Simona Susnea was the cinematographer behind 4 of the eight episodes of Season 2 of the Apple TV+ interval drama The Buccaneers.
For the second season, Susnea labored carefully with the director of the season premiere on adjusting the lighting and camerawork to create a extra mature tone because the characters develop into older and take care of the intense penalties of their actions. For instance, Susnea created the look of a period-accurate psychological establishment, the place one of many characters is pressured to go on account of an abusive relationship. To realize the look, Susnea opted to shoot handheld, staying near the actress because the character went by means of the heartbreak of being separated from her baby. There was cooler, softer gentle when the 2 spouses sat throughout from one another in an empty eating room.
To convey the romance all through the season, Susnea choreographed digital camera actions with the intimacy coordinator, constructing tracks across the actors to create the sense that they had been in their very own bubble. She additionally manipulated gentle and coloration when the 2 characters had been by themselves. Lastly, she adjusted her capturing model to completely different characters and their actions, corresponding to handheld and erratic initially of the primary episode, when Nan (Kristine Froseth) is in a panic. Then, on the finish of that episode, Susnea used a crane shot to disclose Nan’s elaborate pink costume. Equally, in Episode 5, the digital camera stayed near Lizzy (Aubri Ibrag) to emphasise that the selection to get married was hers alone, and the colours had been extra washed out to foreshadow her final selection to not proceed with the marriage.
We talked with Susnea concerning the evolving look of the present, her strategies and her relationship with the producers and administrators. Let’s discover out extra…
Simona Susnea on-set
How early had been you introduced in for Season 2? This was your first season of the present, so in case you got here on early, how did that assist?
I used to be approached two months earlier than I began engaged on the present, and I used to be given about 9 weeks of prep to arrange Season 2. The 9 weeks had been good however tight, contemplating we had been establishing the present in two nations on the similar time — Scotland and Croatia. We had been crewing up, doing recces in each nations, lens assessments, lighting and LUT assessments, and costume and make-up assessments. We had been additionally working carefully with the AD to make the schedule work for our places and lighting eventualities, and we hung out page-turning with the director.
What did the showrunners ask of you? What was your directive? Was there a lookbook?
Quite a lot of the conversations had been additionally occurring throughout my interview with director William McGregor, producer Joe Innes and government producer Beth Willis. The temporary for Season 2 was a constant look whereas creating depth and sustaining a brilliant really feel for the present — all within the context of a really tight schedule, particularly for Episodes 5 and 6 (directed by Rachel Leiterman). I put collectively a lookbook, which all of us mentioned. William had a temper board of his personal, and so did the producers. Quite a lot of our references matched, and the route from the producers was to create a heat and alluring look. Though it’s a interval drama, the present has a contemporary really feel, which was vital for Beth and Joe. My job was to translate all of that.
How would you describe the evolution from Season 1 to Season 2?
I outlined the look of Season 2 as a mature Buccaneers look, and my selections of lighting and digital camera work had been impressed by the characters’ journeys, notably Nan’s, whose standing will increase. She turns into a duchess, however she additionally involves phrases along with her obligation and duty, which conflicts along with her coronary heart. I additionally needed to carry a component of distinction and darkness into the present to mirror not solely Nan’s journey, however that of others. Jinny (Imogen Waterhouse) has an enormous storyline throughout the present, as do Seadown (Barney Fishwick), Mrs. Patricia St. George (Christina Hendricks), Lizzy (Aubri Ibrag) and Theo (Man Remmers). The stakes are greater, and the narrative embraces a darker tone in some episodes. I needed gentle and shadow to play an element, in addition to coloration saturation. I additionally love tender gentle and needed to make {that a} trademark of Season 2.
Did you may have on-set LUTs to work with? In that case, who created them, and the way did they assist? Was there a DIT?
Sure, we created two present LUTs, and I did a number of lighting assessments for this. We then did the ending touches on the LUT after the costume and make-up check, which Apple beloved. We created a hero LUT that was the primary inside and exterior LUT for each the UK and Italy. We additionally created a candle LUT, which was hotter. I sometimes used the candle LUT for evening interiors throughout the present. Italy was outlined by means of a brighter and hotter look, however I did that in digital camera by means of lighting and never by means of a LUT.
We had a DIT, Dimiter Dimitroff from We Love Hue, who additionally did the dailies coloration grade and completely understood the look. The benefit of the LUT was that I might create every little thing in-camera, our DIT must make minimal corrections on-set, and we might carry that look into the edit.
Did you utilize completely different cameras and lenses for this season? What sort had been they?
The primary digital camera was the ARRI Alexa Mini LF, which I selected due to the large-scale places; I needed to have the sector of view to have the ability to body them. It could have been a disgrace to lose all of the element in there and the dressing from the artwork division. I needed the viewers to be immersed in the great thing about the interval.
For half of Episode 4, which is an exterior summer season backyard social gathering shot over 5 days, I needed the ARRI Alexa 35 for its dynamic vary. The climate in Scotland is unpredictable, and I needed to have extra management over the highlights. I used to be additionally lighting these exteriors with massive tungsten sources for a hotter look. Firm 3 made the LUT work for each cameras.
In making a extra mature look on the primary episode of this season, how did you’re employed with the director, and who was it?
Will McGregor directed Episodes 1 and 4. He did an intensive prep and a shot record for his episodes earlier than I began. We did a web page flip for each episodes, so we each shared our concepts and made notes on pictures, lighting and places. And naturally, we recced collectively and developed these concepts additional.
