For cinematographer Powell Robinson, taking pictures “Coochie Coochie Coo” for V/H/S Halloween wasn’t about crafting good photographs—it was about letting go of that intuition fully. The section, directed by Anna Zlokovic, plunges viewers into the jittery, overexposed world of late-2000s DV camcorders, the place concern feels fast and each body seems prefer it may have been captured by chance. Robinson leaned into the imperfections of discovered footage—embracing blown highlights, handheld chaos, and the hum of analog sensors—to make the horror really feel disturbingly actual.
For these not conversant in the V/H/S franchise, it’s an anthology sequence of found-footage horror movies the place people uncover disturbing VHS tapes containing numerous horrifying quick tales, usually linked by a recurring wraparound narrative.
Within the Q&A under, Robinson breaks down how he and Zlokovic recreated the look of 2009-era digital video utilizing a contemporary Sony FX9, a customized tapeless DV workflow, and a lighting strategy constructed fully from sensible sources. The result’s a section that feels each nostalgic and uncomfortably current—a reminder that generally, the scariest factor a cinematographer can do is cease attempting to make the picture lovely.
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No Movie Faculty: How did you first get entangled with the V/H/S Halloween anthology?
Powell Robinson: Anna Zlokovic, the director, and I’ve been working collectively since school! We shot a thesis collectively there, have since shot a bunch of music movies, after which Anna’s debut function, Appendage, for Hulu.
NFS: What cameras did you employ to realize the found-footage aesthetic, and did you mix totally different codecs to imitate the look of client gear?
PR: We’d initially checked out doing a tapeless Canon XL2 taking pictures workflow, utilizing a converter cable to file immediately from the XL2 to an Odyssey monitor/recorder. However the logistics and stability of the a/v connections offered an enormous challenge for the way energetic and turbulent the digicam movement and blocking was: I used to be working up stairs, hitting partitions, and so on., and should you even bumped the DIY connection the improper manner, it will shut down. There was additionally the priority of the decrease decision being too onerous to work round for all of our VFX. We did additionally attempt to make a extra simple consumer-DV cam state of affairs work through the use of a Canon HV40. However it had much more limitations for monitoring, so we shortly nixed that as nicely. Nevertheless, it did function a foundation for our reference of what the ladies would even have been filming with, have been this actual. So we primarily based a variety of our on-set selections and the look off of what the HV40 would have been prefer to movie with.
Backside line, we pivoted, saving the XL2 for later for a tapeless-tape-out post-analog switch. On set, we shot with a Sony FX9 for 90% of the section and an A7S for the intro within the automotive. We actually needed the ladies to have the ability to function that part all on their very own – additionally they wanted to, because the automotive was too tight to suit all of us in there. It additionally actually grounds you on the planet and units you as much as imagine that it’s really simply the 2 of them filming the entire time.
Credit score: Shudder
I went with an FX9 for the majority of the shoot as I needed sturdy and secure video monitoring choices, a broadcast-style ENG deal with to manage the zoom in a manner that felt like somebody utilizing the zoom rocker on an old-fashioned DV cam, and likewise a light-weight sufficient digicam physique I might get a superb quantity of jitter/shake from the hand-held so the rendering of movement on display appeared like two youngsters swinging slightly DV digicam round.
Anna and I knew from the start we would have liked the picture to have the dynamic vary and texture of DV to essentially promote the time interval, so as soon as we completed the edit and VFX, we went by a multi-step course of that we known as “our tapeless tape out”.
We arrange an OLED display, which we filmed utilizing the Canon XL2’s sensor output straight into an Odyssey recorder. That manner, we may seize all of the quirks and imperfections of the older CCD sensor and its shade house with out the headache of digitizing from tape.
Because the sensor’s dynamic vary and shade science behave so in a different way from fashionable cameras, we routed a stay feed from DaVinci Resolve to the OLED, which let me tweak our shade grade on the fly, scene by scene, so photographs that weren’t translating nicely by the sensor could possibly be adjusted in actual time.
As soon as completed, we despatched the output again to Jared Rosenthal, our colorist, and he utilized some actually particular sharpening to emulate the feel of some references from Blair Witch, in addition to fixing any shade clipping or artifacting from the DV switch.
NFS: Did you limit your self to sure lenses or focal lengths to maintain the section grounded in a “residence video” perspective?
PR: For certain, the one prime we ever used was a 24mm on our full-frame sensor that appeared to match the widest lens of the period-accurate client DV digicam we have been attempting to emulate—the Canon HV40—in addition to a 24-70 zoom.
NFS: Did you employ practicals—flashlights, candles, family lamps—as your main instruments, or did you complement subtly with hidden items?
PR: For the outside trick-or-treat avenue, we have been truly filming on a backlot with zero lighting accessible or constructed into the homes, so all of that was created by us. We used a mixture of Astera bulbs, hydra panels, and tubes in and across the homes for sensible sources just like the prop streetlamps. After which creamsource vortex 8’s for the background bushes, a Nanlux 2400 hidden on a scissor elevate within the bushes that felt like streetlights raking by the setting. We additionally had a lantern globe on an LED stashed manner within the distance for some atmosphere on the homes within the background.
