Cinematographer Darius Khondji is one of the most
respected directors of photography in the film industry.
He's worked with esteemed filmmakers like David Fincher, Wong Kar Wai
Michael Haneke, James Gray, and Alejandro Iñárritu.
In this video, we'll look at what keeps drawing directors to Khondji's work.
This is the "Cinematography Techniques of Darius Khondji".
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"- Anybody order fried sauerkraut?"
- Darius Khondji's aesthetic varies wildly
depending on the director he's working with.
"- The important thing for me is reading that the movie looks like his director."
- As a result, no two Khondji projects look the same.
But there are still some through lines that one can find in his work.
"- This is me, all right?
I'm not a f*cking athlete.
This is my f*cking way. This is how I win."
- Khondji often uses the French phrase
'Contre-Emploi' or 'Against Type'
to describe his approach to cinematography.
'I like to play against type.
I love to cover my tracks...
So that you can't really see how the image is created or where it comes from.
This approach can be seen in Khondji's penchant for boundary-pushing exposure,
high-angle lighting, and the colors green and gold.
One of Khondji's biggest influences is "The Godfather".
A film where cinematographer Gordon Willis
purposefully underexposed key scenes.
"- I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."
In much of his work, Khondji has followed in Willis's footsteps.
Either underexposing.
Or overexposing when he sees fit.
For Khondji, this technique especially works when he's shooting on film
his preferred method.
"- You can underexpose and trash it
and looks great.
Or you can overexpose if it's the concept of the film
and it still looks great."
- Khondji masterfully employed underexposure in David Fincher's "Se7en"
which was shot on 35-millimeter film using Aaton-35-III
and Panavision Panaflex Gold cameras.
"- David pushed me into this direction of underexposure and the beauty of light
when it's really a very is down and dim."
- In this scene, we can see the benefits of underexposure.
Khondji underexposed the interiors of "Se7en" by two stops.
Shooting between F 2.3 and 2.8,
according to Khondji, 'This made the exteriors come alive...
so that the brightness is always coming from the outside."
In shots like this, the exposure is set for the exterior
leaving the interior dark and menacing.
The shadows made darker by shooting on a contrasty film negative
increase the mystery and suspense of the scenes.
Underexposing by two stops also avoids overexposing the two character's flashlights
and means we can only see what they shine their lights on.
Khondji haired white and silver cards throughout the set
so that when the flashlights hit them
light would bounce back at the actors.
This kind of underexposing matches Fincher's dark subject matter.
"- How about that?"
- The dark contrast in "Se7en" was heightened even further
with a process called bleach bypass
which is when silver is left on the film negative
which would have otherwise been removed.
This process reduces saturation
while drastically increasing contrast.
On James Gray's "The Immigrant", Khondji used film's physicality
to play with the underexposed shadows.
He employed a technique called flashing
which exposes the film or sensor to uniform light prior to exposing it to the scene.
To do this Khondji often uses an Arri Lightflex Varicon.
This has a transparent window through which light can be added evenly
without changing the color temperature or adding grain to the image.
This technique creates less contrast
and makes the blacks in the frame a bit lighter.
To give the shadows a bit of color,
gels can be attached to the Varicon.
Or color can be added in post-production.
We can see the effect of flashing in this scene.
The contrast is lower and the shadows are brighter with a green tint.
A fitting contrast the golden mid-tones and highlights.
"- Ewa, will you please excuse us for a moment.
Close the door.
We're just gonna have a conversation between gentlemen.
- Yes."
- For Darius Khondji, exposure is a crucial part of his artistic expression.
'I like to say that exposure is like a political statement.
It's a manifesto.
I read a script for a feature and I imagine how I will expose it.
"- That's all you have to say. And we'll both be gone.
- I thought I was helping you.
- Just say, "Ewa,
you're free to go." And you'll never see my face again.
I'll vanish.
- One, two... - I was hoping...
- Aah! It's empty."
- And of course, exposure goes hand in hand with our next section.
Lighting from above.
Khondji once said
that there is only one place where the light source should be in the scene.
For Khondji, that place is usually from above.
The cinematographer uses high-angle lighting in a variety of contexts.
And often asks his gaffers to use Crank-O-Vators and stands
with special extensions in order to get the height he wants.
In Bong Joon-ho's "Okja", Khondji uses overhead lights in a way
that evokes the feeling of oppression.
A harsh warm light casts a shadow over Mija's face
while a softer blue moonlight also from overhead
emphasizes the sadness of the scene.
The wet ground meanwhile reflects the light which adds texture and a soft fill.
This illumination in the scene is also in line with
another one of Khondji's lighting philosophies.
'I try to give the illusion of accidental lighting not random lighting
but truthful lighting'.
In other words, Khondji's lighting is almost
always motivated by the reality of the space.
