Richard Van Oosterhout, NSC, SBC

VAN OOSTERHOUT CHOOSES V-LITES AND MINIHAWKS FOR RECENT PROJECTS

Richard Van Oosterhout, NSC, SBC has a reputation for transforming the ordinary into the unique. The Belgium-based cinematographer is a two-time winner of the Dutch National Award for Best Cinematography and currently serves as president of the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers. Van Oosterhout is a longtime fan of Hawk lenses.

“For me, lenses are the most important tools,” he says. “If I had to choose between getting the right lenses and giving up the lighting package I want, I know which choice I’d make. I have always respected the Hawk philosophy. In addition to their excellent lenses, they always try very hard to help you out and get what you need on a project. They have a very good office in Brussels, but if necessary, they have the connections to find any piece of gear, no matter where it’s coming from. Hawk is just a great partner.”

Van Oosterhout’s last two projects required completely different approaches. On The Window, an 10-episode series that offers a glimpse into the ruthless, multi-billion-dollar business of England's football, he shot with Hawk V‑Lites, which deliver classic ‘Scope flavor in a small package. And for a chapter of the long-running German crime series Tatort, he went with MiniHawks, the innovative hybrid spherical lenses that produce unique anamorphic effects thanks to brilliant optical design breakthroughs.

The choice of lenses can be practical as well as personal. “When we were first thinking about the look of the show The Window, I wanted to shoot Hawk C‑Series,” says Van Oosterhout. “I’m very fond of those and I’ve shot at least five or six feature films on them. I showed some previous material I had shot with the Hawk lenses to the producers, and they all agreed and liked the look. It was quite an easy thing to convince them.

“Eventually we opted for the V‑Lites, perhaps because in the end the C‑Series seemed a little too outspoken for this story,” he says. “I’m very happy with our decision because the V‑Lites still have the focus characteristics and the look that comes with Hawk anamorphic lenses, but the imagery is a bit more clean than that of the C‑Series.”

The shots were often designed to tell the story in a single, carefully blocked moving take, diminishing the need to get coverage and maximizing efficiency. Color was important, as the story unfolds during the summer hiatus. The aspect ratio was 2:1 and the cameras were Arri Alexa Mini's.

“Nowadays everything is about resolution, and everybody wants to have everything in focus,” Van Oosterhout says. “I like the opposite – I like when it’s a bit fuzzy, and not only on the edges. Sometimes if you stop down a bit, it changes in a nice way. It’s a very organic look Hawk has produced. It’s never just zeros and ones. If you look at something with your eyes, not everything is crystal clear, and you might focus on small elements. Life has randomness. I like to be surprised by not seeing instantly what is wanted to be seen. It's quite easy to make a beautiful and one-dimensional image, stepping away from that demands focus and a bit of guts. And that’s true of the lenses I use as well.”

The imagery pleased Toru Ora, senior executive managing director of Fuji Television Network. With 10,000 drama series being produced annually around the world, Ora says, “The fundamental question for us is how can we create new stories that will be noticed, connect with our audience, move them emotionally, and give them joy?”

Tatort the title of which translates as “crime scene,” has been running on German television since the 1970s. The 90-minute film in question is titled “Die dritte Haut,” and it depicts tenants being evicted from a Berlin building so it can be converted to condos – thus losing their “third skin.” Van Oosterhout used MiniHawks to add that element of randomness, getting the squeeze depth of field, bokeh and focus characteristics with a small, light and fast spherical glass. “They are amazing!”

Among many enthusiastic reviews was Frankfurter Allgemeine’s, which said in part, “The fact that this attempt succeeds and does not tip over into German dismayed television is also thanks to the sober pictures by Van Oosterhout. With a number of almost playful details, he succeeds in combining the many characters and locations with each other in a sophisticated way and actually illuminating the apartments of the acting staff as the eponymous ‘third skin.”

Watch the trailer of The Window here.

Richard Van Oosterhout, NSC, SBC on set of The Window