POWDERFINGER – THERE’S NO ESCAPE, IT’S SAID AND DONE

Director: Marty Moynihan
DOP: Liam Brennan
Camera System: Sony FS7, Sigma HS Cine Zooms

When I was a little 10 year old kid, I borrowed the Internationalist cd from my mate. I would lay in bed well after bedtime, with the lights off and listen to this cd (on a discman that did not have shockproof 😛 ), air guitar and silent sing along. As cliché as it is, I would’ve loved to tell that kid that he would be shooting this documentary one day.

It was such a great process. We pushed to creat a clear style over the interview setups and lighting, de-saturated, mixed colour temp, contrasty, moody, no eye lighting. The Director, Marty and I wanted to commit to fully handheld operation of the cameras, a natural look as if the talent had just walked in and was in the middle of a conversation, yet something that could remain consistent over the entire documentary, regardless of location and time of day. Developing that natural style, with artificial lighting, that could be relocated quickly for the big days of interviews was such a nice challenge, one that I think I was able to beat.

Every job is a mix of compromises, something that I will always hold on to as a cinematographer is that your Interviewee being comfortable and their story is the most important part of any piece. Sometimes you have to let go of your ego, that voice in your head that needs 30 minutes more to light a scene to make it “perfect” (no such thing btw), work with what you got and point the thing (camera) at the thing (talking) and just enjoy the stories.

Big love to Marty, Paul, Jeremy, Rob, and Seth