Cinematography in Canada Since 1957

#MattIrwinCSC @irwincine

Another all-time favourite show, 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘺 is a documentary about Jack Daniel’s and its cultural significance across the world. I met my good friend and director Greg Olliver on this film— Greg comes from rock and music documentaries and has an engaging, rowdy, and heartfelt style to his filmmaking. I came to documentaries from narrative cinematography, though our storytelling instincts matched and this was the result. We shot over 2 years in 6 or 7 countries, mostly single camera, in a mixture of verite and planned, intentional sequences.

The most planned, intentional, and difficult of those sequences was an editorial “backbone”where we tell the story of 2 marked cases of whiskey travelling from the distillery, through the transport / supply chain, across the world to Tilpa NSW, a small station at the foot of the Australian outback. The point was to do this honestly and in real time as grand way of proving to all that the world’s most consumed whiskey is all made in one small town.

Pulling this off took an enormous amount of coordination and permission between shipping companies, gov’t agencies, commercial ports, and people— and our producers worked most of our 2 years to set it up. Our biggest question was how to shoot the 35 day voyage on a container ship across the ocean from Charleston to Sydney… at one point I was going to take the trip in full or in part, but cooler heads prevailed and we settled on a timelapse camera rigged to the bridge window of the ship. We were allowed to plug into ships power and leave backup parts taped to the window next to the rig. 1 frame per 30min of raws for 35 days. Turns out if you give a ship captain a few cases of whiskey, he’ll send you daily “the camera’s fine” updates! To my honest surprise, the rig held solid and was still clicking away when we collected it.

Unhinged tip… if you ever need to use an electronic lens for a walk-away timelapse like this, set your lens then disconnect itjust enough so the contacts break, then tape the hell out of it. This will prevent iris flutter from the body’s metering system.

Clip at the end, and aerials by @peteralton !

#MattIrwinCSC @irwincine

Starting this off with one of my favourite filmmaking experiences ever. I think there will be another post on this one later…

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘺 𝘋𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 is an independent feature and a deeply personal story written and directed by @thefawz, and features a very strong cast led by @amritkaur @hmzhlq @nimrabucha . A young woman from Cape Breton returns to her family home in Pakistan after a tragedy and reconciles a strained relationship with her mother. Despite this, the tone is light hearted, witty, and moves with an Edgar Wright-esqe tempo.

The story takes place across 3 time periods: Cape Breton and Karachi 1999 (present day), Cape Breton 1989, and Karachi 1969. There are also several “Bollywood fantasy” sequences where characters enter the world of 𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘢, a 1969 romance starring Sharmila Tagore. The story jumps time constantly, and we use the Bollywood convention of “doubling” — Amrit Kaur plays both the lead character Azra as well as her mother as a young woman when we flash back. So that said, it was critical for each time period to be instantly recognizable. This consistency had to be maintained from Canada to Pakistan with two different crews and toolsets.

For a variety of reasons I was working with one set of lenses- Cooke S4’s along with a Canon 17-120 zoom we brought to Karachi. So, differentiating looks happened mainly in front of the camera, both with lighting and a deep collaboration with Production Designer @mgpierson - the best partner and a total genius- he even taught me how to love beige!

Karachi 1969 dictated the look of the other time periods. It hints at magical realism, at times gets a bit theatrical, and is extremely vibrant. Most of the colour comes from the sets and costumes, and I kept the light clean and neutral. We used deliberate backlight, atmosphere wherever possible, and wetdowns for night exteriors to give the city some shine and romance. Character lighting involved large wrapping sources. Camera movement was smooth and precise, and we usually favoured close ups on looser lenses.

(Continued in the comments…)

#MattIrwinCSC @irwincine

Hello, Internet. Matt Irwin here. Happy July 1st to all my colleagues, friends, contemporaries, heroes, film workers, film lovers, doomscrollers, and language models large and small. The CSC has given me the keys to the IG account and for the next two weeks I’ll be doing my best not to make @416cw regret it! I’m not nervous, you’re nervous. You can expect to see some favourite work, behind-the-scenes photos, technical breakdowns, and/or whatever other brain droppings about our beloved tradecraft I’ve picked up on my way to here. At the very least I hope it’s entertaining.

