Power for people that don t compromiseThe final season of Peaky Blinders is upon us. Anton/Bauer, the premium power partner of Focus 24 and the Peaky Blinders production brings you behind the scenes with Cinematographer Mathieu Plainfoss & first AC Tom Finch. Originally published in British Cinematographer January 2022.
Kit List
VCLX
Titon SL
Titon Micro
DIONIC XT
OConnor 2575D
RED Ranger
RED Komodo
Five days before principal photography was to begin on season six of Peaky Blinders, the production shut down because of the pandemic. While discussions took place as to how to get the period crime drama up and running again, scripts were rewritten, and the decision was made that this would be the series finale, with the story of Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and his criminal empire living on in a feature film.
Upon joining Peaky Blinders for season five, it was important for director Anthony Byrne (In Darkness, Ripper Street, Mr Selfridge, Butterfly) to continue his relationship with Focus24/Canning24 director Jamie Hutchinson. Canning24 worked hard to make it work for us and to get us all of the things that we needed for the show because they value their relationship with me and previously with Si Bell (In Darkness). I am proud of the fact that Jamie and Canning24 have grown and they're working on all of these big shows for the streaming platform. In the middle of all of that I ended up meeting Jarred Land at RED who is also a big supporter of Jamie.
*Content Warning: The following video contains materials that may be harmful or traumatizing to some audiences.
1st AC Tom Finch also appreciated the support of Canning24. Our shoot took us to the far reaches of Scotland, in February, and that brought with it the challenges of extreme weather conditions and being in a remote location. This was no problem for Canning24 and they were able to supply us with supplementary pieces of equipment without delay, even with the 14- hour round trip by snowy road.
A new collaboration the Irish director formed was with Cinematographer Mathieu Plainfoss . Knowing the arc of the season, I knew what I was looking for and Matthieu's work jumped out at me. He had just shot La R volution for Netflix in France and was able to share some footage and screengrabs which helped to secure the approval from the BBC and Caryn Mandabach Productions. It was an absolute joy to work with him.
Shooting all six episodes with Byrne streamlined the process for Plainfoss and allowed for more flexibility. You can organise everything over four months and later adjust your timing with the actors' schedule because they're not always available, he says. Where things did get complicated was not shooting in episodic blocks. Plainfoss elaborates: That's a challenge and you've got to keep track of it. At the same time, the vision for the whole show is Anthony's.
The crew often used the word gothic during the shoot. Peaky Blinders is like a Western graphic novel, says Byrne. Continuity comes from the actors, set design, and costumes. Season six is probably the darkest, adds Plainfoss . The question was, How can we amplify the darkness and sadness of this season?' That was what guided my first research and then we made choices.
In season five, a lot of practical lights were on during the daytime, and I then decided to switch off the lights because what happens is so sad. It is like you're going from one ghost scene to the next. Only one sequence was storyboarded as Byrne had the whole series mapped out in his head. Mathieu and I didn't want to pre-light anything, says Byrne. It's about 90 percent locations, so we were always on the road. We would let the actors come on, work out the scene, I would figure out the shot within the space, and then we would light it. I spent months with the location supervisor driving around the north of England and then we had a separate location scout for Miquelon Island.
THE SIGNATURE LOOK
Dealing with the natural elements often meant having to endure the cold. While the weather was not pleasant to shoot in, it looked great in camera. Miquelon Island was hilarious because Danny Hargreaves [special effects supervisor] brought what looked like a huge jet engine, and he had one out at sea, and another on land which would release these immersive clouds of fog. I remember Cillian stopping during a take and saying, I cant see a thing!' That was how dense it was, says Byrne.
(Left) "Anton/Bauer batteries worked without fail in some of the hardest conditions for DP Mathieu Plainfosse and director Anthony Byrne." (Right) 1st AD Jon Midlane, Director Anthony Byrne and Cinematographer Mathieu Plainfosse. (Credit: Imogen Harrison)
There was also natural fog, as featured in the opening field scene with Shelby. The atmosphere and fog are part of the signature of Peaky Blinders, observes Plainfoss . From the beginning, we knew we were going to use them. What's interesting about this scene is Anthony tries to make you feel that you're inside the head of Tommy. It's a dream with an element of reality.
Two RED Ranger cameras with a Monstro sensor were deployed along with a RED Komodo. The Ranger was easy to use on set because of the ergonomics, better output for video, and great power for accessories, says Plainfoss . We can talk about resolution but what is more important is the size of the sensor. The Komodo is really small, could go inside a car, and Anthony likes developing his shots with the handheld camera. There was not much time to customise camera and lighting rigs. We mostly used the ARRI Trinity, dolly, Technocranes, and DJI Ronin which could be placed on the dolly or replace the Steadicam.
Footage was captured 8K. For budgetary reasons, they had to compress to 8:1 and shot 2:1 which is slightly wider than
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Power for people that don t compromiseThe final season of Peaky Blinders is upon us. Anton/Bauer, the premium power partner of Focus 24 and the Peaky Blinders production brings you behind the scenes with Cinematographer Mathieu Plainfoss & first AC Tom Finch. Originally published in British Cinematographer January 2022.
