tags:

Behind the Scenes Gallery, elf, forced perspective, greg gardiner, making of, on set, practical effects, Shot Behind the Shot

Frame by Frame – Maniac (2018)

Frame By Frame

Year – 2018
Decade – 2010s
Cinematographer – Darren Lew (imdb link)
Director – Cary Joji Fukunaga (imdb link)
Aspect Ratio – 2.39
Distributor – Netflix
Genre – Drama, Sci-Fi
Camera – Panavision Millennium DXL (optics by Panavision, color science by Light Iron, 8K large format sensor by Red)
Lenses – Panavision Anamorphics – C Series, E Series and T Series
Format – Digital

Categories
Clink on any link to see similar frames from other films.
Shot/Reverse Shot            Color                             Profile                             Low Contrast
Center Framing                  Lens Flare                    Diners                             Courtroom
Elevators                              Wide Angle Lens         Establishing Shots      Hotels
Iris                                        Office                             Frame Within Frames
Inserts                                  Bench                            Shafts of Light             Foreground/Background
Car Wreck                            Long Takes

The Show
Two participants in a pharmaceutical trial (Emma Stone, Johan Hill) find themselves intertwined in the trial’s therapuutic series of drug-induced delusions.

Tags:

frames 2.39, frames 2010s, frames 2018, frames anamorphic, frames Cary Joji Fukunaga, frames Darren Lew, frames digital, frames drama, frames netflix, frames panavision anamorphic, frames panavision c series, frames panavision e series, frames panavision t series, frames sci-fi, panavision millennium dxl

Pic of the Day – The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

Posters and Cover Art

In honor of the passing of cinematographer turned director Nicolas Roeg, here’s Martin Ansin’s alternative poster for Roeg’s 1976 film The Man Who Fell to Earth. In addition to his own films as director – highlighted by Walkabout (1971) and Don’t Look Now (1973) – Roeg shot The Masque of Red Death (1964) for Roger Corman and Fahrenheit 451 (1966) for Francois Truffaut.

The awesome film site Cinephilia and Beyond has an excellent post about Don’t Look Now to check out that includes Roeg interviews and a copy of the film’s script.

Tags:

alternative posters, Don't Look Now, martin ansin, Nicolas Roeg, Pic of the Day, The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

Frame by Frame: The Deuce – Season 1 (2017)

Frame By Frame

Year – 2017
Decade – 2010s
Cinematographers – Vanja Cernjul, Pepe Avila del Pino (pilot)
Director – various
Aspect Ratio – 1.78
Distributor – HBO
Genre – Drama; Period (1970s)
Camera – Panasonic VariCam35, Arri Alexa (pilot only)
Lenses –  Spherical; Panavision PVintage; Panavision Primos (pilot only)
Format – Digital; Shot in V-Log in HD (1920×1080) resolution with ProRes 4444 compression

Categories
Night Exteriors           Car Shots                       Frames Within Frames     Bars
Silhouettes                   Wide Shots                    Full Shots                            High Angle
Title Cards                   Mirrors                           Shafts of Light
Mercury Vapor Streetlights                              Sodium Vapor Streetlights

Clink on any link above to see similar frames from other films.

The Show
The legalization of pornography alters the lives of the denizens of New York’s seedy 42nd Street circa 1971.

Tags:

frames 1.78, frames 2010s, frames 2017, frames arri alexa, frames digital, frames drama, frames hbo, frames panasonic varicam 35, frames panavision primo, frames panavision pvintage, frames period 1970s, frames spherical

85 classic German VHS horror covers

Posters and Cover Art

I don’t remember what internet rabbit hole led me there, but a while back I ended up on a Flickr stream called Leopardtronics – and discovered a cache of high-res cover scans of German VHS tapes. I’ve compiled a batch of my favorite horror covers and shared them below. The feed has thousands of more images of VHS and vintage pulp novel art to sift through.

And if you want more analog goodness, here’s some past features from the blog…
The 100 Greatest VHS Horror Covers
More than 100 French VHS Horror Covers
40 Classic Japanese VHS Covers
More than 50 Brazilian VHS Covers

Tags:

Boris Vallejo, enzo sciotti, German vhs covers, michael knepper, Renato Casaro, rolf goetze, VHS

Frame by Frame: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Frame By Frame

Year – 1968
Decade – 1960s
Cinematographer – George Romero
Director – George Romero
Aspect Ratio – 1.37
Genre – Horror, Zombie
Camera – Arri 35 IIC (More on the Arri 35 II series of cameras)
Format – 35mm; Black and White
Production Info – Budget of $114,000 and shot in 30 days, which were spread out over seven months as Romero took breaks to tend to his Pittsburgh commercial production company
Key Words – Close-Ups

Click on any of the links above to view other films featured in that category

The Movie
A group of bickering survivors hole up in an isolated farmhouse besieged by the undead in George Romero’s immeasurably influential Night of the Living Dead. The film redefined not only the zombie movie but the horror genre itself, drawing a clear line of demarcation between the genre’s history of gothic monsters and enlarged radioactive creatures and the more angry, violent and transgressive contemporary horror of the 1970s. In commemoration of Night of the Living Dead’s 50th anniversary, I’m looking back at some of my favorite frames from Romero’s directorial debut.

Tags:

31 Days of Horror - 2018, frames 1.33, frames 1960s, frames 1968, frames 35mm, frames Arri 35 II, frames black and white, frames close-ups, frames george romero, frames horror, frames zombies, George Romero, night of the living dead