For nearly a decade I’ve been based in Toronto though I grew up and began my career in Southern California, and have been behind the camera in some form since I was very, very young. Old enough to have learned all the rudiments on film, and young enough to have almost forgotten what it smells like. Almost.
As a kid, film sets were like a strange brew of summer camp and work study with the best mentors one could ask for… while my friends all went to baseball camp, I learned how to load mags and swear like the crustiest of rigging grips. Little has changed. Film work was a part of life and it gradually became something I truly loved and wanted to do. I ended up at Cal State Long Beach for film school, a small but strong program full of some incredible people, and we all got each other started. Between then and now was the true education— I’ve been a grip, lamp op, gaffer, and held nearly every job in the camera department. That background combined with an incurable wanderlust has landed me in a career with one foot firmly planted in narrative film and TV, and the other in documentaries. It’s been quite an adventure so far, and I’ve been very fortunate.

I’ve been a CSC member since moving here and a full member for a little over a year. Our community is positive and welcoming, your work is world-class, and I’ve learned so much from so many of you. I hope I’m able to pay that forward somewhat in the coming weeks. Thanks for having me.
—
Photo credits I know: @horizonsarah @thefawz @mwicscasc gregolliver steve__wilkie_photography

#MikahSharkey #AssociateMemberCSC @cinema_shark

I’d like to extend another huge thank you to the CSC for inviting me to participate in guest hosting this page. I leave you with yet another assortment of images I couldn’t make a whole day of.

There’s more to come as well, with projects currently being in post that I’m not able to share just yet, but if you’ve enjoyed my work - you can come and find me at my personal page.

Finally, and an even bigger thank you to the incredible crews: the camera assistants, operators, grips, and gaffers who tirelessly work to bring stories to life.

See you on set.

#MikahSharkey #AssociateMemberCSC @cinema_shark

The finale for The Flash Season 8 threw everything at the audience. It had originally been written as an episode that could wrap up the series if need be, so that meant a climactic showdown with a newly powered up Reverse-Flash.

We had multiple speedsters, multiple realities, and a Barry Allen who was at his emotional nadir. Some of my favorite shots of the season came from this episode.

#MikahSharkey #AssociateMemberCSC @cinema_shark

“The Man in the Yellow Tie” ended up being the fan favorite of my work on the season if IMDb ratings are anything to go by. The return of Matt Letscher in a neon lab had fans scratching their heads knowing that Tom Cavenaugh was still kicking around in ARGUS.

(If you’re not arrowverse-pilled, all you need to know is that they’re the same character from different timelines and should not be able to co-exist!)

The contrast for me here was to play with colors with one while putting the other into an absolute pit of despair that his character would be more than motivated to break out of for the then-upcoming finale.

#MikahSharkey #AssociateMemberCSC @cinema_shark

Let’s step away from the Arrowverse for another round of miscellaneous images that I wanted to highlight.

I love flipping through the pages of a new script. While I do think that I have a certain style to my work, I’m always trying to read into what the script and characters are telling me. What motivates the lighting in this piece? Is it hard and punchy with hard colors, or is it soft and understated, letting the frames speak for themselves? 

I always feel my work is at its best when it is serving the script, making the characters and their emotions feel at home in the frame.

#MikahSharkey #AssociateMemberCSC @cinema_shark

“The Curious Case of Bartholomew Allen” remains a favorite of mine. We were between season arcs and had director Caity Lotz over from Legends of Tomorrow to direct. Caity took an approach that I found to be incredibly refreshing. She knew the Arrowverse, having been a part of it for so long and one of the things she wanted to bring to her episode was a sense of dynamic movement that she recognized from the early days of the series that we had moved away from as the show went on.

By this time I had leaned fully into creating comic book frames where I could. I knew that the remaining hardcore fans loved the comic book accuracy of the suit and I wanted to capture the essence of the Silver Age flash comics and blend it with the dark and gritty origins of the Earth Prime universe.