Take this scene from the Safdie brothers "Uncut Gems".
"- What's up? What's up?"
- Again the primary light source is from above.
But in the close-ups,
Khondji employs a blue-purple fill light
removing shadows and adding color to the character's faces.
"- I need this one. - That's not for sale.
I can't... I can't sell it.
- Which means not for sale?"
- The underlight also reminds us that there are expensive jewels between them.
"- Understand that?
- That's what I'm talking about. This shit speaking to him."
- But not all Khondji scenes employ such harsh lighting.
The DP also has an affinity for diffused single-source lighting.
This too plays into its realism.
'Double diffusion is very beautiful.
I also really like indirect lighting, it has a feeling of truthfulness.'
Double diffusion refers to using two diffusers in front of a light
which creates an even less directional source.
"- What?"
- You can see this diffused lighting in Michael Haneke's "Amour".
Here the main source of light comes from the window on an overcast day.
This makes the light both diffused and motivated.
And here too, Khondji has the light shining
down on the characters at a slightly high angle.
But a diffused indirect light doesn't necessarily
mean a shot can't have stark contrast.
In Danny Boyle's "The Beach",
a diffused high-angle light shines down on Richard.
But here, there is no fill light and Khondji shot on contrasty Kodak 100T 5248 film.
This allows for dark shadows to dominate Richard's face
and to fuel the intensity of the scene.
While all of these examples vary drastically in tone and aesthetic
Khondji's core lighting technique remains the same.
From above and rooted in the reality of the scene.
Let's look at another linking element between Khondji's films.
Green & Gold.
Khondji uses green and gold how most cinematographers use blue and yellow.
Contrasting the colors to create a dynamic image.
According to Khondji his love for the color gold was present from the very start.
As the first quality of light, he tried to reproduce when he first got a camera
was that of the golden hour
when the sun is low in the sky at the beginning
or end of the day
emitting a golden hue.
According to Khondji obtaining the color gold isn't as easy as it may seem.
And his early colorist Yvan Lucas helped him get there.
'We were working with photochemical and gold was very difficult to reproduce on film,
in in a transparent medium.
It was difficult to find the right dosage of red and green.
For a long time, I thought it was about adding red,
then I understood that you have to add green.
"- Give us a sign."
- Gold is a dominant color in Khondji's work
with James Gray on "The Lost City of Z".
"- Stop. Stop. Stop."
- Especially when the explorers get deeper into the jungle.
In this scene, the color of gold comes from the firelight
which acts as a motivated key light on their faces.
Khondji and Gray decided to emphasize the gold even more
by painting the actor's skin with makeup that was infused with golden dust.
The shininess of the golden dust also allows for the lit part of the face
to be even brighter increasing the contrast in the scene.
Once more Khondji used the flashing technique
in order to give them a slightly green color.
The mix of golden green while certainly stylized is fitting for the scene
emphasizing the green forests and the warm fires the reality of the location.
Green too is the crucial color for Khondji.
And Khondji's collaborator David Fincher is a big fan of the color as well.
And this scene from Fincher's "Panic Room"
Khondji and co-DP Conrad W. Hall
use two shades of green to create two different feelings.
"- What is he doing? - I don't know."
- Inside the "Panic Room", Khondji opts for a bright pale green
which makes it feel like a prison cell.
The main house also is lit in green but one which evokes a city night.
Gold too is present providing a warmth from the outside.
The color reminds us that there is safety outside of the house
while the pale green evokes a sense of coldness and danger.
Both gold and green can be seen throughout one of
Khondji's earliest films "The City of Lost Children".
In this scene, green is present in the lighting in the background
and in the fill of the shadows.
To achieve this color Khondji used 1/8 or 1/4 green gels
on tungsten lights that were set at either 3200 or 3400 Kelvin.
To further remove the warmth from the greens,
the cinematographer also added a subtle blue light at a dim setting.
The key light remained a warm gold
creating an almost nostalgic look.
The green meanwhile subverts the nostalgia and
helps give the scene its nightmarish quality.
Using green and gold rather than blue and yellow
gives Khondji's work a look that is distinct from most other cinematographers
and allows them to contrast themes in an image.
Dreams versus nightmares.
Freedom versus imprisonment.
"- Conversation is over."
- Khondji's contre-emploi approach can be seen in many of his techniques.
From using flashing to brighten underexposed images.
To using soft lighting to create high-contrast images.
And using green to offset a golden palette.
Or vice versa.
It's a unique approach that is also adaptable to almost any director's vision.
Darius Khondji succeeds by making sure he and
the director are on the same page above all else.
"- And... Action!"
- To make sure you're in sync with your crew,
plan out your project by using StudioBinder's storyboard software.
What are some of your favorite Darius Khondji scenes?
Let us know in the comments.
Until next time remember...
'- You know it's just so sexy if you shoot on films.'