If Italian painter Caravaggio was transported to modern times from the 1600s and handed
a camera, some lights and a film crew, I imagine the images he’d produce would be similar
to that of Sean Bobbitt.
Cinematography full of contrast, natural light, a balance of dark and light which is focused
on a mature treatment of stories from the darker side of humanity.
This is the style of Sean Bobbitt.
In this edition of Cinematography Style I’ll analyse Bobbitt’s visual creation of a heightened
cinematic reality by unpacking his philosophy on filmmaking and showing how he achieves
this practically through his use of technical gear.
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Upon graduating from Santa Clara University, British cinematographer Bobbitt moved back
to England where he found work as a news sound recordist for CBS.
He soon moved to shooting instead and for the next 10 years began working freelance,
mainly shooting documentaries for CBS.
After attending a seminar taught by cinematographer Billy Williams he set his sights on becoming
a Director of Photography on feature films.
Bobbitt is known for his long standing collaboration with Steve McQueen, having shot all of his
feature films.
He’s also worked with other directors such as: Michael Winterbottom, Derek Cianfrance,
Mira Nair and Dominic Cooke.
To Bobbitt the script is the best starting point to create a cinematic approach for each
film.
“I try not to read books that scripts are based on, for the simple reason that my loyalty,
intellectually and spiritually, is to the script and not the book...The template I prefer
to work from is the screenplay, to understand the desires of the director, and not have
anything else in my head.”
From reading and discussing the contents of the screenplay with the director, he then
begins to form an idea of how the cinematography should be shaped.
He’ll then take his ideas and make visual suggestions to a director.
Many of his ideas seem to stem from his background in documentary, such as his use of natural
light and, a technique he’s become known for, his use of long, often handheld, single
takes which he operates himself.
During a violent and emotional whipping scene on 12 Years A Slave he suggested shooting
it in an 8 minute single, handheld take.
“When I read the script I knew this scene needed to be one uninterrupted shot roaming
around the action, and Steve agreed.
The effect of the continuous shot in relation to violence is very powerful.
If you don’t introduce an edit, the audience does not have an escape and you are forced
to watch the images in front of you, heightening the effect of the drama.”
I see making a cut in films as being like taking a breath.
Sometimes you want the audience to hyperventilate through a burst of quick cuts and sometimes
you want them to hold air in their lungs for minutes at a time.
While long takes heightened the tension in 12 Years A Slave, Bobbitt has also used this
technique to introduce the audience to a specific character and their space, such as in the
opening shot of The Place Beyond The Pines.
He plays an influential role in selecting shots, particularly when working with McQueen,
where the cinematography is modeled on being economic and determined by the script.
“We don’t like the word coverage.
What we try to do is determine the specific shots needed to tell the story.
If we can make it work in one shot we’ll make it work in one shot.
If it needs two shots, we’ll do two shots.
If it needs more, then we’ll do more.”
Scenes are therefore constructed around what the story requires rather than following a
traditional model of always getting a wide, a medium and a close up.
Like his shot selection, which is designed to serve the story, so is his overall visual
approach.
His lighting is simple and based off of available light, which he’ll support or amplify with
artificial fixtures so that his images take on a painterly, cinematic realism.
Part of Bobbitt’s look comes from the consistency of his gear selection.
He likes to use the same film stocks, camera and lenses across his work.
There are times when a different approach to the cinematography is required which warrants
him changing his usual setup, but for the most part, the gear he uses remains continuous
across projects.
He likes to shoot on the Arri LT for a handheld or steadicam setup and the ST for a studio
setup with three Kodak film stocks: 50D (5203) for daylight exteriors, 250D (5207) for daylight
interiors and 500T (5219) for night scenes.
He favours the Cooke S4 primes for their slightly lower contrast, warm and sharp image characteristics
with beautiful focus fall-off.
When a long lens or zoom is required he’ll move to the Angenieux Optimo 24-290mm.
Most of his films are shot spherically and use a 2.40:1 aspect ratio which he’ll achieve
by either shooting 4-perf and extracting or cropping the top and bottom of the image,
or by shooting 2-perf, which is cheaper, as it uses less film, with increased film grain.
“The 2.40:1 aspect ratio lends itself to a sense of scale.
Also, when you get groups of people together in a scene, 2.40 gives you so many more possible
compositions that holds everyone.
Depending on where you place the character within the frame it can change the emotional
affect that the audience has to that character.”
The colour in the final print is based on the inherent colour of the filmstocks, which
are rich with beautiful skin tones, although he does work with his regular colourist Tom
Poole at Company 3 to make corrections and tweak exposure for continuity in the grade.
For handheld work he likes to shoot on wider lenses such as a 27mm or 32mm.
This takes out some of the shake, makes pulling focus easier with moving variables and is
a great focal focal range for framing a character in relation to their background.
For general work such as mids and close ups he favours a 40 or 50mm lens.
He likes to use simple, traditional sources to supplement the light that falls naturally
on the set and maintain the same lighting continuity over the length of shooting a scene.
For night scenes with tungsten light practicals or candles he likes to use cheap and easy
china balls with incandescent bulbs to bring up a soft, even exposure.
For daylight scenes he’ll use larger HMIs to key or fill in.
In a scene from Widows he had six 18K HMIs rigged on scaffolding outside the basketball
court to achieve angled rays of light to imitate the look of late afternoon sun.
The camera movement in his cinematography is usually motivated by the movement of the
characters, if characters are stationary so is the camera, if they’re riding a motorcycle
we ride with them.
He tends to work off the dolly unless there’s a specific shot which requires handheld motion,
steadicam or a crane shot.
Bobbitt’s images provide a mature, tense, yet controlled visual framework for the story
to take place in.
Over his career he’s drawn directors who require a human and considered eye to tell
their often dark, character focused stories.
His style is informed by his years of experience in documentary, yet it’s held together by
a painterly quality and a cinematically simple execution.
I hope you enjoyed this edition of Cinematography Style.
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Until next time, thanks for watching, and goodbye.