Cinematographer Colin Watkinson has a pair of shows in the running for Emmy consideration–The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu) and Emerald City (NBC). Inspired by–and a much darker take on–L. Frank Baum’s “Wizard of Oz” tales, Emerald City introduces us to a mystical land replete with warriors, witches, bloody battles, and sorcery.
The fantasy series marks a continuation of Watkinson’s collaborative relationship with director Tarsem Singh which also includes the feature The Fall, winner of the 2008 Austin Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography. Watkinson also lensed Tarsem-directed commercials in years past. Tarsem–whose spotmaking/branded content roost is RadicalMedia–helmed all 10 episodes of Emerald City.
By contrast, The Handmaid’s Tale marks Watkinson’s first time working with director/EP Reed Morano. Back in 1990, Watkinson had read the original book–of the same title–by Margaret Atwood. The Handmaid’s Tale is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the United States. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted religious fundamentalism that treats women as property of the state. As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred (Elisabeth Moss) is a Handmaid in the Commander’s household, one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world. In this terrifying society where one wrong word could end her life, Offred navigates between Commanders, their cruel Wives, domestic Marthas, and her fellow Handmaids—where anyone could be a spy for Gilead—all with one goal: to survive and find the daughter that was taken from her.
“I loved the book,” recalled Watkinson. “And when I got the call from Reed [Morano], I was already excited. When we started talking, we immediately connected on the story. She herself had been a DP and we had a similar vision. She wanted the backstory, the setting of Gilead, to have very composed lighting while maintaining an emotional camera on Offred, trying to get inside her head. We went hand-held camera for that reason. We planned shots together. As the director she would lead the way while still allowing for flexibility.”
The primary cameras deployed on The Handmaid’s Tale were three ARRI ALEXA Minis. Watkinson worked with different directors in shooting the first season, including Morano, Floria Sigismondi, Mike Barker, Kate Dennis and Kari Skogland. “Each director has his or her own method of how to shoot the show,” said Watkinson who lensed all 10 episodes. “That’s always the challenge, to help realize the director’s vision yet attain a tone and consistency throughout.”
Among Watkinson’s prior notable TV credits was Entourage (HBO) for which he shot multiple episodes.
Adriano Goldman
Akin to Watkinson’s scenario on The Handmaid’s Tale, cinematographer Adriano Goldman found himself collaborating with different directors on The Crown (Netflix), lensing episodes 1 and 2 for director/series EP Stephen Daldry, episodes 3 and 5 for director Philip Martin, and episodes 7 and 9 for director Benjamin Caron.
While it’s always challenging to maintain a consistency throughout a series while being true to the sensibilities of different directors, Goldman noted, “You try to establish visual rules during prep.” And he did just that in concert with Daldry, who was instrumental in bringing Goldman on board The Crown to begin with. Goldman had shot for Daldry back in 2013 the feature Trash, a story set in Brazil where three kids make a discovery in a garbage dump only to soon find themselves running from the cops and trying to right a terrible wrong.
“When Stephen came back to Rio for the Trash premiere, The Crown was in the air,” recalled Goldman. “I had heard about his involvement and that [showrunner/creator/writer] Peter Morgan was prepping for the series. I expressed my interest and Stephen said, ‘If you want to do it, it’s yours.’ I was absolutely thrilled, recreating the period, the history behind all this, the challenge of delivering something that would eventually look different from other period dramas in Britain.”
Based on Morgan’s lauded play “The Audience,” The Crown chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth II (portrayed by Claire Foy) from the 1940s to modern times. The series begins with an inside look at the early reign of the queen, who assumed the throne at age 25 after the death of her father, King George VI. As the decades pass, personal intrigue, romance, and political rivalries are revealed which played a major role in events that shaped the latter part of the 20th century.
Shaping The Crown, however, involved making changes to original plans. For example, Goldman said initially they had intended to mix original and archival footage. “The use of Buckingham Palace was never an option for us so we thought the best option was to mix in some of the incredibly interesting archival footage we had. It was to have been a mix of archive and fiction footage. But ultimately, even though we liked that idea and loved the archival footage, it didn’t feel quite right to make something we didn’t totally shoot. So even on the BBC monitors shown in the series, we shot original material. We shot our own archive footage, even black-and-white stuff. We focused on trying to reproduce the period the best we could–for the wedding, the coronation, other official events. The big challenge was how to deliver scale without using archival footage.”
There was also a major change in the originally envisioned approach regarding how to best lens the actors. At first, the thought was to shoot from a distance, in a documentary fashion, as “if we were hidden in chambers at Buckingham Palace,” said Goldman. “But ultimately the decision was to do the opposite, to be physically close to the actors–and the characters they were portraying. We wanted the audience to feel they could almost read the characters’ thoughts. We wanted the audience to see every pore, to feel the texture of the Queen’s skin, to feel the costumes, the fabrics…Another challenge was kind of a tricky combination. So much about the Queen’s world is about protocol and formality. Yet Stephen wanted to show this world in an organic, believable way. He never wanted a ‘Cinderella’ look. That’s why being close to the characters made sense. We wanted to create a feeling where these characters are accessible, and the tone is more intimate.”
Goldman said he’s proud of the approach to–and the overall look of–The Crown. “We’re working for the actors. Claire and I became close friends. What she does is amazing. The realism that Peter Morgan’s writing delivers and her performance, all the performances, made this job a joy. There’s a real freshness to this show. More than anything it all stems from the dialogue, the sophistication of the writing, and Claire’s performance.”
Goldman deployed the Sony F55 shooting in 4K, with vintage Cooke Panchro lenses. He also used a light diffusion filter called Glimmerglass. All this–including being in close proximity to the actors–contributed to what the DP described as “a more filmic, more romantic period look.
Goldman added that The Crown benefited from some “amazing visual effects help.” Indeed the VFX houses One Of Us and Molinare recently won the Special, Visual and Graphics Effects BAFTA Film Award for their work on season one.
This is the third installment of a 15-part series of feature stories that explores the field of Emmy contenders, and then nominees spanning such disciplines as directing, cinematography, producing, editing, music, animation, Visual effects and production design. The series will then be followed up by coverage of the Creative Arts Emmys ceremonies on September 9 and 10, and the primetime Emmy Awards live telecast on September 17.
