From Doctor Sleep to Crawl: The Cinematography Behind 8 of 2019’s Most Eye-Popping Horror Films

Lyle Vincent on Daniel Isn’t Real

The Approach: Organic, visceral, manic, vivid

How They Did It: Director Adam Egypt Mortimer was specific about the transition within the film from cool/oppressive to warm/manic to hot/subjective. We achieved this with specific color palettes in the lighting and production design as well as framing and camera movement. We also gave Daniel (Patrick Schwarzenegger) his own signature bold violet color used in the lighting and design. We started with more wide, isolating frames and slowly worked in more frenetic camera moves and cuts as well as extreme angles. We originally wanted to shoot on film, but ended up on digital with added LiveGrain, which gave the image an organic texture. We also shot on vintage anamorphic Xtal Express lenses to enhance the imperfections and add a more subjective feel, as if seen from Luke’s (Miles Robbins) point of view.

Is He or Isn’t He Real?: We set up camera rules to establish a visual language for when we see Daniel. One rule was that he could only be seen if Luke is also in the frame, so usually we put him to the side, and when we shot Daniel we would be in profile on Luke and more objective, rather than over another character’s shoulder, which would suggest their point of view. If we did have a shot like that, Daniel would not be in the frame, to suggest he isn’t there. Luke was shot on wider lenses we could get in closer with, whereas Daniel was always shot on longer lenses and further away, so we could frame in Luke in the foreground. We looked at Ingmar Bergman’s Persona for inspiration, and I told Adam when we discussed visuals on set that he should have two tattoos on each arm: “What would Cronenberg do?” and “What would Friedkin do?”

The Takeaway: Be spontaneous, get out of the way of the camera and don’t control it too much. We would often get great shots and quick visuals when a grip or AC would grab the camera and set it down randomly. I had my controller and would roll on those things.

Tech Box

Shooting days: 27
Camera: Sony VENICE
Lenses: Cooke Xtal Express anamorphics, Leica R sphericals
Lighting: Standard LEDs, tungsten Fresnels, HMIs. Picture post/DI: Company 3, Tom Poole

MM

This article originally appears in MovieMaker’s 2020 Guide to Making Horror Movies, featured inside our Fall 2019 issue.

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