Looks That Kill: Eleven Horror DPs Reveal the Tricks and Tech Behind the Year’s Scariest Shooting Schemes

Charlotte Bruus Christensen on A Quiet Place

The Approach: A real world. Warm. A classic, yet thrilling pace

How They Did It: The absence of sound was always in my mind when prepping the movie. I soon realized we had to play with distances at a different level than many other films. We had to remember that this was not a silent movie, but a movie with minimal dialogue. I had to be precise with when to place the lens close to a person, an object, or movement that would make a small sound, since being further away on a long lens would create a more silent soundtrack. Director John Krasinski wanted to be close to feet walking on sand, and we developed that visual language. To make this possible with anamorphic lenses, I worked with Dan Sasaki from Panavision, who helped us form a lens set that allowed me to work with close focus and anamorphic glass.

The Takeaway: Working on A Quiet Place gave me a deepened understanding of working toward achieving a great edit and sound design—holding post ideas during shooting.

Tech Box

Shooting days: 34

Cameras: 2 Panavision XL2 Millennium

Lenses: Panavision anamorphic C-series and T-series + Panavision Zeiss SP

Lighting: SkyPanels, tungsten Fresnels, HMIs, Bebee Lights for night, cornfield

Picture post/DI: Stefan Sonnefield, Company 3

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