Will’s temper board had numerous the identical references I introduced in, so it was straightforward to be on the identical web page. We needed to the look to be cinematic and deep but additionally brilliant, so our conversations on recces revolved round that. I pulled the shot from Will’s breakdown into my very own prep paperwork and vice versa, so we communicated and sharing a style for the best way to inform the story. We each have a background in commercials and vogue, which additionally helped give us frequent floor on crafting the visuals of the story. Will beloved my selection of lenses. I needed softness and character and classic glass to raise the pores and skin tones. We had been each excited concerning the particulars and the problem.
You additionally helped create a period-accurate psychological establishment. Inform us about that.
The asylum was tough as a result of Episode 6 has a tonal shift from the remainder of the present. I needed to create a darker look with out going too removed from the general softness I introduced into the collection. The producers didn’t desire a gothic look to it, so I wanted to seek out the suitable stability. I needed the asylum to really feel remoted and bleak but additionally have a sense of hope, so I gave the lighting a heat really feel. I performed with frontal or exhausting lighting at instances to make Jinny really feel susceptible and uncovered.
There’s a scene the place I needed to indicate Seadown’s shadow over Jinny on his first go to, and the director beloved that. Rachel [the director of Episode 6] additionally had a really sturdy imaginative and prescient for the asylum, and we had numerous conversations concerning the passage of time, desperation and loneliness. We additionally needed to seize the dimensions of the place to provide it a chilly and horrifying environment, and we labored with artwork and costume on a cool palette for this location.
How did you go about choreographing digital camera actions with the intimacy coordinator? Do you may have finest practices for most of these pictures?
Our intimacy coordinator, Vanessa Coffey, was good. She actually received the worth of constructing that choreography to work for the digital camera. William and Rachel had been concerned within the conversations with the intimacy coordinator concerning the form of the scene, however each the administrators and I had our personal chats about how we needed the scene to really feel and the best way to shoot it, in order that they had been translating that to the coordinator.
Then we did minimal tweaks on-set. Vanessa was ensuring we might get what we needed whereas making the actors snug. We had been very particular with the angles and the moments we would have liked, and he or she would craft that with the expertise. I operated on a lot of the intimacy scenes to make the method simpler. I used to be speaking the digital camera motion to Vanessa and telling her what freedom I wanted as a way to seize the emotion between the actors, so we additionally made adjustments on-set to favor the tempo of the digital camera work.
In Episode 5, when Lizzy chooses to get married, the colours get extra washed out. Stroll us by means of this.
Truly, Lizzy and Theo’s narrative has a extra subdued coloration palette than Nan and Theo’s, and the marriage day is kind of monochromatic in lighting, costume and placement. I didn’t need to gentle very heat or introduce a lot backlight. Nan and Theo’s marriage ceremony to start with of Episode 1 was very heat and brilliant to mirror their standing and to visually counterbalance Nan’s nervousness about marrying Theo. However Lizzy was having a tough time making a call between her coronary heart and what society was telling her she ought to do, so the softer and lower-key look felt applicable to mirror her temper and the context of her romance with Theo. Additionally, the marriage costume Lizzy wears is phenomenal, so I didn’t need to add extra lighting to the scene, simply specializing in the second and performances as an alternative.
Was there a scene that was most difficult?
The pink costume scene in Episode 1 took numerous preparation as a result of we had a day to shoot it, and we needed to hold lighting continuity throughout the scene and create a late-afternoon-sunset temper. It was a problem as a result of Scotland is inconsistent; it could actually go from cloudy to sunny in seconds.
The director and I shot-listed the scene, then we storyboarded it and had a selected capturing order in line with solar route and the capability to gentle and management the solar in relation to the dimensions of the shot. We constructed a financial institution of 3x18K HMI, which we gelled with CTS to heat up the important thing and provides it a late afternoon look. I needed the colour and the exhausting gentle to raise the saturation and make the pink costume stand out amid the black-and-white palette. We had been additionally capturing three cameras — from a tripod to a Steadicam to a 45-foot telescopic crane — to maximise our time. All of the departments had been feeling the time stress, however the prep we did collectively and the planning with first AD Joe Geary was important.
Did you’re employed with the colorist? What are examples of notes you offered?
Our colorist, Paul Staples at Firm 3, was concerned within the prep of the present, and we had been supported by our good publish producer, Alecia Weaver. It was vital to get Paul concerned early for a present of this scale. He has an important eye for lighting and actually appreciated the look I used to be creating. He graded all my lighting assessments throughout prep, and after a couple of periods to create the LUT, we arrived on the grade with a strong basis — permitting him to raise the look fairly than construct it from scratch.
The general present notes I had been given had been to create coloration distinction whereas conserving a softness within the blacks and keeping track of pores and skin tones and the way heat we make a number of the scenes. We had a good time grading this season, and the producers had been an enormous a part of it, however additionally they gave us freedom to craft it. I additionally need to credit score the strong teamwork between departments. Artwork, costume and make-up created a really wealthy coloration palette and gave us fantastic units and costumes that constructed the world as a lot because the lighting and the colour grade did.
Something we didn’t ask that’s vital?
I beloved shaping the look of Season 2 — bringing fashionable touches to a interval drama with tender key lighting, hand-held digital camera work, distinct visible types for the UK and Italy, and the occasional use of zooms. I thrive on large-scale productions, worldwide crews and shut collaboration throughout departments, and this collection supplied all of that, together with emotionally pushed storytelling. Working with administrators William McGregor and Rachel Leiterman, who trusted me, and exploring completely different themes and tones throughout the episodes made it particularly rewarding.