Exterior home lighting Credit score: Shudder
The Mommy home exterior was on the identical backlot and wanted to really feel very naturalistic in the identical manner till all of the Halloween decorations and inside lights began to pulse in a synchronized trend. I discovered a set of decorative-looking string lights made by Chauvet which you can ship to Blackout/Luminair by DMX, which received strung up in entrance of the home, in addition to a bunch of Astera bulbs stashed within the pumpkins. We hid another vortex and tube lights in and round the home, all set to very natural-looking shade and brightness values. However then, as soon as the ladies discover the home, since every little thing was arrange by DMX to the iPad, my gaffer was capable of set off an impact the place all the setup would begin to rhythmically oscillate on the similar time.
As soon as inside the home, I’d say we switched to a extra conventional discovered footage gentle supply, the digicam’s “onboard flashlight.” Nevertheless, in our case, this was an Astera pixel brick mounted immediately consistent with, and resting proper above, the lens on the FX9. Our Manufacturing Designer, Danny Erb, fabricated some 3D-printed highlight mount rings and diffusion that permit us change the spot/flood quantity in addition to its high quality of softness relying on the shot.
3D-printed highlight mount rings and diffusionCredit: Danny Erb
NFS: Every V/H/S entry seems like a mixtape of horror types. How did you need Coochie Coochie Coo to face out visually among the many different segments?
PR: We needed to ensure it felt correct to its time interval, in addition to the characters who’re speculated to be filming, and why they proceed to carry the digicam. It’s much less about them “needing to doc” the entire thing, and extra that it’s extremely sensible that they want the flashlight to see within the in any other case pitch black setting. Additionally, the DV cam aesthetic of 2009 is sort of totally different from a extra conventional VHS-Tape-Out when it comes to each look and backbone, in addition to colorspace.
NFS: How would you describe the visible type of Coochie Coochie Coo?
PR: Gritty, naturalistic, and nostalgic. And I suppose usually fairly visceral haha.
NFS: Have been there particular concerns in framing or lighting grotesque or surreal parts so that they didn’t really feel too “cinematic” for discovered footage?
PR: I might say the extra surreal parts have been truly simpler to movie “discovered footage” type than the drama and conversations. Usually, the pure intuition as a DP is to gentle and movie protection/dialogue in a manner that’s each flattering to the actors and feels cinematic and nicely composed, so you may simply take within the essential information from what they’re saying. In discovered footage land, it’s a must to keep in mind that when individuals are speaking, these are speculated to be actual individuals holding the digicam and wouldn’t be being attentive to holding a superb body or truly aiming the lens on the particular person in any respect, until unintentionally. Anna was very on prime of cuing me for moments to kind of drop the digicam or maintain it off angle and sideways, however preserve half an actor’s face in so the digicam place felt extra genuine throughout these drama beats.
NFS: Wanting again, what was the largest technical hurdle you solved on this section?
PR: Perfecting the post-analog switch course of. At first, we tried with a client dv cam, the Canon HV40, as a result of we needed it to have such a pure, lo-fi really feel, but it surely gave us a variety of ghosting. Additionally, when filming the offline footage with temp shade, the black degree was far and wide, and so was the shutter angle because the digicam had restricted handbook management capabilities and stored auto-adjusting.
We realized early on that the simplest manner to consider the method was tricking the outdated CCD sensor into pondering it was taking pictures actual life. If the footage had been too lifted or too sturdy of a “look” from the offline LUT, it felt inauthentic. So, earlier than our closing switch, Jared, our colorist, did an end-to-end balancing go, normalizing the white level and all of the black ranges so, on an OLED display, it was about as near seeing the footage with your personal eyes as potential.
After rounds and rounds of trial and error with the HV40 (so many 12+ hour switch check days), we determined the tapeless recording course of with the Canon XL2 could be integral to the method because the XL2 had full handbook management and we wouldn’t be reliant on log and capturing from tape.
NFS: What’s one device or trick you relied on that horror followers may not understand was shaping their expertise of the movie?
PR: I used to be in costume all the time, usually doing a number of costume adjustments a day when the 2 characters handed the digicam off to one another in case we noticed my toes/legs whereas working, or caught my reflection in a window.
One other enjoyable one was the infant monitor within the Pink room upstairs: you see Samantha’s character holding the digicam with the sunshine within the child monitor, but it surely was truly far trickier than it appears, since I used to be working and we didn’t wish to use VFX. The monitor had a small digicam that we arrange within the room about 5ft to the left of the monitor itself (off-screen), in order I entered the room, Samantha adopted me, holding a tiny flashlight and matching my blocking, however from 5 toes again. Once I caught the monitor, she made certain to be aiming the sunshine precisely as I used to be, panning previous the monitor-camera so it completely syncs up and seems to be exhibiting her within the monitor display. Very happy with that little second.
